The Wrong Woman

4. Dhruv

After my cooking experiment had to be stopped halfway, I ended up reading 'Into Thin Air' and falling asleep. I woke up after gracelessly landing on the cold timber floor; apparently, I was in such deep sleep that my body automatically wanted a more comfortable sleeping space than a black leather couch.

With a groan and a rub of my lower back, I pushed myself up. The dark and quiet made it eerie but what was more off was how dark it was. What time was it? I thought, feeling around the couch for my phone. I found it wedged between the armrest and turned it on, the white light blaring into my eyes.

7:30.

Wait, 7:30?

Where was Rani? I looked at my phone for any missed calls or text messages from her; none. That was strange. Hadn't she said she would be here by six? Maybe she just had to work overtime. I switched on the ceiling lights, took a shower and got dressed, occasionally looking at my phone to see if I'd missed something from her. 7:30 turned into 7:55 which turned into 8.

"Crap," I mumbled. I decided to dial Anish. Maybe he'd know something.

"Where the heck are you two?" he screeched as soon as he picked up. "Do you know how long we've been waiting?"

"Sorry," I said, my voice raspy. I cleared my throat. "Did Rani come straight over to yours?"

"What? No."

My gut was going through the wringer now and I straightened up, despite my aching back screaming in protest. "I'm gonna call her. Sorry, can we postpone dinner?"

"Sure...Dhruv, what's wrong?"

"She's not here."

"What do you mean she's not there?" I could hear Sandra's muffled voice in the background before he repeated the same words I'd told him. "Maybe she came in and didn't tell you. You're not exactly on good speaking terms."

A possibility. I went up the curved stairs and checked the bedroom and the bathroom. No sign of her.

"I can't find her. I'll talk to you later. Tell Sandra I said sorry, all right?" Before he could say anything else, I dialled her number and waited. All I was hearing was 'the person you're trying to reach is unavailable' and it was starting to piss me off.

"For fucks—" The line clicked. "Hello? Rani?"

"Why are you calling me? I'm on my way home, Dhruv."

I didn't think I'd be so relieved to hear her cutting voice. "Thank God."

"What? What're you talking about?"

"Where were you? Why weren't you picking up?"

"My work colleague had a mini party at this cafe and I ended up having to work overtime."

Right. I figured that was the case initially but..."You couldn't have texted me that?" I asked, relief turning into frustration. "I promised Anish about dinner and you flaked."

"I didn't flake. I didn't even mean it when I said 'ok'."

"What?" I spat.

"Unlike you, I work and things happen unexpectedly. Just because I say ok doesn't mean it's set in stone."

"You don't think cooking and cleaning for you is work? I'm not sure if you forgot but I used to have a full-time job just like you back when we first got married. Not only was I balancing that, but I was looking after you, too."

"Look, I don't have time to argue with you."

I took a deep breath in and out, letting my shoulders drop. "I agree. We shouldn't be wasting our time on pointless arguments." When she didn't respond, I flopped down into the couch and let my body weight sink in. "I'm sorry. I felt like I let Anish down and when you didn't respond to my texts and then my calls, I got worried. That's all." Rani only hummed. Her famous, indifferent 'I don't care enough to talk' hum. It was the end of the conversation. "I postponed it anyway. So if you feel bad about it, don't."

"...I'll call Anish and let him know."

At least there was that.