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Arya had gotten married at the end of her first year of masters. It hadn't been one of those grand weddings with glitter, extravagance, and wealth nearly dripping through its pictures. She had been the female lead of a rather humble ceremony with only her close friends and family attending the function.

She was more than content with just that. She felt the satisfaction settle deep in her heart as she turned the last page of their wedding album which had been delivered to her only yesterday. She placed it on the coffee table and rose up, wincing as she straightened out her knees from her squatting position.

Grabbing the duster, she headed to the last room of the house that she needed to clean. It was a two-floor house with a terrace that was gifted to the new couple by her husband, Nirav's parents. The first floor housed the kitchen, the living room, and a guest room. The second floor consisted simply of two rooms at the opposite ends of it.

Tapping on the switch, Arya waited for the lights to flicker on and illuminate the dark room. It was her first time stepping into her husband's room. She glanced at the unkempt bedsheets, and the various notebooks, scales, and pencils scattered around the desk next to his bed. The only part of the room neatly organized was the large shelves spanning almost the entire left wall. She rested her duster against the wall and stepped towards the shelf, noting the titles keenly.

Almost all of them were textbooks related to space, the stars, and other celestial bodies. A few calculus and algebra books were inserted between, along with thick textbooks on Newtonian and quantum physics.

Arya felt the corner of her lips quirks up into a smile. Her husband was the textbook definition of a geek. She felt her heart flutter a little at the thought of having learned something more about him. Each day, she discovered something new about him and it only seemed to make her happier.

She turned her gaze to the pinboard above the study desk and glanced through all the notes pinned on it. There were scribblings about formulae, reminders, and dates. She leaned forward, gazing in particular at one note - 15th June. It was the day they married each other. It was circled in red.

A smile continued playing on her lips.

She, then, stepped towards his bed, pulling up the bedsheet and folding it into a neat square, which she placed at the foot of the bed. She let her eyes drag their gaze around the room once more. She didn't know if she had permission to clean his room. Tapping her finger against her thigh, she felt a queasiness emerge in the untidy room. Her hands itched to set it right.

Instead, she distracted herself by gazing at the photograph of the two of them hung in his room. There was one in hers and one in his - their wedding photographs. The one in his bedroom featured the entire family - his and hers - assembled neatly. The one in her bedroom featured only the two of them, staring at the camera with polite smiles.

Arya let out a sigh. She had nothing else to do besides cleaning his room. She had already completed all of her assignments before the wedding. Pre-semester studies had been going so well that she was almost done. It was a result of her boredom, considering her husband was always away at work and never at home.

She didn't blame him. His job was an extremely busy and mentally taxing one. Working as a space engineer, he probably didn't have a lot of time to spare.

Arya glanced at the clock. It was 9 at night. The food she had prepared for him lay on the dining table, cold and probably stale. She made a mental note to heat it up once more when he arrived back.

Hopefully, he would come back home before midnight.

Arya decided to linger in his room for a little more, taking in the smell of his familiar cologne in the room and letting it create a few ripples in her heart.

She often wondered how her marriage would turn out. Considering she wasn't close with her relatives, she was only ever witness to two marriages - her grandparents' and her parents'.

Her grandparents' marriage was a hot, passionate kind of one. They would be arguing with each other fiercely but they would always have each other's backs. Her parents' marriage was a quiet sort of one. They seemed to have a silent understanding of each other. Her father would tell her that he and her mother were adept at picking up on each other's mind voice since they were extremely compatible with each other.

Around a year back, when Nirav's family had first approached hers for a proposal, she had decided to pick up multiple romance books featuring arranged marriages for research purposes. She had grown half frightened at the sort of toxicity that was displayed in it. The only arranged romance book she had liked was one penned by her favorite author, Anuradha Anand. That was mostly because she loved almost every male lead penned by the author. Both she and the author seemed to have a thing for green-flag male leads, who were extremely gentle and polite.

Sometimes, the rude and hot ones appealed to her. But that was rare.

When she had finally gotten married to Nirav, she observed him for the first few weeks. The first week he had spent at home since he had taken off from work. He hadn't initiated much of a conversation with her. He would only watch her from time to time when he thought her attention was not on him.

What he didn't know was her attention was always on him. From the very beginning.

She had learned that her husband was a quiet man, just like her father. But she was a yapper, unlike her mother. The only reason she hadn't conversed much with him was because she was at home and didn't have much to talk about. Once she returned to college for her master's, he was going to be in for a lot of talking; more like listening to her rant sessions.

She let out a faint chuckle to herself, as she wondered how he would deal with her. She knew she was a menace once she began talking.

She heard the sound of keys being inserted into the lock, twisting it open and unlocking the door. Her eyes widened, as she hurried out of the room. Her husband slipped inside, kicking away his shoes and locking the door behind him.

"Welcome back." She said, dragging out a long blink, "You're back earlier than usual."

Why did that statement make her feel like she was doing something wrong?

She watched as Nirav nodded at her and then glanced at the opened door of his room. His eyes returned to her standing in front of it.

"I was dusting the house. You know how dusty things get in this country." She let out a chuckle, amused with herself, "I thought I might clean your room too."

His deep, crisp voice sounded, never failing to make the butterflies in her stomach kick up a storm. To be fair, she had married a man gifted in the looks department, who also possessed the kind of voice she loved.

"Have you begun cleaning already?"

She shook her head.

"I'll let you know when to clean it...if you want to," He stepped towards her. "I have a few things I need to sort out, still."

"Sure. Let me know."

He nodded at her, disappearing into his room. Arya trudged to the kitchen, picking up the plate and putting it in the oven. She leaned against the kitchen slab, wondering when things would progress between them, physically.

It had been a little more than a month since their marriage. Surely, that was ample enough time to start initiating a few kisses and hugs?

She rubbed her chin as she considered to pose the question to him. She was inexperienced but that didn't mean she was shy. She was more than ready to get what she wanted. But she wouldn't feel happy if he felt forced to do things with her.

Life was just so terribly complicated. Arya disliked complications, as a rule.

The oven let out a sound, asking her to step out of her thoughts and pull the plate out of it. She obeyed. Placing the plate on the table, she waited for the door of Nirav's room to open. It did, after several few minutes.

Her husband strode out with a plain beige shirt and black sweatpants. He didn't ask her what the meal was or hesitate in front of the dining table. He simply sat down, picked up his fork, and began digging in.

Arya watched him eat, wondering if he was just timid when it came to voicing his complaints about her cooking or if he just simply didn't care.

"Do you like it?"

Nirav raised his dark brown orbs to hers, his wavy hair bouncing with the motion. It fell slightly over his eyes and ears, making him look a tad more handsome. Whatever he did, her heart warmed for all of it.

She was down bad for him.

"It's delicious," He responded, waiting for further questions from her.

She smiled at him, "Good to hear that. Have a good meal."

He nodded and returned his eyes to his plate. The conversation was over. Arya decided against lingering and staring at him. Before she turned around, she remembered the album book on the table.

"Our wedding album came yesterday. I've kept it on the table for you to look at."

She was given another nod. She trudged away and slipped into her room, locking the door behind her.

It was only once she had completed her night routine and was about to hit the sack, that she realized she hadn't soaked the beans necessary for tomorrow's breakfast. Grumbling, she tip-toed out of her room, freezing when she caught sight of the lights on in the living room.

Nirav was seated on the sofa, the ankle of one leg resting on the thigh of the other, as he sifted through the pictures in the album. When he reached the last picture on the album - a candid one with the two of them smiling at the camera, he lingered on it. She couldn't catch sight of his exact expression but she could see the light smile on his face as he stared at the picture for a few minutes.

Arya couldn't resist the grin playing on her lips. Maybe all her feelings were, in fact, reciprocated by her calm but busy husband too.

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a/n : i've never had more fun writing a chapter than this one. it got me wishing for a marriage like this, haha. how are we feeling about this story so far? all thoughts are welcome in the form of comments. drop a vote if you liked the chapter.