Jealousy
A/N
Hola..So this is my first shot in this forum and I got so inspired by the light-hearted works here, that I couldn't help but try one for Ram and Priya
Ram Kapoor walked into his house, exhaustion of the day finally catching up to him. It had been a stressful time at work and he can't wait to see his wife, talk to her while eating her handmade food, like every other day.
Priya scared him. She was a perfectionist at everything she does, and she does it with utmost grace. It's been 4 months to their marriage and he is yet to discover the secret behind her stoic face at the worst of problems and her unending source of energy.
He was brought out of his thoughts when he felt the eerie silence around him. His wife would wait for him every night at the dining table and her presence is quite audible through the clinking of her thin bangles, the shuffling of her feet, or the rustling of papers, if she was correcting papers. Ram always prayed for the poor student, whenever his otherwise stoic-faced Priya had a frown while correcting a paper. His wife might be good at heart, but is absolutely savage with her word.
He had come to love and enjoy all those insignificant but significant sounds, not that he would ever tell her, lest she stops making them. They feel like home after all. It is the absence of those very sounds which unnerved Ram tonight. Where was his wife?
He hastily climbed up the stairs leading to his room. He had always hated the stairs, they made him exhausted after a tiring day but his mother wanted them while constructing the house and he somehow ended up in the second floor, the farthest from others. But today, his anxiety took over and he was running to his room. He walked wearily towards his room, scared of what he might see and knocked the door. Hearing silence from the other side apart from a foreign disturbance, he slowly pushed open the door, hoping that Priya doesn't call him mannerless.
Ram for all his life's worth couldn't have expected what greeted him behind those doors. His wife was sitting on the bed, tears on her face from the all the laughing she was doing. She was laughing and laughing hard clutching her stomach as if she had been doing this since quite some time. He was distracted by the laughter coming out of the T.V and turned to find the source of his wife's laughter. There they were the famous set of friends, all sitting in a room, simply making life easier.
He cleared his throat, weakly first, only for it to go unnoticed. He cleared it strongly a second time and found himself to be subjected to a shocked but heated gaze. Priya was clearly surprised at his presence and it was written on her face.
"Mr Kapoor!! You're early today !! When did you come home?", his wife's surprisingly cheerful voice greeted him and Ram was taken aback. While Priya cannot be called a grouch, she was definitely not a person that had cheer pouring out of her words and he voiced out his doubts without thinking.
"Priya, are you drunk? Do you feel the room spinning ? Are you okay?", he questioned her out of the blue, only to realise his bad move when she looked at him scandalised.
"MR KAPOOR!!", Priya screeched, "What do you mean by I'm drunk? I never drink, how could you even ask that?".
Ram quickly found himself planning a retreat strategy to save himself from his wife. An angry Priya was never a good news, especially to the source of that anger. He quickly got into offence and decided to confront her.
"No, I didn't mean that. It's just that I'm late home that every day and you're asking me if I'm early. I was just concerned for you.", he mumbled. He looked up and saw his wife's ears and cheeks turn red in embarrassment and couldn't help but giggle to himself.
He saw Priya quickly look at clock on the wall and the scandalous look return to her wife, after seeing the time. Ram saw the wheels in her head turning, trying to find a reason and he also saw a kind of defeat set in, as if Priya decided to tell him the truth.
"I'm so sorry. I was so engrossed in F.R.I.E.N.D.S that I lost track of time. I'll get your dinner set up in no time.", he saw her begin walk past him and decided to stop her. He learnt something about her today, and decided to take it up.
"Priya, Priya, it's okay, dinner can wait. Tell me more about this. I mean you're not a person I would dream of watching F.R.I.E.N.D.S. How did it happen then?"
"You know, I should be offended at that assumption, but you're true. Sandy irritated the life out of me in the first lockdown and I finally gave up watched. Haven't looked back since then, but don't tell Sandy this", she whispered the last part to him, and Ram guffawed. His youngest sister-in-law was a riot and clearly even Priya can't escape her.
He continued laughing as she began to speak again.
"I don't blame her though, the show is heart-warming. All the characters are extremely well-written and dialogues on point. It's a stress buster and just plain fun. And Chandler, oh my God, has to be the funniest person I've ever know. He has the best jokes", she spoke.
Ram felt the laughter stop in his throat as he heard Priya's last sentence. He felt an uncomfortable burning feeling take over his being and he loosened his tie to lost the feeling. Chandler somehow didn't sit well with him anymore.
"Mr Kapoor, you've seen F.R.I.E.N.D.S haven't you. You must agree with me. I mean, he's the heart of the jokes that around the show. Did you know, the actor wrote a lot of his jokes? Imagine how talented one has to be write such amazing jokes. I wish I could meet him in real life", he saw Priya sigh wistfully for the first time and was shocked at the fan-girl version of his wife.
Was his wife fan-girling after someone else's jokes? Ram felt an unknown feeling rush up his spine and felt a weird urge to prove himself. He felt horrified at this new thought and panic took him over.
"Wh-..What do you mean by "he has the best jokes" ? It's not humanely possible Priya. Everyone's jokes have their own value", he stuttered out, trying to erase the uneasy feeling. He didn't like Priya praising someone else's jokes.
"Mr Kapoor, come on, let's be honest. Not all jokes are good. You of all people should know, given how honest your friends are.", he heard her and felt like throwing a stone at Chandler's face on the T.V. He was the cause of this all. How can Priya love his jokes so much.
"She's my wife, damn it!" he thought to himself.
"Priya..you cannot just say that. My jokes are really good. It's just that you guys have no sense of humour", he defended himself, only to see Priya deadpan at him.
"Mr Kapoor, at our age, lying is no longer fancy. It's even unhealthier when one's lying to oneself.", she retorted and he felt a weird green feeling engulf him.
"Priya!! How blasphemous?? I don't lie to myself. You know what in fact I'll you a joke right now to prove my worth. This is an attack on my self-worth", he began revising his brain for the best jokes.
"Mr Kapoor. No futile attempts please. Just have your dinner, like you said, you are very late", he saw her get up and pulled her hand to make her sit down next to him, again.
"Alright, alright, it's a short joke. Listen," he stopped her, "How are electricians so up-to-date over daily affairs?", he asked her, a cheeky, determined look on his face.
Ram saw his wife think for a while, trying to answer the question and then give up. He grinned to himself at her failure. Jokes are not an easy job, he humphed to himself.
"Go ahead, Mr Kapoor, I know you're bubbling to tell me the answer", he heard her.
"It's because they are "current" experts.", he answered his questions and broke in peals of laughter, " Get it? Current ? Electricians, daily affairs ?"
He saw his wife, sigh in defeat and shake her head, chuckling softly. But it looked like she was chuckling at him, rather than at his joke.
"Mr Kapoor, you are clearly tired. How about we feed you and get you a good night's sleep, so you can wake up fresh and think of better jokes ?", he heard her speak with a teasing look on her face and then walk out of the room.
Ram stood up from his place in indignation and ran behind his wife, all the while screaming at Adi over a call to see if there was any way that the telecast of F.R.I.E.N.D.S can be stopped or at least if Chandler can be edited out from all the scenes.
Green monster was an unreasonable monster, after all
Jealousy is beautiful too, seldom.
A/N
I hope you liked it and excuse any mistakes.
Cricket
Indian Mythology
