First Wife, First Love.

16. Our Name.

"Because everytime she or anyone serves you anything, you make a cute face which says, 'Oh my goodness! I have no way out of this'. But you do." She says and laughs.

"You are seriously cruel to leave your husband in peril even when you know about it." I say.

"I will save you from anyone but Mami's hospitality. Coming between her and her hospitality means getting your ears tugged." She says with a chuckle.

"I understand. I won't want my wife's ears getting tugged. I vowed to protect her." I say with a smile.

We reach home and Mom welcomes her back. Arya gives gifts to everyone which Mami Ji sent. Mom started to deny it but I warned her against it. Arya then went up to give gifts to Mayra.

Later before lunch, she made some kheer. It was delicious and Dadu and Dadi gifted her with a necklace while Mom gave her the bangles which Nani gave her. As she sits down I see a small bandage inside her choora.

"What happened?" I ask and take her hand in mine.

"I am not used to so many bangles. So one of them scratched against my arm. I'm okay now." She says and starts having her lunch.

I look up to see Mom looking at her in concern. She smiles at me when she notices I'm watching her. I don't like Arya getting hurt by the choora. But I also know that she won't remove it if I say so. Only one person can convince her and I know she will.

Mom comes to our room in the late afternoon to check if we need anything else then takes Arya's hand to make her sit on the bed and says, "Look Aru. Can I call you Aru?"

"Of course, Mom." She says.

"So Aru, I wanted to say that it is okay if you remove the choora while sleeping. It was a bother when I used to wear it while sleeping. But nowadays it is not compulsory. You wear it all day which is okay. And also you would be wearing it for 40 days. So while you are wearing it, no heavy work is allowed. Okay?" Mom asks.

"Okay." Arya says.

"Good. Customs are good but that doesn't mean you should hurt yourself for it. Take care of yourself. I don't want my daughter's arms filled with rashes now, do I?" She says.

"I will keep your words in mind." Arya says.

"Good. Everything is packed and ready." She asks.

"Yes." I say.

Reyansh comes home at 5 as he is coming with us to the airport. We take blessings of God and elders before leaving and Arya promises to call them when we reach there. Reyansh and I talk while he drives us to the airport and I tell him to contact my assistant to get everything to speed up for his delivery.

In flight, I talk with Arya about Vaishno Devi temple. It is in Katra, Jammu and right now the weather there would be nice. I visited it twice one time with my friends and second time with my family two years ago.

We reach Jammu at half past eight at night and get a booked cab for Katra. Arya falls asleep on my shoulder. She refused to have dinner before reaching our hotel but at my insistence had some snacks. It is an hour drive so I let Arya rest for some time.

As soon as we reach the hotel, I order room service and ask Arya to not sleep without eating. She had little for lunch and she doesn't like to eat while travelling.

"I would have some Palak Paneer and chapati. That's it. I won't have rice right now." Arya says when I ask what she wants for dinner.

"Okay. Anything for dessert?" I ask.

"Phirni. Kesar one." She says.

"Okay. Kesar Phirini. Get freshen up. Dinner will be here soon." I say.

"But I have to call Mom and Mami." She says.

"I'll call them." I say and push her towards the bathroom.

"Thanks." She says while I dial Mami Ji's number.

"She is fine, just tired. We would have dinner then go to sleep as we have to wake early." I say to Mom after giving the same information to Mami Ji.

"Make sure you keep an extra shawl. I don't want Aru to catch a cold and get sick." Mom says.

"What about me?" I ask and hear the bell ring.

"You can do that. My concern is for Aru only right now." She says and I shake my head.

Arya comes out of the bathroom and sits down to serve us dinner. As soon as she starts eating fervently, I have dinner too. I have booked a car for us to travel from Jammu to Amritsar so we can spend some time alone and she can enjoy some scenic views too.

I drape sheets around her shoulders as she sleeps soundly. My eyes go to her arms empty of bangles. She did hear Mom's words. As I lay next to her I take her hand in mine and caress it. It is soft and the mehandi is still dark.

As I am not feeling sleepy, I get on my mission to find my name on her hand rather than look at my mails. They can wait but her hands can't. I look at both of her hands without disturbing her much and try to find my name which almost feels impossible.

But then I find it around her ring finger along with her own. I kiss her hand and I realise what I did and put her hand down in embarrassment. Thank goodness she is not awake otherwise she would be red. Although that scene would be nice to see.

I take her hand in mine again and go to sleep and surprisingly that night I don't get any nightmares. It was the best night of my life so far.