The beginning of sunrise alerted the birds and forced them out of their nest. The baby birds chirped while the parent birds got set on for bringing food for their babies. The warmth of the sun blanketed the mountains, and some of this warmth shined over cities facing the sun. The morning dew slowly got changed to nothing while the lush green grass still appeared to be dewy.
The light from the sun, coming through the window forced Sona to open her eyes. Scrunching her nose, she turned away from the sun and stretched the blanket onto her face. The blanket was soon thrown away as she saw the back of someone facing her. That someone being her husband. Last night, when Devasya came from the shower, he told Sona about their situation.
Apparently, Devasya has rented this house but only the ground floor, the second floor has someone else living on it which Sona has yet to meet. Devasya told her about their sleeping arrangements. This house only has one room too.
Now, Sona knows that this is real life and not a fiction novel but still when Devasya told her about the arrangements, she expected him to tell her that he would sleep on the couch while she could sleep on the bed. But sadly for Sona's fiction-loving mind, there wasn't any sofa or couch in the room. Sona could understand the only one bed in the room thing tho. Devasya was a bachelor so of course, he wouldn't have a sofa or a couch to sit on. Hence, it was decided that they both would sleep on the same bed and it wasn't uncomfortable for them. As all middle-class children, these two have also slept on the same bed with at least 4 relatives so they didn't feel as awkward as they thought it would be, and combined with the fact that both were peace-loving sleepers and not sleep fighters, they both slept peacefully.
Sona looked around the room with observing eyes. Last night she was tired from all the stress and work but now refreshed from the sleep, she began to scan the room quickly. A study table was pushed to a corner with a comfortable-looking chair with it. Sona could see some papers and files arranged neatly beside a lamp. A Pomodoro clock was kept beside a thick file with some binders. Adjacent to the study table, a pot of artificial plant was kept over a grass-like carpet. Some random photographs covered the walls which were of basic grey color with nothing spectacular to gawk at.
Turning her head to the side, Sona's eyes fell upon her husband's sleeping form. Seeing him sleeping quietly and soundly, Sona got to her work. Yawning and stretching her body, she moved towards the window. She shut the blinds to allow Devasya to sleep some more as she knew that he worked till late last night. She took a bright red color saree with her and moved towards the bathroom.
Standing in front of the mirror, she took off the rubber band from her hair and combed her oily hair with her hand. Looking into the mirror, Sona couldn't really differentiate herself from her unmarried self. Yesterday, at this same time she was unmarried and today, at the same time, she is married, and yet she can't find any glow to her face which is said to be on the newly wed's face. Then again she isn't really a newlywed now, this is just an arrangement for her and Devasya.
Life is interesting. Sona thought. If this was really her first morning after marriage then she would have freaked out and would be overthinking but look at her, she is married and is still as calm as water. Sona shook her head sighing, she did not know what will happen next. But the thing she did know is that she is going to work like a madwoman and get this freaking mbbs degree and do her PG and MD and become a freaking doctor.
She did not know anything about love and soulmates but she did know that she would do something in her life and then she would make sure that she would give back the blessings that God has bestowed upon her by giving her an understanding and as hard-working as her husband. She would make sure that she helps hopeless people just like God helped her in her hopelessness.
Patting her back energetically and giving a wide, hopeful smile to the mirror, Sona quickly hopped into the shower.
*****
Applying the lip gloss to her naturally reddish-pink lips, Sona looked over her image in the mirror. She looked so damn gorgeous and beautiful, Sona concluded. Sona was never over conscious of her looks, she knew that she was beautiful and she damn well knew how to dress herself up too. Sona has never needed validation for her looks from anyone else thanks to her mother who taught her to never doubt her capabilities and looks. Her mother made sure she made Sona a confident yet kind-hearted young lady and Sona was thankful for it.
Sona tucked her hair behind her ear and looked at her husband who was still sleeping. She moved forward and took her phone from the bedside table and selected an alarm for 7:23 am. She moved towards Devasya and kept her phone near his ear and in a minute a loud cheering and clapping sound erupted into the room.
Devasya woke up, startled. He rubbed his eyes and heard cheering sounds from beside him. He passed a hand through his hair and exhaled loudly
"What Sona?" He asked in a deep husky voice.
"Good morning, its going to be 7:30 and I am going down so I thought to wake you up." Sona chirped.
"With this absurd sound?" Devasya said with a palm kept over his eyes.
"Yeah, this is my favorite alarm voice. It reminds me of the people who will shout and clap and cheer when I will accomplish my goals and I thought this suited you too, I mean I saw how hard you were working yesterday so yeah" Sona answered back.
"Wow, this is actually a pretty great way to wake someone up as well as to remind them of their goals too. Can you send this to my number please?"
"Yes, Of course. I am going down now so bye" Sona said and went towards the door.
Devasya scrunched up his face remembering the work he has. He has so many meetings emails and files to draft. Devasya sometimes wished to have a geenie so that he could have just asked him for an assistant, free of cost, to do his work for him. He smiled sleepily at his thoughts. Devasya knew hard work is the only key to success so discarding these humorous thoughts he stood up and went towards the bathroom.
*****
"Aiye, Aiye naye naye patidev ji. Apka hi Intezaar tha." Devasya heard as soon as he entered the kitchen for Sonarika's first rasoi. Looking towards the Chairs pushed up into the corner, he could make out the faces of some of the aunties, probably his mother's friend. Smiling politely, he moved towards, his mom who was standing with Sonarika. "Sharma gaya bichara" All the aunties erupted in giggles as Devasya moved forward.
"Mom, Do you need me for something today?" Devasya asked in a bored tone. He saw Sonarika from the corner of his eye preparing kheer for her first meal in his kitchen.
"Yes, Dev. Sona is going to give you kheer as this is her first rasam for today. After this, you can do as you please."
"Alright" Devasya agreed making Maya nod satisfied with her son's compliance. Devasya went towards the group of his cousins sitting and chatting.
"Hey man" One of his cousins, Prashant, greeted him cheerily.
"Hey" Devasya replied simply. "So, you're married huh?" Prashant asked trying to make small talk. "hmm," Devasya said in a bored tone.
"Damn, you really gonna act like it's noting big huh?" Prashant asked smiling. "I don't know how you want me to act like then"
"You sure are a lot more grumpy. Let's see how is Sonarika bhabhi going to handle this attitude". Devasya rolled his eyes internally.
"Yeah, Let's see. He is talking like instead of my wife, Sonarika is some hunter who would hunt me down and ask me to behave as per her will. Idiot." Devasya thought irritatingly.
"Vaise, what about your startup buisn-"
"DEVASYA" Maya screamed from the kitchen and Devasya thanked his stars for the interruption of one more taunting session which was about to begin.
Devasya stood up un-politely and unapologetically. He moved towards the kitchen where Sonarika had one bowl held up for him. He took it and smiled politely at her."Here, eat this up" Maya asked her son. "Yeahhh" Devasya drawled out.
Devasya licked his spoon clean. He had to give it up to Sonarika, who was now receiving compliments from all around her, that this kheer was really something else. It was tasty. Too damn tasty. I got a chef huh. He thought amusedly and shook his head at his own thoughts.
Sona could see contentment written on every face she could see. She sighed happily thanking the lord above for her mother teaching her cooking otherwise it would have been embarrassing today. "Ma, I am going now" She heard Devasya telling his mother. Sona smiled back when Devasya shot her a dimpled smile thanking her for the kheer.
As she saw him leaving the kitchen area, She could not help but wonder what it would have been like if she made her pehli rasoi for her true husband. She could hear all the relatives around her sharing their first rasoi story and she smiled politely each time they looked at her while telling their story.
Sona knew that her story has begun but she had no idea what is going to happen next and according to her, it was actually nice that she doesn't know that. She just hopes it's going to be good and a story worthy to tell.