My Vulnerary Husband- our journey towards love - Chapter 252

|Eshan|

“You foolish woman, when will you learn to take care of yourself?” I muttered, looking at the adorable face my wife made while sleeping. Standing up from the couch, I made my way to the bed. She even forgot to clean her face properly.

I picked up the box of her wet wipes and took out one. I wiped all the dried up tear marks from her face slowly. ‘Why do you like to torture yourself? Huh?’ I caressed the side of her face.

Shaking my head, I leaned down to kiss her smooth, soft hair. The tired woman fell asleep while thinking about god knows what in the sitting position. Perhaps it was because of medicine. Nevertheless, that was a good thing. She needed sleep to digest everything that happened today.

Snaking a hand around her back, I adjusted Innaya in a lying position. She seemed to be drained because she did not even twitch a bit throughout my actions. Pulling the comforter over her, I switched off the lights in the room, leaving a table lamp on. Innaya did not like darkness. And, today, she was most likely to have a nightmare. So, leaving the dim yellow light was a must.

Crossing my arms across my chest, I looked at her beautiful face. Innaya was a tenacious woman. She did not realize it herself. Though her past made many things difficult for her, she still crossed this trial of our love successfully, bearing all the pain and hurt. I never thought there was a deep-rooted conspiracy involved in this matter. Despite my attempts to uncover the whole truth, somehow, I ended up in a more tangled web.

If not for Arjun showing up, we wouldn’t have escaped unscathed. Most importantly, Innaya would have been at the losing end. No amount of effort would have been able to restore everything to normal. I would have to know the whole truth before considering how much truth we should tell her.

‘Sleep tight.’ I wished silently. I would accompany her, but I had to do something first.

Taking out a black vest from the cupboard, I left the room to find the man who must be sulking in the corner.

***

“Want some alcohol?” I asked the man who was gazing at the empty starless sky as he stood near the window of the guest room on the ground floor.

Arjun chuckled, putting his arms in his pants pocket. He did not turn around though and had left the door open as if he knew I would be coming for a visit. “As if you have it.”

I walked inside the room, placed the mug of the coffee on the table beside the flower pot near the window. Taking my cup of tea, I sat on the bed. Contrary to what Innaya assumed, Arjun was still at our place. He did not leave knowing Innaya would not move around freely, owing to her injury. And, he did not want to be alone because some of his old wounds were torn open.

I sighed as I thought about the difficult man. He would never talk about his problems. So, all I could do was give him space and time while accompanying him silently.

Arjun made no move to take the mug. It was his favorite white mug with a smiley face. One day, he had just brought the mug, and placed it on the counter, declaring that he would drink coffee made by my hands only in this mug. His overbearing dominance in the declaration was too comical though. All five of us friends had fun at his expense, enjoying how we bantered and pulled his leg.

That was a distant memory, but still fresh in my mind. In the last couple of months, we seemed to have grown distant. I would have to pay attention to them as well. Perhaps arranging a get together was in order.

“Why are you here? Go to your wife. Otherwise, she will again start complaining,” Arjun bitterly said.

“If not for her ankle, she would be here instead of me,” I replied, taking a sip of the tea, savoring the sweetness of the sugar. I preferred sweet tea when I was stressed. It helped relieve some of the bitterness in my life.

If not for knowing Arjun for years, I would have mistaken his silence as ignorance. But, I knew that he was feeling guilty for causing her pain.

“You should have told her the whole truth,” I said. Tucking my legs underneath, I held the cup with both hands. The warmth of the tea, sipping through the cup warmed my palms. Compared to the cool breeze coming from the open window and the low temperature in the room, the hot tea was contrasting, yet welcoming.

Arjun picked up his mug, brought it to his lips, but did not drink it. His hair was messed, and I knew he was the one messing them. His blue eyes looked ahead without blinking. His fingers tightened around the mug.

“Don’t break the cup,” I warned abruptly, looking at the increasing pressure he was exerting unknowingly.

“What truth? Do you even know the truth you are talking about?” Arjun snapped, breaking out of the trance he was in.

I shook my head. “That’s why I’m here.” I sipped the tea again, waiting for him to explain the truth.

“There is no such truth. Aunty will explain everything tomorrow. You can know your truth then,” Arjun said. Lowering his head a little, he looked at the liquid in the mug. That was his habit. He would observe the beverage first, take a sniff before bringing it to his lips and taking a sip. He did the same now as well. “Thanks for the coffee.”

“I want to know what you discovered. When did you get your hands on Ayesha’s intimate photos? Let me rephrase it, how did you know about everything? You were out on mis- … right?” I caught myself before blurting out things I should not. Mentioning his matters was a big no, and it had everything to do with the protocol of his job.

“I don’t know what you are talking about. The material was given by Kar-”

I interrupted him before he could try to bluff his way out of the matter. “Arjun, you can’t lie to me.”

Arjun turned around and leaned against the window frame. Tasting the coffee again, he narrowed his eyes.”Why are you so certain?” he fired his question.

“You were out of reach the whole time, and suddenly you showed up out of nowhere, and that too from inside the house when Ayesha’s mother brought that photo.” My eyes darkened, recalling how I was caught off-guard with that n.a.k.e.d photo she produced out of nowhere. That photo was enough to ruin all the plans of today.

I chuckled sarcastically with how he still thought that he could evade me with his roundabout way of twisting the truth. “Are you saying that Karan could reach you when I could not? Huh?”