A/N: A super belated birthday gift to Preeti aka The Sparkling Aurora. Much love to you, always!
:: Unusual Apologies ::
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In their five months of blissful wedlock, Abhijeet and Tarika have indulged in trivial fights, but rarely are those occurrences when either of them utters something insensitive and ends up regretting it the next second.
Today is one such evening, where – much to Abhijeet's dismay – his wife stands facing him, fuming, her beautiful features contorted in a scowl, something which the senior inspector finds extremely adorable despite her reddening face. It doesn't take much time for him to register that, in the heat of one of their silly arguments, he has mistakenly blabbered something he wasn't supposed to.
Although he opened his mouth to apologize a moment later, the damage is already done. The forensic doctor angrily barges into their bedroom, slamming the door hard on his face.
Emitting an agonized sigh, the sharp shooter stands defeated, his hands on his hips and puts his brain to work. However, the effort isn't much to be invested. In all these years of knowing her, Abhijeet knows what exactly can make his wife's mood take a 360-degree turn, turning the darkest of her moments into the brightest.
He chuckles to himself. Tarika has never been a person demanding material luxuries or anything extravagant as he has heard of most women doing. There's one thing that actually gathers her interest – to his utter amusement – and once again, the senior inspector deems himself lucky in this aspect. Apart from being a caring wife, she is rather a lady of low maintenance. She never allows him to spend his money on the things she wants or needs. She can rather have the satisfaction of buying it with her own hard-earned money, she believes.
Calculating the time she usually needs to simmer down, he carefully, very carefully, knocks on the door. A few seconds later, he is greeted by his wife's relatively-sobered-yet-still-annoyed face.
"What?!," snaps Tarika, still standing at the door, a frown creasing her forehead.
The sharp shooter stifles a giggle as he asks, "do you want to have pizza first or cake?"
As expected, the forensic doctor's face instantly lights up like a street adorned with pretty fairy lights, her lips curving in an adorable smile at the mention of the said food items.
Inwardly excited, but still playing hard, Tarika gives her husband a mock haughty expression. "Cake!," she declares, and adds in a huffy tone, crossing her arms against her chest, "but let it be a double chocolate truffle cake. Otherwise the fight is still on!"
With that, she proceeds to sit on the couch, still pretending to be angry on her husband.
"Okay," says Abhijeet, suppressing a laugh as he takes his phone to place the requested order, while shaking his head at his wife's childlike antics.
A few moments later, when Tarika is sprawled on the couch, relishing her favourite piece of cake, Abhijeet figures her mood seems to have elevated drastically when he hears her humming a tune to herself. Her legs folded on the couch, she takes bite after bite of the pastry, not bothering about parts of her mouth being smeared with the chocolate cream… and the entire world forgotten amidst her and her love for the dessert.
To Abhijeet, it's the cutest thing he can ever set his eyes upon. He stares at her for a few moments, seeing how fully engrossed she is in the cake, and decides to approach her minutes later.
"Anything else, m'am?," he asks.
The fight forgotten, Tarika flashes him her sweetest smile and shrugs like a kid. "Yes. Sit with me and watch a movie," she says, and this time, Abhijeet does not hold back his laughter as he settles beside her on the couch.
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Today is another of the incidents when their fight has gone too far; this time, Tarika being responsible for saying inconsiderate. She regretfully bites her tongue, not knowing how to apologize without hurting her husband further.
Unlike her, she knows Abhijeet can rarely be convinced by offering him his favourite food. There have been instances where cooking some delectable dishes has made him happy, but today is beyond that.
Hence, she silently prays for the thing she has planned to work on him and enters the room where he's seated on the bed. He looks at her with a frown but doesn't say a word.
Warily, Tarika takes a chair from the study table and places it in front of him. When she reaches for her guitar placed in the corner of their room, is when his expression changes to that of anticipation.
Facing him, she sits on the chair, her guitar on her lap and starts strumming one of his favourite romantic songs. Slowly, his face changes into a lovely smile as the soft rhythm mingled with her melodious voice fills the room, gradually taking his irritation away.
When she's done, the sharp shooter happily extends his hand and when she takes it, pulls her on to his lap.
"I'm sorry!," mumbles Tarika with a pout as Abhijeet's hands snake around her tiny waist.
He tucks a stray curl behind her ear as he smiles at her. "It's okay!," he whispers before pulling her lips in a soft kiss.
Once they pull apart, Tarika speaks again. "I take requests, just so you know," she says.
The sharp shooter chuckles, letting go of her and she settles back on the chair with her guitar. "Play the song you sang when I had proposed to you," he grins.
The forensic doctor gives an audible laugh, reminiscing the memory and holds the guitar up its advantage. "Of course!," she says.
And the room is permeated with a soulful symphony yet again.
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:: The End ::