Poles Apart

Chapter Forty-Six

Just as I float between the conscious and unconscious, I hear his whisper, "I love you."

The memory from earlier this night, quickly makes to the surface of my conscience, quickening my heart for the slightest moment before I slip into a dreamless sleep.

~.~.~.~.~

Arjun and I move away from our parents after taking their blessings, post the Satyanarayana Swamy Vratam; the reason we weren't allowed to sleep in the same room last night.

The bride and the groom, apparently, are not allowed to be in the same room before the Satyanarayana Swamy Vratam, I suppose whoever came up with these rules expect the newly-wed couple to have the energy to get at it.

All I have are aching limbs, burning eyes and paining cheeks; from all the sitting straight without back support, sleepless nights, and forced smiles.

"Vadina Garu," Harsh greets, a wide grin on his face as he folds his hands together in a namaste.

"Harsh," Arjun warns.

I force a smile back at Harsh. His ways of teasing me definitely get under my skin. "Harshvardhan Garu," I come back with a sickly-sweet smile and fold my hands in a namaste to return the greeting.

Harsh visibly cringes at the use of his full name. "You're good at this," he commends, tsk-ing to himself.

"Arvi, Arjun," Gayatri Athayya calls, "come here." The first day of my married life, you ask? Painful. The irony of the situation is that the annoyance is about the pleasantries exchanged.

~.~.~.~.~

On our wedding night— well, official wedding night— I sit on the decorated bed in the renovated room, while Arjun is probably being harassed by his sisters for money to be let into the room.

Knowing Savitri, he's coming in with an empty pocket.

While I'm still on that thought, the door opens and I hear loud cheering before Arjun slams it shut and bolts the door, and silence descends on the room once again.

I don't think I can get enough of seeing him in a kurta. I have to practically restrain myself from making eyes at him, lest I risk the chance of his head exploding because of his inflated ego.

Arjun turns to look at me, causing my heart to pace faster than it already is. In times like these, I really want to check my heartbeat. How many beats per minute would it make?

Arjun's lips widen into a soft smile rather than his usual smirk and he walks over to me in long strides.

"Hey, beautiful," he whispers, lowering himself onto his knee in front of me.

My eyes widen and I try to pull my legs up, onto the bed, but Arjun firmly holds my legs down, with his palms on my knees. "Don't worry, I'm not going to tickle your feet," he says.

When I don't move, he removes his hold on my legs and pulls out a small box from the pocket of his jeans.

It looks small enough, only to hold a ring.

I look at him curiously and he opens the box to show me a ring. I look down at my hand. I already have one; my engagement ring.

The ring in the box is a very simple, but an elegant one. It's a thin ring, decorated with small diamonds, evenly spaced out.

"I bought this one with the ring I gave you on our engagement day," Arjun explains, holding my left hand and bringing it to himself.

"Can I?" he asks, gently touching my ring with two of his fingers.