An hour later, Geetha woke up and grabbed her laptop even before her eyes cleared off their haze. She opened a rental website and created an account. Then she filled in the details of her flat. After some thought she added, '₹5000/- off for 1 month if rented within 5 days.' No way she was going to let Ramit kick her out.

When she was about to shut it down, another thought came to her. She searched 'How to be patient with people who keep changing their decisions?'

The first said, help them come to the right decision. That wasn't very helpful. What she wanted to know was how she should 'behave' while they were indecisive.

The next said, don't bother with such people. They are not worth the frustration. She sighed. Not wanting to scroll further, she shut the laptop down.

She walked out in search of that indecisive guy. When she didn't find him, she decided to ask his mother, who gave her a once over and shook her head. Very caring girl she had for a daughter-in-law! "He didn't come down," she said with displeasure.

"Then I will search upstairs properly," Geetha said, not affected by her mother-in-law's countenance in the least.

"Be careful," her mother-in-law said.

Geetha nodded and went back up. Walking around the house, she reached the terrace. She found him resting in a chair.

It was evening and the breeze was cool. His eyes were closed. She admired him for a few moments. He was so brave, and so cool and also good looking. Indeed, she had selected her spouse well. Uplifted, she knelt down and slowly shook him as she called out his name.

He woke up.

The first thing Ramit saw was the complacent smile hung on her lips. What was she so smug about? When their eyes met he asked her, "What do you want?"

"Go and sleep inside. I won't come in until night."

"What will you do?"

"I will watch serials with maa."

He pursued his lips. "Do whatever you want."

"I will. You go down and rest." Her eyes told him that she would not stop until he did what she wanted.

He stormed off.

"Walk slowly. Do you want another limb injured?" Her concern was genuine, however off-put it sounded.

His face turned dark. He stopped and turned around. "Don't come into the room until tomorrow. Sleep in another room." He walked away even faster.

Geetha blinked. Why was he so cranky? Ah, she knew. She just woke him up from his sleep. Anyone would be irritated.

She stood there, slowly walking around. The birds were chirping. The sun turned orangish and the sky a softer shade. She sat where he had and looked up at the sky. It was cloudless and blue, as serene as it could be. The scenes from that night kept coming back. She thought back to them by choice too sometimes.

How could he be so silly, she thought, at first. Was he done living his life so soon? Was she that bad of a person? She concluded she was. But he was willing to give up everything for her sake. She told him when they decided to separate, didn't she? That he only had one life and he must do everything he wants to?

She sighed. He decided to be serious about his company but not about his life. She was thankful for it, for she would not have been alive if not. But it made her feel terrible about herself and her morals.

After a few more days of contemplation, she felt he was brave enough to be silly. What she was thankful for was not his silliness, but his courage.

She usually tackled all sorts of problems well. The change of schedules in her job irritated her because things went out of order. Not because she could not cope with the preponement of a deadline. She'd be called upon to take on the work if it looked too close to failure. She would not fail though.

But in the face of a real, significant problem, she was stiff, literally, every muscle. In her experience he was not one to stand his ground very well. She believed he was a coward.

"Ha!" she snorted at herself. How laughable! While her soul flew out of her body in those moments, he kept her conscious and guided her to safety. What kind of courage was that? She had these thoughts the entire week he was in coma.

What was that famous love quote she read? She massaged her head a little until she got it out. 'Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.' It was by Lao Tzu, a Chinese philosopher. Who knew he was right! In that case, she was also going to love him deeply and become courageous.

∼•∽

At night, she did not step into their room. If you are planning to love someone, the first step is to accommodate their wishes, she had read when she scraped the internet just a little while ago. She settled into Ria's room with light footsteps. She liked how that girl was organised and also loved a pale palette.

Right after she closed the door stealthily, without a sound, someone knocked on it. She squeezed her eyes. How come? Didn't she only come after telling her mother-in-law goodnight and seeing her tucked in beside her father-in-law, who was already in dreamland, standing by their door? It must be the maid.

She opened the door a centimetre to ask what the maid wanted.

She saw her mother-in-law, however. "Maa," she said delightedly as she threw open the door wide.

"What did you do again?" her mother-in-law said. She must hate her.

She rudely told him to shut up when he was just coming about. "Nothing. He asked what was wrong when I gave him the rose."

Her mother-in-law had some doubts. She frowned and said, "Only for that?" She knew her son. He would in fact be happy.

"He is being moody." She received a glare for that. It was much better than getting herself kicked out though. She remembered how both the mother and son wanted to throw her out.

"Tsk! If he is moody, you convince him. You don't happily relax!"

Geetha looked down as she slumped her eyebrows with a frown and turned down her lips. She did not want to go into their room that was as silent as a graveyard. "Why? He does not talk, he doesn't want me to talk."

Her mother-in-law was at a loss for words. After everything Geetha did, she actually blamed her son right in her face now? She felt that she was acting too strangely ever since she cried in front of her in that cursed country, that made life for her son so difficult. She acted all goofy around her ever since then. She was not very sure, but she remembered how she acted with her own mother. In Ria's wedding, Shanti and Geetha only shared a smile and two sentences.

At that time she thought it was because Geetha did not feel comfortable talking to her parents when her in-laws were around. But if that were true, what explained Geetha's behaviour with her? She was her mother-in-law.

Unable to wrap her head around it, she said, "Fine, do whatever you want. Just don't jump around."

"Thank you, maa, goodnight!" Geetha smiled, only for the older woman to think either Geetha or herself was weird.

∼•∽

Lying in bed that night, she thought about everything once again. After ten minutes, she decided that she would apologise to him first thing next morning.

When morning came, she freshened up and quietly snuck into their room. Her clothes were in there and she needed to take a bath soon. She was an early bird and once she bathed the whole day was hers to accomplish her to do lists.

Thankfully, he was still sleeping.

She took her clothes and slipped out of the room, lest he woke up to the sounds of the water and thought she did not accommodate his wish.

∼•∽

An hour later, she greeted him from downstairs when he opened the door.

Ramit's fresh face turned aggrieved and he went back inside and closed the door. With a frown she turned around. Her mother-in-law who was beside her was watching her with eagle eyes.

"I should go and console him," she said, not just to please her.

She walked upstairs slowly and waited. If she knocked, she knew he wouldn't open. She shuffled to one side. Her saree was a bright pink and the floor was polished glass-smooth. With the sunshine entering the house, her saree's reflection, at least the colour, could be seen at the gap bottom of the door. Given that he had seen her just then, there was a high chance he would know and decide to wait until she left.

Thankfully, he did not let her stand too long.

"I'm sorry. Didn't I say I didn't mean to say shut up?" she said the moment his eyes landed on her.

Ramit's heart jumped. She scared him, popping out of nowhere! "If you're going to act like this, then get out right now!"

Geetha took a moment to calm down at the obnoxious words. "Just tell me what I should do."

"Maa! Tell her to get out!" he said as he climbed down the stairs.

That obnoxious fellow, Geetha said in her heart, he dare bring support against her! Wasn't it an issue between them?

But that was alright, she reassured herself. His mother was not going to listen to him. She wanted them both to stay together. She had also forgiven her for her wrongdoings of one full year.

"I'm your wife!" She followed him downstairs.

"Great realisation. Give me some peace then."

"It was just a slip of the tongue. Why are you so angry?"

He stopped and turned around. She caught the rail to steady herself at the sudden pause and looked at him.

"Don't you get it? I've had enough with you!" he said.

"We didn't even properly live together. What 'enough' is that you speak of?" she asked, giving him an intense stare as she stood baffled.

He stared back at her. There was no way he was giving in to someone like this. Whose fault was it that they had to live apart? And now she was blaming him? He turned back and walked down.

"Maa, I'm going back to my flat," he said, stressing the possessive word.

"Sit down and talk, you too!" Ramit's father shouted. He did not like all the disturbance they created early in the morning, especially since Geetha was involved.

"Papa, my hand is completely healed now. I'll go back."

"What about her?"

"...I don't know. Ask her."

Of course he didn't ask her. He was still not willing to talk to her. Every time she greeted the old couple, while the woman responded and greeted her back, the man scowled at her and whipped his head away. After a few times she was concerned for his neck but didn't dare to say anything.

"Papa, it's time for breakfast. You should eat and take your medicines," she said. "You too," she said to Ramit, "You should pack to leave anyway. Eat and we can pack." A problem can only go on for so long, so she decided to interrupt and put an end to it.

Who wants to pack with her, Ramit thought. Why should he listen to her? Who did she think she was? He was done letting her walk all over him.

When he sat for breakfast along with his parents, Geetha was just about to take her seat beside him. When he caught her eyes, he gazed into them intently.

Geetha controlled herself from glaring back at him. Why was he looking at her so vigilantly? Was she going to eat him alive? She wanted to roll her eyes but she decided to accommodate him. Fine, she understood what he meant. He did not want her to sit beside him. There were other chairs but she decided to wait on them instead. After all, these men were still antagonising her. Wasn't this a chance to please them?

She softly asked the maid to leave. When the maid did not leave, she had to step up. She said, "If both of us stand here, am I the mannequin? Go. Go into the kitchen and sleep if you have nothing to do."

The maid left and Geetha served breakfast.

Ramit's head was down the whole time and Geetha did not know how she missed the fact that he looked so pleasing to the eye as he filled his stomach. She always looked down on the internet folk that said smol instead of small. She found the reason. Just look at that face. From her angle, it was smol.

After breakfast Ramit did not dilly-dally. He locked her out of their room until he finished packing.

Geetha stood outside waiting.

Looking at her, the man of the house said to his wife, "What is she doing? She's all over the place!"

His wife sighed and said, "Let's leave it to them."

"You like her. That's why you say that. How can I leave him to her? She'll only make him sad."

She sighed. They were the elder generation and their son did not exactly need them to do anything in this matter. She thought the couple had a bright future, now more than ever. Maybe it was a woman's heart that spoke, but she believed after a big fight, a couple's bonding would grow much more. She knew this fight was serious, but she still held on to that belief.

Moreover, she had a soft spot for Geetha, although she did not exactly like her. That girl was Shanti's daughter, after all.

"Leave them alone," she said ultimately.

Upstairs, as soon as Ramit opened his door, Geetha stepped in. His luggage, which he was about to move out, stood in her way. She moved it in and got herself inside. He can move it out now. She didn't speak to him. She grabbed her bag from the lower cupboard and emptied everything she had in the upper cupboards.

"Fuck," she said. Her luggage turned so chaotic.

"Mind your words. We are at my parents' home." He remembered how she had the worst habit of cussing when they were in school.

"Sorry," she said and started organising her luggage. It took her some time. Unknowingly, she slowed down in the middle. Why did he remind her to be careful with her words? He should have shouted at her loud enough for his parents to know. That would help him have them on his side. Tears from her eyes fell on the clothes in her bag. She arched her neck up, trying to get the water she was losing back into her system. She did not understand why she cried so frequently lately. She also did not understand the meaning behind his actions. He was a generally kind person, but after everything that she did, why would he be kind to her? What a joke, she thought he switched off her alarm with some grand plan. She did not understand him at all.

She wiped her eyes and started packing faster. She had no time to think wastefully.

∼•∽