Deciphering His Love

53 | The One With The Haldi

"Hey, they sent you inside to get the water and the sieve?" He asks as he looks lovingly at Devi, who was clad in the yellow sari with a silver border. He loved how she simply braided her hair and had strings of fragrant jasmine clipped to the top of her braid.

"Yeah." Devi says smiling.

"It should be us, yaar!" Shyaam says whining. "That man said he'd talked to our moms!"

"Bhaava got busy with moving in here and other stuff!" Devi tells him, running her fingers on his shaerwani. "Plus, it should be us speaking to our parents regarding our marriage. Anyways, if Akka and Bhaava don't bring up the topic about our marriage, we should talk to them ourselves."

"Hmm, I kinda agree with you." Shyaam says.

"Do you have another option besides agreeing with me?" She asks and spoons a little bit on the turmeric on her palm and applies it on his cheek. "Husband."

He suddenly pinned her to the nearest pillar. She smiles as she looks up into his dilated eyes.

"I don't think so, wife! "he spoke sensuously as he came dangerously close to her.

Her breath was starting to become haywire. He brushed his turmeric smeared cheek and caressed her cheek gently. 

Her hands went to his face and pulled it down to meet her face as she pressed her lips with his and it inverted into a deep kiss. His hands went to her waist as he felt her silky waist, underneath her sari.

Devi felt her soul melt, in the way his lips brushed hers, and how he stroked her cheeks.

She pulls back to breathe.

"I love you Shyaam." She whispers as she looks at his eyes.

"I love you Devi." He tells looking at her with glowing eyes.

"Shyaam, if we get married, can we have a very very simple wedding? I don't want all these rituals and all-" She says as she plays with his hair.

"Whoa, so straight away to the wedding night, huh?" He asks teasingly. "I like that."

"No, duffer!" She says whacking his arm. "I meant I want a similar register marriage. No rituals. None of these. Let's just sign the marriage certificate, feed each other cake and live that happily ever after. I mean, to me what matters is the legal part of a marriage- it should be legally binding, right? What do you think?"

"Hmm if you asked me all this when we first met, I would have agreed." He says as he cradles her face. "But now, it's different, Devi-"

"Devi, what are you doing inside?" Lakshmi calls from outside. "Do you need any help?"

They immediately withdrew from each other.

"Coming Amma!" She answers and turns to Shyaam. "We'll talk when everyone is asleep."

He smiles and pressed a deep kiss on her forehead and pulled her into a bone crushing hug.

* * * * * 

"Baava, looks like Madhu is sleepy." Devi tells Madhav. Madhav just walked into the drawing room, wearing a blue teeshirt and a pair of black shorts. It was towards sunset, the haldi ceremony was over and the day of the much awaited wedding was nearing. Ashok, Shyaam and Sivaji were busy decorating the Nadumuttom where the wedding would take place.

Meanwhile, Ahaana, Anu and Devi were busy packing the freshly baked cookies into the cardboard boxes that had Madhav and Shree's initials intertwined.

Madhav notices Madhu yawn.

"Yeah and she has put like five cookies into each cake box she packed in the last few minutes!" Ahaana says. "We were supposed to pack three in each. One butter cookie, one cashew cookie and one chocolate chip cookie."