A very prosperous Diwali to you all!!
It was the smallest of traces of laughter that he could point in her features, the rest she had very well concealed pulling that convincing pout sitting beside him. Those soulful brown honey pools danced with amazement and mirth while she tried pulling the mask of innocence, something he often related her with.
Yet today, she looked nowhere near that word.
Today she looked like a woman. A grace of sorts. A minx who pulled all his strings in ways only she could. Carrying her magenta crease-less plain saree paired with a wide strip printed blouse, she moved hearts and turned heads. Her statement oxidized jewelry pieces were replaced with a boho micro beaded layered choker contrasting to her metallic bangles that set on her wrists clinking each time she traced the hairs behind her ears, never getting irked with the cool air stealing a touch of her, rather her smile widened as they passed the traffic and entered into a more deserted road that leads to their home.
She further lowered the window and he wordlessly closed the air conditioner following her lead. She watched him lowering his window glass and she shot him a smile full of warmth that shifted his fake stoic face. He pulled his cheeks inside and refurbished the same blank face again, calming the need to let the mirth play in her presence, and sneaked a glance at her as she watched him, just like he had sometime back while she was lost enjoying peek-a-boo with the wind.
He kept his eyes in front, not wanting to catch her staring at him and make her look away.
"You look pretty today."
He snapped towards her, not believing the words that were decrypted by his mind. Blinking he watched her eyes widen comically at the slip.
"I look pretty?" He stressed the words, barely holding the chuckle that threatened to overtake his face.
"I didn't mean pretty, no..." She flushed trailing and looking out with a big scrunch. He was sure she was mentally cursing herself.
"No?" He cocked a brow towards her.
"I mean you look handsome today." Her borrowed courage amused him.
"Only today?" He bit back his smile "What about other days? Don't I look handsome then? Or are you trying to butter me to get me loose on your punishment?"
"Why will I butter you? I am not afraid of you or your punishment." Dhwani demanded leaning back and crossing her arms, tilting her head to an angle, she sized him up like a class teacher.
"So, you mean I don't look good or you know, pretty other days?"
"I didn't mean that." She chipped with a frown.
"Then, what did you mean?" He slowed the car, not wanting this conversation to end.
"I just said it." She shrugged averting her gaze.
"Why? Are you trying to compliment me, Petal?"
"Can I not?" She gritted. "Only those magazines have a right to proclaim how you are the most handsome face of the year and how you have been nominated as the most eligible bachelor for 3 years straight before you were tied up, much to those lurky females' disappointment?"
"Okay." He stretched the word, licking his gums to stop the grin. "Someone is jealous."
"I am not jealous." She huffed.
"I didn't take your name, Dhwani." He shot her with a smile that made her glare at him.
"Are you teasing me?" Her narrowed eyes made his heart flutter with amazement. She acted like a firecracker at rare times. Most days, she was the sweet girl next door who nodded and agreed to whatever was told her.
"Can I not?" He raised a brow pursing his grin, repeating the same words she had used some minutes back.
"Fine! You look handsome every day." She gave up, huffing.
"That means you have checked me out on all days." He concluded.
"What? You are insinuating things now." She looked flustered at the mention, getting back her voice, and the order rolled out. "Drive faster."
"Sure!" He piped with an all-knowing grin. Stepping onto the accelerator he hurried to reach back now that she had shut her lips and he knew she wouldn't be speaking until she wanted to. Until he probed again.
"Anirudh." She called for him and broke his expectations. He slowed and turned to watch her fingers playing with her bangles, more like fidgeting. "Can I ask you something?"
He nodded.
This was the first time she had willingly initiated a conversation. He wanted her to try to know him more and not make her own assumptions. This could be a chance.
"Why..." She cleared her throat, licking her lips in hesitation. "How long did you date her?"
"Her?" He blinked, knowing who she referred to but he may be didn't like his head intact.
She scowled turning towards him. "How many ex-girlfriends did you have?"
"12 or was it 14?" He said with a shrug making her blanch in response.
"What?" She gaped in disbelief. "14 girlfriends? Like actual, girlfriend, girlfriend?"
"I know what a girlfriend is, Petal." He mused biting his gums to not grin at her bewildered face.
"Goodness." She shook her head with eyes clutched shut. "You were worse than a playboy."
He laughed at her comical expressions and she whirled towards him at once.
"You! How could you joke around it?"
"Sorry." He bit back his laughter and sobered under her icy glare. "I had only 1 woman before you. Vandita Nair to be exact."
Her jaw clenched at her name and she nodded at him as if permitting him to continue.
"We dated in college. She was a year junior than me and fresher when we met first. We got into a relationship after five months of knowing each other and broke up after my senior year of graduation. You could say we were together for 1 and a half years more or less."
"Why did she break up with you?"
"She felt suffocated with me. I was planning a future with her of which she wasn't a part of." His lips tipped into a pensive smile at the mention, in a pretense of driving, he looked forward. "She thought that we were moving very fast, but she wasn't planning a future then. She didn't want our families to be involved in something she wasn't sure of but I wanted the world to know that she was mine."
"Did she walk out on you?" She questioned.
He nodded glancing at her.
"She did. She was young. Carefree and what you call a social butterfly. She still is. She likes to keep her group big. She never shies away from being the talk of the town. On the other hand, it was me. I prefer leisure days inside to attending friends. I like fewer people around me, only those who mean something to me will know where to find me. I kept to myself most of the time and that portrayed me as a serious and possessive man for her. It started affecting her being herself so one day she decided to end everything between us. She walked out on me."
"It is her loss," Dhwani mumbled in a soft whisper that he might have missed if not for coming to a standstill inside the mansion.
His insides felt fuzzy at the comment. With a mind of their own, his fingers clutched her palm. Gently opening her fisted fingers, he laced them with hers sitting inside the porch of their home in a parked car.
"I am glad she walked out on me." He broke the silence, glancing at her he took in her face that radiated because of the lights inside the mansion.
"Why would you say so?" She mumbled in confusion.
"Because if she still stayed in my life, I wouldn't have met you, Petal." He confessed tugging on her fingers and raising their hands to his lips, placing an ephemeral kiss on her hand he continued, "Everyone has seen me in love, in days when I would wake up with a big smile and sleep with anticipation of the next day. She have seen me being the happy guy who would give her anything and everything. She didn't have to create a place in my heart. I made one for her. But, when she walked away from me, she took everything with her. I wasn't the same man anymore. I changed in ways that made me bitter and cynical. I was skeptical of my own family and never let anyone ever take me for granted."
She nodded with a hesitant smile. "I have seen that first hand. You thought I married you for your money, but I didn't."
"I know. You proved it to me." He squeezed her palm with assurity. "I didn't want it to be but the scars on my heart were filled with steel and it was bore by you. I may have wronged you at times but you have stayed with me, after everything I had put you through, you never gave up. Even when I had kept myself closed off, you created a place in my life that is irreplaceable. When you announced that you wanted us to part ways, I realized what I was losing and how much empty I would be without you. I may have pushed you to the edge until you decided to give up on me but until then you had pulled me out of the place I created in my head. You soften me in ways I could not believe anyone ever could. I feel storms running through my veins whenever I watch you hurt, every time you lay your deep ebony eyes on me, I feel rejuvenated." The back of his knuckle brushed her face and he was glad that she leaned into his touch rather than repulsing it. "Until you, I was buried under the misunderstanding that I was hard to live with but you made it seem so easy."
"Anirudh, you aren't." She whispered touching his fingers.
"You do it so effortlessly, Petal." He murmured to her. "With you, all of this is so different. You made me look forward to every morning, you showed me that not everyone here was because of the name I hold. They were near me for who I am. You were with me for me."
"Anirudh, I..." Her throat parched and eyes glazed as she tried looking away, wanting to hide herself from him.
"I know you had hopes for this marriage." He said with a self-administered smile. "And I did everything to shatter them."
"You didn't." She voiced shaking her head. She glanced at him with flicks of guilt. "There was only one thing I wanted from this marriage."
She started and he blinked for her to continue.
"I...I wanted a family." She confided. "Only that. I didn't wish for anything when this...marriage happened. I only wanted a family of my own."
He smiled a little. "I wish I knew it before. If I had, I wouldn't have wasted so much time pushing you away from this family. I would have never separated you from them."
She blinked the glaze back, squeezing his hand the way he had assured her before. "You didn't. This family is because of you. I got them after I met you. You made this possible."
He nodded. "And I promise to never snatch it from you. They are more yours than me. Our family adores you."
She bit her wobbling lips as her eyes glistened with what he wished was happiness. "I will hold on to this promise of yours."
"Do it. I will never break it. Ever."
She nodded and ducked her down to gently wipe the insides of her eyes. He felt proud of her at that moment. She chose him with his family. She wanted them all and he would gladly have it all.
He glanced at the rearview and watched the guards shooting a curious look towards the car, stealing glances. He narrowed his gaze and saw them whispering together, coy smirks exchanged between them.
Understanding dawned on him and his lips parted in bewilderment, he bit his lips and shook his head feeling the mortification.
"What happened now?" Dhwani voiced her confusion and glanced at the rearview where he stared at.
"No. Don't." Anirudh quickly turned her face towards him holding her chin. "Nothing happened. How about we move towards the place I scheduled for your punishment?"
She scowled bashfully, pushing his hold away. "What punishment? I did nothing wrong."
"You lied to me."
"As If you have never." She threw her hands in frustration.
He was quick to step out of his seat while she glared at his figure. He jogged towards her side not before shooting a daring glare at the curious eyes at a distance.
"Come on." He forwarded his palm for her to hold but Dhwani smacked it away stepping out without his assistance.
"I am not going anywhere. I am tired and going back inside."
Her declaration made him roll his eyes. "No, you are not. You are coming with me."
Taking her palm, he pulled her towards the side of the entrance gate. Her restrained steps made him turn towards her with a deadpan "Either you walk on your own or I will carry you with me, Petal."
His threat seemed to work as she shrugged off his hold and walked passed his shoulder.
"You are a very difficult person to live with, Mr. Anirudh Chauhan." She grumbled.
"No Mrs. Dhwani Anirudh Chauhan, I am not." He laughed at her complaint.
"Ha! Keep dreaming if that helps you sleep peacefully." Shooting him an aggravated glare, she turned and stopped in front of the back stairs they had used not long before. "Where to? We better end this quick."
He grinned at her exasperated tapping on the floor and took her palm, rounding the stairs, they stopped in front of the old wooden door. "I am not sure if you remember this part of the house."
Her beady eyes took in the surroundings. The walls were filled with small light lamps and flowery climbers covering the surface. This was the back garden of the mansion that was used for all the events before they had built the city center three years back. Last this place was used was in their wedding but that time, Dhwani was brought in from the front driveway but this door.
"I don't." She shook her head and raised her hand to pull the latch open. "What is this place?"
"Our backyard." He answered and flicked the switches to illuminate the few lights around the dark garden that was well-kept and was a part-time flower field for his father.
Harshvardhan was the only one with a green thumb in the family and took gardening seriously. He tried instilling gardening habits in his sons but known of the three saw this place more than a mud playground. Each time they were brought in here, the trio ended up playing with soil, water, and mud which made him face Rashi's wrath.
Anirudh was 4 years older than his siblings yet he was an equal part of all their mischiefs, mostly their leader until Rakshit replaced him. Vidyut was the calmness between the two hurricanes Rakshit and Anirudh were often compared too.
Growing up, Anirudh attained the level-headedness that came with responsibility while Rakshit and Vidyut remained the same, only diving deeper into their personality traits.
"It is where we got married, right?" She asked watching the place with dazed eyes that replayed the nostalgia in her head. "That day it looked so different."
"You remember the place in the midst of so many things?" He wondered. He hardly paid any attention to the people, place, or decorations. His mind was busy measuring and pros and cons of his actions.
Anirudh had tried explaining and convincing his family to somehow postpone the dates for their marriage on the day of their engagement, not that he was successful. He had stormed out of his father's study that day to not return back until a day before his wedding. The same day he had demanded his Grandmother the permission to move out of this place after their marriage and the old woman had manipulated him into believing her.
While he sat performing the rituals as the groom, his mind kept playing all the scenarios that could take place. He had made theories about Dhwani, her motives, and the words he would be speaking to her on their wedding night to set some ground rules for this marriage, and them.
Something that had gone down the drain the moment he stepped inside the room and watched her in that state. The words had left him and he had sputtered nonsense that made the girl beside him hurt more than he could think of.
"Not entirely." She grimaced. "I remember bits and pieces of the surroundings. I was awed at the decoration because it was truly what I explained to Mom. She had involved me in wedding planning and made me select the décor, flowers, the gifts, the menu, and most importantly, your sherwani."
"You did?" He asked stunned following her inside.
She hummed nodding. "She said that the groom wears clothes that come from the bride's family. As I didn't have any. She said that I should select clothes for you on my own. Though she didn't let me pay for it."
"Did I look good in it?" He thought of teasing her.
"Sherwani looked good." She agreed with mirth in her eyes. "Only if we could have done something with the face."
"What do you mean?" He pulled her back, offended at the comment.
"I mean..." she trailed off with a mischievous smile. "the sherwani was beautiful."
"You!" He narrowed his gaze as she giggled. Her cheeks turned pink due to the cold wind and her laughing.
He shook his head giving up and took her towards the place he had planned for. They stopped at the other end of the garden. He took his phone and placed it on the marble bench with her bag.
"I want you to be careful. This is a narrow path." He instructed her and made her follow him for a few steps until they stopped.
"Why is there no light?" There was only so much visibility and she failed to see the place entirely.
"Because I didn't want you to see this before we got here." He stated and left her hand.
He heard her turn at once. "Where do you think you are going to leave me, Anirudh?"
"Now if you be, do not move around much or you will be the one with complaints." He said, walking backward and hearing shuffling. "No, don't move. You will step onto the switch."
"What switch? And where are you going?"
"I will turn on the lights. Give me a moment." He said biting his grin back.
"No." She snapped. "You are not going anywhere. Come back here."
"Stand still, Petal."
"Are you leaving me here alone?"
The fear in her voice halted his steps and he thought he might have taken this a little too far.
"Give me a second, petal." He assured and fetched his phone to turn the lights.
"Over."
The loud fizz paired with her loud startled shriek made him whirl towards her. Being the stubborn soul she was, Dhwani had tried following him out but had rerouted in the darkness and seemed to have stepped on one of the levers that started the waterworks around.
His jaw dropped seeing all the tapes throwing water in an oval shape ring towards the sky, drenching Dhwani who stood in the middle of them all.
"Yaar! Dhwani. I told you to not move."
"What the...?!" She stood gasping for breath as the water surrounded and attacked from the right side as she shuffled towards the left.
"No. Don't move."
His warning fell on dead ears as she stepped on another lever and freed the taps on the left.
"ANIRUDH!"
He winced at the sharp scream that pierced his ears, fearing that she might wake up the entire city with her shriek.
"What is this? Stop this now!" Dhwani rasped being hit with water streams from all sides. Shielding her eyes from the water, she cleared her vision and watched the place now illuminated with lights. She stood in between of water fountain. She looked around and then back towards him who stood a few feet away from her, standing all dry. She felt betrayed like never before and her eyes turned into narrow slits. "You! You played me into this."
"I told you not to move, Petal." He admonished her as if she intentionally walked inside this.
"How dare you?" She seethed and Anirudh grinded his molars feeling the anger oozing out of her. "You! Come here in if you wish to live tomorrow."
"Petal,"
"Come in here, Anirudh Chauhan."
He swallowed to help his parched throat and nodded reluctantly. He stepped closer and felt the first droplet land on his shirt. His jacket was discarded with his watch.
"Jaldi" (Quickly) She demanded.
She would be the strictest mother he would live to know.
"I am getting wet." He complained seeing his shirt soaking the water drops falling on them, he was at an arm's distance from her.
"That audacity." She hissed kicking into the puddle and ruining his trousers that would soon be drenching. She threw gathering any amount of water she could in her palms towards him, making the process faster. "How dare you set me up for this?"
"You stepped on the lever." He reminded shielding from the onslaught of water.
"Wow!" She gasped dramatically and crossed the distance between them, yanking his hands away from his eyes.
"Sorry." He was equally drenched as her. The cotton saree sticking to her like a second skin and hair sticking on her neck and face.
She scoffed and eyed his white shirt sticking to his chest, navy trousers hung wet on his frame with a smirk. "Serves you right for bringing me here."
She turned and tried walking away but he was quick to hold her bare arm, it was cold because of the autumn's chilly air and water. "What is left? Is your punishment not over yet?"
"I thought I would only threaten you." He pursed his lips feeling guilt for his actions. "I am sorry."
"I will never forget this." She wiggled in his hold but he was quick to spin her around and crash her to him.
"You won't?" He asked pensively.
"No." She pushed onto his chest only to be pulled closer.
"Then, let me make this unforgettable for both of us."
Her eyes widened and she placed both her palms on his chest, shivering as his arms snaked around her waist. His fingertips glided on her bare waist and back courtesy of her thin strap and a thin belt blouse, that had hooked him from the moment he had watched her descend down in the morning.
With water glistening on her skin, hairs drenching wet and shivering from in his arms, she looked nothing less than a seductress.
He clutched his eyes for a long second to stop the R-rated thoughts and opened them to find her cheeks flushed and those plum lips parted as she breathed through her mouth. He cursed under his breath and yanked her closer, diving his face in her hair, he breathed in her sweet fragrance that seemed to be heightened being in contact with water.
"A-Anirudh." She stuttered feeling his breath fanning her ears and neck. She shivered feeling him this close, the water streams hiding them between and shielding their sight from the world around.
It felt too intimate, the settings and them.
"Yes, Dhwani." He inhaled her name.
"What are you doing?" She staggered with smooth speech, inhaling sharply. Her front was paste to his, her curves pressing into his hard muscles. She tried stepping back feeling conscious of her areola brushing against her blouse material, peeking through, and announcing their presence against his tout chest. "Let go."
"I haven't held you enough." He mumbled pressing a small kiss on her earlobe, pulling onto her flesh with his teeth making her breaths hitch.
He pulled away from her to take in her closed eyes, burning cheeks with crimson shade taking over her neck, ears, and chest. She was nibbling on her lower lip and her fingers clutched on his shirt material. He didn't dare glance below her face, in fear that he might lose any strength he accumulated, that another action and he would lose her before he would be able to call her his.
"Dhwani." He brushed his knuckles on her cheeks, pushing the wet strains away from her face and behind her ear. "Open your eyes."
The soft whisper made her breath again and her eyes fluttered open.
"We should go in." He murmured and her dazed eyes blinked after a good moment, as if processing his words was becoming a task for her.
She nodded in agreement, her eyes taking in the position of her palms and then his hands, one around her waist and the other cupping her face, cradling it like one holds a newborn. With utmost care, patience, a lot of uncertainty, the tiniest of fear, and tenderness.
"Anirudh" She whispered his name. Her eyes whirled with unsaid words, questions, and emotions that she had yet to utter.
"Yes." He hummed, watching her lips in order to read more than she spoke. He wanted to know so much about her, he often felt there wasn't enough time.
A life whole together seemed less. Damn, Seven future lives felt less to him now that he has started watching her.
"What do you want?" Her question was more of yearning than curiosity.
"I want..." He stopped, shaking his head he smiled. "It doesn't matter what I want anymore. It is you that matters. It is us, together, that matters. What matters is what do you want, Petal?" He neared her, erasing any distance between them, not letting the water drops come between them. "Tell me what you want and I shall lay to your feet. Demand me the world and I shall present the universe to you. Just tell me."
"I want..." She gulped, covering his palm that cupped her face. "I want this marriage. I want us. I want everything to work for us, between us."
He smiled and dipped his face near hers, pressing their forehead together. He breathed her as he lived. "I too want us."
■ ■ ■
Rakshit laid her gently on her bed, brushing the strands of hair away from her face. His fingers lingered on her face while his eyes took in her pal face, sunken cheeks, and dark circles below her eyes that were covered with her thin eyelashes. There were frown lines on her forehead that he touched with hesitance, not wanting to disturb her sleep.
Not that she would be up for another hour. The hospital staff had induced sleeping medicine in her saline once they found her blood pressure abnormal and her heart rate faster after their confrontation.
He earned several stink eyes and disapproving looks from the staff as he requested a hurried discharge for her. Leaving her alone in the Hospital for another day after that breakdown was no good for him so he decided his best shot was Shresth who would keep her safe till he was gone.
Leaning near her, he blew air on her face in order to remove her frowns, something he did in their childhood when she slept after school on their way back. This little trick often made her smile in her sleep and his younger self would do it until she woke up getting irked.
Just like the younger Shreya, her lips tucked up and she snuggled closer to her pillow, sinking into the soft mattress that circled her like a cocoon. He adjusted her bandaged wrist above a pillow and pressed a small kiss on her wound, not thinking much about his actions.
Taking one last look, he retracted his steps out of her room.
"She will be sleeping for another hour." He filled into Shresth to halt seeing him exit her door.
He nodded, his eyes lingering on Rakshit more than ever. "Are you leaving?"
Rakshit bit back a question and nodded as a goodbye when the words froze him.
"You really love her, don't you?" Shresth asked, leaning against the railings, and staring at her ajar bedroom door.
"What do you think?" Rakshit faced him, palms pocketed so as to not let him see his clenched fist.
"She has loved you even before she knew what it meant." He stated ignoring his eyes, eyes lowered as if he was ashamed to outing a secret that wasn't meant for him to reveal. "It is only fair that you reciprocate her feelings to these limits. You are standing in our house after everything that I said to you."
"There aren't any limits when it comes to her. There will never be." Rakshit smirked mirthlessly. Covering the distance back, he stood beside him facing her door.
Shresth nodded slowly in understanding. "I am sorry for accusing you of her condition. I was out of my mind when I received your call. I was blinded in mad rage and I took it out on you. I have disliked you for making her leave home and it ended up piling as time passed. When she returned from Delhi and started working with you, I thought you would hurt her again and it would be a repeat of the past."
"She won't leave this time." Rakshit piped, scoffing in a self-derogatory manner. "I have made my fair share of idiotic decisions. I am not hurting again."
"You better not." Shresth threatened him. "Shreya is my only sibling. I can move the world for her. Re-arranging your face is no big deal."
"Didn't guess you could be violent, Mr. Singer." Rakshit snickered.
"It is her." Shresth snorted "She is the only one who makes me feel this way."
"Me too," Rakshit admitted. "I am prone to everything and everyone but her. It is only she who affects me. It fucking hurt seeing her so defeated. She said she hated herself and it rubbed me the wrong way."
"What are you gonna do about it?" He probed.
"Wipe the very reason of her self-hatred from the face of this earth."
Shresth straightened from his place at his declaration and stared into Rakshit's eyes. "Count me in if you need help."
"I will." Rakshit grinned, passing him a mock salute he walked backward. "Also, tell your sister that her phone remains with me for the next three days. Tell her to tone down her tantrums for it."
"You deserve them all, you freak." Shresth glared at him.
"That's the brother-in-law I like."
With one final wink, Rakshit ran down the stairs and outside the house. The playful grin dropped from his face as he clutched his steering wheel as he was reminded of the conversation from yesterday. It was etched in his soul, those tears stabbed him in his lungs making breathing a task, and her eyes, those broken pair of eyes would haunt him all his life, literally.
Igniting the engine, he stepped on the gas and sped through the roads to reach the place that was waiting for him.
Did you see this unexpected bonding coming your way? Because I didn't.