Page 88 of That Same Old Love

When Mahi arrived at the restaurant, Samrat was shocked and then furious looking at her face. Her cheek was painfully swollen and red.

“What happened?” he asked, rushing to her side.

Her friends were worried too and then outraged when she told them about the tussle a few minutes ago.

“I’m fine guys. I just need an ice pack. Let’s continue with my celebration,” she said, waving a dismissive hand in the air.

Later that night, after she and Samrat drove back home, he gave her another dose of pain medication. She leaned her uninjured cheek on his chest while he held her tightly in his bed.

Samrat had been ranting from the past few minutes.

“Next time you see a man behaving violently towards someone, call for help and stand back at a safe distance. Do you understand me? You were an idiot. What if he didn’t stop with a slap and had a knife or something with him?” he shouted at her finally.

She smiled to herself and then winced when her cheek hurt like hell. “I’m fine. You should see that guy. He has a hole in his arm and maybe I even broke a couple of ribs,” she said proudly.

Samrat wasn’t amused and held her tightly all night. He was pretty clingy for the next few days and barely allowed her to go anywhere without sounding like an overprotective parent.

***

Things went back to normal during the next week. It was a weekend and they just got back from shopping for their weekly groceries. After dinner, Samrat dragged Mahi up hurriedly to his bedroom saying that he wanted to try something interesting.

A few minutes passed by and Samrat’s face held a look of intense concentration.

“For someone who is a clean freak, you are making one hell of a mess,” said Mahi as she raised her head from the pillow to watch him.

He was still drizzling honey from a small plastic teddy bear shaped bottle over her naked body.

“This is taking a while and I’m getting a little bored. I need some action now,” she said and then sighed.

He didn’t comment.

“Can this be a talking session? Let’s discuss those patterns you are drawing on me. Are they related—” she broke off with a groan.

He shut her up the only way he knew. He began to clean up the mess he made using his tongue.

Much later that night, when they lay exhausted, they began to discuss about his father’s 60th birthday. It was three months away, but somehow they ended up arguing about the most irrelevant facts.

“Samrat, I can’t sleep in the same room as you while your parents are visiting. It is disrespectful and rude.” She was getting annoyed at his insistence.

“Everyone knows we are together and what we do. Why is that disrespectful? And they’ll be here for two weeks. I don’t want us to sleep separately for that long,” he told her with a frown.

“Then come to my house during the nights. You stay there sometimes. What’s your problem? You always want to argue with me, just for the sake of it,” she said, rolling her eyes.

“Oh please. You are confusing me with yourself. It’s you who has to argue constantly with me. Even when you know I’m right, or maybe, especially when you know I’m right. And we barely spent any of our nights at your house during the past nine months. You bed is too small for me and my legs keep hanging out,” he complained.

“Ookay. Then maybe I can order a bigger bed. Even though my bedroom is too small for a gigantic Cal king sized bed,” she offered him generously.

He sighed impatiently. “Or maybe, like a practical sane adult, you sleep in my bed and not bother about others thinking that we are having wild, illicit sex.”

“I don’t care about anyone thinking that. No wait. I want my friends to know some of that because they tell me about theirs. Although theirs is legal and not illicit like mine,” she said, grinning.

Samrat scowled recalling their conversation from a few days ago.

He and Mahi were meeting Mahi’s friends and their husbands during a family picnic outing. After a while, when they had decided to play some outdoor games, Jhanvi and Ashwini began to giggle looking at him. They asked him whether he would be okay to join a game of family Kabbadi since he hurt his knees.

He was confused by their inquiry, but something about the mischievous twinkle in their eyes, made him find Mahi and corner her.

“You told your friends about how I hurt my knees when I had sex with you on the game room floor?” he demanded furiously.

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