Along the Lines of Love | ✓

Chapter 14 : Affianced

While the cake was being placed on the table, his grandmother commented something about not having cakes in the wedding during their days. Her Ajji, agreed saying the whole concept of engagement was borrowed from the western culture.

Gargi handed Sharanya the knife. She turned to Nikhil, wondering if he'd like to hold it. He wrapped his finger around hers. Their gazes meeting halfway. It was as though time froze. He gave a very deliberate nod, as though a signal to go on. Taking the cue she looked at the cake, a butterscotch cake she guessed. They both leaned forward, seemingly in perfect synchronization.

As she sunk the knife into the cake, claps rang, silencing the soft music that had been playing all along for a few fleeting moments. His grip became a little firm while her hand trembled a little. The moment was by far the most intimate one she had shared with him so far. As they both bent forward, their faces came in close proximity to each other. She could catch the aroma of coffee from him.

With his grip on her hand, they drew three long cuts on the cake.

"Come on feed each other now, we can take care of drawing pieces for all of us," Gargi said.

Sharanya glanced at Nikhil with hesitation. Their proximity had already been messing with her head. She felt warm all over. Her heart was uncharacteristically jumpy. Her mind was at alert, noticing every little movement, while trying to remember the closeness as much as it could.

Nikhil was in a tight spot just like her. He picked up a tissue and then picked up a piece. He was about to place the piece on the tissue when his grandfather laughed and remarked, "Don't be shy my boy, feed her."

Nikhil fought a blush. He wasn't shy.

No way!

Maybe he was?

A coy smile made it to Sharanya's lips, her cheeks colouring to a deeper shade of red. Nikhil picked the piece of cake and took it close to her mouth. His gaze meeting hers. One of their very first intimate moments had their families as audience. At the moment he didn't know if he felt nice about the fact that he was sharing a very special moment with his wife-to-be or embarrassed that the moment had his family watching.

Sharanya swallowed the diffidence and quickly took a small bite of the cake.

The others cheered, among that she heard her sister say, "Your turn Di!"

Stuck between shyness and that weird feeling of having his intentional gaze on her, Sharanya wrapped her fingers around his hand instead of taking the cake. She guided his hand back to his mouth. He blinked eating a bit from the same pieces of cake, while the others clapped.

Sharanya turned to look at the others. Her cheeks were going to literally flame up. She hated the taste of nothing but cream in her mouth, yet the moment was ... special.

She glanced at him as he placed the piece aside on a plate. There was cream on the side of his lips. She picked up a tissue from the table and handed it to him. He looked at her puzzled for a moment until she gazed up at his face and he understood.

He turned away wiping his mouth. Sharanya's eyes met Gargi's who was giving her a wide grin. Sharanya blinked trying to hold herself from smiling like a Cheshire cat.

"Time for photographs, I guess!" Arun said and immediately Nikhil's grandfather agreed saying something about having on his new shirt.

Nikhil stood beside Sharanya, their arms touching as they clicked photographs with his grandparents first. People kept shuffling but they stood rooted on the spot, refusing to look at each other. Finally a complete picture with everybody present was clicked. Just when they thought it was over, it was time for some selfies.