SS: Dear Diary... Part 14 Upd 11/30 Pg 66 - Page 7

another one with a nice storty and exeptional style of writing, u did it again

Part 5 Hanging gardens

Almost a month and half after their wedding, the much awaited tipping point that they both feared and sought after, arrived in a short pencil skirt and red stilettos, that matched her red kanzachi she'd stuck vertically down her French twist.

"But you told me he never brings women home..." She whispered looking down at Nakul, struggling to place her left foot securely on the ladder supporting an age-old bougainvillea climber that ran up two stories on the side of the porch.

"May be she is the new paralegal, how would I know?" He answered back, slightly irritated at the hide and seek that had gone on a little too long. He caught her stumble and position herself to catch sight of the proceedings at the porch where he and his counsel, along with the siren were discussing the case. Afraid, she would make him climb the ladder for company he snuck out quietly without informing her, once he was assured she had a tight hold on things.

"I might have to climb higher, I can't see one thing from here" She took another step and her feet slipped making her let out a shrill scream. However, she quickly balanced herself in time, and made it further up to catch an unobstructed view of the group from where she stood. To her dismay, he was nowhere to be found and she frowned at having to wait for him to come back out from where ever that was he'd disappeared to.

"If you want I can let you in on the case..." The voice was frighteningly familiar and at recognition, she bent her head downwards to notice that Nakul was gone. He was standing on the ground, with his arms folded and a case file hanging loose to his side. It was mortifying beyond words and she winced lolling her head back and forth. Why then? She cried inwardly that she was caught red handed, just the way he'd in the fields on their first encounter; his bare chest had glistened with water as fine as dew...Her head reeled with the vision that made its way to the forefronts of her mind.

"Aargh!" She lost her footing on the plank and she slid down as though it was a pole, her fingers and body scraping against the splintered wood and the thorns that stuck out from the thick vines of the bougainvillea.

"Geet...careful" He let out and rushed close to the bushes, but in no time she'd landed on the tiny cactus garden that guarded the bottom where the ladder met the hard ground.
She shrieked more in pain, as her palm instinctively flattened against a kind of spiny desert plant.
It was unfair, he thought, as he took in her flinching form, whimpering openly at the small pricks violating her body. "Don't move" He called to her and before she could protest, he hunkered down and lifted her into his arms.

At first she insisted him to let her down, but when he did, she jerked back from her twisted ankle, making him come to her rescue again. He rolled his eyes and hushed her to remain silent, after which he carried her to the closest room. Laying her on the bed gently, he hurried to grab a first aid kit and returned back in seconds to catch her examining her leg for cuts. She drew her sari back to her feet once she grew aware of his presence and settled back on the pillow without so much as a sound.
He didn't seek her permission, before he ran wet cotton, soaked with Dettol over the cuts on her hand. Pushing her hair back, he nursed the scratches on her forehead, blowing at it when her vehement curls forced out of his hold. It burned where her skin was punctured and not caring to keep the distance she'd struggled to maintain until then, she leaned onto his shoulder and scrunched up his collar as sharp pain shot through her body.

"It's ok" She heard him say at times, when he saw a tear drop escape the corner of her eye. After bandaging the wounds on her elbows, he shifted to lift her feet and placed it on his lap.

He had no reason to have pictured her legs. But apparently he must have in an unkempt state, as was expected from a common country girl with bushy legs and ungroomed body hair that often hid the soft skin underneath. His eyes widened ever so slightly, drawing in a knowing breath as he raised the turquoise chiffon sari above her ankles, to reveal her shapely smooth calves. She must have been a sprightly little village girl, he thought, from all the running he himself had caught her doing around the back fields of their Hosiarpur home. His eyes lifted up to hers momentarily acknowledging that he was aware she was watching him, tenderly skimming the skin beneath his fingertips.

She was the first one to look away and as if that was his cue, he stopped defiling the unspoken trust between them with his unpermissive touch and shifted his attention to the scraped patch of skin, right behind her feet. She was more in control now, not murmuring at the times when the wad of cotton dabbed burning alcohol at her open wounds. He was done after what seemed like seconds and she got off the bed to make her way to the washroom.

"One minute" He said watching her, put all her effort in straightening her crooked gait. Before she could turn and face him, he was at her side, and shoved the first aid box in her hold, opening which he searched for a pincer.

"There is a tiny thorn below your nape" She took her free arm above her neck and tried to feel her way to the spot. When she failed to come any closer, he lifted her index finger - lingering a moment to commit to memory how slender her finger was - and placed it on the fine hay colored protrusion that was sticking out from her skin. She hissed, right as she touched it and he removed her fingers instantly.

Holding her opposite shoulder still, he carefully drew the thorn out. But before he could let her go, she took a step back unexpectedly, partially closing the long gap between them, vainly hoping that would somehow reduce the impassable distance they had created.

"Are you sure there are no other thorns?" She asked, slightly raising her head and glancing at him sideways.

It didn't take him long to understand where she was going with it and although it surprised him at first, he hid it well with his examining look that followed. There was no way, he could sight those needles, unless until he could palm her skin. A gripping chill settled over the nub of his fingers as he moved them in formations over her back. In the beginning he was gentle at most, spanning an area not more than what covered his two fingers put together. But later as he made his way down, sensing the awareness with which she responded, anticipating his touch before she could feel that part of the skin and in the manner her breathing deepened, his entire hand grazed over her back and waist, trying to cover more of her at once; as if it was a test she was giving him to gauge his restraint, he wanted to be done with it as speedily as he could.

"You are fine" He said, his words rushing out with a mild annoyance and he left her alone in the room to fend for herself.

She sat back on the bed, her muscles sore from the fall, feeling drained from having resisted him the entire time his eyes and warm breath had toasted her back. Recollecting the challenging look on his face, when she'd eyed him in profile, she bit her lip concealing the smile that forced its way out as she realized how it must have come across to him. She had given in to the temptation, wanting to prove to herself there was more to what she'd initially felt for him the day she'd surreptitiously watched him in the fields. And perhaps because the forbidden desire had a secretive quality to it she feared, she would lose it, if she chose to act on it; moreover, she strongly felt she'd taken more than a village girl's due into initiating their relationship. Then there was the guilt about her sister too.

Sighing at the tug of emotions she experienced often, she got to her feet once again, just as he walked back into the room.

"The reason I came down in the first place, was to tell you..." He hesitated, but cleared his throat to throw her off and added, "Channi called...She is in Delhi, alone...I asked her to come home..." He paused again as if he was reassessing something "thinking that is what you would have liked..."

"Oh!" She gasped, "that is what I would have liked?" She repeated his words, more as a question than a statement.

He turned around and strode out after having briefly waited for a response, wondering why she had chosen his last words as her only reply...pondering if the arrival of her sister would shroud their already silent house with an impenetrable silence.

It was such a sweet mishap.
Maan had no other option but to get closer to Geet.
How much ever they restrained and controlled themselves i suppose there was some kind of tension.
Now that Get is caught red handed kind of spying on him it is going to get hard for her to blindly argue that she has no feelings.
Good for Maan since he got to figure out atleast a little bit of the puzzle that his wife is.
Wonder what will happen now with Channi's arrival
Waiting for the next part

Originally posted by: Ramhari

It was such a sweet mishap.
Maan had no other option but to get closer to Geet.
How much ever they restrained and controlled themselves i suppose there was some kind of tension.
Now that Get is caught red handed kind of spying on him it is going to get hard for her to blindly argue that she has no feelings.
Good for Maan since he got to figure out atleast a little bit of the puzzle that his wife is.
Wonder what will happen now with Channi's arrival
Waiting for the next part

Thank you for your comments and the earlier ones too...

Glad you liked the make over.😊
Well I'm going to try and keep the story around these two alone...want to finish this off as soon as I can, perhaps another 5 parts and done with it. So yes I have to write more so that I can cover all of what they want me to tell. Keep reading :)

Y channi is in delhi geet is already feeling gulti... May be channi arrival made her more gulti... We haven't read channi's reaction on her wedding...

Originally posted by: Audiwalia

Y channi is in delhi geet is already feeling gulti... May be channi arrival made her more gulti... We haven't read channi's reaction on her wedding...

We'll just have to wait and watch, don't we?

Thank you for reading :)

Originally posted by: Escapist

At least he is a caring hubby though it'll take time for their relationship to bloom its better that way. Theirs is somewhat an unusual relationship and I just wished all the men in the world were as patient as Maan is out here and that too married men!

I don't have a good feeling as to Channi coming to her sister's home but guess time will only tell the outcome!

Cheers,
Fatima

That he is...remember, he chose to marry Geet, knowing he had better chances to make his arranged marriage work, when his partner already liked him and could go the extent of defying society and tradition. All that is true, but he forgot about the denial she could be in and that he knows is not for him to work on. So yes, hopefully it all works out soon.

Thanks for reading :)

sweet torture for both of them.. ...

Hasini me reading this ff right away...will read & comment..😊