Posted:
Can I Touch You?
"Hmm, " she nodded, " so there's a strike regarding wages. Well, I don't find anything troublesome in it. In fact I'm pretty sad that they didn't approach me and went to that stupid husband of mine instead."
Uday leaned against the door, a thousand-watt smile lighting up his face even though Maanyata had just called him stupid. One year ago, if he had seen her negotiating with a hotel manager like that, he would have rubbed his eyes in disbelief. Now, he just felt incredibly proud of having achieved the impossible.
Her transition from a princess with a lower middle class mentality to an elegant, dignified royal had been slow, but Uday had always known that steadiness was the key in Maanyata's case. He could have been a rabbit and chosen to sleep under a tree, but he had spent every waking hour making sure that Maanyata succeeded in her efforts. He had revised her diction lessons even more than her, had personally picked out her clothes with the best stylists, and trained her to do a lot more than just picking at an omelette with her fork.
Throughout all this, she maintained an uneasy truce with him. She did everything he asked her to, and always made it a point to give a genuine smile when they posed for photographs. In return, she demanded only one thing from him: That even if they happened to be sleeping on the same bed, he wouldn't touch her. It was a condition he hated to fulfill, but he had accepted it. After the "incident" Maanyata had been delirious with grief and accepting her terms had been the only way to bring her to reason.
For the first time in life I wish I was not a prince, he thought with a sigh. If I had not been a royal, breaking my promise would have been no big deal. But my ancestors' blood refuses to let me have my way. He had sworn on his family sword during their marriage that he would fulfill all her demands if she was obedient to him. It had been an unnecessary act of heroism that he regretted now that Maanyata was...well, so...beautiful.
His eyes scanned her profile, right from the soft skin that glowed with an almost heavenly light to the impeccable nails and slender, graceful fingers. Uday had always looked at women with the urge to drag them to bed, and not for any romantic purpose, but he couldn't help but be tempted by Maanyata's fairy-like beauty.
Maanyata sighed as she turned around, wondering how to sort out the mess Uday had created by refusing to raise the salary of the hotel employees. After the marriage, Maanyata had thought her life was over. But now, as she campaigned for the rights of those working under her, she got to relive her old, bubbly self again. She couldn't help but feel a small burst of happiness at the way she had coolly answered the arrogant hotel manager's frantic queries. He almost reminded her of her boss back at the mall.
No Maanyata, she thought, taking a deep breath. No thinking about the mall. Thinking about the mall means thinking about...him. And you will never think about him. He's dead now Maanyata, crushed under a truck.
Uday smirked as he saw the stress on Maanyata's face. He had deliberately been rude to the employees so that Maanyata would get a chance to fight for them. Though he knew he had created disaster at the hotel, he also knew that he had given Maanyata a chance to prove her capability at managing his hotel business.
"Udayveer," she said softly, coming closer. His heart skipped a beat. No annoying "Ji" was suffixed to his name, the way it usually was when they were in public. Udayveerji, pass me the orange juice please. Udayveerji, what do you think about this dress? No, right now there was no false respect. Simply Udayveer.
However, the excitement turned into disappointment as he realized the huskiness of her tone was because she was tired. "Udayveer, can you book me a flight to Jaigarh?" she asked, yawning. "I need to go there and sort out the issues personally. I'm sorry, I won't be able to make it for Jiji's birthday party."
Lucky thing! he thought, marveling at his wife's skill at conveniently excusing herself from J's birthday party. After their marriage, a furious J had gradually lost it and become even more of a socialite, even losing out on a prestigious scholarship to Oxford because of a drunkenly written application. He knew very well that Maanyata's family relied on both of them as anchors to help J when she got into trouble. And now he would have to deal with his loving saali alone.
"Sorry Uday," she said, going into the bathroom to change her clothes. She emerged a few minutes later, having mastered the art of getting ready for bed as quickly as possible. It was the one thing where she refused to be like other royal women, who spent hours examining dark circles and applying cold cream and face packs before going to sleep. "But you'll have to handle her alone."
"No problem," he said good-naturedly. He bit his lip, wondering whether he should broach the subject he had come into the room for. He had planned to conveniently "fall asleep" while working in the library, one of the many tactics he used to avoid getting into bed with Maanyata, and ripping off all her nightclothes as a result.
"Ermm, Maanyata?" he asked, telling himself that he had no reason to be scared, though nothing frightened him more than the docile form of his Jungli Billi.
"Yes?' she asked, getting into bed. "Yikes!" she exclaimed, rubbing her shoulder. Uday immediately bent forward. Maanyata had grazed her skin on the sharp edge of the bedpost, right on the place where he had injured her almost two decades earlier.
"Are you okay?" he asked concerned, placing a soothing hand on the freshly opened wound. Maanyata looked at him, the old fire in her eyes, and he looked away.
"Can I touch you?" he asked, looking directly into her eyes. She nodded her head uncomfortably. He ran his hands over the scar. They had tried a thousand creams, several skin doctors, but it refused to go away and remained firmly imprinted on her shoulder, as if serving a kind of reminder that Uday would always be cruel to Maanyata.
"Should I put a Band-Aid?" he asked. "No," she said immediately.
They stared into each others eyes for a few moments, as if refusing to let go of each other. Then she gently took his hand and moved it away from her shoulder, bringing it to her forehead. She closed her eyes as she laid down, and Uday quietly stroked her hair till she fell asleep.
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