Raghav's POV:

I tried my best to keep my word but the work was much more than I had expected. Forget early, I wasn't even able to leave the restaurant at the usual time. It was too late, by the time I managed to reach home.

I opened the door with keys, thinking that Tanya must have slept off. To my surprise, she was awake, sitting on the couch with a tired face.

"Someone said that he was going to come early", she taunted as soon as our eyes met.

I rubbed my forehead sheepishly. "Sorry, I couldn't keep the track of time while working".

She tutted at me, looking like she was disappointed in me. But the mirth in her eyes gave her away. She was just faking the anger and disappointment.

"Go and freshen up. I will warm up your dinner", she said with a smile, letting me know that my assumption was true. She wasn't angry.

"Wait", I called out, stopping her on her way to kitchen.

She tilted her head and look at me with a raised eyebrow, silently asking me 'what?'.

"Did you eat?" I asked, feeling concerned.

"What do you take me for? I am not the typical goody-two-shoes type of wife, who stays hungry for her workaholic husband who has no sense to come home on time", she replied with a roll of her eyes.

I very well understood her underlying taunt but didn't comment on it as I was at fault here.

"That's good. I am glad you didn't wait. I would have felt a lot guiltier than now if you had to stay hungry because of me", saying this, I went up to freshen up.

I served myself the dinner. To my astonishment, she sat beside me.

"You can go to sleep. There's no need to wait for me", I said, as she looked quite tired and sleepy.

"Just because I can't stay hungry until you are back, it doesn't mean I can't accompany you while you eat. Plus, Trisha once told me that you don't like eating alone", she spoke while filling my glass with buttermilk.

She must have seen my openmouthed expression as she commented, "Stop staring at me and start eating".

This act of hers made me think whether I had wrongly judged her. She was careless, yes; but she was also caring.

                           ★★★★★
Morning:

To say my body was paining was an understatement. I twisted and turned the whole night, without getting a wink of sleep. And to add on that, yesterday's tiredness from travelling and overworking didn't help at all.

I badly wanted to sleep but there was no other choice other than to wake up as going to work was important.

One look at my tired form, Tanya couldn't help from asking.

"Didn't get any sleep?" She asked as we sat to have breakfast on the dining table.

"Ah! It's nothing...just tired", I tried to be vague but she looked through my lies.

"From today onwards, you take the room and I will sleep on the couch".

I protested but she shushed me. "It will be fine. You need to have energy to go out and work. You need your night's sleep. While for me, I have the whole day to sleep on the bed after you leave. So, just take the bed for night".

"A day's sleep is different than a night's sleep. And this couch is not at all comfortable. You will break your back", I argued.

"I don't know what I was thinking while buying it", I muttered under my breath in frustration.

"Must be the looks", Tanya commented.

"What should we do now? If the couch can break my back than it will surely break yours too", she asked.

"Well....", I trailed off, not having the courage to voice out my idea.

"Hmm?"

"If..if you can trust me, we both can sleep on the bed", I suggested, while wincing internally.

"The bed is big enough for us to sleep on either ends with enough space between us", I hurriedly explained, not wanting her to assume the worst. I had no idea how she would react as she kept switching from getting scared of me to fighting fiercely with me.

"I...umm..", she stuttered, looking shit scared.

Thus, I got to know that she was in scared mode, right now.

"Forget it", I waved my hand offhandedly.

"Just forget that I suggested something. I will adjust on the couch for few days, until I buy a new comfortable one".

"If...", she started hesitantly putting a pause to my ramblings.

"If we try your idea tonight, will you leave, if I suddenly feel like I can't take it?" She asked in a small voice.

"Of course", I was fast to reassure her. "I won't stay a second more. The moment you feel slightly uncomfortable, I will leave. And please don't worry, I will buy another couch as soon as possible".

We gave each other awkward smiles, feeling out of place after this discussion. I gulped down my coffee in one go and stood up to get ready, not having enough courage to face her right now.

She quietly sipped her coffee, not commenting on my abrupt departure.