Page 63 of The Unwanted Husband
She saw the pride of his tradition in his eyes. “Legend has it that failure means the sea goddess won’t protect the marriage, that we as a couple are not a match made in heaven.”
He mixed the dark powder in the flask and poured it into two cups. He held one cup to her. “This will keep us up for two nights straight.”
“Good!” She winked, sipping strong coffee.
The first few hours passed easily as they drifted with the current and enjoyed what seemed like endless black coffee. Ashok talked about his childhood on the island and it felt like Isha was learning a lot more about him in the few hours than in the few months she had been living under the same roof with him.
When he pressed her on sharing details about herself, she held back a lot of the details with the fear of awakening the trauma. She did share some of her fears about the future of the kids and how they would be without parents.
“When the kids have all the attention and care they need, they will be fine.” His words put her at ease.
She was so traumatized by her parents’ death that she had shut everyone out. “I hope they don’t end up like me.”
He looked taken aback. “What do you mean?”
In an effort to lighten the mood of the conversation she let out half a smile. “It’s hard to explain, so let’s go with a set of questions.”
“What were your first impressions of me?” she asked, slightly pinching herself to stay alert.
“What? Why are you asking me that?” He didn’t think highly of her at first but there was something he could not deny. How beautiful she looked.
“We still have hours to burn through so keep talking. What did you think of me when you first met me? She insisted.
He took a sip of the coffee they had been remaking the past couple of hours. “I thought you looked like a sea goddess in the teal outfit you wore at Sami and Ravi’s wedding,” he admitted, his own voice showing signs of weariness.
She almost spewed her coffee. “That was the last thing I expected you to say.”
He laughed. “What else were you expecting me to say?”
“Stuck up, adamant, high maintenance, hard to talk to, the list goes on.” She laughed, fully aware of what first impressions people have of her.
“Ravi would talk about you all the time and it was as if I knew you. So, when I saw you, a polite smile on your face and those ‘I will kill you if you approach me’ eyes, I thought you were beautiful in your own way.” He smiled and added, “I did think you were adamant and stuck up.”
Heat rushed to her cheeks. “That’s not embarrassing to hear at all.”
“But then I saw you laughing with Ravi and Sami, and I knew you weren’t as scary as you wanted everyone to believe.” His words made her heart tumble.
She had to find a way to distract the conversation away from her, somehow. It was around midnight, and the conversation was starting to lag and she knew both of them were fighting sleep.
She had an idea to take the conversation away from talking about her and also staying awake. “Your dad told me you were a good sailor. About how much you loved rowing in the ocean. You should teach me the techniques.”
He hesitated for a moment, and she caught something flickering across his face in the moonlight. Uncertainty or maybe something else.
“Are you sure?” His voice was rougher than usual. It was obvious she was trying to deflect the topic away from talking about her.
She nodded, not trusting herself to speak.
Ashok held his hand out to her as he stood by the sail. She took his hand and moved closer, close enough that she could feelthe warmth radiating from his skin. His arm extended past her shoulder, and she had to fight the urge to lean back into him.
“The first rule of sailing is to not do it alone, until you are a seasoned one,” he said, his breath stirring the hair at her temple. A shiver passed through her despite the warm night air.
“It’s a good thing you are here.” Her mind was suddenly active and very aware of his proximity.
“Have you ever done this before?” His voice dropped to almost a whisper.
The impact of his words settled between them. She turned slightly to look at him, and found his face inches from hers. His eyes dropped to her lips for the briefest moment before he caught himself.
“I should—” He started to pull away, but she caught his wrist without thinking.
