Ahanay was sleeping with his back turned to her, his eyes staring at the wall. How the heck was he supposed to stay calm after that? He could hear her breathing and just her presence made his heart thud in wild anticipation. And this heat made sweat break out on his neck that he felt stifled, both within and outside.

"Are we fasting or what," her bitter voice snapped him out of dangerous thoughts of taking her underneath him.

"What?" his voice was low, husky and confused.

"Is there any lunch?"

"There." He vaguely swayed his hand towards the table, without turning towards her. He couldn't. Not after what had happened, he couldn't look at her or else . . .

"What is this?!" She shouted, ruffling through the plastic bags. "The soggiest masala dosa and the hottest filter coffee in a bloody thermos?!"

"I thought you liked it," he mumbled, but his voice never reached her.

"Is this our lunch?!" She yelled like a mother reprimanding a child, picking a pillow and moving towards him at full speed.

Sensing her move, Ahanay quickly raised his hand, "Don't. Come. Close."

She stopped, her shadow looming over him. After some thought, perhaps knowing how her smacks had ended last time with his hand in her underwear, she quietly retreated. And for the rest of the afternoon, neither of them spoke, just their breathing cutting through the hot, heavy air.

* * *

Ahanay was feeling the heaviness weigh on his shoulders again as he tried opening his eyes, hearing Naina shout in sudden excitement, "Wake up, wake up!"

There was something wrong with him, he knew it as he struggled to get up. His broad shoulders were drooping like in the morning and his energy was drained. And here in front of him was, a fireball of ecstatic energy, exploding into sparks that scathed his ears.

"Look, look! How can you not look?! It's the most beautiful sunset everrr!" She pointed at the window in childish fervour, her feet tap-dancing on the floor.

He struggled hard to look, the light was blinding him as he covered his eyes with his upper forearm.

"You're mad! You won't ever see sunsets like these!" She shouted, storming towards the door. "I'm going, you do whatever you want to."

She thundered on him and he wondered how a small person like her could bring hell down on earth. From the moment they had married each other, not a single second went by without something bizarre occurring. He had assumed his marriage to be an ordinary affair till he killed her. A quiet affair where he would leave her alone and go on with his life.

Tiredly, he lay down on the bed, putting his forearm over his throbbing head. He tried thinking of Priya, her gentle beauty, yet somehow that image was replaced with the fiery woman he had married. Squeezing his eyes shut, he let the heaviness smother him to sleep.

It was not long before he woke up with a start, sweat breaking out on his neck once again. But the sun's rays were mellow, calming his jittered heart as he stared towards the window, dazed. Through the warm glow, he could see Naina at a distance, half-naked. There she was in a matching polka-dotted bra and underwear, kicking the waves.

He rubbed his eyes, but he still couldn't see clearly. Her blurry naked back and white polka dots swayed with the wind, the waves carrying her back and forth. He was aching to take her in his arms, to run his fingers over that smooth, shiny back. To wrap his arms around her and feel her body come alive.

Through the haze, he watched her for a long time, as long as the sun was up. Then he got up, trying to reach her, instead stumbling over a wire and crashing against the lamp. Pieces of glass flew everywhere like hailstones, the carcass of the lamp rolling across the floor.

"Fuck," he swore, collapsing on the floor. His head was foggy and his body felt heavy like he was drunk, otherwise, he was never clumsy. As if the heavens commanded his misfortune, the clouds roared outside, swallowing the sun and flashing electric light. Rain poured in torrents and he could hardly believe it. Was he in some terribly written soap opera?

"Oh God, what happened here?" Naina burst into the room, her chest heaving up and down as she breathed heavily. It was only a second. A second as fast as the flash of lighting outside that he saw her body, without the blur. A drop of water disappeared in between her breasts that were spilling out of that navy blue bra with those white polka dots. That bra could barely hold them. Her skin above was glistening with traces of salt and sand was plastered on her inner thighs. Her soaked hair was stiff, her eyes wide and her plump lips parted in shocking surprise.

"Fuck," he thought in that split second. She was his living, waking, wet dream.

The next second, a hideous maxi dress was thrown over her as she rushed towards him, heaving his arm over her shoulders with difficulty.

"Can't you get up?" she was scolding him in worry like his mother had when he scraped his knees as a boy. He groaned at all the fuss being made. "Oh my God, you're hot!"

"I know." He smirked at her and felt a smack against his head.

"How can you joke when you're this sick?!"

"I will kill you when I get better," he growled which came out as a low rasp, rubbing his forehead.

"You will kill me only if you're alive," she said, getting up with huffs and puffs. Till the last day of his life, he couldn't fathom how that tiny thing had placed him on the bed. By the time he found his head resting against the pillow with a few bumps here and there, her face was red, hot and angry. "There is no phone connection, no doctor! Why the hell did you have to get sick here? In the middle of nowhere?!"

"I---" He couldn't say anything clever, his head was too heavy.

"I wish you were richer so I could just let you die here and take away all your money," Naina continued and he smiled, a wrinkly smile that infuriated her more. "I'm serious! Now move, you need to have warmth."

He felt his body budge the slightest bit as she moved him, bending down to wrap a dusty, old blanket. He could feel her warm body as she bent and gathering all his strength, he pulled her down. With a yelp, she came crashing down to his chest.

"What the hell are you---"

"Stay," he whispered against her hair, the wind whistling outside at their budding romance. He wrapped his arms tightly around her as if squeezing all the warmth. And as the rain thudded against the little window, his own erratic heartbeats slowed, his droopy eyes closing.

"Shit, are you alive?" Naina's tiny, croaky voice echoed in the room but received no answer. Feeling the dead weight of his arms over her, her heartbeats quickened and she began wiggling in panic until she accidentally felt something. Hard. "What is this---oh, OH. Okay, okay, so you're alive."

"Shut up," he whispered, tightening his arms to stop her wiggles and both of them lulled into the deepest, warmest sleep.

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