She spun around, her hands on her hips, a playful smirk now replacing her earlier shock. “You’re the one who should have locked the door! What if I had been someone else?”
" I’m your wife! I can come in whenever I want!” Her argument was punctuated by adorable indignation.
"Wife?" Rudra whispered.
“yes, aur kya mein naukrani dikh rahi hun? Maybe you should have mentioned that you were leaving the door unlocked,” she retorted, rolling her eyes but unable to hide the smile threatening to break through.
“Okay, how about we both agree on some house rules then? One: I’ll lock the door. Two: you knock.” He tried to sound serious amidst the absurdity of the situation.
“I think it’s still deeply unfair you held the door unguarded while half-naked,” she laughed, the tension melting away as they eyed each other with mischievous grins.
He looked at her laughing, and unknowingly a tear drop slided down his eyes. Which he wiped.
Before he could respond, he felt his throat turning heavy and burning so he kept his mouth shut, she turned again, stepping out into the hallway. “Oh, and don’t think you can delay getting dressed! Your parents are coming over to meet us today!”
a bolt of panic coursing through him. “My parents?” 
Vidhyukta nodded, a playful glint in her eyes. “Yes! They’ve been waiting to see you since you got back. They’re excited!”
“Vidhyukta!” he exclaimed, embarrassment melting into pure exasperation. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier? I need to get ready!”
She paused, a teasing smile on her lips. “Well, I guess you’ll just have to hurry up then!” With a small stomp of her foot, she disappeared down the hallway, still giggling.
The moment she was gone, Rudra closed the bedroom door with a soft thud and leaned back against it, the warmth of embarrassment still flooding his cheeks. “What just happened?” he muttered to himself, ruffling his damp hair in frustration.
Shaking his head to clear it, he hurriedly went to the closet.
Seeing his clothes there, he felt his throat turning heavy and burning once again. He let the tears flow but wiped them and got ready.
 First, he threw on a fresh pair of jeans then a crisp button down shirt, trying to focus on the mirror. “This is not how I imagined waking up after a long trip,” he grumbled, recalling the chaotic reunion.
Finally ready, he stepped out of the bedroom and made his way to the living room. Vidhyukta was already there, buzzing about, arranging flowers that she had picked from their garden, a sight that always warmed his heart.
“You look good!” she chirped, the earlier awkwardness forgotten.
“Thanks,” he replied, finding solace in her smile after his embarrassing morning. “But seriously, you could have warned me about your entrance.”
She laughed lightly, “But where would be the fun in that?”
She smiled looking at him, some things never changed in their dynamic.
“I think I might need some coffee before the storm arrives,” he said, heading to the kitchen.
The two settled in, but the air in the room grew buzzing with anticipation. As rudra sipped his freshly brewed coffee, Rudra's mind raced with the thought of his parents’ arrival.
“Should we do some last-minute tidying?” Vidhyukta asked, glancing around the living room, her eyes sparkling with excitement.
“I mean, it’s fine, right?” he said, shrugging. “They’ll love it regardless.”
“And I still want to impress them!” she whimpered, biting her lip in contemplation.
"If you want to" he kept it short. Not bothering to make her understand that they loved her already.
Vidhyukta checked up things, and the doorbell rang, and as she turned to open the door, rudra got up too, and on their way they bumped into each other.
Rudra held her by her waist, but immediately let her go causing her to fall, "sorry" he muttered and left to open the door not caring about Vidhyukta still being on the floor, and caring to give her his hand to help her get up.
Unusual of his behaviour right? Yeah.
Vidhyukta got up, but looked hurt, she masked it up with her beautiful smile.
As the door opened she met her adorable mummy jii and papa jii and as usual she was the one who got hugged first by her mummy jii and papa jii.
"Kaisi hai meri bacchi??" Rudra's mother asked.
"Mein badhia ekdum aap sunao?" Vidhyukta asked back to her.
"Tu theek toh Mein bhi theek ekdum" her mother in law smiled looking at her. 
Her father in law too asked for her well being and later greeted their son. 
Rudra went all emotional, for some unknown reason. 
"Kya hogaya tereko abh?" Rudra's mother asked as she felt her son getting emotional.
"Kuch nahi" rudra said. 
Rudra took blessings from his father and mother, and they together started walking towards the living room.
As they sat there, a maid came and kept the tea infront of them on the table.
They sipped over their tea.
Rudra and his dad started talking about buisness.
And Vidhyukta and her mother in law started gossiping.
"Rudra vo tript-" before Rudra's mother could complete her sentence, rudra chocked onto his tea.
"Arey aaram se" Vidhyukta patted his back.
 Rudra removed her hands off his back, which was unusual, and said "please keep distance" which hurted Vidhyukta, and brought tears in her eyes. 
Rudra got up, and left to his room, meanwhile Vidhyukta hid her tears, and masked it up with her     beautiful smile once again.
Her mother in law asked whether everything is ok between them or not she just nodded her head with a smile and they both continued gossiping once again.
But only Vidhyukta knew how she hid her tears all the while, how her throat tightened when rudra said "keep distance" and she couldn't get words out of her mouth, the way her heart is paining right now, but she can do nothing about all this.
Because she is his WIFE. Not HIS wife. 
-
That's it !
Take care until the next update!