Page 47 of Married in Vengeance

“No, it’s not. My business is not your business.”

“As your husband, I beg to differ.” Irritation sparked in his voice and expression.

She glanced over at him taking in his rumpled, stained t-shirt and ratty shorts. His hair stood on end and the lenses in his glasses were smudged. He looked nothing like the immaculate, perfectly pressed and polished Ram she knew. Strangely enough she found she preferred this version of him.

“You need to choose,” she told him.

“Choose?” One eyebrow shot up.

“Are you my husband and by that I mean, husband in the truest sense of the word? Or not?”

Ram’s lips pressed into a thin line, his eyes flashing fire. “You really want to push me on this?”

“Yes.” She pushed to her feet, wishing she wasn’t as shaky as Bambi on her feet. “I do. I really fucking do.”

“Apparently,” he replied, getting to his own feet, sending her a weirdly meaningful look. “It’s time!”

Aadhya stared at him. “Yes, you douche. It’s time. It’s time for you to stop acting like someone with multiple personality disorder. You’re giving me emotional whiplash.”

“I am acting like that? I am???” Ram was livid, a vein popping in his temple. “If anyone has been-“

But he never got to finish that statement as the door opened and his mother and sisters filed in.

“You’re up!” Veda exclaimed, looking relieved. “I was so worried when Amma told me how sick you are.”

Aadhya smiled wanly, sitting down on the bed with an awkward thump. “You shouldn’t hug me,” she murmured when Veda looked like she was going to throw her arms around her. “I’m a germ basket at the moment.”

Veda stopped with her hands hovering awkwardly in the air. Raashi snorted with laughter. “You should wear a mask Akka. You’d probably end up bringing the state to a grinding halt if you got your darling husband sick.”

Veda glowered at her sister, dropping her hands and going to sit at the end of the bed.

“All good Aadhya?” Raashi asked cheerfully.

“All good Rash-matash,” Aadhya replied, smiling. Raashi was someone she understood better than anybody else in this family. “How’s life in the arclights?”

“Ugh!” Raashi collapsed with a groan in the middle of bed. “The worst.”

With anyone else this would have come across as fake. Which woman wouldn’t want to be married to a superstar? But Raashi genuinely couldn’t have cared less. In fact, she would have been happier if Harsh had been a software engineer or something.

“Maybe his next movie would flop,” Ram said dryly. “Then people might be a little less obsessed with him.”

“Bite your tongue.” Raashi popped back up like a demented jack-in-the-box. “It will not flop. It will be a hit to beat all hits. I won’t accept anything else.”

Aadhya laughed. Raashi’s red, indignant face had the whole room grinning, even their mother had an indulgent smile on her face.

“You won’t accept anything else?” Veda teased. “What are you now? The Box Office Goddess?”

“Yes,” Raashi said smugly. “And Harsh worships at my altar every night.”

“EWWWW.” The yell was unanimous from both her siblings even as their mother glanced up at the ceiling trying to pretend she wasn’t in the room.

“For God’s sake, Raash.” Ram’s exasperation was at volcanic levels. “Have you no filter?”

“No.” Raashi shrugged. “Never did. Why are you so surprised?”

Aadhya grinned. And this was why she loved Raashi so much. What you saw was what you got. Far better deal than the endless layers that was the Ram onion.

“Aadhya, do you have a passport?” her mother-in-law asked, the question coming completely out of left field.

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