Raghav walked into his bedroom. It used to be a safe place for him to relax and escape from the world. No one disturbed him here, not even Farhad. But now his bedroom held a sleeping Pallavi in his bed. Thank god she hadn't moved from the side of the bed he had put her on, in fact she hadn't even put the blanket over her. Raghav was exhausted and walked to the bathroom to change and brush his teeth. When he turned on the light he noticed a washed plate, bowl, and glass on the side of the sink, Pallavi had washed the dishes Amma had brought for her. Raghav sighed, at least the woman knew how to not make a mess. He was so tired that he didn't bother with pajamas, he took off the blood-red shirt he had chosen to wear for the wedding, and climbed into bed. Making sure to not wake Pallavi, he didn't want a lecture tonight, he was too tired. He tossed and turned, unable to sleep, and when he turned to Pallavi, for an inexplicable reason he took pity and placed the bed's comforter over her. There was no reason to torture her in her sleep, he might as well keep his initial deal offer to Pallavi from his first 'proposal:' from now on, he would leave Pallavi Deshmukh alone. But unfortunately, this woman was Pallavi Raghav Rao now. Raghav fell asleep wondering what had happened to Pallavi's first husband, what had Sharda Aunty called him? Mandaar, he remembered. He must have died early in the marriage because Pallavi was still young, he realized he didn't even know how old his wife was. Regardless of how old she was, Raghav thought she was stupid to stay with her in-laws for all this time. She should have returned to her real family, the Deshmukhs treated her like crap, and they seemed to lose all memory of Pallavi being their so called 'daughter' the second she inconvenienced them.
The next morning Pallavi woke with a start. She pushed the comforter off of her and noticed Raghav sleeping next to her. This idiot, he had the audacity to sleep without a shirt, with her in the bed next to him. Pallavi's head was still hurting from yesterday, so she decided against waking Raghav up to yell at him to put on some clothes, she didn't want to argue with this idiot so early in the morning.
She spotted the suitcase with her clothes and things that Keerthi had brought to her from Jaya Aunty's house. She tiptoed to it and took out a sari and blouse to wear, her toothbrush, and some other toiletries. She would quickly shower and get ready, then she'd go downstairs and figure out what it meant to be Raghav Rao's wife. In the light of the day Pallavi realized how magnificent the bathroom was. There wasn't only a shower, but also a large clawfoot bathtub. Pallavi admired the bathtub, wishing she could spend an hour or two relaxing in a bubble bath. But she shook herself out of her silly daydream and got ready. After she had put on her makeup and pinned her sari, she looked in the mirror and noticed the mangal sutra around her neck. She realized she had left the box of sindoor Amma had left for her back in the bedroom. She made her way out of the bathroom, as quiet as she could be, because she really didn't want Ghamandi Rao to wake up. Raghav was still asleep, and Pallavi took the sindoor box and went to the vanity in the bedroom. She hesitated, opening the box and staring at the blood red powder. Then she reminded herself this was all for her family. She sighed and filled her maang with sindoor, closing the box, placing it on the vanity and silently leaving the room.
She hadn't realized that Raghav had woken up a couple minutes ago. Initially he had completely forgotten the events of yesterday, but then he noticed Pallavi sitting at the vanity, staring at a box of sindoor in her hand. He noticed how even in the simple blue sari she had chosen to wear, her face seemed to glow. Even though Pallavi wasn't smiling. It looked as if the Pallavi Deshmukh that Raghav had seen challenge him over and over again, that danced like a goddess, that knew how to throw an insult almost as good as he did, was gone, she had been replaced with a clone that didn't have the same memories as the original person. Raghav's thoughts went back to last night. Remembering how Sharda Aunty had mentioned her son, Mandaar, as Pallavi's husband sent a wave of emotion through Raghav. He didn't completely recognize it, but it felt like a mixture of anger, sadness and betrayal. Why hadn't Pallavi shared this with him? Then he realized, it's not like he and Pallavi had been friends before last night, they had quite literally sworn each other as enemies multiple times. But even if she hadn't told him, he did at least want to understand why a widow, especially such a young widow, would waste her life serving her in-laws if they had such little respect for her. He watched Pallavi, now his wife, put the sindoor in her hair and leave the room. She did look beautiful with her hair parted in the middle like that, no matter how weird and crazy she was, Raghav thought.
