Mésalliance (Completed)

Chapter 7

Krish reclined on the wooden couch beside the pool after an hour of swimming. He mirrored the calmness of the water. He even forgot the time and his friend who hadn't returned yet.
"He would have fainted in her beauty," he commented about Madhu. Just then someone sprinted past him and jumped inside the pool. He shrieked at the sudden action and patted his racing chest.
The bolt out of the blue turned out to be Niyati in her swimsuit. She called him a loser and swam in the pool. He removed his bathrobe to show his chiselled body in a pair of shorts.
Niyati stopped her motion and floated on the water. Her eyes moved over his wide chest and sculptured abdomen. He walked near the pool with a smirk, "I will show you who is the real loser," and jumped behind her.
The water splashed on her face and he inched near her with butterfly strokes. She pushed him behind with her hands and swam away with pink cheeks. She had never phantom Krish barechested but he was nearly naked around her that night time.
He caught up with her and hugged her from behind. "Why did you mess with me?" He rubbed her petite waist and would grope her jiggling assets soon.
She moaned at his dangerous touch and tried to stop his travel by turning to him. Her face was merely away from his face and their lips would touch anytime.
Krish felt the warmth from her breasts that lay on his chest. Her whole skin radiated shock waves inside him.
The water didn't seem cool anymore.
She looked at his lips and asked, "Who is the loser?"
He blinked at her question and remained silent. She splashed water on his face and escaped his arms. Krish wiped the water but she wasn't there in his arms or the pool.
He felt empty without holding her.
"Krish!" Vikram shouted near the pool entrance. "Why are you alone?"
Krish searched for that woman who erupted his hormones and lied to Vikram, "Just swimming."
Vikram would chop him off for the duet with Niyati. He walked by the pool and washed his face with the water.
"You can use the bathrooms for washing your face. Eww!" commented Krish. "Many swimmers would ease their bladders in this pool."
"You are swimming in this water. I am just washing my face," replied Vikram. He was pissed and tired from the day. "She burnt my face."
His heart burning for revenge. "I will show her the real hell after marriage."
"You should tell me the whole story," Krish demanded before concluding anything.
Vikram said the day and Krish understood his friend was at fault. "You should have requested her instead of taking her for granted."
"Why?" Vikram questioned his friend, "After all she is going to be my wife; a slave in other words."
Krish thought that Madhu did the right thing with the pepper spray, "She is equal to you in affluence, education and wits. You need not boss around her just because she is younger and going to live under your roof."
Vikram thought that Krish sided with her, and called him a traitor. Krish was rational to his conscience, "She behaved rudely to mirror your rudeness. Your attitude can be overwhelming even to me. How will she tolerate it?"
Vikram eyed him, "I am not rude to anyone," behaving innocently in front of his friend. Krish gave him a double take, "You, What?" and barked at him, "You are more than a savage." 
Before Vikram could counter, Krish walked outside the pool arena. Vikram wasn't settled with his comments. He respected her privacy and planned to divorce but she only hurt him.
"She will pay for snatching my best friend too," he vowed to himself.
********

The petrichor of the evening rains prevailed and the sky hosted cumulonimbus clouds yet again. Madhu stomped on the balcony, drawing deep breaths. She felt glad to be brave enough to tackle Vikram. Nevertheless, he frightened her with his mannerisms.
He relieved her with the idea of separation but she didn't want to trust him unconditionally. He had termed her a slave on their second meeting and god only knew what else he would blabber.
Though his mother's death might have changed him, he need not radiate his depression on others. She won't allow him to feel entitled. The silver lining of their marriage was privacy for both families. She could kick his ass every day.
When she returned home with a pissed face, her parents questioned her well-being. She managed to lie to them, and also, assured them that she was happy for the umpteenth time. If he tried to scare her, she would answer him with pepper spray.
Her aloofness frazzled her parents and they assured Madhu that she could cancel the wedding if anything was fishy. Escaping their unconditional love was a huge task for her and she slumped on the bed upon entering her room. 
Ankitha would be pissed about the afternoon and Madhu dialled her to calm the situation.
"The subscriber is not reachable," Ankitha mimicked the voice of the telecaller after attending the phone call. "Where the fuck were you?"
"You know where I was," Madhu replied as a matter of fact and rolled her eyes, "Don't create a drama."
Ankitha couldn't believe her friend who dared to chase her out of the room, "You don't have the right to accuse me, bitch."
Madhu huffed, "I want to fill in some details for you." Her homegirl deserved to know some fragments of their conversation about the wedding. She discussed everything except the contract marriage. She concluded with the story of the pepper spray.
Ankitha couldn't stop her laughter and congratulated the cocky Madhu. "My! My! What a chase, Madhu!"
Madhu shrugged, "That's how it should be done."
"He is a handsome menace," Ankitha sighed over the phone, "you are lucky to have him for yourself."
Madhu cringed at her comments, "Have that intolerable mess if you want. At least I will be free." Her brother would kill himself if he got to know Ankitha's endearment for Vikram.
Ankitha giggled like a child suddenly which confused Madhu. She questioned the reason but Ankitha stalled the answer with her laughs. Madhu disconnected the phone in anger.
"Just go to hell!" Ankitha redialled to her to curse. "I was thinking of your intelligent grandfather."
Madhu rolled on the bed, "Why?"
Ankitha laughed again, "he knew that you are incompetent to get a guy. So he wrote off a will sixty years before to help you out."
Madhu gritted her teeth in anger, "You would have become edentulous if you were here."
Ankitha laughed again, "Sorry but that's what I presumed."
Though the situation was serious, Madhu found ways to laugh because of her friend. "I don't know what to do without you...."
Ankitha suggested a plan, "You hire me in that business. You ditch your husband and let's enjoy Mumbai life."
Though Madhu felt bad about her evening with Vikram and Ankitha cheered her mood. She should find a person every time to cheer her mood as Vikram would spoil it frequently.