“Don’t act shocked. You are a treasure chest of her wisdom.”
“I have my glasses to prove it,” he pointed to his frame. She stared at him, admiring the brilliant, beautiful man who was muscle, might and then these glasses. She reached out and set the glasses tighter on his nose — “Very wise, Janab.”
He smiled. A genuine, complete smile.
“What were you doing just now?”
“Reviewing intel reports after a call with Captain Husain.”
“What do they say?”
“In the last two months, 70% of all intel has failed.”
“But you worked to make your spy network foolproof in Jammu last year.”
“Something is wrong. Some link is broken, or worse — corrupted. Outside forces, I can handle. But I’m unable to figure out what is going wrong inside. It’s like something big is coming.”
“Talk to me.”
His head snapped back towards the ceiling with a long-drawn huff — “Can I talk to you about something else?”
“What?”
“Your green gravy was awful.”
Iram burst out laughing — “That’s because it was pumped with green chillies,” she poked his chest. “It was meant as a joke.”
“I am hungry.”
“You had to eat when it was served.”
“I want another round.”
“No.”
“No?”
“No.”
“This is unfair. You’ve been hyping up that green gravy for years.”
“And you have been badmouthing it outside.”
His head snapped — “Who told you?”
Her brow went up.
“Safiya Begum has started to deal in gasoline then,” he muttered under his breath. Iram smiled at the return of her Atharva. She grabbed his head and reached up on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek. Her mouth pressed to his jaw and he stilled. So did she. The scrape of his stubble pierced her lips, reminding her of things that felt like they had happened in a past lifetime. She took a second longer to pull back, and felt the indent of his stubble hairs on her lips, letting it tingle across her mouth. She inhaled. His Old Spice and musk were always in her nostrils. But now… they hit her full force. From the source. Emanating with the heat of his skin. His gaze cut to her, stupefied, as if this was the first time she had kissed him. And in the second that passed, she realised it felt like that. Iram bit her lip, pushing her nose into the centre of his neck.
“You can’t still be all…” his arms tightened around her.
“All what?” She pushed away from his body. He snapped her back and clasped his hands behind her. “Swoonykissing me.”
Her mouth dropped open.
“No green gravy for you!” She broke free from his hold and opened the door. He followed her out, laughing, the hall quiet, the kitchen dimmed.
“Give me food, I am hungry!”
