***Abhimanyu's P. O. V
Keep your calm she's your wife!
YES EXACTLY SHE'S MY WIFE AND SHE LOOKS SO PRETTY!!
Precisely!!! This pretty woman is already your wife so shut the fuck up!
BUT I WANNA HUG HER AND HOLD HER IN MY ARMS AND DON'T WANNA LET GO!!
You can do all that tonight but for now, stop acting like an over-grown baby and stop following her around!!
"I remember the time when I had to gaze at the love of my life like that... but well... now I'm marrying him!!" Shruthi squealed in excitement as she tugged at my hand to walk along with her.
"Oh you're not just marrying him!! You're marrying that kebab-mein-haddi as well!!" I smirked and whispered to her as we walked past Kunal's grandfather.
"Well if he wants any grandchildren, he will keep his nose far away from our bedroom!" she winked at me.
"Lucky you!" I scoffed at her, turning my gaze back to Naina who was sat right behind a befuddled-looking Kunal.
It was the day of Kunal and Shruthi's wedding, and it might have been the first ever marriage in history where the groom's brother-in-law is more excited about the marriage than the groom himself!
You ask why?! Well, it's been a month since Shruthi and Kunal's roka, and after Naina and mine little moment that night, we haven't had a moment for ourselves!!
Since I was standing in as Shruthi's brother, so I had to run about for the wedding preparations, whilst Naina was running around for the preparations for both Kunal and Shruthi - from getting the designs ready for Shruthi's lehengas, to her jewelry, to taking her to spa... I hardly got to see Naina in this one month!!
We'd both be so exhausted by the time we'd reach home every night that for the past ten days specially we'd even been just falling asleep on the living room - not even having the patience to walk back into our bedroom!!
But all that was worth it because Kunal and Shruthi were finally getting married today - without any disturbances!! And once their wedding gets over, Naina and I will finally get some time together.
I have all set and prepared - a good ten days of vacation - our honeymoon actually - to get to know one another better, and quite far away from mine and her family.. .specially her cock-blocking grandfather!!
I grinned at my plan for the next ten days with Naina starting from tomorrow evening, as I walked beside Shruthi, taking her to the mandap where she and Kunal would get married in a few minutes.
Kunal was gazing at Shruthi, open-mouthed, whilst I gazed at Naina with longing. Naina, on the other hand was blushing as she shot furtive glances towards me, biting her lip whenever her gaze clashed with mine.
She was dressed in a golden lehenga, and she was glowing more than ever as she blushed and looked coyly at me, biting her lip, her gaze screaming how much she missed me!
Finally kissing Shruthi's cheek, I helped her onto the stage, as she finally sat beside a smitten-looking Kunal, whilst I moved back, to sit next to Naina.
No sooner had I sat down than Naina twined her fingers with mine, her eyes slowly brimming with tears as the wedding rituals proceeded.
I hardly took in what was going on as Naina wrapped her arm around mine and rested her head on my shoulder. I kissed the top of her head, my heart warming up at the realization of how close we'd gotten in these past two months even after Naina's claim that she'd never fall for me!
Naina sat bolt upright as Kunal took the mangalsutra from the pandit's hands and neatly and elegantly tied it around a blushing, beaming, and teary-eyed Shruthi, before filling her hair partition with vermilion.
The whole hall erupted in a round of applause and cooed as Kunal kissed the top of Shruthi's head before setting her mang-teeka in place, gazing warmly down at her.
******
With all the wedding rituals finally over, and a lavish dinner too which I didn't enjoy because Naina wasn't sitting beside me, it was time for bidaai.
Shruthi didn't weep as she hugged her parents, but her father wept as he handed Shruth's hand to Kunal, making him swear that he will keep her happy.
Shruthi hugged me and Naina, and I finally lead her to Kunal's car, and hugged Kunal, before the two of them drove off into the night - to the Raichand mansion.
"Well... let's just go home too.... or do you wanna go to your parents place?" I asked Naina, who was busy sniffing and wiping her tears as she clung tight to my arms.
"Let's go home" she said in a constricted voice, shooting her blood shot gaze to me.
"Shush now... they're alright... your brother is there... he will stand his ground" I wiped her tears, circling my arms around her and pulling her more to myself.
"Well... " she sniffed and trailed off, looking all around us as people all started slowly dispersing.
"C'mon you need sleep... you look exhausted!" I kissed the top of her head as I lead the way to our car.
"Hmm" she sighed and flushed as I opened the passenger door for her, before getting into the car myself.
Bringing the car to life, I put on the AC and some soothing music before I started driving, and within minutes, Naina's sniffles died away, only to be replaced by a soft snoring sound.
I chuckled to myself as I shot her one quick look, to find her deep in sleep, looking far more relaxed than I'd seen her all week!!
Humming to a tuneless song, I drove along the deserted streets, finally reaching our mansion in an hour.
My parents were still at the wedding hall with Shruthi's parents, and smiling at how cute Naina looked whilst she slept, I stopped the car on the driveway right in front of the entrance to the mansion.
As noiselessly as possible, I opened her side of the door and took her in my arms, and at the same time, Matt strode out of the mansion door.
Whispering to him to sort out the car, I carried Naina in my arms, smiling at how she slept in my arms and how tired she must have been!!
Finally laying her down on our bed, I carefully undid her footwear and put them away at the foot of the bed, before undoing her hair, which was in some sort of a bun.
I removed on bobby pin, and another, and another - fuck is her hair generating all these pins?!
I was yawning and my eyes were drooping by the time I'd finally removed all the bobby pins from her hair, almost gasping out loud as I looked at the night stand where I'd stowed the pins - there are at least 50 hair pins in there!!
I looked at her as she shifted a little on the bed, before snoring, chuckling at how loudly she'd begun snoring after I'd put her on this bed!
I stood for a while and watched her sleep peacefully, her deep breathing and her chest rising and falling in rhythm with her breath - I surely was smitten by her!! But the amazing thing was she too was slowly falling for me!!
I sat beside the bed and took hold of her hand, caressing her fingers as I slowly removed the bangles from her hands one by one. I sighed as she moved, and finally, blinked her eyes open.
She smiled when her eyes met mine, and blushed to find my fingers caressing her hand. But her eyes grew to the size of saucers as she looked around and sat bolt upright.
"Shush now I brought you here.... sleep" I cooed, caressing her hand and insisting she go back to sleep.
She pouted as she looked at her empty hands and then felt her hair.
"You did this?!" she whispered, looking at the nightstand where I'd placed those bobby pins and her bangles.
"Yes" I sighed, moving forward to undo the necklace from around her neck.
My face was inches away from her's and I kept my gaze fixed on her's as I undid the hook on the necklace, and put it away. She too continued to gaze at me as I undid the hook of the choker around her neck.
But even before I'd removed the choker from around her neck, she put her hands on mine, her eyes gleaming with unshed tears.
"What..." I trailed off as she forced me to sit down beside her, sniffing her tears.
"I need to tell you something Abhi..." she finally said, turning to face me.
I sat, waiting with baited breath as she fidgeted with her hands, as though coming to a conclusion.
"I... I'd lied when I'd said that I didn't believe in love..." she trailed off softly.
"Yeah you like me now" I grinned.
"There was a guy before you... I am..... I was....in love with him..." she trailed off, a lone tear escaping her eye.
My whole body had gone numb and my brain seemed to have stopped working too as I gazed at her.
"You still love him?" I asked, my voice coming out hoarse and my eyes brimming with tears, my heart fearing the answer she'd give.
"I... I don't know.." she choked, tears now freely streaming down her face.
"Before all this... I was sure.... but now.... now I don't know what I feel.... I know I like you a lot Abhi.... but that guy...." she trailed off, wiping her tears, but more tears fell in their place.
"Did you still love him when you married me?!" I choked on my tears, hoping against hope that it wasn't as how I'd expected.
But as she nodded her head in a yes, I could practically hear my heart shattering into a million pieces and a tear finally escaped my eyes as I realized that she was indeed forced to marry me!! The love of my life didn't want to marry me, but she was forced to do so!!
What's worse, she was still in love with him when she'd married me.... wait.. she's still in love with him?!
"I just... I have started realizing that I'm feeling strongly for you with every passing day...I thought it to be impossible to be able to move on from him, but now... I hardly ever think of him... I'm always thinking of you" she gave me a small smile.
I looked at her in incredulity - what did she mean?!
"I should have had told this to you long ago I know.... but well... I've realized... I do like you... a lot... and I am moving on from him... finally.." she trailed off, sniffing her tears.
"So... what do you mean?!" I finally found my voice.
"I used to like him.... but I guess... not any more.... I like you.." she whispered.
But sadly enough, my heart didn't flutter at her words... I felt nothing at her words!
"Abhi... please..." I heard her voice from as though a great distance, and I blinked, to find that my gaze had turned blurry thanks to all the tears streaming down my face!
"Listen to me... I know I should have had told this to you a long time ago but I didn't know how you'd take it!! Please Abhi... please don't be mad at me!!" she said hurriedly, and I felt her warm hands cupping my face as she wiped my tears.
I looked into her eyes as she slowly moved forward, but as though on instinct, I backed away.
"Abhi?!" she sounded hurt and broken as she choked and looked up at me.
"I... I need time... to think" I finally managed to say, running my hands through my hair.
"But..." she began, but without listening to her, I stormed out of the room, not knowing what to do, or where to go, or what had become of my life.
To be continued...
A/n - I'm sorry for the late update but real life was catching up - my personal life screwing me over!
This is a small update I know but I really am not in any place to give a bigger update... do bear with me as I sort out my life and get back on track with this story.
Tell me your thoughts on the chapter,
M