By her side
Kruti and her played Twisted and snakes & ladder and had a tea party, the house was still filled with visitors and guests
She was fed a nice meal, Prajakta called and cried uncontrollably
She promised her she would be back in a day or two to visit
She was told Ajji had refused permission for Prajakta to visit Deshmukhs and stay there for a week
Punky felt terrible, she didn’t know it was right either
She had married the guy on a fly, they didn’t really have any understanding except in bed
Shyam Rao was amazing, so were Suhasini and Manas but having her sister come to live with would be a tall ask
Plus as far as she could tell the apartment only had 5 bedrooms, Indraneel already had the largest bedroom because he had a giant study desk in there, Manas rarely brought work home and neither did Suhasini, they preferred to take the occasional call or the weekend report running work from living room itself
The prayer room and storage was tiny no one could fit a bed in there she realized
Kruti and her crashed around 5 in the evening
Indraneel returned after 6 and went searching for her, the two aunts that were there found that very amusing
Suhasini was always strict with him so she wasn’t much impressed
“He knows I will yell at him if he didn’t go check on her”
He opened Kruti’s door, she lay curled up on her side, for a second he had to pinch himself, he hadn’t in his wildest dreams ever imagined he would let his Dad arrange his marriage and he would marry someone so intelligent, driven and gorgeous. He did a double take
Kruti pulled on his tee “Yeah?”
“She is sweeping” Kruti told him
“Did u guys have a good time?”
“Yes” Kruti grinned “Kaka is she ours? Will she live here?” she demanded
“I think so” he laughed spontaneously
“Like forever?” Kruti’s arms flew into the air as she tried to depict forever
“I think so, I don’t think she will go with you to college”
“I am not going, I will live with her” Kruti declared
“Welcome to the club” he muttered
He ruffled her curls and let himself in and, slid off his sandals and lay by her facing her and just stared
Suhasini buzzed him on text
“DO NOT sleep… and NO hanky panky” she ordered
“Don’t you think you have a houseful of women enamored by your match making skills to attend to”
“Indra I will kill you if you start something in Kru’s bed”
“Over and out” he texted
When he shifted, she stirred
He lay there going through work email, after like 15 or so minutes
He began to tease her
She just pushed his hand away assuming it was her sister or brother
“Nakko” she whispered
They would pester her to give up the room with good AC
“Bhadra” he whispered
She opened her eyes a crack and looked at him
They ended up starting interminably
He wore olive green cargo pants and lemon yellow Polo tee with a black stripe on the edge of the collar and sleeve
Like the cricket jersey
He had not shaved since yesterday
She could hear the rasp as he approached
“Indraneel”
He gently pulled out all her knotted up chains on her chest, some tucked in carelessly into her kurta some hanging out
The most sparkling was the black Maharashtrian mangal sootra with the gold discs
“Why are you taking a nap here” he questioned softly
“No reason”
“Ketan sends a invite”
“Who is that?”
“the guy I dropped off…”
He continued to lean and slide over her body, cm by cm
“She scooted back to the edge of the bed
His right foot teased her front foot, she wiggled and hid a smile, trying not to let him know she liked it
He grew bolder and used his big toe to arouse her… she trapped his foot between hers, he pulled out slowly looking into her eyes reminding her of something else
“Indraneel” she whispered
He gently stroked her arch, she stroked his, he felt her toe rings with his toes, the little bells tinkling, she was able to arouse him faster because of her toe rings
Their eyes fixated on each other, as they whipped themselves up, he smelled like his cologne and his room, fresh and clean. To him she smelled like henna and some spicy lily scent
He bend down on her neck to taste her collar bone
She shuddered and shook… holding his hair trying to push him off
Kunal opened the door and saw them
“Eww… GROSS…. Aaai… he is doing dirty things in Kru’s room” he yelled in Maratho
He entered the room and accused Punky
“I cant believe you married him” he spilled some of that 3 day old frustration
He had been sulking and avoiding saying a word to her
Punky was up, pulling her dupatta from under his body, he just stretched and went back to his email not looking up
He chuckled when he heard Kunal’s rant
“Kunaaaal” Punky panicked
“I cannot stand him, now you are my enemy too
“Kunaal” she walked around the bed and approached him
“You are disgusting”
“Why? Because I am an adult and married a grown woman? Your fantasies need to find another object bud” he shrugged coolly… withouting looking at him
Kunal teared up now
Punky went back to Indraneel
“What is wronr with you?”
“You mean why didn’t I encourage my brother’s 14 year old son to infatuate over my wife?” he looked at her boldly
“HE is a child” she smacked him
“NOPE… he is not… he is crushing on you and it has to stop”
She was rendered speechless, her face was flaming when she thought he must suspect SHE encouraged the teenager to think such creepy thoughts
“I didn’t Indy”
“Are you mad?” he whispered… “Its not you” “Its HIM” he swung his legs off the bed and stood up
He grabbed a tassel from her dupatta laying on the bed and handed to her
She took it from him
Suhasini stormed into the room
“Indra… what are you doing”
“Indraneel… and no, we didn’t do it” he said smugly
“Kunaal is saying…” she began in Marathi
“Kunal is saying nothing….” Indraneel cut her off and took charge of the event
Punky felt secure for a second. He was authoritative and decisive and protective of her
Her heart raced wildly when she realized he cared
He nudged her to leave the room with him
They appeared in the living room and the women cheered noisily… just wastefully speculating they did the act
for the update 
