'Oh! That's my husband!' exclaims Mahi in an excited voice, seeing Dev open the door. Dev sees the 3 women on his door. He couldn't help but notice the happy yet drunk expressions on Mahi's face and a little pissed off on the rest of the two ladies. She is drunk clearly.
'Aww! You guys are so nice and responsible. You got me to my husband,' says Mahi squeezing Ekta and Shruti in a side hug. Then she takes a step towards Dev and puts her hand on his chest for support. She continues seeing Dev up close,' Oh! you are tall!' And she wraps her hands around him in a hug as she rests her head on his chest, nuzzling close to his neck, closing her eyes. Dev reflexively holds her, wrapping an arm around her. He looks at Ekta and Shruti questioningly.
Ekta turns her head towards Shruti for an answer. To which she replies,' She drank 3 bottles of wine. All by herself.'
'What!' says Dev in surprise.
Mahi opens her eyes and looks up to Dev, keeping her head on his chest. Dev looks down to meet her eyes.
'Hi,' says Mahi smiling sweetly to Dev.
Dev smiles at her innocent face and replies in a gentle voice,' Hi there.'
Dev sees Mahi changing her sweet expression to a concerned one. He asks,' What's wrong?'
'I need to pee,' says Mahi straightening up.
'Here, I'll show you to the bathroom,' replies Dev, not taking off his protective hand around her.
'I can go by myself. Just show me the way,' says Mahi in a little confident and yet slurred voice.
'You sure?' asks Dev, simultaneously looking at the ladies for help.
'We'll come with you,' asks Ekta, understanding Dev's looks.
'No!' says Mahi, turning around to reply to Ekta. Then she speaks to Dev,' Yes, I am sure. I am not a baby.' With this, she turns around, walks off unstably towards the bathroom.
Dev comes back to the door and asks,' What happened? I have never seen her like this.'
'Neither have I. For as long as I have known Mahi, she never gets drunk. She drinks but never drunk. We were supposed to meet up for dinner today. However, she called me up early, after lunch or so. That too here,' says Shruti.
'Here? You guys were here?' asks Dev in disbelief. And he was thinking where she might be this whole time. He also becomes little pleased listening to Shruti about her dinner plans with Mahi.
'Yes. Since 4 o'clock or something,' replies Shruti. She continues,' I don't know what's wrong. But, she seemed a little upset. She didn't tell me even when I asked her, I don't know how many times.'
'It's alright. It's someone else's headache now,' says Ekta putting an assuring hand on Shruti's arm.
Shruti exhales, relaxing a little as she says,' I called up Ekta for help when it was becoming a task to get her home. She came down immediately and told me you were here only. So the rest you know,' says Shruti quickly.
'That's good,' replies Dev, actually feeling glad that she brought Mahi to him.
'Also, please don't tell Arjun that I let her get drunk. He'll be really pissed,' says Shruti to Dev.
'Yeah! Even I would have been the same. Only if you hadn't brought her to me,' replies Dev becoming a little serious as he means it.
Shruti lets out a nervous laugh. Then she says,' We should take your leave now.'
'Yes. Why don't you go ahead? I'll join you in a bit,' says Ekta to Shruti.
Shruti agrees and leaves first. As soon as she leaves, Ekta turns towards Dev and says in a very stern tone,' It's you! When I asked her about you, she cursed you under her breath. You did something to upset her. I don't know what. FIX IT!'
Ekta doesn't wait for Dev to respond and leaves him in confusion. He closes the door after Ekta leaves.
'Nooooo...'
Dev hears Mahi voice from the bathroom. He runs towards the door but stops himself from opening it. He asks Mahi if she is alright. Mahi responds back with the same voice of saying,' No,' with a more upsetting tone.
'Mahi. Please tell me you are okay,' asks Dev becoming more worried.
'Oh! No. No. No,' Dev hears Mahi going on and on in the bathroom.
'I don't care if you are decent or not. I am coming in,' says Dev as he feels the frustration and opens the door.
When he enters the bathroom, he sees Mahi fully clothed but twisting and turning around half bend. She is looking for something on the bathroom floor.
Dev sighs out in relief and asks,' What is it? What are you looking for?'
'I can't find it. I was just adjusting the bolt,' replies Mahi without looking at Dev with a whiny voice.
'Huh?'
'My earring,' says Mahi getting annoyed. She straightens up and says,' See! I still have the bolt,' showing a small piece of metal in her hand to Dev.
'Okay. Let's just leave it for now. I'll get someone to look for it in the morning,' says Dev in an attempt to get her out of the bathroom.
'No! They are my favourite earrings,' replies Mahi sitting down on her feet and looking for them.
'C'mon. I'll get you the new one, the exact same. I promise,' says in another attempt to dissuade Mahi.
'No! I bought them. They are my favourite. Why would you get them for me?' asks Mahi in a most innocent voice.
Dev gives up looking at her and says,' Let's look for them together.'
After a few minutes of searching down on the floor, Dev gets up and sees the earring on the basin slab. He scoffs softly. He picks it up and says,' Found it!'
Mahi sees the earring in Dev's hand. She gasps in shock at first and then gushes cutely. She takes the earring from him, saying,' Here you are!'
For Dev, drunk Mahi is adorable. He chuckles at her reaction. He sees her trying to put on the earring but gets amused seeing her failed because she is too drunk to do it.
Dev gently takes the earring from her hand, moves closer to put it for her. And Mahi lets him. He finishes putting it on, saying,' Done.'
Mahi turns herself towards the mirror and says, smiling,' Thanks.'
'Your Welcome!'
Mahi looks at herself in the mirror and grins widely. Dev quietly looks at her charmingly at her actions. She giggles and says,' Wow! I look so drunk.'
Dev chuckles softly and says,' You are drunk.'
Mahi turns her gaze, losing the smile towards Dev in the mirror at first and then to him standing next to her. She says,' I don't want to talk to you.'
Dev sees her smile fading and asks,' Why?'
Dev sees Mahi becoming upset. She sighs loudly in response and walks out of the bathroom, taking the support of things on the way out. Dev quietly follows her out. Mahi takes off her heels, reaching the room. She sees a half-filled glass of wine on a side table of the couch. She walks up to the table barefoot, picks up the glass and gulps down the wine. When she picks up the bottle next to it, Dev quickly walks up to her and gently takes the bottle from her.
'I think it is enough for today,' says Dev while taking the bottle from her.
Mahi jerks off her hand from his grasp and walks away to the balcony door. She unlocks it.
Dev asks her,' Where do you think you are going?'
'Balcony se kudne,' replies Mahi with a pissed off expression as she opens the door and moves out. Dev quickly sets the bottle on the table. He follows her behind. But when he sees her going straight towards the railing, he almost runs to her. Before she could reach the end, he grabs her, wrapping a protective arm around her waist from behind. He slightly picks her up, holding her like that and places her away from the railing.
She laughs off and says,' I am not gonna jump. I was just kidding. I need some air.'
Dev puts her down and faces her while he says,' Couldn't take the risk.'
'Don't worry. You are not getting rid of me that easily,' replies Mahi, becoming serious again. She takes the support of the high glass railing and looks out.
'Who wants to get rid of you!' Dev states softly, standing next to her and not leaving her from his sight.
Mahi sneers at Dev's reply. Then she says,' You are obliviously so good at pretending.'
'Excuse me!' exclaims Dev at Mahi's allegation.
Mahi looks at Dev sternly and then looks away, sighing in exasperation. Dev realises that she might be drunk but, she is pissed too, for some reason. However, he doesn't understand why. So he asks her softly,' Hey! Why would you say that? Why do you think I want to get rid of you?'
'Don't you! Of course, you do,' replies Mahi turning towards Dev. She continues as she takes a step closer to him,' If, not get rid of me. But you sure are pushing me away.'
Dev becomes more confused at her claims. What made her think like that? That's all Dev could think of at this moment. He simply replies,' What! No! Why would I want to do that?'
'Maybe you want to do some charity. Maybe you want to give me some options. Maybe you want to give me a CHOICE,' replies Mahi in a little slurred speech, but gritting her teeth at last word.
'Mahi,' Dev says softly, realising what she might mean.
'No!' replies Mahi strongly. She continues,' You want to give me my right to choose. You are just giving me options to choose from. Or just Kabir. Right?' sarcastically.
Dev simply shakes his head without saying anything. As he was about to explain himself, Mahi speaks up,' Or wait. You wanted to give me an option of Kabir because you just want to compensate him for what you did to him years ago.' Mahi becomes immensely sad as she said this. Dev could clearly see that. He immediately says,' No. You are misunderstanding the whole thing. That's not what I want.'
'Really? Then tell me why would you not stop me when I asked you to,' says Mahi in a soft voice. Her eyes well up as she continues in a breaking voice,' Is that much you don't want to see me in your life. So much so that you would willing offer me up to someone else.'
Tears roll down Mahi's cheek as she looks at Dev with a question in her eyes. It breaks Dev to see Mahi hurt. He reflexively raises his hands and wipes off her tears, saying,' No. That's not true.'
Mahi pushes Dev's hands, saying,' I don't know what's true. And I don't want to know anymore.' She puts her hands on her eyes and sniffs once, then runs her hand from her face to her hair. She says,' Anyways, I am too drunk to remember any of this. So it doesn't matter.' She takes another sniff and says,' I want to go home.''
She leaves Dev on the balcony and walks away to the room. Dev sighs heavily, becoming disheartened when he sees Mahi walking off.
When Mahi enters the room in her unstable drunken walk, she hits her foot with the table's edge.
'Ow! Ow! Oww!' Mahi winces loudly with pain.
Dev quickly enters the room and picks Mahi up from behind while she prances on the single leg, holding the other in her hand. Dev places Mahi on the Sofa behind. Then he gets the ice pack from the small fridge in the corner of the room. While Mahi groans with pain sitting on the sofa. Dev sits next to her. He takes her legs across his laps and places the ice pack on her foot. As the ice pack hits the spot, Mahi holds onto Dev and clutches his t-shirt from his shoulder with one hand. And her other hand grabs his collar from the front. She closes her eyes as she whimpers in pain. Dev removes the ice pack and starts massaging the foot so that she doesn't feel colder.
After a few minutes, when the pain subsides, Mahi feels the warmth of Dev's hand on her foot. She had her head rested on Dev's shoulders while Dev massaged her foot. She leans back a little, removing her head from his shoulder. She looks at Dev, who is still caring for her foot, now more softly without looking in her direction. Mahi notices Dev's soft wavy hair from his side. She feels an urge to touch them. So she does. She runs her hand in them, making Dev turn to her. She doesn't flinch when she meets Dev's eyes. Dev's face is just a couple of inches away from her own. Dev sees her smiling softly through her eyes. She raises her other hand and runs her fingers in his hair over his forehead. Dev closes his eyes for a second to feel her touch. His musky perfume hits her nostril, which leads her to smile softly. She continues her exploration over his face with her both hands now. She begins with his forehead, tracing the smoothness of brows, then drawing her fingertips over his defined nose. Finally, her fingers reach his lips. All this while, Dev becomes still and afraid to move. In case he might disturb Mahi in her pursuit. Her touch was definitely arousing him. It is becoming really difficult for him to keep his eyes open on her touch. He didn't want to lose the chance to read Mahi's expression. Mahi trails longer over his lips with her fingers, lost in a trance. Her lips part as she says softly,' I always wanted to...'
She doesn't complete her sentence as she leans in, closing her eyes and places her lips over Dev. Dev doesn't move at first. Then he feels her warm lips over his. Mahi parts her lips a little more to get better at Dev's lower lip. As she does so, Dev feels the tip of her tongue on his lips and finally gives in, closing his eyes in response. He could taste the wine from her lips. When he was ready to respond to Mahi's move equally, she breaks from him. Dev opens his eyes in confusion and sees Mahi smiling as she opens her eyes softly. She says,' Sweet.'
She leans in, closing her eyes and, so does Dev thinking she'll continue what she started. However, Dev feels a soft thud over his chest. When he opens his eyes, he sees Mahi dropped on her chest, closer to his neck. He could feel her uniform breathing on the neck. Dev sighs out amusingly as he says,' You can't pass out after kissing me like that.'
Dev chuckles softly at his situation with some pity for himself laced with it. He gently picks Mahi and cradles her in his arms as he stands up from the sofa. He walks to the bed and places Mahi softly on it. He tucks her in without disturbing her. As he finally sets the pillow below her head, he looks at her lovingly, bending over her.
'You made your choice quite clear today. I am never letting you go. I promise,' Dev whispers, smiling. He places a soft and lingering kiss on sleeping Mahi's forehead in a promise to keep her next to him for the rest of his life.
It is the morning. Mahi stretches herself and opens her eyes. A strong jolt of pain seize her head and make her groan. She sits up, holding her head and eyes closed, still moaning softly with pain.
'Good morning!' says Dev seated on the sofa across Mahi. He is dressed in a casual green polo t-shirt with khakis. He looks like a model, who's not a single hair is out of place. His voice startles Mahi. She sees Dev across the room and winces again with a headache.
To be continued...