Once Upon a Midnight Part II - Page 12

Some things some relationships are unexplainable and somehow addictive

Have they really moved on? They can keep telling themselves that.

She was bathed in many colors and soaked in Tapan's passion, she almost didnt recognize herself

Her eyes were sparkling, the side of her face left uncolored was glowing

Her smile wide and delirious---

A moth and a Butterfly.

Its the butterfly effect

Under Tara's care, she she was the wriggly caterpillar moth pupa trying to shed her skin. That night in a shady set up with a shady man, she , like a nocturnal unattractive moth flew off right into a fatal flame that almost burnt her but luckily got saved by a bright hot ember burning in the aftermath of its own fire.

The ember of coal and his family gradually and generously oozed a fuzzy warmth that protected her akin to a warm blanket in a frigid winter night. The Tiwari/ Acharya blanket is that chrysalis cocoon, where the newly snug caterpillar transforms herself and metamorphoses as a free spirited , colorful, attractive butterfly.

Oh! That thing...

Pawan showed up in Delhi the next weekend, he didnt tell her until he got to her parents house when she went over for lunch a week after Gagan's birthday

She wasnt so sure now as to why she agreed to let her Mom fix her up with any guy

this was a mother that shared no love for her daughter... or very little

Following her lead was going to be strenuous to even begin with

She was chattering non stop when she got home

Saurabh had left for his last semester last night

She had stayed over for that reason

Her twin brothers were 24, if it were the Acharyas they would be married she realized

She would be too

"Do you want Aruba or Seychelles for honeymoon?"

Tara lounged in the sun room sipping her coffee and scrolling through glossy pictures

"Really? Mom?" shubhra cringed

The woman wanted to arrange everything

"Mrs Monga was telling me Pawan is very accomodative and willing

"Ha" she smirked

"You do know his turnover dont u"

"No I dont I dont want to"

"He is the only boy you know"

"Maa" she stood up unwilling to carry the convo further

"Manik tell her"

"Kyaa?" he sat down as the help handed him his chai

"tell her about Pawan"

"Kya kahoon?" he was grumpy

"yahi... you know they get talked about in newspapers and such"

"Haan bandey ka business hai" "You have come too" he spoke in grammatically wrong English

"Aap aur main Page 3 mein aate hain bas"

"let her meet him Tara"

"Haan" she smiled secretively

shubhra just left the room

But couldnt escape, around 11 Tara hunted her down when she got out of the shower and told her Pawan was going to be home for lunch!

"Umm OK" she mumbled

She had agreed to this drama

She had to play along

There werent guys lining up to marry her any way

Prasad couldnt

Tapan...

There was no talk ever

this was it

If the guy was OK in person... she would give her nod

"Be excited Bebooo"

Tara hugged and kissed her

She was all over Shubhra the last 18 or so hours much to Shubhra's discomfort

It was like all of a sudden Tara SAW Shubhra

A rich good looking man was willing to marry her she must have something

"wear shorts dont wear your pant shirt" she said derisively

"quit telling me what to do Mom"

"Arey these days NOBODY wears the clothes you do"

"thats fine"

"You wore a saree last week for some place?"

"How do u know?" she asked shocked

"Dad sent me the pictures you sent him" she was hurt

"Oh?" Umm"

"Ma hoon beta aapki"

She began her teary eyed routine

She did that when ever she wanted Shubhra to get a nose job, or skin whitening or hair straightening

"Stop crying Ma" she whispered wandering her walk in closet

"Please Shub"

Oh yeah! she even did that nick name thing

"The same girl" Pawan texted her saree clad pic back to her with Arya in her lap

He had asked a 100 Qs about her last week

"Yeah" she said in return today

"Anya?" right?

"Arya" she said

What are your lunch plans" he teased

"Ughh" she said in her mind

"I am going out with friends"

"Great"

He waited for her to bust him "Oh I know u are coming over"

she didnt

But then she did after a few minutes

"Whatever!" she whispered as she texted

"Out with friends must be me"

"You KNOW?" he pretended to be shocked

"i guess"

"My heart is racing...... is yours as well?"

"sure" she said reluctantly channeling Tapan

And then there are days when you feel you have got a leash around your neck, yanked against your will!!Tara could literally put her beboo on a leash she would!!

Well! there's something that we all know as modulation of excitement. Apparently those set of words don't yet exist in Monga's dictionary !

Ayyo kashtam!

Oh I know how she feels my bro was pushed to go for a lot of these ...poor guy was a introvert ...he has secretly dragged me to many by using emo blackmail. Ewww even I sat thru quite a few bored out of my wits

She had to channel Tapan to feel any excitement. Doesn't that tell her something?

Awkward Associations

Oh boy! did her heart race when she thought of Tapan...

She refused to wear clothes her mother suggested and instead chose the most "colorful" in her closet, blue jeans and a white cotton blouse with exquisite floral embroidery on the trim

Tara obviously wasnt pleased

Pawan showed up at Noon sharp even though lunch was 1:30

The Grover farm house functioned like some royal residence you hardly ever saw the help, but everything was sparkling and clean, always

she didnt know how many worked here anymore

Manik looked nervous for some reason he wiped his brow, and reached for a paper towel to dab his hand

"Good to see you"

"I am too Uncle"

Pawan flashed a toothy smile, he looked like he had ditched braces... she didnt mind, he looked cheerful

"Hi1 Shubhra" and nodded showing an empty seat behind him

"Lovely house" Pawan glanced around at the all glass wall living room

"Thank you, bus isi kamre ke waaste liya ghar"

"I would too" Pawan nodded

But chose a seat far from Manik

"Idhar baithen" Manik invited a seat near him

"wahan dhoop hai uncle, Shubhra you can sit by me if u dont mind" he grinned

"Sure" she shrugged walking toward him

The help brought individual water bottles

Another one brought juices and beer

Another one brought snack nothing fried he had requested

Most were steamed or baked

"You look prettier in person"

SUCH A LINE! she screamed internally

"yes" Manik smiled

"Oh? Um.. thanks"

"Uncle doesnt she?"

"Jee puttar" he nodded sitting down watching the prospect carefully

Tara appeared a few minutes later as if she was hiding behind the door waiting

Wearing one of her exquisite summer floral cotton sarees and a equally gorgeous blouse

"she could pass off at 35" Shubhra sighed darting her mother a look

"I am SO GLAD you could make it" Tara gushed

shubhra shifted uncomfortably

Every word that came out of her mother's lips reminded Shubhra her mother was groveling for Pawan's approval

Afterall he was the only guy that had ever shown interest in her

"Great I dont count then?" Tapan murmured in her head

she found herself blushing unnecessarily

"Shub betaa?" Tara dragged her into the real world kicking and screaming

"Hmm?"

"Dekhooo kya keh rahe hain Pawan"

"I am thinking of developing this natural food line" Pawan repeated holding a lettuce wrap

"Oh?"

"If I could I would not touch oil or fried the rest of my life"

"You havent eaten poori aloo and halwa with dripping ghee" her mental monolog continued

"Healthy to sabke liye behtar haiga" Manik mumbled

There was no common ground with Pawan, Manik didnt understand anything Pawan did and vice versa

"Shub beta did you show him your website?" Tara urged

"Aunty Ive already seen it, and seen her office in Google maps" Pawan was proud

"Have you?" Tara put her on the spot

"Umm.. no"

"I can show her

Pawan leaned closer and scrolled through his phone

His cologne over powered her

It made her strangely uneasy

He expected her to sit by him when they ate lunch, and even go in the order of what he was eating from the array of things placed in the center

He even suggested "fork is better" for a couple things

Tara talked non stop about the twins about how "amazing Shubhra is"

Shubhra cringed

She knew the truth

With no b--- job, skin lightening and nose lift she was far from amazing in real

He talked about how he grew his business all by himself, and how he plans to double in 3 years

He explained what he did Manik's eyes seemed like he was actually high

Tara was getting more energetic by the minute

She was not going to let go of Pawan Shubhra realized

She was urged to "go upstairs and show Pawan her room"

Her insides hurtled at that implication

her mother urging her to make out with a guy she was seeing for the first time

She tried her best to be cool about it

Pawan maintained his distance until they got to her suite

She left the door open but he wrapped his arm around her waist and bend down near her ear

"Ive been wanting to do that" he told her

Startled and uncomfortable she gently pulled away

"Hey the door is open" she muttered

"I am in to you, can you tell?" he grinned

she didnt want to know

"Gawd! if this is going to work you have to show you like it" her mind warned her

she looked up at him

She saw close set down turned eyes... her mind wandered she couldnt look anymore she looked down

"thanks Pawan" she said with genuineness she felt for the first time

She knew she had been rejected by many men along the way, her mother had been doing this since Shubhra had turned 20, sometimes openly sometimes behind the scenes

Each time... Shubhra was rejected

He talked about his day, asked her about hers, asked her a 100 questions, asked her why she didnt have a laptop on her bed, told her he likes to work in bed so she should think about it

He told her many things "she should think about"

From how to snip noodles using the knife a certain way to rejecting drinks with mangoes in it because it was too many carbs

They spent at least two hours talking

He kept his hand on her waist as they approached her balcony, nothing was visible past the canopy of trees below but Shubhra stiffened

"I should send you my pictures"

He didnt release her waist used his free hand to pull his phone out and texted her many albums

Her phone buzzed in her pocket

"You have a shapely body" his fingers felt her waist

She turned red... it was explicit and unexpected

"Oh?"

"I am muscular... want to feel me?" he invited and grabbed her hand and carressed himself over his abs

He was indeed toned... she couldnt help notice him stirring below... She withdrew her hand awkwardly

"sorry" he mumbled when he realized she had noticed

"Can we kiss in the balcony today? We can then do it again when you return for pair pherna? he giggled

"Umm.. I.. Pawan" He turned her around

"Kiss me" he invited, nibbling her chin eargerly

"Hey at least you had a fantastic teacher" her mind voice "Show him!"

I don’t like she kissing pawan

Can we get one more update

Pls nisha mam dont separate tapan and shubhra