The Wrong Woman

38. Mouna

He didn't blink for a very long time. I flushed under the intensity of his gaze, not used to being looked at by a man like this until he licked his lips and turned his attention to the vegetable that he needed to cut.

"Fine," he said. It wasn't very enthusiastic, in fact it was quite flippant. But it was something and it took everything in me to stop from clapping in excitement. The thought of facing his parents and not being caught in the issues they had with Rani was going to be a problem but I was sure it wasn't going to be hard if I tried to listen to what they had to say.

It could be very easy or very difficult.

I tried not to think about what I had gotten myself into and further watched him cut some more before he began to make what looked like a white sauce. This then turned into me watching his face. He looked so serene making this, as if he knew what to do without even having to think too much into it; like it was second nature.

I wondered why he skirted around the topic so much. I wondered why we never spoke before this. Rani and him, of course. It was not until he stopped stirring, his face a vacant canvas as he looked at me that I realised I had spoken aloud. This expression on him was very rare. From what I could tell, he was a very expressive man and to see a cloud cast over his face made a cold shudder to pass through me despite the inside of this big house being very warm.

"Dhruv?" My voice seemed to startle him out of his reverie because he turned his attention to the stove.

"That was all your decision," he muttered darkly. My decision? The edge in his tone made me gulp.

"Why?"

"We fought a lot because of a lot of things. My parents. My behaviour."

"Your...behaviour?"

"I'm boring," he stated, monotone. "I don't do much. After we got married, I changed in order to adapt to everything. At the same time, I don't want to blame you for anything that's happened. We got married pretty quickly, you know. Soon after we met, in fact. We didn't take the time to get to know one another properly. I guess you hoped I'd be more spontaneous like I used to be."

"We were going to get divorced?"

"We never brought it up but I'd be lying if I said we weren't on the brink of it. We were miserable, after all." That bad, I thought, not knowing what to say. My throat choked and the thudding of my heart dulled as I watched his jaw clench so hard that a vein throbbed in his neck. This was a good man who deserved to be happy and loved by the woman he loved.

None of this seemed fair.

He cleared his throat before letting out a forced smiled. "Sorry, I shouldn't have thrown this on you. Can you go check on Kippie while I finish this?"

I murmured with a yes and headed over to her, quietly chewing on her tennis ball in her bed, nearby the couch. I turned back to check on Dhruv, only to see that he was watching me, too.