Page 102 of The Circle of Exile
“Don’ttickleme!” She whacked his wrist. He took it off her mouth — “Where is your laptop?”
“Let’s do it tomorrow now.”
“No. Get it. I’ll get mine,” he climbed back down.
“You are working right now?” She sat up.
“I can work at any time. There is no dearth of work for me.”
Iram reached under her bedside table and pulled out her laptop sleeve. He got his own iPad and the preliminary PAG report that had been typed fresh this evening. He could free up his early morning at the Secretariat if he finished skimming it today. Atharva put on his glasses and came back to bed, Iram staring at her closed laptop.
“Open it, Iram.”
She sighed, as if he were sending her to the executioner.
“Does writing feel so bad?” He climbed beside her. “If it’s too much, then don’t.”
“No, it’s not. I just… ok. I need to do this. I need to start.” She gripped the top of her laptop and pulled the hood open. It began to boot up. Atharva pushed a pillow behind her and took two for himself, just as they used to like it. He reached down and covered their legs with the duvet and they set up in silence.
“You like to sit on the lounger while working but we will start from here,” he told her. “Hmm?”
She nodded. As soon as her laptop screen lit up, her gumption began to spiral down.
“Come on, myani zuv.”
She opened her Word doc and stared blankly at it.
“Iram.”
“I need more time. This is… what if…”
“100 words. Delete them all later. For now, 100 words. You have 5 minutes.”
Her head whirled to him. “You are challenging me?”
“I can read 500 words in this report in 5 minutes. Can you write a 100 at least?”
She stared at him,hisIram, her brown irises flaring, crackling, lighting up.
“On your marks,” she challenged back. He quickly unlocked his iPad and grabbed his report folder. “Get set.”
“Go!” They shot out in unison and before he could even start reading the title, the sweet ticks of her keyboard hit his ears.
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“New assignment for you,” he met her halfway down the stairs.
“You scared me!” She snapped back before he slipped his arm around her waist to steady her. “I was going to call you to eat.”
“I ate my bread last night and also the chef’s scolding, thank you very much.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“Is that Arth?” Atharva held his ear out.
“Noora is singing to him.”
“And he is liking it?” He scowled, moving to the banister and peeping down. He couldn't see it but the sounds were clear. “No,” he muttered.
