Chapter 6: Pehli Raat
She stepped in with her right foot, knocking over an urn of rice, and looked up to see the joy on Shiv's mother's face and remembered her mother for a moment. She lowered her eyes as she felt tears well up again; it seemed that today was a day for women to cry everywhere... She held still for a second until the tears were absorbed back and raised her eyes again. She saw that Mrs. Kapoor's eyes had welled up as well; Mrs. Kapoor had always had a soft spot for her, she had been her mother's best friend since grade school.
Since she knew everyone is Shiv's family so well, there was no standing on ceremony afterwards and Mr. and Mrs. Kapoor and all of Shiv's other relatives who had arrived by now - she was convinced that there were enough of them to populate a small country - took them inside. The most difficult part for her was when her father had to leave. She went outside with him to his car and would have probably walked off after the moving vehicle if Shiv hadn't been right behind her. She knew that it would have been rude if he hadn't come out to send off his father-in-law, but she still wished he had stayed inside. She didn't want to be next to him right now. She just wanted to be alone in her misery. She should have been at Shashank's house; although thinking of that actually did not make her feel better at all. At least she had known Shiv's parents forever; she didn't know anything about Shashank's parents at all, but she had been reluctantly willing to make the adjustment, it was necessary after all.
Shiv didn't say anything now as they walked back into the house and she was thankful that he held his abrasive tongue for a few blessed minutes without trying to piss her off. Once they were inside, Mrs. Kapoor took them to what Gauri guessed was a guest bedroom; she was sure that Shiv's room was completely marriage-proof and unfit for pleasant company. She was thankful once again; she really didn't want to be in his space, seeing his clothes and things, smelling his cologne all around her as she tried to fall asleep. This new room, she was sure, was less intrusive.
She stepped into the room and quickly realized her folly, however. She felt like a fool for not even thinking about this. Even when she had known that she may have to share a room with him, she had somehow assumed that there would be twin beds, one for her and one for him. Or at the very least a futon where one of them could sleep. But this room, it was decorated just as if they thought it was for a real married couple, the kind that shared a marital bed! There, right smack in the center, against the wall, was a queen-size bed strewn with rose petals and jasmine flowers.
Were they shittin' her??
She looked back at Shiv in alarm and he walked into the room to see what had made her so petrified. His eyes widened as well when he saw the bed and he looked at his mother to ask, "Mom, what's all this?"
"What's all what?" Mrs. Kapoor gazed around the room as if she had no idea what could possibly be wrong.
He pulled her to the side and whispered something in an angry hush that Gauri couldn't quite make out. His mother appeared to become angry as well for a second before she made an expression that Gauri had seen her give Shiv a thousand times before. It basically said, I would really like to see you try!
He shook his head as he came towards her and said quietly, "We'll deal with it. If we keep arguing with her, she'll blow this into a big mess. And I don't know about you, but I am tired as hell. I have no energy to deal with an overexcited mother-in-law trying to make sure her bahu is well and settled."
"Shiv, she must know that we can't stand each other! Come on! She has been seeing us both since we came out of the womb." She said, feeling like she was stating the most obvious fact that no one was apparently grasping properly today.
"She doesn't pay much attention to that. She thinks it's UST... you know, unresolved sexual tension." He whispered the last part in her ear like she was a moron who didn't know what UST was... "And... she thinks we'll make cute babies."
"Oh God!" she said as she dropped the suitcase that she had just picked up right onto her feet. Her poor, aching, tired, abused, stilettoed feet! She yelped in pain and backed away from it and into his chest.
He caught her for the second time that night, this time her back against his chest and his arms around her waist.
"Get your hands off me Shiv! And tell your mother that we do NOT have any UST! Tell her you are the last man on this Earth that I would ever have any such feelings for! Better yet, tell her that if you were the last man on Earth, I would just accept that Homo sapiens were meant to die out!"
Of course he wouldn't take kindly to such taunting, especially when his hands were around her, and before she could forcefully remove them from around her, he had moved one of his hands underneath her sari to stroke the bare skin of her waist.
Thank God his back was to his mother so she couldn't see what he was doing to her, because Gauri wanted to kill him. She fumed as she tried to get him to let go.
"Gauri, are you okay?" his mother rushed over and he finally let go, now shifting his hands back over her sari to pick her up and plop her down on the bed.
Oh Lord! It hurt like hell!
"I am okay." She said before adding, "The suitcase just fell on my feet."
"Is it bleeding?" she asked.
"No, no, it's just a little bruised. That's all. I will be okay. You can go to bed, auntijy" She said as she rubbed her injured foot.
"Alright dear... If you are sure?" She asked again and Gauri nodded.
"Shiv, take care of her." With that last command, Shiv's mother left.
She looked around the room in dismay... Because it was one of the guest rooms, the only furniture it had was the massive bed and a few pieces of wooden furniture and a couple of wicker chairs with cushions... nothing that looked remotely comfortable enough to sleep in for an entire night.
What the hell were they going to do now?
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