Raghav's POV
🎶🎶
What would I do
without your smart mouth?
Drawing me in,
and you kicking me out
You've got my head spinning,
no kidding,
I can't pin you down
What's going on in that beautiful mind?
I'm on your magical mystery ride
And I'm so dizzy,
don't know what hit me,
but I'll be alright
🎶🎶
We had a tearful farewell while bidding goodbye to our family and friends at the airport. After entering into our economy class cabin, I heaved a long sigh, it was going to be a long journey. Securing our hand luggage in the overhead compartment I raised my brow at Sasha, she had occupied my favorite window seat. The departure was scheduled in the night and the prospect of sparkling lights image dancing in the dark, enticed me, into gaining back my window seat.
Sasha turned towards me, patting the seat next to her, she smiled. "Come and fasten your seat belt, it'll soon be the time to take off." Her smiling invitation tugged my heartstings.
I cannot believe, so soon, we were having our first couple air travel. Every day, something or the other is a 'first' for us. So many journeys are yet to be traversed and I just couldn't wait to unravel them all.
The flight took off smoothly, Sasha was enjoying her dazzling lights view; while I enjoyed mine.
"You know that's my favorite seat, the window side?". I stated and she hummed in response still engrossed by the view from her oval window.
I continued, "I never offer my window seat to anyone, even during family travel with toddlers around. "
"That's so mean, Raghav! You are really a baby, sometimes". Sasha whipped her head towards me and frowned. Resting her palm on my upper arms, she said, "Thanks for making the exception for me." My eyes were still trained at her palm slowly caressing my biceps.
I raised my brow in question. "What are you upto? Are you bribing me, indirectly?!"
"Huh?", she looked confused.
I nudged towards her hand with my eyes. "Oh God! Raghav you have such a one track mind!". She slapped my arm playing, before removing her hand.
Wiggling my eyebrows in pure mischief, "How else should I perceive it?"
"Nowadays anything I do or say, you somehow try to find a double meaning to it". She huffed, "I was trying to pacify you, considering you lost your favorite spot to me. Just like how you try to console a kid, when he doesn't get his chocolate. It was a plain straight act of empathy. Sometimes, Raghav boy, take things at face value."
I rested by back on my armrest and faced her. "I don't mind losing to you."
She scoffed, "Okay, whatever makes you happy, Raghav boy."
"On the contrary, though, I have a better view angle than yours". I said confidently.
"Really?" Sasha fell into my words and tried jerking back parallel to my line of vision, to check the angle.
A smile grew on my face watching her experiment the various angles. Patting her shoulder, "Hun, you won't find the right angle."
"Why?" She questioned while sweeping her focus back to me.
"You won't be able to find the same view as mine because mine is an interpolation of two of my favorite scenes — you and the sparkling night view from the sky". I tried my level best to maintain a straight look while saying it. The deflation of Sasha's sincere interested look, for some knowledge flash, to an utter disappointment, was worth my efforts. She rolled her eyes and moved back to her window, downright ignoring me.
🎶🎶
My head's under water
But I'm breathing fine
You're crazy
and
I'm out of my mind
🎶🎶
"Sasha!"
"Hun!"
"Sorry!"
"Happy Pongal!"
I kept calling her out and placed my hands on her elbow, which she successfully shrugged off, off her.
"Hun, I swear I won't tease you or say anything cheesy. Come on, let's not ruin our first couple trip to abroad."
"Couple?" She turned left and looked at me. "We aren't going on a honeymoon or anything, we are going on an official business travel. To work in America and not for vacationing over there." She reminded me like a strict officer.
Honeymoon! My eye lit up but I held my tongue, to avoid making the situation worsen than it had already been. "I know", I said in a deflated tone with my shoulders sagging an inch.
Just then an air-hostess came by our seats and asked politely. "Sir, Ma'am, what would like to have as your drink? We have some healthy fresh fruit juices, tomato juice and some alcoholic beverages to choose from."
"Healthy!", Sasha scoffed. "All does this man knows is his Vitamin K, Vitamin H and Vitamin H+, and that's not even vaguely related to anything healthy."
"Eh? Pardon me? Vitamin what, Ma'am?". The confused air-hostess asked, while I wore a baffled look.
Gosh! Sasha!
She's going to spill all our code words.
Once the words she had let out spontaneously got registered in her head, she sent an embarrassed smile in our direction. "Fresh orange juice for me, please." Giving her a curt nod, the air-hostess, started serving her glass. "I meant orange juice is healthy and has lots of Vitamin C. It'll keep me healthy and combat my on-sight of flu". Sasha rambled on, trying to cover up her slip of the tongue, disastrously.
She even faked a couple of coughs to prove she is catching the flu. "Hope the weather at our final destination doesn't aggravate it. Do you have any idea of our destination's prevailing weather conditions. Is it warm or cold?". She asked the dutiful air-hostess, who was pre-occupied in filling our glasses.
"It's warm over there. You'll be fine Ma'am. Here you go, your healthy glass of orange juice." With a smile she handed over it to Sasha. I sheepishly smiled and gestured the same for me.
Once the cabin crew along with their trolley of beverages were out of sight and hearing range, Sasha punched my arm and threw an accusation on me.
"Urgh! It was so embarrassing. All because of you ", she scowled emphasizing the last line.
"What did I do?" I shrugged innocently. "I didn't ask you to divulge our code words or ask you to put on an act of falling sick. Want my suggestion, you need more training for your acting skills". I flashed a smirk, before taking a gulp of her Vitamin C loaded juice.
When she was about to turn around again and dial into her do not disturb mode, I grabbed her elbow to turn her back. I lifted my hands and clutched my earlobes to mouth — 'Happy Pongal'. I knew she wouldn't be able resist my innocent chocolate boy charm.
"Hopeless! Change your name to 'Hopeless Raghav Srivatsav'."
With that I knew I had won over her and broken her 'no talking' stance.
After all, you can't stay mad at a person, who makes you laugh.
🎶🎶
'Cause all of me
Loves all of you
Love your curves and all your edges
All your perfect imperfections
🎶🎶
Pulling her sideways, into my embrace, I placed a kiss on her temple before hugging her. Taking her free hand into mine, I said. "I like all our bittersweet moments too. Don't make fun of me, if you find it funny." Like an opening and closing vote of thanks quote, I pecked her temple again. I pat my back internally thinking of my accomplishment.
All three Vitamins in one go.
What a masterstroke!
🎶🎶
Give your all to me
I'll give my all to you
You're my end and my beginning
Even when I lose I'm winning
'Cause I give you all of me
And you give me all of you, oh-oh
🎶🎶
Sasha stayed comfortable in my embrace and didn't make a move to break it. In fact, she snuggled into it even more. While sipping into her juice and faintly admitted. "Me too." To which I looked down at her cuddled figure resting on my chest and raised an eyebrow. She smiled at me and started to come out of my embrace. "We need such moments to act as a nazar tod (break evil eye) for us."
My already arched eyebrow, shot up an inch higher up. "You believe in such stuff?"
"Not exactly, but better safe than never. I'm not telling to be blindly superstitious. Why don't you just take it as like this — always having lovey-dovey moments will become boring. We need fights to spice it up."
"Huh??", my eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. "Spice it up, I see", I repeated her words in a completely different playful tone. Humming in agreement, "I heard kiss and makeup after fights, increases the intensity of love." She shook her head in amusement.
"Vicky's going to be so proud of you..... For taking his suggestions, one step higher."
The dinner trolley rolled up to our aisle and we started our meal alongside the homemade sides packed by Sasha's mother. It was going to be nearly a day's long journey in the plane, with a switchover at Dubai. Considering it, our mother's had turned masterchefs and packaging experts. Their packages contained few special delicacies for our flight journey and not to forget the nearly double digit number of tins with unperishable edibles part of our cargo luggage.
After an enjoyable meal, I bent over Sasha's seat and viewed the twinkling lights in awe together, chatting away about their sources. My arms like a boundary wall surrounded Sasha on either sides. Her back rested on my chest and my chin on her left shoulder. Our cute back hug image reflected on the window panel. 'Click!', my phone sound emerged while capturing our ghost image overlaying over the sparkling sodium lights on a black canvas. We turned to inspect the snap and it was just Picture perfect!
The lights had dimmed, signaling the quiet hours and too fell in slumber. She rested her head on her headrest. My fingers twitched to remove the armrest barrier between us to cuddle together for the whole night. It took every ounce of my self-control to avoid doing so.
I woke up before Sasha at the announcement of nearing our stopover destination and were expected to land in another forty-five minutes. Cracking my sore neck muscles, my eyes found my Ms. Sneakers, who had sneaked her hands around my arms with her head on my shoulder. She seemed to be sleeping peacefully. Looking over her head, the sight of dawn with fluffy clouds spread over the sky like separated cotton balls, was a sight to behold.
I'm literally in air with my loved one in my arms, it couldn't have been any better.
How I wish the moment would seize.
Even better, I wish I could wake up to this sight, everyday.
That day isn't far away.
A wide grin beamed on my face at that thought. Sasha's eyes started fluttering to open and the first thing she saw was ME! Her cute smile changed to shock at our position, making her straighten up in her seat faster than usual. The remaining journey glided away in watching movies or napping.
The first week on American soil was hectic in settling down at office and our thirty day accommodation provided by the company. We declared our relationship at the client office too. They had strict rules on workplaces romance and the officials had authority to take stringent action against us if found guilty of breaking them. Also, non-disclosure of workplace relationships, of any kind, could be subjected to the law. We were mature adult and as it is, we weren't the ones who indulge in public display of affection. Neither did we nuture our relationship to garner any kind of professional gains. We were good as long as we didn't do anything to sabotage each other's work and kept our professional and personal lives separate. Nor were we the kind of couple who would not see eye to eye in office and not meet for coffee breaks or lunch, just to be extra cautious. We so needed the break time to spend in each other's company.
We spent our weekdays slogging at office while our weekends for discovering nearby places and sight-seeing. Sasha loved being adventurous, going on hikes, camping and there were so many places to visit, to quench her thirst. I was a mediocre person in terms of venturing out, but I didn't mind as long as I had Sasha's company and we were safe.
The time had come to shift out to a more permanent place of stay. The lookout for it had started almost since we landed, actually even before. While in Coimbatore, we got in touch with family, friends, friends of friends and the list goes on, to gather information of the suburbs and cost of living. After working hours we used to squeeze in sometime for site visits, in order to keep our weekends free of such important but boring tasks.
"Sasha, I think I like this place. The locality is also good and centralized, surrounded with supermarkets. There's a metro station in walkable distance and it's only a fifteen minutes ride in the metro to our office. What do you think?"
"Hmmm, yes. It looks good and ticks off majority of the checklist items. I like that it has a balcony too."
"Attached to your room or common area?", I asked.
"Common area. But it's wide and it'll do."
I nodded. As we stepped out of the inspected flat, making our way to the elevator, I said. "It's a three bedroom apartment with two bedrooms ready to occupy."
"Hmmm", she hummed in response while putting her phone back in her backpack.
"Both are available at the same time."
"Yes, Raghav."
"So-so —", I trailed off.
"So what?", she questioned.
"How do feel, meeting your new roommate?" Casting a gentle smile, I enquiried.
"Who? Where?" She whipped her head all around in search of the person.
I tapped her shoulder and when her attention was on me, I jerked both my thumbs and announced. "Me!"
She let out a train of speedbreaker giggles. "You? You got to be kidding me?"
"Why? How do you like the idea of a live-in relationship, of course in separate rooms. After all, I'm also a decent, traditional guy too." I hurried up the explanation part of it.
She puffed out a blow of air and replied sarcastically. "Yes-yes, there is no doubt that you a good traditional guy. We can stay in separate rooms..... in separate apartments too."
"But—".
"Raghav, do you really want to have this conversation now? You know my dad warned you that sometimes I might not agree with you and you need to accept it." She said in a flat tone. I knew it was a ridiculous hasty idea for us.
The day to move in to our new respective rooms came. We had unloaded our luggage from the cab and shifting it to her flat. Once her boxes had been placed inside her room. I bid goodbye to her at her doorstep.
Catching the doorframe on either sides and leaning in towards her, I said. "Before I start unpacking, just wanted to re-check if your thoughts have changed about my live-in offer?" Shooting my gaze to the vacant room opposite hers. "Wiggling my eyebrows," Your one yes and one phone call away to the landlords, is the only thing stopping me from unloading my luggage in that room."
She let out a chuckle, "You never give up is it?"
"My never say die attitude, lead me to my onsite assignment. I'm hoping it works in my personal life too", I smirked.
She placed both her palms on my flexed muscles and took a step forward. I briefly glanced at her hand when she squeezed them and met her eyes again. "My dear Raghav boy, you are so correct. It worked for your career and it will, definitely, work in your personal life too." By now her palms had traced a long path on my upper body. They had roamed up to my shoulders, glided along the shoulder bone towards my neck and slid down sensually to my chest.
Alarm started ringing within me with each movement of her hand trail. My breath hitched and I swallowed hard. Now her palms seemed to have stationed on my chest. She took a tiny step forward, making me take an equal amount of step back.
"Sasha!", I called out but in no vain.
She progressed to take another step forward. I whipped my head both sides, to check for any audience in the corridor.
"Sa-asha....", her name came out breathlessly. "I don't think it's the right time or place for —".
She didn't seem to pay any heed to my shaky warning. All she did was close the distance between us and I kept adding the distance. This lead to me standing on her doormat, entirely outside her flat.
Out of nowhere, she pushed me away with slight force, making me loose the grip on the doorframe and stumble backwards. A puzzled expression crept gradually over my face.
"Like I said, your 'never say die' attitude will work for your personal life too but—but not in this case, sweetheart!". She dust-clapped her hands in victory and folded her hands to lean on one side of the door frame.
I huffed and straightened my shirt to stand upright. "Did you have to push me, to convey your point?!"
She closed her eyes for a second and bobbed her head in acceptance. "Yes!" Drawing an incomprehensible figure in the air with her fingers, she asked. "What were you telling earlier? You don't think it's the right time and place for— for what Raghav?!?" She tightly pursed her lips to stifle her forth coming laugh.
I scrunched my face in slight humiliation and grumbled. "Nothing Sasha!" Unable to withstand my second hand embarrassment, I averted my attention by focusing on rolling down my folded sleeves.
"Ah! Let me guess!", Sasha suggested with her finger on her cheek. Tapping her cheek, she tried to showcase that she was searching for the answers. "You are always right, Raghav", she stated, in over-excitement.
Now what is she upto?!
My eyeballs jolted up to steal a peek at her.
She continued, with laughter in her eyes, when our gaze met. "This isn't the right place or time, for —". She gave a dramatic pause, before completing her sentence. "For unpacking your things! As you need to do it over there". She bent her head forward to look at her right and jerked her thumb in the same direction. "I think it'll take approximately five more minutes for you to start, too." She stole a glance at her wristwatch and exclaimed. Looking back at my face she said, "That's why I'm going to call you from here on, Mr. Right Raghav!" She announced happily, flashing all her teeth in full contentment with her leg pulling stunt.
Once again I scoffed in annoyance, which I felt I had done an umpteen number of times within the span of ten minutes. I took a deep breath.
"It's ok Hun, I prefer being called Sweetheart, as earlier". I winked at her and her surprised expression vouched for the correct intepretion of my tongue-in-cheek reference.
Taking advantage of her stunned stance, I stole a peck on the cheek; she had patted awhile ago, in pretense of coming up with her witty reply. It did the needful to break her frozen state.
"That, was for your earlier invitation". With a mischievous smile, I tapped her nose adoringly and stepped back to make way towards my room in the next-door flat.
She called out, "When did I do such a thing."
Taking small strides backwards, I repeated her actions to answer her question. "When you did this!", I tapped my cheek. "I thought you were asking me for a kiss on your cheek. Sorry Sasha, sometimes I'm a late bloomer, I understood it a little late. Hope you don't mind, a five minutes delayed kiss?!?" I shrugged innocently. I had to stop, to laugh my heart out when she scoffed and mumbled something under her breath.
"You can't beat your teacher, in a subject he has mastered, my dear Sasha."
Before she could reply anything else in her defense, I said. "One more thing hun, I'm not just 'Mr. Right Raghav' but I'm 'YOUR Mr. Right Raghav'. She stood tongue-tied and settled with shaking her head repeatedly in amusement. "Bye, Hun! Meet you for dinner later. Take rest till then". I sent a curt salute in her direction and entered my flat.
🎶🎶
How many times do I have to tell you?
Even when you're crying,
you're beautiful too
The world is beating you down,
I'm around through every mood
You're my downfall, you're my muse
My worst distraction,
my rhythm and blues
I can't stop singing,
it's ringing, in my head for you
🎶🎶
~*~
One year later
How fast one year glided away, I couldn't believe. It felt like only yesterday Sasha and me were at the baggage carousel, waiting for our luggage to appear on the rotating conveyor belt. It was a year well spent at onsite — roaming around, clicking photographs everywhere we went, checking out new places to eat along with new cuisines. All-in-all, it was a splendid experience. I couldn't have wished for a better dating period.
Our respective mother's were the ones that faced the brunt of our enjoyment. Sasha's mother spent the days in worry, that we might break up and kept insisting for an engagement or a formal betrothal ceremony. On the other hand, my mother lived in fear of our safety, when we shared our camping and hiking experiences and photographs. Her point of view was that we were taking life for granted and chilling out like the world was going to end. Her take was, if we got engaged, only then we would behave responsibly and cut down on our adventurous trips. Little did she know we didn't require that step to keep our camping trips in check. I, being a slight scaredy cat, played the role of the anchor; whenever Sasha's want for thrilling experiences went over-board.
On successful stalling of the engagement for a year, our families had had enough of it. They scheduled a group video call on one fine Sunday morning, eastern standard time. Sasha and me joined through the same laptop and sat side-by-side in her flat's living room. The Hedge family and mine were in full attendance, even though it late in the night for them. My Dadi too was an attendee, indicating it was a very important video call.
My mom played the role of addressing the elephant in the room. "Sasha - Raghav, now it's been one year since we agreed to your excuses for the engagement. Now I have put my foot down and unanimously, vote for it to happen soon."
"Ma, we also want it happen soon. It's just that our definition of soon isn't matching with all of yours." I said politely, well aware of the fact that my would-be in-laws are part of the call too. The fact was both Sasha and me wanted to enjoy the 'Boyfriend-Girlfriend' Tag to the fullest.
"I don't know which dictionary are you referring to for your definition of 'soon'. Soon in no language and in no dictionary means one year Raghav!"
Sensing my mother's impatience, I had to do something before it converting into anger. Trying to think of something to up with, before I'm scolded like a small kid in front of the Hedge family, but in vain.
"Aunty, for the engagement to take place we need to come to Bangalore, but we are still stuck, here." Sasha voiced out an appropriate concern and emoted it perfectly well with a sincere disappointed emotions. It felt like she really wanted it to happen but couldn't help it, but I knew it was otherwise.
That's my girl!
I leapt in joy internally.
My mother wasn't having it, this time, she came well prepared. Flashing a smile, she responded back, "I knew both of you would say this but I have a solution for it too."
"We are going to have an online engagement ceremony!"
Both the mothers announced in unison, happily.
Sasha and me snapped our heads at each other and immediately dialed into our eye conversation.
'Oh God! We are trapped this time', her eyes emoted.
'Relax Sasha, I'm there!', my eyes responded back.
'Think something soon'
'Will do, don't panic', my eyes conveyed to her.
🎶🎶
Cards on the table,
we're both showing hearts
Risking it all,
though it's hard
🎶🎶
We could hear all sorts of background noises from clearing of throats, awkward coughs to kisses blown in the air.
My dad's voice boomed, "Raghav continue your romance after the call. Concentrate over here now. Err-uh! Need I remind you that your in-laws are also watching". Dad did a commendable job in bringing us back to earth from our parallel universe.
Great! Busted!
The kissing sounds were still being heard, I let my eyes roam across the laptop screen to find the culprit. It was none other than my Dadi, it shocked me to the core.
"Oh! Sshh!", my Dadi outrightly shushed her son. "He's not like you, he is my grandson. Danke ki chot pe, seena thok ke; pyaar karega bhi, pyaar jatayega bhi.
(With all the hype and hoopla and fanfare, proudly he will show as well as declare, his love)".
Oh Gosh! Dadi please control!
How much more second hand embarrassment I need to face.
She was rooting and hooting for us, the only thing left was whistling. If she knew how to whistle, that wouldn't have stopped her too. Smiling awkwardly, I shrugged in humiliation looking at the Hedge family's video slot. Whether they understood it was directed to them or not, I wasn't sure.
Mrs Hedge giggled and said, "See this is the only option available for you'll. Everyone here has agreed to it. Just decided the date and let us know. If that also you want us to do, we will happily do it."
"But —but, online? Won't it be weird?", Sasha questioned.
"Sasha Magu (child), what's weird in it? Be modern like me! The 21st century cool, Dadi. Why do you want to follow some boring age old format, leave that behind. Try something new and exciting. Don't you want me to witness something special, that I can brag about, to my friends when I meet them in afterlife? I don't know how much more time I have left on Earth." Dadi explained, more like emotionally blackmailed by pulling out her age card, smoothly.
Dadi was turning out to be extra ultra-modern for our liking.
Sasha innocently asked her father, "Dad do you also agree with it?"
"Great! We all told, is that not enough? Ok hear it from the horse's mouth", Mrs. Hedge replied, slightly irritated. She turned to her husband, "You itself tell else your daughter, she won't believe, after all Father's daughter she is! I didn't do anything at all, right!" She grumbled, scarcasm dripping from her tongue.
Sasha rolled her eyes as she knew this was the usual reaction from her mother, when she feels neglected in her daughter's eyes. "Ma! I didn't mean it, in that sense. He's been awfully quiet the whole time so wanted to check with him."
Mrs. Hedge dramatically put her hand on her heart and sucked her breath. "Oh God! Now you are telling I'm not letting him speak". She nudged her husband, "Say something soon before she accuses me of putting words in your mouth too."
Now it was Sasha's turn for experiencing the embarrassment in front of her in-laws.
"MA!", Sasha gasped. Her gaze kept sweeping to my family's video box, to gauge their reactions.
"It's ok Sasha, it's ok Mr. and Mrs. Hedge. It's Har Ghar ki kahani (the story of everyone's home). Same situation here also, Mr. Hedge, don't worry." My dad jerked his head sideways towards my mother and winked to the screen, directing it to Sasha's father. His not-so wise declaration, resulted in earning him a jab from my mother, in return. Setting off a laughter riot.
Looks like today everyone's on a roll!
Mr. Hedge spoke, "Yes Sasha, we are all happy with the decision. On contrary, we are more than happy for this arrangement. It bears less expenses and reduces unnecessary extra pompousness, people attach to such affairs. Right Mr. Srivatsav?"
My father damned, "Cent percent right!". They even hi-fied over the internet.
Both the families are putting a united front against us.
There's no turning back now!
How come they are all agreeing to each other, usually in such marriage talks, disagreements were inevitable.
These people are all so W-E-I-RD!
Did they practice or do a rehearsal of some sorts this meeting?
"Okay!", Sasha's bummed reply came. She seemed to have accepted defeat and our fate.
I too was falling prey to their well executed plan. A moment before I was also about to convey my consent, the bulb in my brain lit. That's the perfect escape, my inner voice validated my brilliant get-us-off-the-hook idea.
"I'm also fine, but Ma, only one issue is there. You are aware that we can schedule a vacation back to India once every year, with a one-way flight trip sponsored by the company, right?" When my mother nodded and urged me to go on, I glanced at my in-laws. "However due to some high priority project, we had to postpone our vacation a little. I was going to use 'our engagement' as an excuse to get our vacation plans approved. As they seem to be always coming up with some sort lame excuses in making us postpone or discouraging us from availing our vacation. If we have an online engagement, our vacation plans may be stalled further. Will you be fine, not able to meet us in person for another few months or maybe another year, based on responses we got earlier at office?!?"
"What! Another year!", my mother shrieked.
"They can't do that, that's so unprofessional!", Mrs. Hedge said in accusatory tone.
"No, nothing is unprofessional. The vacation leaves will be carry forwarded and be available to avail in the future. This is business peak time, so lots of new mini projects are coming back-to-back. If you put ourselves in their shoes, they have a valid reason." I reasoned out.
"Also, there's a rule if an employee hasn't availed his or her vacation in eighteen months, in his first onsite visit, the company will bare the two-way ticket expenses. This is applicable only for the first trip." Sasha added to my point.
"Just don't inform them you are engaged", Mrs. Hedge suggested matter-of-factly.
"Aunty, I don't think so that's a good idea. In States, at least in our client organization, they take relationships between employees very seriously. It may result in termination and immediate extradition. Worse case scenario, we can even end up behind the bars. I've earned shocking goosebump-ridden stories of the number of years it sometimes takes to come out of the jail, while trying to prove not-guilty. That's not a situation we want to invite, right Aunty?"
I wasn't even fully sure upto what extent the information, I had shared was true or not. I didn't give it a damn even if it was zero percent, the truth. Right now my mission — 'Sabotage the engagement', was in full motion. The gasps let out by my mother and others, punctuating each information I had revealed, indicated that I had hit the rod when it was hot.
While everyone busied themselves in talking and thinking a way out of the pickle I had put them in, Sasha and me shared private smiles. Admits their murmurs in Kanada, I fist-bumped Sasha, behind our backs, hidden from the camera lens. On a concluding note, we decided that we would wait for another six months time, then we would be flying down to India for our engagement.
~*~
Six months later
On our engagement day, a small to medium sized banquet hall was booked and decorated. It was only for close-knit family members and friends. Our gang had ordered a choco-scotch crunchy cake, which had butterscotch crunches plastered around its circumference and on the top. Miniature dome shaped chips, made up of white and normal chocolate, along with the butterscotch crunches decorated the top. The message that adorned the cake was -
"To-Be Mr. & Mrs. Sneakers
👟👟"
This is surely Vicky's doing, especially the pair of sneakers.
It was made of fondant icing protruding out in three dimensions, below the written message. The colors were the same as that of the sneakers Sasha wore when I met her. It was the first part of her that came into my vision, and since then there was no turning back.
On the muhuruth (auspicious time), we slipped our engagement rings on each other's fingers. Thankfully everyone had crowded on the stage to congratulate each other and conveniently moved a few meters away from us. Milking the opportunity, I stole a kiss on Sasha's cheek and whispered into her ears.
"Congratulations to-be wifey!"
She clutched my self-desigbed neru jacket and pulled me slightly down. Tip-toeing to bridge the gap between us, she pecked my cheek in return in lightening speed. Mirroring my actions she whispered into my ear.
"Congratulations to you too, to-be hubby."
If I thought her quick peck was the evening's surprising and bold move from her side, the word 'Hubby' escaping out from lips stunned me. Her next set of words left me spellbound. Looking right into my eyes with her hands gently resting on my upper arm, she said.
"I love you, Raghav!"
Even in my dazzled state of mind, my lips moved rapidly to reply back.
"I love you too, Sasha!"
It then struck me, that this was very first time we had confessed our feelings to each other with the four letter L-word. This time around our confession had a different word, thought it started with 'L' and ended with 'E', similar to the earlier one. The centre two letters were swapped and which made all the difference. Sasha, being the first to confess, between the two of us, blew my mind away.
In the span of nearly two years of companionship, it never crossed our minds that we hadn't said 'I love you' to each other. I guess we can blame it on our naïveté. Our bond wasn't dependent on such words but on the love we had in our hearts for the other. Nevertheless, stating it out aloud, gave a sense of trademark certified stamp on it.
Her surprises for the joyous evening, didn't seem to cease. The exchange of kisses and love declaration happened right in the middle of the stage among guests on-stage as well as off-stage.
Where did my innocent, people - cautious Sasha go?
The second the thought crossed my mind, it seems to have telepathically sent to Sasha. She tugged on the dangling sides of her dupatta, falling on either sides of her face and whipped her head to catch any onlookers red-handed. I was about to inform her that it was of no use, surely our display of affection wouldn't have gone unnoticed, atleast not by the photographer. Out of fear of ruining this moment, I let it pass.
Luckily her dupatta securely pinned to her hair on the crown of her head, set the dupatta cascading on either sides of her face, providing the discretion for our sneaky kisses.
After the exchange of the rings and rituals, I picked up my guitar and dedicated a song to Sasha, my fiancé. Half seated on a circular rotatable chair, with only lower back support, that was specifically brought to the stage, I held Sasha's gaze. She was seated at the center of the stage in our love seat. I sang, 'All of Me' by John Legend.
🎶🎶
Cause all of me
Loves all of you
Love your curves and all your edges
All your perfect imperfections
Give your all to me
I'll give my all to you
You're my end and my beginning
Even when I lose I'm winning
'Cause I give you all of me
And you give me all of you
🎶🎶
When the music and applause died down, my Dadi started to complain. "Raghav you changed a lot. I didn't know when we sent you off to America, you'll return back as a foreigner! The song was nice but sing something desi too."
I switched to the male version of a romantic hindi song, sung by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan.
'Tum Jo Aye ho Zindagi mein,
baat ban gayi'
(As You entered my life,
everything became complete).
That's how my friends I wooed Sasha and made her mine, forever.
Our love story started with a question — 'Who's that girl?' and
ended in a exclamation —
'That's my girl!'.
Today marked the day for the official end for our 'Boyfriend - Girlfriend' Tag. Sasha, from being 'My Tom-Boy Girlfriend', now became 'My Tom-Boy Fiancée'!
¡~*~¡ The End ¡~*~¡
****A/N*****
That's a wrap for 'MTBG'
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End date : 20 Nov, 2020
(This was achievable due to WattpadIndia 2020 awards deadline)
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