My Vulnerary Husband- our journey towards love - Chapter 243

|Innaya|

Eshan’s father sat straight anxiously in the chair, his left foot clad in the blue cotton slipper tapped on the floor. Pushing back the rimless glasses sliding on his nose, he rubbed the tip of his nose.

“I asked Arjun to stop from taking the plate from you. I did not raise my voice on you. I would never-”

“Haha… Why would you raise your voice on your sweet daughter when you have us as your poor lambs to slaughter,” Arjun said, turning his attention to Eshan’s father who sounded tense.

I folded my lips at Arjun’s attempt of easing the tense atmosphere. He could only joke in such a situation.

“Sh-” Eshan’s father attempted to say something, perhaps he wanted to scold Arjun, but then he remained silent.

Arjun’s stomach again made the noise. When I tilted my head a little, Arjun’s handsome face tinged with a slight paleness in his feature greeted me. I had not taken account of him early… Looking at him now, I could see that he seemed to have lost weight. There were prominent dark circles under his bright eyes. On his forehead, a scar half a length of my finger stood out. When did he receive that wound? It must have hurt like hell.

The time he spent away from us seemed to have taken a toll on him. He did not have it easy.

“Why are you being punished?” I asked as I kept aside the plate. If Eshan’s father did not let others eat. I would not eat either. There was no point in receiving special attention when the reason behind the attention was unclear. Arjun kept mum, only glancing at Eshan’s father. I understood that he would not answer.

“Let’s go to the kitchen. I’ll cook something for you,” I said, holding at his hand.

Arjun flicked my forehead lightly. “Stop being a fool.” He then refused to get up and held onto me.

“How am I being a fool? You’re a fool,” I muttered unhappily, rubbing the place he flicked. ‘Damn! It hurts.’

I looked at Arjun, waiting to know what he wanted to do. It was clear that Eshan’s father would not let him eat, and Arjun did not want me to cook.

“How about we go out to eat?” I asked. I disliked keeping people hungry.

Arjun’s eyes twinkled with enthusiasm. He just nodded positively, and slyly his eyes went to Eshan’s father’s direction. Was there any need to be smug? Nevertheless, it was a good opportunity for me to get away from the stressed environment.

We kept our conversation restricted to whispers- not wanting others to hear us though we knew that my in-laws and husband were staring at us.

“Eshan, go and bring the cutlery and pots here,” Eshan’s father said.

Did he hear us? Would he not let me getaway?

“No need. Let’s go to the dining room,” Eshan answered as he left his mother’s side, walking to me.

Eshan’s father frowned. “But, she is hurt. It’s not good to move-”

“Dad, mom, you go ahead. I’ll bring Innaya,” Eshan interrupted, nodding his head in his parents’ direction.

“Yes, all of you enjoy your dinner. I’ll bring my sister out for dinner.” Arjun gave a teasing smirk before he bent down to pick me up.

“I can walk,” I said, swatting at his approaching hand.

“Ah-” By the time I was talking to Arjun, Eshan had picked me up and was walking to the dining room.

“I can walk,” I repeated the same sentence to Eshan who seemed to be in love with his new job of picking me up and carrying in his arms. He might not be aware of the presence of his parents, but how could I turn blind eye to it? It was not good to be carried around like this.

They had just accused me of being shameless. Eshan’s actions could be counted as just a concern of a spouse, but if someone wanted to make a mountain out of a molehill… Then this set of actions could be interpreted in a way that would not sound good to ears.

“Hey! That’s not allowed. Innaya is going out with me. Right, Innaya?” Arjun yelled as he marched alongside Eshan, trying to take me from Eshan’s hold.

I bobbed my head upside and down, agreeing with Arjun.

“No need,” Eshan curtly answered, giving me a stern look.

“Eshan, be a good boy and let go of my sister.”

Eshan ignored Arjun and just increased his pace. The sudden change in Eshan’s tone was apparent. He was bottling up his emotions. Why? Only he could answer. Sometimes I hated how he pulled the mask of indifference to hide his true feelings. What I hated more was the fact that at times like this, I could not read him. That made things all the more difficult for me.

Besides, the more time I spent around my in-laws, the more nervous I was growing.

Need to know the truth behind the whole drama was intense in my heart, but the anxiety of how I would handle it was making me restless.

Given the words of Eshan’s mother and concern of Eshan’s father, I somewhere understood that it was a staged drama. Eshan’s mother did not mean what she did and said- today and a month ago. Eshan’s father was punishing them on my behalf, and it seemed as if he was kept in a dark regarding the whole ordeal.

But, why go to such great lengths of staging a drama to such a deep extent?

Lost in my thoughts, I did not realize when we reached the dining room. It was only when Eshan lowered me on the dining chair that I came back to the present. Eshan’s parents were already sitting across me.

“On your account, I will let them off,” Eshan’s father said as he stretched his lips in a smile… at least that was what he tried.

“Thank you, Innaya. If not for you who knew how long this fasting punishment along with that disgusting juice would have lasted. Thank you for rescuing us,” Arjun commented as he sat on my left and immediately dived in, uncaring if others have started or not.

“Thank you!” I mumbled slowly to express my gratitude. It was not that Arjun could not have left to eat something. No one would have stopped him, but he did not go. That just showed his respect for Eshan’s father. It was not that respect people usually showed to the elders of their friends. Arjun gave that respect to Eshan’s parents, which one would one show to their family.

So, I realized, no matter how the situation looked Eshan’s parents would not harm me. Otherwise, these two men flanking both sides, would not remain so calm.