When you look at the stars or the clouds, have you ever felt at ease. Like, the slow movement of the clouds calming your inner turmoil. Or the silence of the stars washing away your worry for a bit. These feelings make you wanna stare at the cause for long.

Aayan also felt those feelings, silence and ease. When he opened his eyes, he was first surprised, then relaxed. He just stared at a sleeping Ruhee, who's face was rested right next to his. He just quietly admired her face.

Starting from her silky straight hair, that was falling on her creaseless forehead to her closed eyes, as her eyelashes shadowed her cheeks. To her bulb like nose, and below the nose were her pouty lips. He admired her face as a small smile spread on his lips.

Beautiful.

A strand of hair fell on her face, causing her to scrunch her nose. Aayan's smile widened at her cute face and moved his hand forward to set aside the strand from her face. With his fingers, he slowly swiped the hair off her face, and tucked it behind her ear. He looked at her sleeping face again, smiling to himself.

He was staring at her closed eyes, when slowly they fluttered open. As soon as Ruhee opened her eyes, they met with Aayan's brown ones. And as if caught in a spell, they just stared at each other. The sound of her mobile ringing was just what they needed, to break them out of their trance.

They blinked and turned away, as Aayan rolled to his other side and Ruhee, looked the other way. The ringing continued, so she got up from the floor she was sitting on, or more like sleeping on since last night, and went to pick up her mobile on the couch.

Aayan, who was now facing the other way, saw Ruhee pick up her mobile and answer it, 'Hello.' as soon as Ruhee said that, she pulled her mobile away from her ear, and Aayan could hear a muffled voice from her mobile, even though he was laying on the bed.

Some one sure has a loud voice.

Ruhee placed her mobile back in her ear and said, 'God woman, you didn't have to scream in my ear.' then she heard what the person the on the other line said, 'Yeah, I kinda slept in.' she said, in a apologizing tone. Ruhee suddenly blushed and looked at Aayan for a brief before turning away, from his gaze, 'Shut up.' he heard her say. Aayan frowned

Why did she blush?

Ruhee walked into the walk-in closet and shut the door, thus Aayan couldn't hear what she was talking about. Aayan signed and stretched on the bed. 'Ah!' Aayan said in exhaustion. His entire body was aching, and he was sweaty all over.

What the heck?

And all the memories from last night came rushing into his brain. From him being whiny to holding Ruhee's hand. Sub-consciously, he held up his hand, that held Ruhee's hand all night, and looked at it. He smiled looking at it. He inhaled and exhaled deeply as he fisted his hand and placed it on his chest. He was feeling happy and fuzzy.

What is this feeling?

But whatever it was, it felt good. 'Yeah, Bye.' he heard Ruhee's voice say, along with the sliding of the closet door. He looked towards the door, to find Ruhee coming out with a first aid box. She pulled her mobile away from her ear and threw it on the couch. The mobile bounced on the couch and then, fell of the couch to land on the floor with a clattering noise. Ruhee signed and picked up the mobile, and placed it on the couch.

How clumsy is she?

Ruhee turned and walked towards Aayan. She placed the first aid kit on the bed and opened it, to take out a thermometer. She pressed a button and gave it to Aayan. Aayan, who was still laying on the bed, took it before sitting up. He looked at the thermometer and then at Ruhee. 'Put it inside you mouth.' she said to him

'Why?' he asked.

'You had a fever last night, I gave you a medicine to bring it down. I want to see how it is now. Don't you remember?' she asks him. Oh, he did remember, but he didn't wanna admit that he did. Or else he would have to feel embarrassed about the whole thing.

God, why did I have to behave like that? Why?!

Aayan shook his head, denying to remember it. 'Well you did.' Ruhee said, 'Now, keep it in your mouth.' he did as he was told. After a minute, he gave it back to her. Ruhee accepted it, and looked at the reading, '100.9°F, It has come down, but you still have it.' she wiped the meter and kept it inside the first aid kit and closed it.

She looked at him and said, 'Why don't you take a shower? Till then I'll get you something warm to it. Then, you can take some rest.' and smiled at him. 'No No, I have to go to work.' he said, getting off the bed, to stand next to her. Ruhee smiled and turned to face him, she folded her hands and said, 'Aayan, do you know what time it is?' Aayan looked at Ruhee for a few seconds and then at the wall clock.

11:45am!!?

Aayan's eyes grew wide and he then looked at Ruhee, who was giving him a smug look, 'Since, you have already rested for half of the day, another half day of rest won't kill you. So, take a bath and on the bed, I'll get you something to eat.' she said sternly and left. Aayan watched as Ruhee walked out the door. He looked at the first aid kit on the bed and picked it up. He went into the closet, to do as he was oredered. After the shower, he came out of his closet, dressed in a t-shirt and sweats. He was rubbing his hair dry with a towel.

God, I feel so tired.

The infection was getting to him, and he could feel it. As he was rubbing his hair, the door to his room burst open and a worried Sahma walked in. She walked to Aayan, and held his face between her palms. She twisted his face in all sides and analysed it. Aayan pried his mother's hands off of his face and looked at her, 'Oh my baby boy, you look so dull already.' Sahma said. Aayan signed at his mother's dramatic analysis.

'Ammi, I am fine.' he said. 'No, you are not. Now, get on the bed and rest. If I see you wondering about, staring at your laptop or file, I'll castrate you.' Aayan stared at his mother, for her inhumane threat. 'Now, in the bed, young man.' and Aayan quickly got on the bed, while Sahma covered him with the blanket. Now, he wasn't laying down, he was sitting with his legs stretched out.

Ruhee entered the room, holding a tray in her hand. She came in and placed it on Aayan's lap. Aayan looked at the tray, to see a bowl of rice porridge and a small bowl of pickle. He looked up at Ruhee confused, 'Since you are sick, your tongue would taste differently. So, no matter what you eat, it will taste bland. And having spicy or savoury food will only ignite your infection. So, here is something bland.' she ended. Now that she mentioned it, Aayan's mouth did taste odd.

'Having a nutritionist as a daughter-in-law, sure is a blessing.' Sahma says, looking at Ruhee proudly. Ruhee just blushes at Sahma's compliment. Aayan just looks at them, incredulously. He picks up the spoon and digs in. After he was done, Ruhee picked up his empty tray and said,'Now rest.' and turned around to leave. Aayan signed and layed down. Soon, sleep took over him.

He got up to someone waking him up, he opened his eyes slightly, to see Ruhee shaking him to wake him up. He looked at Ruhee and groaned, his entire body was aching badly, 'Aayan, get up and have your medicine.' he heard her say, he groans and gets up. He takes the medicine and the glass of water from her hand and drinks it. He hands the glass back to her and is about to lay down, when Ruhee stops him, 'Wait for 15 minutes, then you can lay down.' Aayan makes a whining noise.

'I'll let you hold my hand.' Ruhee says, showing him her hand, and he agrees almost instantly. After 15 minutes, Aayan grabs hold of Ruhee's hand and lays down. This causes Ruhee to sit on the bed with a pull, and Aayan snuggles with her hand, and falls a sleep. In between sometime, Aayan's sleep broke, as he felt a hand brush his hair. This calmed him, and he fell back to sleep, still holding her hand.

At around 7pm, Aayan woke up from his sleep, to see Ruhee walking into the room with a tray. Aayan sits up on the bed as she nears him,'Slept well.' she asks him with a smile. Aayan streaches his body and nods. Ruhee smiles at him and places the tray on his lap. This time, it was oats in the bowl. He ate it happily and had his medicine. It was too early to sleep and he had just gotten up, so he decided to go through one of his files for a while.

He was so concentrated on reading the file, that he didn't notice someone entering the door. And soon, the file was snatched away from his hand. He looked up surprised, to see Ruhee staring at him sternly. 'I told you to rest, not work.' she said. 'It's just for a while, and I was not feeling sleepy.' he defended, trying to reach out and grab the file from her hands, but she did not let him have it. Aayan signed and gave up.

'Rest.' he heard her say, sternly and walked away with his file. Aayan signed and rubbed his face. He looked at the wall clock to see it was 9:20pm and decided to sleep. Aayan was about to lay down, when he heard Ruhee's mobile ring. He looks at her, to see her answer the call, happily. 'Hey Huzayl.' he hears her say, and he internally groans.

Does that guy have no other work then calling my wife?

Aayan lays down, but keeps his ears open. 'Yeah.'

'Yeah.'

'Uh-Huh.'

Why is she replying like that? I cannot understand what they are talking about. Eavesdropping is hard.

'Oh My God! Really, that's great news.'

Is he going abroad? Then, that is really a great news.

'I can't wait to see you.'

I prefer you never see him.

'You can finally meet my friends.'

Yeah, meet them. They will scare you, then you'll never want to contact Ruhee ever again.

'Yeah, Bye.'

Goodbye.

Aayan didn't get much from eavesdropping, but he got that they are gonna meet, and he didn't like that one bit. That's it, he couldn't take it anymore, so he turns to Ruhee, and asks her, 'You are going to meet Huzayl?' Ruhee looks up at him from reading her book, and smiles. 'Yeah.' she says. 'When?' he asks.

'Actually, Our college has called him as a guest to some event. So, he'll be there as a guest. It is about some start-up company success. I bet it is for the commerce department.' she says. Aayan just nods his head, and turns away. Huzayl's company was getting great response, and it's only been a month. Aayan was happy for his success, but not that he was telling all that to his wife. He signed and concentrated on sleeping.

God, why do I feel this way when he talks to her?