Apologies  for delay. Had a very blue Monday!

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Chapter 30 : Responsibility

His morning voice. His firm touch. His warm breath. His soft lips. His intoxicating closeness. His eyes gleaming with wicked desire. All of that was there in one second with all force and then gone, none at all.

She was about to feel it. Feel his fingers on the most sensitive part of her being. Find out just how much pleasure his mere touch could bring. Just as her anticipation arrived at its peak, her hyper sensitive senses broke her out of her dream.

She jerked up and sat with a gasp, breathing harder than usual. She looked aside at the bed. The pillow was exactly where it had been placed last night. The other side of the mattress empty, lacking the man who was now messing with her dreams.

It hadn't happened ever before. Never. She had never thought it could even be real. How could one possibly dream of it? She had always thought wet dreams were wicked plot twist tactics that writers used to their advantage.

"Morning!" she heard that same voice from dream. Only that it was very real now. It didn't have the morning roughness or the rumble that changed the frequency at which her heart was beating. It was plain. Her eyes widened in realization. He was in the room. She just hoped whatever was in her dream stayed there, she hoped she hadn't said anything aloud.

She slowly turned her head towards his side of the bed and looked beyond it. At the far end of the room he sat behind the desk.

"Had a bad dream?" He asked, looking up from his laptop.

Ruhaani gulped mortified.

"Are you okay?" He asked, his look turned suspicious.

"Yes, bad dream." She uttered quickly, her gaze lowering to the pillow. "I should not be having bad dreams."

"Do you get them often?"

"No!" She almost shouted. "It was my first." Her eyes could barely focus, they kept darting about. She couldn't even meet his eyes.

Aadarsh stared at her. It was unusual. She never slept in. He assumed it was because of sleeping late and the exhaustion—from the drinking, dancing, talking last night— that she was sleeping in.

Ruhaani got off the bed. She quickly tied up her hair in a bun and folded the duvet. She then arranged the pillows and tidied the bed. She couldn't stop thinking about her morning dream. It featured Aadarsh in it. A very drool-worthy version of him.

"Did I say something?" She asked suddenly looking up at him from across the room.

He looked up from his screen, confused for a moment. "No. Just... you seemed out of breath and made some weird noise. Are you sure, you're okay?"

Ruhaani mentally cursed herself. "Actually, I was running in the dream. Maybe be that's why I was out of breath."

"Running from?"

"You." She closed her eyes, thinned her lips and opened her eyes again. Stupid, stupid her. Why did she have to be so barmy about it? Why was she explaining herself?

Aadarsh stared at her amused. "You were running from me?"

"Yeah, whatever," She mumbled, not answering him.

"why?"

She chose to ignore him and made her way towards the bathroom. Aadarsh shook his head, "crazy woman", he muttered going back to the draft of the reply to the notice they had been served.

Ruhaani had decided to take a quick bath. She usually had her tea first thing after brushing her teeth and then went for bath. Breakfast followed. However she was hungry and willing to have her tea with breakfast. It also gave her some time to calm herself down. It was very hard to not think about it.

She didn't even like that man yet in her dreams he was cocky and doing things far from decent. She revisited the moment from the night when he stood behind her, his body almost flushed against hers. He had so boldly ripped off the hook instead of undoing it. And his gaze... she could swear he had never before looked at her like that.

Aadarsh had been respectful and gentlemanly at all times, at least when it came to being decent in the company of a woman and within limits. He did nothing inappropriate, never made her uncomfortable. He gave her all the space she needed. She appreciated that. He might be proud, annoying, rude, egoistic, a bit of narcissist but he always made her comfortable with his mannerism. He was always respectful around women. It was one thing about him that let her trust him with Pari.

Yet, last night, was different. Her cheeks still flushed remembering the manner in which his gaze had dropped to her chest, when she had turned around to admonish him for being impatient with the hook. Any other day it would have been a very inappropriate and frowned upon situation. But he was her husband. They shared the same bed, the same room, the same air. They were expected to be intimate at some point in their relationship. Aadarsh may not want anything remotely romantic between them, that didn't necessarily mean he didn't want sex.

When she had dressed up, she decided to stop thinking about it. She moved to the floor length mirror in the wardrobe. She wore the gold bangles and nuptial chain around her neck. Next she wore her dangling earrings, a pair of golden loops. She quickly combed her hair and clipped it on the sides, leaving it open. The edges of her hair were wet thanks to her lack of care while taking a shower, she had been hopelessly lost in her thoughts. Then again, it wasn't a usual morning.

Aadarsh looked up as he heard the footsteps on the wooden floor. He now understood why she was gone so long to brush her teeth. She had taken a bath as well. She wore a deep olive green Indian dress. Finally he saw in anything but her three sweaters.

"A few minutes more, and I was planning to come and check. Thought you drifted back into your bad dream in there." He said getting up from his chair.

Ruhaani lowered her gaze, bit her lip. He didn't know about it, she reminded herself. She took a deep breath and gathered her wits.

"So why were you running from me?" He asked walking around the table.

"You were the big bad wolf in my dream." She answered walking up to him.

Aadarsh's lips quirked a bit. "So you were red little riding hood?"

"It's little red riding hood. No. I was myself."

"And I was in the wolf form?" He asked blinking. It sounded ridiculous. All he could picture was those stupid drawings from Mukti's book of popular short stories.

Ruhaani parted her lips. Her mind was super imposing their conversation on her dream. The problematic part was she read a lot of werewolf fantasy romance books. Even the ones that were highly inappropriate for a general adult audience. It made the whole thing nastier.

"I am hungry!" She said and walked past him.

"Of course, you've been burning calories in your dream." He spoke as he followed her.

Her eyes squeezed shut for a moment. "Shut up, Aadarsh!" She said her cheeks heating up. He had no clue what was going on in her head. She swore to never touch a werewolf romance book again. No more Alpha, Beta, Gamma and their mating rituals and different forms. Nada.

***

Aadarsh took his seat, the head of the table as usual. Pari got off her chair and ran to her mother. "Mumma!" She gleefully exclaimed.

"Oh look at that, my baby already had a bath." Ruhaani said, kneeling to Pari's level instead of lifting her up in her arms.

"I combed my hair also. I put cream also. And see..." she forwarded her hands. Ruhaani's gaze lowered to her daughter's hand.

"Muku didi put nail paint for me."

"it hasn't dried yet, don't touch it," Mukti warned from behind.

Ruhaani sighed, looking at the different colors on each finger. She was almost sure Pari had demanded each fingernail to be painted in a different color. Mukti had only complied with her wishes. However Mukti hadn't applied the paint neatly, which made the whole thing worse.

"Why different colors, shona?"

"because it looks nice." Pari answered, then ran to her father. "See," she said forwarding his hands. He smiled and picked her up and made her sit on the table beside the empty plate.

He held her small hands in his large ones. "Yes, they look nice."

Ruhaani sighed. The man just wanted to be her daughter's favorite person at this point.

"It doesn't look nice, Pari." She said to her daughter.

"No," she argued. "it's nice only."

Ruhaani sighed, walking around the table to the twins. "Good morning Mukti," she spoke giving the girls shoulder a light squeeze. "did you sleep well?" She asked, kissing her forehead.

"Yes," the girl gave her a dazzling smile, and turned to hug her.

"How was the movie night?"

"Awesome. I enjoyed it more than part one." Mukti answered, referring to the Ice Age series."

"What about you?" She asked turning to Nirvan placing a quick kiss on his forehead.

"Okay," he muttered rubbing his forehead with the back of his palm.

Ruhaani grinned and playfully kissed his forehead again.

"Bhabhs don't do that," he muttered.

"You rub it off again, I give another." She warned.

He huffed, placing his hand that he had raised halfway up down.

"Good boy, now tell me, did you like the movie?"

"Yes, it was good. But I like the first part more." His reply immediately sparked a debate between him and his twin sister about which one was better. She left them to debate and walked to the kitchen.

Aadarsh smiled as he noticed Nirvan rub his forehead now that she was gone.

"Good morning people!" Ashvi said cheerfully walking up to the table.

"Good morning!" The other wished her in unison.

"I am starving!" she said picking up the bowl of cut fruits.

"How was your night?" Shelly Bua asked as she returned from her morning walk and settled at the table.

Aadarsh had taken some of the fruit on to his plate and was now feeding Pari as she told him about the movie quite animatedly and with a lot of exaggeration.

Ruhaani emerged out of the kitchen along with DJ and the househelp, carrying breakfast.

"Dai Jaan, did you check on Abhi?" She asked as she settled the dish of curd on the table and then the plate of parathas.

"I did an hour ago, he said he has a headache and wanted to sleep in." Dai jaan answered.

"The boy must have had too much fun last night," Shelly Bua remarked, with a knowing smile.

"Dai Jaan, please make him some fresh fruit juice without sugar. He'll be fine." Aadarsh said. Ruhaani watched on as he fed fruits to Pari.

She quickly started filling everyone's plate one by one moving around the table.

"Looks like Sarla cooked today's breakfast." Shelly Bua remarked. "The parathas are perfectly round and smell delicious. No offense Ruhi darling."

Ruhaani wore a tight smile and turned to Aadarsh as she put two parathas on his plate. "Come on, Pari. On your seat." She said distracting herself. It would be highly wicked of her to plot Shelly Bua's murder in her head.

"I will feed her," Aadarsh offered.

She moved her gaze to meet his. People pleaser. "Fine!"

She walked back to the other end of the table and sat beside Mukti. Her eyes narrowed on Shelly Bua as she went on appreciating the parathas and her joy at finally eating a good breakfast, like she had been starved on the previous days of the week.

Aadarsh looked at Ruhaani warily. He didn't understand why women were always ready to instigate fights. Ruhaani loved started fights with him. Shelly Bua loved starting a battle with both Ruhaani and Badi Bua, sometimes even Dai Jaan. Ashvi started fights with Abhi. Mukti with Nirvan. Ot was always the female population.

Suddenly Ruhaani turned to him and their gazes locked. She quickly glanced at Shelly Bua, she was busy devouring her breakfast. She switched her gaze back to Aadarsh. 'I hate her' she mouthed.

Aadarsh wasn't expecting that. It made his lips curl up with amusement, which he hid behind his hand. Ashvi seemed to have noticed too and let out a very brief giggle before stuffing her mouth with the boiled egg that Dai Jaan had prepared specially for her and Abhi.

"What's funny?" Shelly Bua asked looking up. Both Aadarsh and Ruhaani immediately went back to looking at their respective plates.

"Bhabhs cracked a joke," Ashvi replied, grinning. "Last night. I understood it now."

Ruhaani couldn't control her laughter so she stuffed her mouth with the paratha in a lame attempt to cover up but ending up coughing. Aadarsh chewed his food slowly, his eyes shining with amusement, shaking his head at her stupidity.

"What was the joke?" Shelly Bua asked haughtily, throwing a gaze of disapproval at Ruhaani.

"It was...lame. Forget it. You were going to try a new eyes pack, how did that go?" Ashvi spoke up to engage Shelly Bua's attention.

"Oh, it was excellent. Felt very refreshing. The brand claims that it lightens dark circles on just one use. I don't have any as such, so I can't comment on that but maybe Ruhaani can try it out sometime and tell us if that claim is true."

Ruhaani turned to the woman, eyes narrowed and jaw tightened. She opened her mouth to say something. Aadarsh anticipated it to be something that might trigger an argument. It was usually Abhi's duty to defuse any bomb that Shelly Bua launched but given his absence at the table Aadarsh took it up.

"I have an announcement to make."

Suddenly all eyes were on him. Better. "I, uh," he thought hard of something he could stay. "Pari's admission is done. From next academic year, she'll be in your school." He smiled looking at the twins.

"that's awesome," Mukti said elated.

Ruhaani smiled. She would have preferred Aadarsh telling her first but then it was him. She couldn't keep high expectations when it came to small intricate matters such as this.

"Ah, wonderful!" Shelly Bua smiled at him. Ruhaani didn't know why to her it sounded an expression of sarcasm.

"I will also go to Sky View High?" Pari asked him with bright big smile.

"Yes," he said beaming at her.

"Yay, so I will also get same uniform."

"Except the sports uniform," Nirvan added. "That will depend on your house color."

"I hope she gets red like me!" Mukti said.

"No, blue house does better." Nirvan spoke up for his house.

"No, you guys came last in sports."

"Red house came last in quiz." He argued.

"Timeout," Ruhaani spoke interrupting them. "Eat your breakfast."

Aadarsh stared at her. He absolutely hated it when she used Timeout. It was his thing.

***

Sundays were always laze and laid-back. Post breakfast, Aadarsh spent some time looking at the twins's school diaries where the class teacher left weekly remarks. He was almost sure that Ruhaani had already done so on Friday evening. But he still wanted to. He wanted to be involved in their life just as before. Although having Ruhaani also looking at their studies was a great help. He didn't have to worry much because Ruhaani fussed over it a lot.

When he was passing by Bua's room to get to the kitchen his steps halted outside the room as he heard Ruhaani's voice.

"Bua, I don't understand why you don't like me. But it's evident that you don't like me and it's perfectly fine. But I would really appreciate if you keep that to yourself. I really don't like your constant comments."

"So now, I can't even express my views? Should I just keep quiet and sit in my own house? That's what you want?"

"I never said that, Bua."

"Please. I know all this tactic. You might fool the others but not me. I used to be the woman of this house but suddenly it's you. Of course you want people to sing your praises and ..."

"Bua, it's nothing like that. You're taking it all wrong. You're Aadarsh's Bua, you're a mother figure in his life and this is your home. I respect you. But I am a part of this family too now. I understand if you don't like me. I just want you to not taunt me. I don't like it and I also don't want the kids to grow up in a family where people pick each other's faults, in fact, the same fault again and again and mock them for it. It's not fair."

"Enough. You're crossing your limits now. You're telling me how to behave. You have some nerve."

"Bua , I am..."

"Get out of my room. I will not have you insult me anymore. Go. I knew you were the wrong choice for Aadarsh."

Aadarsh quickly hurried to the kitchen. Shelly Bua had always been a difficult person. She had her prejudices.

He stood against the kitchen island drinking water when a very livid Ruhaani stormed in. She was muttering something incoherent to herself. He quietly slipped out of the kitchen while she filled a glass of water for herself. He had to figure out how to resolve this issue between the two ladies without upsetting either of them.

***

Ruhaani had been in a very foul mood since the breakfast. She had skipped having lunch at the dining table and had it along with the kids in the TV room instead. She hadn't said a word through dinner.

Abhi was out with his friends. Ashvi was on some Netflix series marathon. Aadarsh had been busy with things related the court case.

Aadarsh looked up as Ruhaani walked into the room. She had left to make sure the kids were asleep. She had spent majority of the evening with them. He had expected Pari to give up on the idea of sleeping without her mother and come back to sleep between them. But surprisingly, Pari wanted to sleep in her bed only. She even told him how Dai Jaan had spread out her favorite 'strawberry bedsheet' as she called it, because it ha big strawberries printed on it.

Ruhaani settled into bed, picked up her kindle and quietly got busy reading. He went back to analyzing all the money transactions that had happened during the first split of the company. Over thirty minutes later he wrapped up and climbed onto the bed.

"Are you okay?" He spoke turning to her. It was strange when she was quiet for a prolonged period.

She looked up at him, a little surprised. "Why? Do I not look okay?"

"It's nineteen, the temperature. You fight with me every time it drops below twenty. So I am just making sure things are fine inside that head of yours?" He kept his lips from forming a smirk. He was testing the waters right now. He didn't know if it was safe to swim or a tornado was coming.

Ruhaani was too annoyed to notice the temperature. Usually she would suck up the situation and learn to live with it. She had done that her entire life. If someone said something nasty, made a comment that hurt her, she'd either try to ignore or accept it as it was and focus elsewhere. Like she did with her uncle. Like she did with Harsh's sister and mother.

However, the marriage seem to have changed that. It was a very welcome change. Her environment wasn't toxic anymore. Aadarsh might argue with her, ignore her or try to make things his way much to her annoyance, but he never hurt her or her feelings in anyway. At least not after their first proper argument. However, Shelly Bua seemed to know just exactly where her weak points and wounds were and scraped on it to get a kick out of it.

Yes, this was her second marriage. Yes, she had been a widow before this marriage. Yes, she was a single mother to a daughter. Yes, she was an orphan. Yes, she was a few months older than Aadarsh. Yes, she had been an orphan. All those facts didn't make her any less human.

At this point, people commenting on those facts didn't even hurt anymore. She was so used to them.

But calling her out for not looking pretty enough, calling her out for being biased towards her child when she was not, calling her out for not being good at cooking when she was trying to be better at it with every single day, all of that was unacceptable and hurtful.

She had even tried to fix their differences by communicating. By telling the woman that she didn't wish to be subject to her taunts, especially not before everyone else in the family. However, Shelly Bua had thrown it back at her face making it look like she was the problematic person. Like she was inadequate. She hated it when people did that.

"Ruhaani," he called softly.

"I am fine." She said, placing the kindle on the nightstand. "Good night." Having said that she evenly spread out the duvet and laid down on the mattress.

Aadarsh sighed. He knew she was not fine. "Ruhaani, about Bua..."

"Don't," she warned.

He laid on the bed and turned to her. "I had something else to discuss."

"Hmm,"

"Next week there's this wedding reception of an acquaintance. I am invited. Would you come along?"

She turned to him. "Are you okay?"

He blinked. "Why?"

"You're being kind, just checking if everything's alright in that head of yours." Her remark was punctuated with a victory smile, for getting even.

Aadarsh rolled his eyes. "I am kind. Your judgment of me is wrong."

"You're rude, especially to me." She reminded him.

"It's in your head. I am not. If you don't want to come, you can just say so. I thought it would be appropriate to take my new wife along."

"At this point, it seems like you just asked for the sake of it. You don't actually want me to say yes."

"You're annoying."

"excuse me?"

Aadarsh turned, so that his back was against the mattress. He looked up at the ceiling, ignoring her.

Ruhaani stretched her arm and poked his bicep using her index finger. "You can't ignore me, after calling me annoying. If this is not rude..."

"Ruhaani, I am trying to be polite. I asked you because I wanted to ask you. I can't help it if you already have assumptions about everything. Good night."

Ruhaani bit her lower lip. Perhaps she was dumping her frustration on him. She felt bad. Off late Aadarsh was actually being tolerable. She didn't want him to go back to being intolerable. God no! That would be horrible.

"YES, I will come along."

He turned to her. She turned to look at him. The both slowly looked away staring at the ceiling lost in their thoughts.

"By the way, I had to ask you something."

"Hmm,"

"I want to teach Nirvan dance. Not immediately. I know he has his final exams round the corner. But during the vacation."

"Nirvan doesn't dance."

"I know. That's why I want to teach him."

Aadarsh turned to her, curiously. "Did he say he wanted to learn?"

"No, he didn't. But I think he should take up something creative. Dance was my first option. I used to take dance classes for kids so I can obviously teach him. He won't open up if we send him for something outside. But with me he may actually try."

"Why? Why this sudden thought?" Aadarsh asked.

"Because I feel he needs it. He's too uptight. He only focuses on things where logical mind is required. He is not into art. Like his drawings, for instance, they are always done using rulers. He makes perfect triangles for mountains, a long rectangle for river."

"So, what? He isn't good at free hand drawing. It's normal." Aadarsh spoke in Nirvan's defence. He was extremely protective about his siblings, especially Nirvan.

"I know, it's normal. However, I think he needs to learn to let loose a bit. He's not expressive. He doesn't share his thoughts with anyone unless you sit with him and ask him a chain of questions and reassure him that he can trust you. He needs something, some form of art that helps him to put himself into ease. It can be dance, it can be music, any form of a recreational activity or art."

"Fine." Aadarsh could only say that. Ruhaani made sense. Nirvan was the most closed person in the family.

"I wonder why he's like that. It's like he feels there's no one who'll ever understand him."

"He's grown up without parents. Cut him some slack." Aadarsh said a bit too harshly looking away from her. He was reminded of Badi Bua's words about Nirvan not being normal. People didn't understand his brother. It was normal for people to be closed, to protect themselves.

"I know Aadarsh, I know how it feels."

His gaze darted back to her face. She was staring at the ceiling. "That's why I know he needs something to channel his emotions, his unspoken thoughts into. Eventually he'll learn to express them in the right way."

The conversation lapsed into a profound silence. A silence that stretched from seconds into minutes and then many minutes.

"I am going to get some hot chocolate, do you want to come along?" She asked sitting up. "I can't sleep." She added her reason.

Aadarsh couldn't sleep either. He was thinking about many things. Way too many thoughts were scattered in his mind to be able to sleep. The more he tried to brush them off, the stronger they stuck.

"It's an offer, not a compulsion." She added. She had no clue why she asked him. Maybe because she was scared of nocturnal roaches that creeped about in the dark. Maybe because the house was big and now eerily silent. Perhaps having company was a good idea. Even if it was Aadarsh's.

Aadarsh got off the bed as she walked around to the door of their room. She turned to him surprised, a brow raised to show that.

"You'll call me rude. Or you'll say I ignore you and your requests."

"Like you care for what I say, Mister Sehgal." She said walking out of their room. "It's the hot chocolate, I know."

Aadarsh wondered if it would be safe to call out her lack of skill in making tasty stuff at this point. "Of course, I wouldn't miss it for the world," he remarked following her trail. He chose to be diplomatic.

Ruhaani turned abruptly and glared at him. "Don't mock my hot chocolate, it's my best skill."

He looked at her unconvinced.

"Understood?" She said poking her finger at his chest.

He almost smiled. "Well, let's find out. Now you can't give yourself Michelin stars, can you?"

Ruhaani rolled her eyes. "like you give them out." She walked towards the steps.

"Even if I did, its not like you'd ..."

She turned to him. "Don't complete that. Timeout, okay? This conversation is over." Saying that she marched ahead again.

Aadarsh couldn't help but smile as he slowly followed her. At least she was no longer bitter about the whole Shelly Bua thing. However, this was only patch work, temporary fixture. He needed some concrete solution to this problem. Keeping Ruhaani happy was his responsibility and so was making sure there was no war in the family.

• — • — •

I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter.

Next : Friday 

Don't forget to vote ☆ on the chapters.

—Anami!♡