How are y'all?
India 🇮🇳 won the Asia Cup 🏆 and I can't contain my happiness so here is an early update for my lovely readers.
The chapter is of 5000+ words.
A request ~ please vote and comment in large numbers and those who still don't find it important are really leaving me disheartened.
A warm shoutout to smruti1999 whose honest engagement in the story never fails to appease me as a writer. Her words encourage and support me a lot. Thankyou girl ❣️
💙
|I never believed in luck, but I felt damn lucky when I saw the untouched stars twinkle in her eyes|
•present•
I patted the little ball of fur and also my new friend. I finally made a real friend who did not dislike me apart from my Aaloo. I had a wish to take this cute creature home but I knew that I wouldn't be able to do so.
The idea about leaving it here made me sad but wouldn't it be better if I let this cute puppy enjoy a huge open space rather than the four walls of my house.
The little creature looked so eager to go back to its safe place that its actions melted my heart. A day ending at our home isn't the best part of the hectic routine?
"I'll see you tomorrow, Droopy."
I was naming the puppy tomorrow for sure but for now I cuddled it for the last time. The little pup wagged its tail when I left it on the ground and watched it running away to its unknown place.
I looked up, the pink, gold expanse of the ginormous sphere was suddenly evolving to a stygian, gloomy shade.
"I need to get home." I told myself and started walking after dusting my soiled clothes.
The opaque silence was disturbed by my loud footsteps. The darkness felt heavy, oppressive, uncertain. I came closer to a cross-junction to spot my mother at one end.
I was momentarily relieved after seeing her.
I called out to my mother hopefully. She saw me and then turned away soon after. I rushed to reach her but something held me back.
I tried to look back but my neck didn't move for the grip on me. I was being forcefully dragged down through my struggles. I couldn't feel the air in my lungs but I somehow pleaded with my mother to rescue me but she didn't do anything except laugh at my misery.
I begged, I cried but she didn't help me until my voice disappeared.
"M-ummy!"
"Sa-v-e M-e!!"
Ruchi woke up with a jerk coming to the realization that her cheeks were dampened with red tears and with a heart that thumped loud against her rib cage along with every single nerve of her brain bursting in excruciating pain.
"You're safe, Baby."
"You're safe."
Her own croaky voice of assurances banged against her eardrums while she continued to rub or rather scratch her arms vigorously in hope to find some heat. But after several failed attempts, she laid back down on the bed in an immobile state hoping for the restlessness to pass.
The scary episode in her dream had almost brought back the same girl who was once in a similar situation.
It was a dream, no, a nightmare-one she had not had in the last few months.
Her short breaths came irregularly faster. The chafed fear threatened to squeeze her heart and claw down at the walls of forgetfulness she had built around herself as a futile attempt to try blocking these blurry but pathetic voices from her head.
In order to protect the little girl who was stuck back in her past.
To save the Ruchi who didn't have a mother to turn up to bail her out even in some non-existent nightmare.
To rescue her from these long living years of perturbation and aversion from the maimed version of herself who had inevitably fallen in her steps with no one to pick her up again.
The sleep in her eyes had been dead by now without any material signals of it returning back any time soon.
Her sleep was just like her mother. Once gone, nobody knew if she would ever return.
She moved out of her bed to check the time which was barely past one. If only ringing her family would not cause them worry then she might've taken the risk but she can't trouble them during the middle of the night.
Her trembling hands tried to grab and drink onto the glass of water but two refills yet she was still unstable. Ruchi walked out of the room with a hazy mind and shrieked in horror when she found a human shadow looming outside, in the dimly-lit lobby, towards the staircase.
"Mrs. Mallik!"
"Hey!"
"It's me, Baby!"
The shadow spoke louder to make its voice audible but those hangdog tear drops won't stop from paving their way down her hyaloid orbs even if she hid her face behind her skittery palms to clout her cluttered sentiments from an unwanted intruder.
But then the trespasser turned out to be her one and only savior. Aryan's worn out muscles were rehabilitated by her pleasant sight with the zing returning to his spirit as he avidly advanced closer to her. He was sure that he won't even need a hot shower now, given that his wife was his favorite remedy. The fright slightly washed away from her shoulders upon finding her man closer.
Ruchi stared at him in abatement and sheer befuddlement. She slowly but steadily, absorbed the frontiers of his sheltered suburb and not her callous mother or the monsters eager to chase away her innocence.
Meanwhile, Aryan looked confused by her strange behavior and an odd body posture. Her face was as pale as a blank but white sheet of paper, her rosy cheeks were flushed and stained with tears. In short, her entire frame was visibly shaking even after the conclusion that it was him.
"What happened?"
"I-I am sorry." She shook her head and incredibly whispered as her dry lips fumbled, unable to formulate the proper sentence.
"You haven't slept yet?" He inquired instead.
She shook her head either in denial or affirmation. It was quite difficult for him to differentiate at the moment which made him frown. Also, it wasn't okay for him when Ruchi started moving away from him on her wobbly legs.
She wasn't acting like herself at all.
'Did she encounter a ghost by any chance?' Aryan thought.
'You sauntering in the dark like some midnight outcast is nothing less than a shrapit aatma, master!' Brainie came up in response.
["Cursed soul"]
'Oh, shut up! I am tired and not in the mood to entertain you, smartass.' A part of him irritatingly gobbled.
'Ha Ha Ha! Now my master is going to care, love and spare his time for our precious queen. Who am I even now?' Braine cried. 'Humein to apno ne loota gairon me kaha dum tha, meri kashti thi doobi waha jahaan paani kam tha.'
['I was robbed by my own people
Outsiders were hardly capable of it.
My boat sank
Where the waters were shallow.']
'I need to seriously stop watching bollywood.' Aryan perceived. 'Else I'm going to kill myself because of you one day.' He mumbled out the last part and ceased Ruchi's shuffling, who felt a needle prick into her skin unknowingly.
It causes hurt.
His words hurt her.
"I'm s-sorry..!! I-I a-am just g-going fro-m h-ere.." She trailed slowly.
"Oye, I didn't ask you to leave." Aryan requisitioned in urgency and gripped onto her wrist. "I want you to stay."
His lips pressed in a thin-line, coming in-contact with her chilly skin, unlike most of the time, she remained warm around him just like her hot temper but she was different right now. So, he carefully regarded her actions as she peered at him, harshly blinking away the moisture in her eyes but still not ready to answer him or his unasked queries.
She was a mess. A mess he won't mind at getting to the bottom of because he had been willing to take whatever she had to give him. The good or the bad. But, currently, her visible condition had worried the daylights out of him.
Ruchi's groggy mind was knocked out clueless when Aryan stepped further to embrace the asthenic girl. She was locked up in the insulation of his arms unwarned, that startled her in the process such that she worked to wriggle out of his hold.
"I know firsthand that something is bothering you, Baby. And you being you, just won't let it out of you." He implied. "So, like a good babygirl you'll be listening to me." Ruchi too knew that she had nothing except the truth, to convince him otherwise, abided him as well. "You just stand here and listen to my breath."
"Why yours?" She asked meekly because this wasn't the suggestion given by her own therapists.
"You don't hear Arijit Singh, Baby?" He sounded gravely offended. She deduced, "I do, of course."
"Agar us bande ki saanson ko jeene ka ishara mil sakta hai to mujhe kyu nahi?" He complained dramatically but the perks of following bollywood paid him good that lightened the air between them. "I've an advantage of having my crybaby wife over a real baby, you know." Her making a long face didn't stop his parody just there. "Besides, I always smell exotic."
["If that man's breath can get a sign of life, then why can't I get mine?"]
She chuckled lowly, "You are obsessed with yourself, no?" Aryan rubbed her back in a soft and unhurried manner. And her despairing heart cheered up little by little. "Well, who isn't?" He preached. "My little Baby, humans who don't love or feel content with themselves are incapable of loving anyone with all their hearts."
"Anyways, do you know, how many times does a human heart beat?" He questioned Ruchi, his wind-chime like voice humming into her ears.
"Seventy-two." She replied with her focus pinned at his fruity voice.
"How are you so sure?"
"It's scientifically known and proven. We're all supposed to know it." Her feeble speech rationalized.
"My Lord!" He clicked their foreheads together. "Some things aren't always about science. Sometimes it's just the right amount of magic that we as mortals need in our lives."
"Magic is an illusion." Ruchi argued and his reply came out stronger. "Life is indeed a magic in itself." But before she could've had a chance to re-run her brain and stress it more ahead, Aryan added his simple request. "Keep the count of my heartbeats. Can you?"
Thus, Ruchi agreed and then with utmost concentration she began summing up the contractions of his pumping organ that hammered in contrast with her own.
The controversial subjects from her nightmares diminished along every patent statistics she learnt once and nothing else except him and just him made sense. Miles away without any schmaltz of the bygone days or the hazards of a near future, she was experiencing peace.
It was her.
Her wanton peace.
And the old whimsical kid who was once lost to never return again.
On the middle of a crammed road, in the undesirable fraternity of innumerable lewd strangers, right before boarding the bus to catch the flight to her rainbow dreams.
But who knew that the sunshine was still blazing somewhere in the pieces of her soul laying in wait to outshine the ashen welkin.
There was something phenomenal in this one moment, she felt.
There was this intense, soul-stirring, mind-boggling and reckless rush of euphoric feeling in her chest that drove her up until the brink of medley with the rosiness to kick start it all over again.
'Is this what they call a safe heaven?' She couldn't help but ask herself. 'Is this that sacred place that I've never had before.'
Ruchi felt her heavy heart losing the ends of those shackled braids. She breathed in the sanative blast of air, staying put against the aegis of his broad-shoulders and involuntarily snuggling into his side.
Aryan held onto the moment and kept her close to himself with meaningless words left unsaid because all that she needed was this overwhelming sense of being in the warmth of her home and not just a house made of bricks and walls.
His mere presence worked on her like a recreational exercise. A magic trick healing her far more better than any medication or hourly sessions with a qualified therapist.
The turbulence of her heart came out through her eyes and then dampened his woolen jumper. The woman in his arms wondered terribly if he would complain about her ill manners but she failed to decipher that for him, her being with him was all that mattered.
She didn't know that Aryan Mallik's greed for his wife would never get any less, be it any date on a changing calendar. His own heart had forgotten the usual algorithm and had been inappropriately thumping with a mind of its own to engage in a fierce duel with her's.
He could bet his life to experience this feeling all over again. Their closeness wasn't like anything based on purely lust but this gesture of togetherness was queerly intimate in such a way that had arrested his soul and combusted it high up in flames subsequently.
His calloused fingers had made their way up to fondle through the tousled tresses of her bed hair. He loved and missed those short, asymmetric hair on her that he would so often braid like an immature hairstylist just to fulfill her wish and get praised for putting in those insignificant efforts each time.
He soothed her wordlessly and once Ruchi caught up with her unthinkable actions she hurriedly pulled out from his embrace, feeling a lot much better along with a wave of first-hand embarrassment.
"Shit!" His stupor broke with Ruchi's loud hissing. "Damn! Baby, what did you just say?" He was bemused with her using a colorful vocabulary that everyone else thought wasn't her cup of tea. "I didn't say it on purpose. I'm sorry-" She bit on her tongue in order to curb her nervousness.
"Seriously!?" Ruchi was dumbstruck by his outburst, "Baby, you've a need to permanently delete that word 'sorry' from your system."
"But, I shouldn't have said it-"
"It's your tongue and wish. It's totally up to you on how to use it. You can use it to say anything. Why will you need to be sorry for following your mind." He pointed out.
She chewed on her lip incisively, "Oh! I guess, thank you then-"
He asked in irritation, "What is it for, now?" She openly hesitated to frame her gratitude or elaborate it some more in the wake of sharing her disabled pieces. "You helped me."
Aryan had to shrug off her formalities convincingly as Ruchi was getting her guards up once again. After almost constricting the life out of his soul, she made him feel like an intruder. He habitually perpended if the girl he loved had any idea of his stews?
For him, mitigating her wasn't just a task or some duty, her well-being meant a lot more to him.
"Are you hungry?" He asked to avoid bothering her with his inquiry and she looked up at him with her big bleary eyes to confirm.
She did have her dinner but satiating the hunger with some tasty midnight snack can never be enough so before she could have properly answered, they both were already stepping inside the kitchen. Besides, she had a great and interesting company that would keep her nightmares at bay for the time being.
Aryan checked the fridge that had the contents for his everyday dinner. He didn't want the servants to stay back just because he was late. Loneliness made him feel empty in the mansion before but it doesn't anymore. He put out the containers and undid the lids in front of him when he mindlessly darted over a glance at Ruchi who had her dainty nose crinkled at the contents.
He thwarted a peal of laughter at Ruchi's displeasure with the green veggies being bald-faced. "Laga du tumhari plate?" He inquired purposely to extract fun from her expressions.
"Eww!" She stroked her throat and grimaced, remembering the awful taste she had to swallow due to the tasteless menu tonight. She didn't even know much about the house norms else she would've cooked something tasty for herself. She faintly grumbled. "Main nahi kha sakti yeh sab phir se!!"
["I can't eat all this again!!"]
She stopped Aryan who fetched the plate, "Nahi! Main nahi, tum khao. Tumhe bhukh lag rahi hogi. Khake dekho, sab kuch bahut acha bana hai." Ruchi blabbered.
["No! Not me, you eat. You must be feeling hungry. Look at the dishes, everything is very nice."]
"Right!!" Aryan exclaimed with a smug smile, "Yeh kadwa karela to sabko acha hi lagta hai. Hai na?"
["Right!! Everyone likes this bitter bitter gourd. Don't they?"]
"It's nutritious." She told to hide her resentment with the vegetable.
"I think we can ditch it for today." He voiced, "I'll make something for you."
"You will cook, for me?" There was a flicker of astonishment in her eyes.
"Yup!" He declared, "What would you like eating?"
Ruchi was unsure about this whole ordeal because why else would he be willing to cook for her in the middle of nowhere. "Kuch bhi chalega."
["Anything will do."]
Aryan crossed his arms over his chest and chortled sardonically, "Maine yeh 'kuch-bhi' vyanjan banana kabhi nahi sikha, Mrs. Mallik. Is be-naam thali ke vishay mein aap mujhe zara vistar se batayiye?"
["I've never learned to cook this 'anything' dish, Mrs. Mallik. Will you tell me more about this nameless platter?"]
Ruchi pouted, "Tum apni marzi se jo bhi bana doge main woh khushi se khaa lungi, Aryan." She noted, "I'm not that choosy."
["Whatever you make of your choice, I will eat it happily, Aryan."]
"Of course, you're not at all choosy, Mrs. Mallik!" His goading eyeballs pointed at the vegetable soup and gave her a sympathetic smile.
"Fine! I am choosy!" She threw her hands up in frustration, "Now will you get me some spicy hot paneer tikka, Mr. Mallik?" She emphasized.
[Paneer Tikka - Paneer Tikka is a popular Indian appetizer made with cubes of paneer & veggies marinated with yogurt and spices. Traditionally it's grilled in a tandoor but can be broiled in the oven too.]
"That was easy to tell, Baby." Aryan sermonized, "C'mon, I will make you some sizzling hot paneer tikka." He assented chivalry. "Please, take your seat, Mrs. Mallik."
"Sure, my loveliest Mr. Mallik!" Ruchi attested arbitrarily. She pulled out a silver high bar stool and got leisurely perched up on the velvet fabric of the chair. "I hope that you've learnt some real finesse to flaunt apart from the art of your two-minute maggi."
He chuckled, "You've no idea about my virtuosity, woman!" She probed ahead, "I have time, so, you can tell me now."
She did a double take over her words but even if it was so not her, still she wanted him to know, know him up close without any artificial layers that made others form their prejudice.
"Why didn't you rather google me?" Aryan implored while tying a hand-stitched apron around his waist with small doodle arts all over the fabric, "It usually has everything people want to know."
"It's an image, Aryan. Not you." His hands went still, so did his pulse. He gave a tight lipped smile to her in response, "You were stalking me behind my back, huh?"
"It kind of makes me a stalker." She admitted meteorically.
"The notion of my wife stalking me is a thrilling adventure, Mrs. Mallik. Do it more often, please." Aryan quipped coltishly. "It makes me feel things."
Ruchi smiled hearing his thoughts out loud and not just in her head. He had a way to do things. Even if he speaks, his listener couldn't help but picture him in such a way, like right now, as he lined a fine-mesh strainer with a muslin cloth and set it inside a small bowl. He poured in yogurt and let it drain for sometime in order to discard the liquid.
She notably leered at his sophisticated conduct with newborn allure when he collected the ingredients in one place to prepare the marinade. She piercingly insisted on ogling him to imprint his every action, be it flawed or flawless, into the journal of her permanent memory, while he walked around to pomp his opulent culinary skills to his wife who was left in exaltation.
"Quit staring at me, woman." His rash, ironically passionate tone disengaged her fanatical rubbernecking warm-up. "I'm not able to concentrate here. I might end up burning the kitchen if you look at me like that-"
'Like what, master?' Brainie poked.
'Like I once again caught the magic in her iridescent eyes.' Aryan replied, abysmally rubbing the helix of his feverish, red-coated ears.
"Oh!" Ruchi pinched her coral lips to censor her dorkiness, "I didn't mean to distract you. I was just learning by watching your work." She attributed flusteredly. "Should I help you?" She volunteered.
She too was blooming red inside out established the fact that he detained her flat-footed. He nodded impalpably in response to her offer and reached out his hand to mix the ingredients for marinade in a bowl.
"I'll chop the vegetables." She marked and plucked out a sugar maple cutting board. She chopped up a large onion, cubed the green bell pepper and laid back half-way as she was ineffective in slicing the ideal shape to the paneer.
Aryan who was standing close had to snatch the knife out of her hands or else she appeared a minute close to dicing off her fingers instead. Ruchi had a faint trace of irritation which he needled, "Ab tumhara is bechari paneer ne kya bigad diya?" Her mouth tightened in a jam, "This thing is so mean!!" She expelled out, "I put a knife on it and either it is too small or it tears from all the wrong ends." He listened to her and advised, "You can always try again, Baby!" She puffed out the air, "You think that I did not try? Look here!" He glanced around the chopping board which had every geometry with torn pieces of cottage cheese. "Well, practice makes a man perfect. You'll master it too. Let me show you how it's done."
["Now what has this poor cheese done to you?"]
He took another packet, "This thing is to be cut in half always and not from the sides, be whatever the dish. It will help in giving the symmetrical pieces. Here, it's done." She remarked and took the knife in her hand, "You're good at it."
"You'll get good too." He added and halted her hand to fix all her fingers appropriately around the knife, "As you're a beginner with a bigger knife, you should grip it like this. It will eventually get easier."
The hefty task became simple by his instructions, "Oh! That was so easy." She exclaimed in glee as the perfect cube shapes boosted her hard work. "Thank you!" She took a handful of cubes and pushed one in her mouth and another in his, who was unequipped for her move. "My Bhai and BadePapa always prepare it at home once in a while, especially on Sundays." She told. "But they both never let me on it except for helping them with washing the vegetables."
He chewed on his bite, "They're the holiday cooks, I guess."
"Kinda." She agreed, "It was my treat, they said."
He finalized the contents for the marinade and fetched the coal to burn on the stove. "Baby, are you always up this late?" He probed.
Ruchi who was playing around with a cloth shook her head dismissively. She can't utter the truth so she filled him with the partial reality, "Bas aaj neend nahi aa rahi thi." She supplemented while he preheated the grill and lightly oiled the grate. "Wese tum bhi to nahi soye ho abhi tak."
["Just couldn't sleep today. Well you haven't slept yet either."]
"Bas abhi wapas aaya tha."
["I just came back."]
"Oh!" Her features morphed into that of scruple, "Koi emergency thi kya?"
["Was there any emergency?"]
"Haanji...bahot badi emergency.." He quirked up.
["Yes...very big emergency.."]
"Aryan, sab thik hai na? Tumhare gharwale? T-tum thik toh ho na-" Involuntarily, her hands reached out to hold his arm. Aryan inwardly luxuriated in her attention. He arranged the equipment and then turned, and patted his chest with an enigmatic grin laced on his face. "I had to rescue myself."
["Aryan, is everything alright? Your family? Y-you're alright, aren't you-"]
"Par kisse? Tumhari kisi se ladai hui thi?" He bit his lower lip sparing her with probabilities, "Why do you get involved in such atrocities? Tumhe hero banne ka aisa kya bhoot chada hai-?" She scolded him, pinning away her own terrors while he became the limelight of all her hassles.
["But with whom? Did you have a fight with someone? Why do you get involved in such atrocities? What haunts you to become a hero-?"]
He laid back and leisurely enjoyed her concern-filled reckoning when she let out air off her nostrils, lending him a fatal stare, "Now will you start telling about your deeds or shall I do those honors as well?"
"Nahi!!" He leaned on the counter and waggled his arched eyebrows, "Mujhe tumhari khatti-meethi awaaz chashni ki tarah lagti hai. You should speak for me too."
["No!! I find your sour-sweet voice like sugar syrup. You should speak for me too."]
"Pagal! Kuch bhi bolte rehte ho." She huffed. "Ab bata bhi do tumne kya kiya, Aryan-"
["Stupid! You keep on saying anything. Now tell me what you did, Aryan-"]
Aryan clicked his tongue, sighing in a fond memory, "I didn't want to upset my beloved who was figuratively anticipating my arrival..."
Her eyes widened for disappointment crept its way in her mind due to his words. "She must be a lucky girl." She smiled forcefully. "Oh, she is but I'm the luckiest because I have her."
"Who's she, Aryan?" She couldn't help but demand as it was hard to ignore the gleam in his eyes when he talked about the lucky woman in his life.
"She's someone." He implied and she couldn't stretch it further because hearing more about the unknown girl would endanger her heart. "Baby, I love dancing-" He tiptoed, "Good for you but what can I do?" She began. "You should make sure that your special girl knows that other than me." She rebuked sullenly but Aryan had some other plans, "I am showing her that just now."
He held her fingers and moved closer.
"𝐍𝐚 𝐡𝐚𝐢 𝐲𝐞𝐡 𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐚
𝐍𝐚 𝐤𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐚 𝐡𝐢 𝐡𝐚𝐢
𝐓𝐞𝐫𝐚 𝐧𝐚 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐚 𝐣𝐚𝐚𝐧𝐞
𝐊𝐲𝐮𝐧 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐚 𝐡𝐢 𝐡𝐚𝐢.."
He commented and swirled her to the right, taking her by shock. He caused her to gasp when he continued singing along the poetic lines while effortlessly matching both of their footwork.
"𝐓𝐮𝐦 𝐬𝐞 𝐡𝐢 𝐝𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐚 𝐡𝐚𝐢
𝐒𝐮𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐢 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐚𝐦 𝐚𝐚𝐭𝐢 𝐡𝐚𝐢
𝐓𝐮𝐦 𝐬𝐞 𝐡𝐢, 𝐭𝐮𝐦 𝐬𝐞 𝐡𝐢
𝐇𝐚𝐫 𝐠𝐡𝐚𝐝𝐢 𝐬𝐚𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐚𝐭𝐢 𝐡𝐚𝐢
𝐙𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐠𝐢 𝐤𝐞𝐡𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢 𝐡𝐚𝐢
𝐓𝐮𝐦 𝐬𝐞 𝐡𝐢, 𝐭𝐮𝐦 𝐬𝐞 𝐡𝐢..
𝐍𝐚 𝐡𝐚𝐢 𝐲𝐞𝐡 𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐚
𝐍𝐚 𝐤𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐚 𝐡𝐢 𝐡𝐚𝐢
𝐓𝐞𝐫𝐚 𝐧𝐚 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐚 𝐣𝐚𝐚𝐧𝐞
𝐊𝐲𝐮𝐧 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐚 𝐡𝐢 𝐡𝐚𝐢..
𝐀𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐡𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐞𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢
𝐁𝐚𝐚𝐡𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐞𝐢𝐧 𝐛𝐚𝐚𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢
𝐌𝐞𝐫𝐚 𝐧𝐚 𝐦𝐮𝐣𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐢𝐧 𝐤𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐫𝐚𝐡𝐚
𝐇𝐮𝐚 𝐤𝐲𝐚
𝐁𝐚𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐞𝐢𝐧 𝐛𝐚𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢
𝐑𝐚𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐚𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢
𝐊𝐲𝐮𝐧 𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚 𝐬𝐚𝐛 𝐲𝐞𝐡 𝐡𝐨 𝐠𝐚𝐲𝐚
𝐇𝐮𝐚 𝐤𝐲𝐚
𝐌𝐞𝐢𝐧 𝐤𝐚𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐛𝐡𝐢 𝐣𝐚𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐧
𝐓𝐮𝐦 𝐬𝐞 𝐡𝐢 𝐦𝐢𝐥 𝐣𝐚𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐧
𝐓𝐮𝐦 𝐬𝐞 𝐡𝐢, 𝐭𝐮𝐦 𝐬𝐞 𝐡𝐢
𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐞𝐢𝐧 𝐤𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐡𝐢 𝐡𝐚𝐢
𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐝𝐢 𝐬𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐡𝐢 𝐡𝐚𝐢
𝐓𝐮𝐦 𝐬𝐞 𝐡𝐢, 𝐭𝐮𝐦 𝐬𝐞 𝐡𝐢.."
Her soft sighs and melodious giggles resonated around the hall. The pain was forgotten long back as he hummed devoutly and swept both her body and mind effortlessly.
"𝐀𝐚𝐝𝐡𝐚 𝐬𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐚𝐝𝐚 𝐤𝐚𝐛𝐡𝐢
𝐀𝐚𝐝𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐞 𝐳𝐲𝐚𝐝𝐚 𝐤𝐚𝐛𝐡𝐢
𝐉𝐞𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐮 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐡
𝐖𝐚𝐟𝐚𝐚 𝐤𝐚
𝐂𝐡𝐡𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝐧𝐚 𝐜𝐡𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐞 𝐤𝐚𝐛𝐡𝐢
𝐓𝐨𝐝𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐚 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐞 𝐤𝐚𝐛𝐡𝐢
𝐉𝐨𝐡 𝐝𝐡𝐚𝐠𝐚 𝐭𝐮𝐦 𝐬𝐞 𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐡 𝐠𝐚𝐲𝐚
𝐖𝐚𝐟𝐚𝐚 𝐤𝐚
𝐌𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚 𝐬𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐲𝐚 𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐧
𝐉𝐨𝐡 𝐛𝐡𝐢 𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐛𝐚𝐧 𝐩𝐚𝐲𝐚 𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐧
𝐓𝐮𝐦 𝐬𝐞 𝐡𝐢, 𝐭𝐮𝐦 𝐬𝐞 𝐡𝐢
𝐑𝐚𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐥 𝐣𝐚𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐢
𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐳𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐢𝐥 𝐣𝐚𝐚𝐭𝐢 𝐡𝐚𝐢
𝐓𝐮𝐦 𝐬𝐞 𝐡𝐢, 𝐭𝐮𝐦 𝐬𝐞 𝐡𝐢
𝐍𝐚 𝐡𝐚𝐢 𝐲𝐞𝐡 𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐚
𝐍𝐚 𝐤𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐚 𝐡𝐢 𝐡𝐚𝐢
𝐓𝐞𝐫𝐚 𝐧𝐚 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐚 𝐣𝐚𝐚𝐧𝐞
𝐊𝐲𝐮𝐧 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐚 𝐡𝐢 𝐡𝐚𝐢..𝐚-𝐢"
There was no track of time except for their closely running and drumming hearts. "I'm showing her exactly that up close." He whispered against her ears, his congenial and rousing voice caressing the shell of her ear like a peacock feather, "Baby!" In turn she unclearly strummed to which he tagged on, "I hope she likes it."
Ruchi looked into his orbs and Aryan captured her twinkling eyes that had galaxies of emotions and much more admiration dancing in those moons. He aspiringly appeased himself that this was a lot more than just the line of her concern and it was really very true because for the very first time, she wasn't judging the kind of man she was standing with. He was some day's old husband to her yet it felt as if she had known him since forever.
She hadn't felt this insane but satiating pull with anyone else but him which sounded sane and dangerous for her at the same time.
Aryan took a perfect dip and Ruchi felt him up close.
They stilled. Their opposite worlds stilled. And they met.
Both of them lost their inhibitions as they cradled this new, intense yet incredible cord bubbling in their chest and consuming them together as a whole.
But before their passionate heaven could've advanced further, the thirty minute alarm set for the marinade blew, impelling them to jump apart.
Aryan checked the temperature of the medium heated grate and Ruchi stood back watching his every move cautiously. It wasn't just the heat from the gas flames but their souls too were burning to embrace each other.
'Why do I wish for the moment to last a little longer?' She ruminated. 'What the hell is wrong with you, boi!' He hit his head recalling the occurrence from a few seconds ago but there was absolutely no part of them regretting it either.
"Give me ten minutes and everything will be ready till then." Aryan framed listlessly being unsure about her. He skewed the marinated paneer, onion, and bell pepper onto the metal skewers to put them to grill.
Meanwhile, she stroked the imaginary dust from her face overlooking the gymnastic show performed in her belly. 'God! What is wrong with me?' Ruchi cried in shock as she fetched the pot of fresh-made pudina chutney along the dishes required out of the warm air of the open-kitchen and placed it on the eating table, 'He said-no, he showed it to you that it was you. It's you, Baby! The lucky girl! His lucky girl!' The rare spectral juncture reiterated again in front of her dream-deprived eyes.
[Pudina chutney - Pudina Chutney is a simple and easy accompaniment made with fresh mint leaves, roasted spices and onions. There are many ways to make mint chutney with onions, with coconut, without coconut, with peanuts or with onions & tomatoes.]
In no time, the space was filled with a delectable smell of Indian spices that made her belly rumble in hunger, as promised Aryan was ready with her demanded delight. The eating spree was a noiseless but cozy affair taken to suppress both their individually fluttering butterflies. The energy in the air was too redeeming to disturb anything and make the situation go wrong.
She felt him looking into her direction very often while she herself stealthily stared at him every then and now while he tried to not react much for he didn't want her to break his bubble of happiness with her downbeat approach.
'But on a serious note master,' Braine butted in unpredictably, 'Bhram mat paalo kyuki aap is waqt good looking toh nahin par masaale ke dabbe jaise zaroor smell kar rahe ho.' He punned and Aryan's mouth was hung up in the air. He quickly sniffed, 'Fuck! I don't know a girl who likes a guy with this odor. Shit! Shit! Shit! I ruined my chance with her. Didn't I, Braine?' He was freaked out but Braine was chilled out, 'There's nothing to worry, Boss! You're already fucked up for her since a long time!'
[''Don't get confused because right now you aren't good looking but definitely smelling like a spice box."]
Aryan ignored Braine this time and concentrated on his wife whose rosy cheeks were inflated like juicy balls dipped in rasmalai due to the food that filled in her mouth. Oh! Lucky thing. How much did he wish to be the one touching and feeling her cherub cheeks while snacking and discovering the squishy delve of her mouth. His eyes went down to her pouted lips glistening brighter due to the oil and that sneaky little tongue licking off the green mint sauce from her chin. His obsidian irises got a pitch darker if it was even possible and the insufferable desire grew impossibly overpowering.
[Rasmalai - This dessert is also described as "a rich cheesecake without a crust". The name itself is exotic and describes the richness of this delicate Indian sweet. It is a Bengali delicacy of spongy soft cheese dumplings that are cooked in sugar syrup and then soaked in creamy cardamom-saffron milk, absorbing all the lovely flavors.]
'You will be dying in desperation and she will have no idea, master.' A vile Braine tormented his soul. 'Shut up!' He punily repelled at his misguided implications for corrupting his head and noisily butchered on his paneer tikka which although was spicy was now tasting sour and burnt.
Aryan wished her a small goodnight before they could've departed for their respective rooms. He had no qualms of leaving her alone after what he saw but she clearly wasn't ready to have him anywhere close when she would be in her most vulnerable state. So, he reversed as she was in front of her room but halted when Ruchi called his name staggered but gently. A multitude of adverse prospects shrouded his reasoning but even though unnerved, he waited, estranged to the uncanny.
"I liked what you showed, Aryan." Her courage was being tested but she felt inclined to do so, "Also, thank you-" He stalled unblinking, as she reinstated. "It's not for the sake of formalities but because it does make me feel lucky and much more unknown things."
He bloomed with jouissance and amour as she shyly disappeared behind the closed door.
Tonight, finally, two enraptured hearts were revived again with an upsurge of hope.
Lots of Love
ANKITA