After Anaya left, Rudra turned to Dheer and said, "Let me help you."
"No need. You must be tired. I can do it myself" Dheer refused his offer to help and made his way back to the kitchen.
Rudra followed him, waiting for him to mess things up once again so he could mock him and show him his skills in the kitchen. There was no way he could let go of a chance to show him how he was not good enough for his ducky.
But to his surprise, he never got the chance to laugh at him. He watched as Dheer adeptly kneaded the dough and prepared the ingredients for the pizza. There was no trace of the clumsiness as mentioned by Anaya. One look was enough to tell that he was really an adroit cook, and it was not his first time in the kitchen. He soon prepared the pizza and served it to Rudra. Even the shape was perfect, let alone the taste.
He looked at Dheer after taking his first bite. " So, you do know how to cook." As soon as he finished his sentence, he saw a smirk on his face. " So why did you pretend to be clumsy in front of ducky when you could impress her with your excellent cooking skills.
"The smile on her face is more important than impressing her," Dheer answered smugly.
Understanding dawned on Rudra. " You could tell?" he asked, surprised.
"I might be a jerk in the past, but I have learned my lesson, and now I pay attention to the details. I may not be as good as you yet, but I could tell that she was upset today." Dheer could tell that Rudra was aware of his feelings towards Anaya and his efforts to win her heart so he did not try to hide it.
"I am impressed. It is not easy to read her emotions. You must really like her." Rudra too did not hide anything. There was no need to, now that Dheer accepted it.
" I love her."
"It is still too early for me to believe that. You would not do that if you loved her. You ruined your marriage yourself." Rudra said honestly.
"I told you I was a jerk back then. I sincerely regret that that is why I will try harder to earn her and your trust back." Dheer said firmly.
"Mine?" Rudra raised his eyebrow.
"Yes, yours. I know now, how important you are to her, and how much your trust matters to her. So, I will earn your trust too so that you will accept me as her husband." Dheer said.
"Husband? Confident, aren't you?" Rudra snickered. "We will see about that. Don't be too late or she will be someone else's wife before you know it. After all, there are plenty of fishes in the ocean."
"I will not let that happen," Dheer said with a stoic look on his face.
"Let the future decide it. But for now, let me reward you for bringing back ducky's smile on her face today." He was worried sick about this today. He wanted to talk to her and placate her as soon as they left the hospital, but he got an emergency surgery to perform at the last moment and Anaya had to return on her own. He was worried the entire time and was finally relieved when he saw her smiling and forgetting about the things today. He had to thank Dheer for this.
"Reward? What reward? I do not need a reward to bring a smile to my wife's face. It is my responsibility in the first place." Dheer said sternly.
"Are you sure? Even if it will help you bring one step closer to her?"
Dheer gave a confused expression. He did not know what to say anymore.
"Don't worry, I am not going to judge you. Besides, it is not anything big. Just consider it a little effort from me to help you understand her better. After all that you did these past few days, you deserve this much."
Dheer pondered for a while then finally decided that if it was anything big he would not accept it. He wanted to win her over on his own without any shortcuts. He took a deep breath and asked, "First tell me what is it?"
"A secret."
Dheer raised an eyebrow "A secret?" He did not expect this answer.
"Yes, a secret. I will tell you a secret about my ducky. The reason why she was so disturbed today. I won't go to the details as I am not the right person to tell you but just a small part of it to justify her behavior today. So, do you want my reward or not?
A short silence ensued them. After a while, Dheer rubbed his face with both his hands and said with a pressing voice, "I want it."
Rudra flashed a wide teasing grin implying he knew that Dheer would agree to it. "When we were in medical college something happened with Anaya. Something that changed her life." He began.