~Cozy~ (AbhiGya OS by mina)

"But why are you standing here like a doll?" Abhi said with an asinine smile. He sat Pragya down and said, "You just sit here. I'll go tell Aaliya the good news, and in the mean time, you keep keep crying. And hey, listen - best of luck?" He gave her an obnoxious wink and then cheerfully left the room, starting to whistle under his breath.

Pragya watched him go in disbelief, as for a moment her despair overwhelmed her other thoughts. But then the first wave of disappointment at his refusal to help faded, and she remembered that she had better things to do than sit around and cry because her idiot of a non-husband wanted to watch her suffer.

She got up and headed to the closet, relieved to finally be undressing at the end of a long and draining day. She'd loved the gorgeous outfit Daadi had given her for Navratri when she first put it on, but after eight hours, she couldn't wait to take it off.

Her feet still hurt from the incident with the firecrackers, and every part of her was stiff with tension due to her fruitless trip home to discuss the hall situation with her mother. All things considered, she hadn't felt this tired and achy in ages, and all she had on her mind now was getting into something comfortable.

Out of habit, she reached for one of the lightweight suits she usually wore to bed. The pink one was in the wash but the white one was right at hand, and she was just about to pick it up when she realized that she really didn't want to wear it.

Tonight was not a night for sleeping in a salwar suit. Tonight was the kind of night that required her oldest oversize tee and her favourite soft flannels. She needed the comfort of those cozy, well-worn clothes against her fatigued skin. And she would be able to get to sleep faster if she was more comfortable, so really there was nothing to think about.

Except, of course there was. She hadn't worn her old style of sleep clothes at all since she'd gotten married. It had felt completely inappropriate to wear such ratty, casual things in those first few days, when she was overwhelmed by the simple fact of suddenly sharing a room with a husband who was still really a stranger to her. Then it had just become habit; the difficult dynamic between them made it so that she never felt one-hundred percent comfortable around him, at least not on a physical level. You just couldn't wear those kinds of clothes in front of someone who completely misunderstood your character and enjoyed mocking your "lack of style," even if you didn't really care what they said.

In fact she'd started to take comfort in the idea of her cotton suits as a kind of uniform. It helped her play the role of Abhi's half-hated Chashmish, as opposed to showing her genuine vulnerability as Pragya.

But tonight, she didn't care anymore. She was too tired and heartsick to feel awkward around him. After the way he'd made fun of this awful situation with the hall, there really wasn't anything he could say about her that could make her feel bad. So she'd just wear what she was comfortable in, because she was done with worrying about how he'd react.

It was true that at the back of her mind there had always been a sort of concern for modesty. She was her mother's daughter, after all, and even after it became crystal clear to her that Abhi would never look at her in that way, she was conscious of a need to stay properly dressed in front of him. There was propriety to be observed because he was her husband, and propriety to be observed because he was a man, and both sets of conventions excluded the kind of thing she'd worn to bed when the only person who'd see her was her sister.

But she was beyond caring about all of that, too. So Pragya left the white suit where it was, and rummaged deep in the ridiculously ornate heirloom trousseau trunk her mother had insisted on sending with her during her bidaai. Underneath piles of saris and a few ridiculous honeymoon outfits that Bulbul and Purvi had slipped in - poor darlings couldn't have known that they were never, ever going to be used - she finally found the one set of pajamas that she herself had added to the trunk two nights before her wedding. She'd felt morose about packing up her life at home, and she'd decided to take this particular pairing of tee shirt and sweatpants more so she could take comfort in having the option of wearing them, not because she actually planned to.

It was soothing just to touch the soft fabrics again. With a happy sigh, she went to the bathroom to finally get changed, looking forward to taking off her makeup and slipping into her old clothes.

***

The next morning Abhi sat on his ottoman, lifting his dumbell to work on his tricep. He'd managed to wake up before Chashmish and her blasted bhajans today, so he was in a grand mood. And of course there was his lingering delight from watching her misery the previous night. How sweet it had been to be able to turn her down when she had the audacity to beg for his help!

Of course a small corner of his mind was busy worrying about what all this would mean for Sarla Aunty and Rockstar Daadi - they didn't deserve to be punished for the wrongs done by Pragya and Bulbul - but he had confidence that something would work out. Bad things didn't happen to good people, after all. The hall would be saved somehow or other - he'd maybe even step in if he had to - but let Chashmish worry about it for awhile, she deserved the stress.

He heard the curtain rustling, and knew Chashmish was about to come in from the balcony. He made a show of not looking at her, but when she was just passing by him he purposely dropped his dumbbell in front of her.

He didn't want to trip her or hurt her, he just liked to watch her jump back in shock, which was exactly what she did.

But the shock was on him, because when he looked up at her with the taunt of "Ooops, I did it again!" ready on his lips, what he saw almost shut his mind down.

Chashmish was dressed like a stranger.

Instead of her usual auntyji-type fitted suit, she was wearing a loose long-sleeved tee and some soft-looking sleep pants. Both were a dark grey colour, but they didn't look like a matched set.