NO PROOF READ
Why hadn't he ever noticed how beautiful she was and even if he did, why did he never told her. She is deserving of everything he never gave her. Now lying beneath him when he could look so closely at her and every feature of her face to his memory, he realised that he never wanted a day to come when he couldn't see her, wake up to her praying in front of her Shankar ji, the tinkling of her bangles and the sound of her giggles when he would get annoyed at her.
He felt small hands pushing on his chest, he blinked and could hear people again. Flustered omkara and gauri both got up and gauri got off the stage before him and stood beside dadi. Omkara joined them later and shivaay hugged him.
Everyone praised them for the performance and some even teased them for that fall at the end.
"ma, kyun na lage haathon inki shaadi bhi fir se karwa dein, I mean om aur gauri ki shaadi bhi toh sahi se nahi hui thi. " Shakti suggested.
Shivaay and anika looked at each other considering the idea. Shivaay kept a hand on om's shoulder and said " that's a very good idea papa then he went to gauri "maine kabhi socha hi nahi ki meri behen ne bhi toh apni shaadi ko leke kuch sapne dekhe honge, aur main unhe zarur pura karunga
"ab billu keh raha hai toh thik hai fir.. dadi said but gauri interrupted her.
"nahi dadi iski kya zarurat hai gauri holds shivaays hand and leads him towards anika "ye sab bade bhaiya aur anika bhaujaai ke liye hai, ye unka samay hai aur unka hi rahega she puts anika's hand in shivaays.
~
The guests had left and the family sat down in the hall. Dadi was discussing tomorrow's function, rudy and bhavya were arguing as usual. Om sat with shivaay and anika but his focus was on gauri who was with dadi.
Gauri was aware that he was looking at her, her instincts were telling her to look at him but she controlled. After dadi was finished, gauri started to make a list of things needed for tomorrow when pasritosh came to her.
"gauri? Kya kar rahi ho? he sat beside her.
Gauri smiled "kuch nahi bas kal ki tayyari she told him then she brightened up suddenly when she saw he had his camera on him "tumne function ki photo li na? mujhe dikhao
Paritosh starts to show her the photographs of the function, they start laughing as they saw the moments captured on the camera was how they all really were.
~
Gauri was laughing and this time her laugh sounded loud and unappealing to his ears. He frowned and fisted his palms, visible angry he started to get up but shivaay stopped him. "kya kar raha hai om?
"dekh nahi raha tu, kaise gauri se chipak chipak ke baat kar raha hai, chipku kahinka om's eyes turn into slits as he glares at paritosh.
"aur ye sab tum logon ki vajah se hua hai
"arre, tujhe kyun itni problem ho rahi hai paritosh se, vo gauri ka dost hai shivaays asks in hopesof getting something from om.
"haa hai mujhe problem kyunki gauri meri..om suddenly stops realising what he was about to say.
"kyunki gauri teri..?
"meri responsibility hai aur agar yeh paritosh ne kuch aisa vaisa kiya toh? om tries to justify his slip of tongue rather lamely.
Om stands up to leave but shivaay stops him "om tu jitni der karega gauri utna hi door hoti jayegi aur jab vo yahan nahi hogi tab tujhe pata chalega ki vo tere liye kitni important hai par uss realisation ka kya faida hoga om?
Om doesn't say anything and leaves.
~
NEXT DAY
Mehendi Ceremony
Gauri was getting ready, she was dressed in a pink saree and started to tie her hair but stopped when she remembered what he had said "tumhare baal khule acche lagte hain
Something had happened to him because she wasn't used to getting so much attention from omkara. She smiled as she left her open and thought that maybe he was starting to realise her importance in his life.
Gauri started to arrange the seating area as dadi had instructed for the mehendi ceremony all the while thinking of omkara. She turned to see omkara standing with his brother staring at her.
Om and Gauri was busy staring at each other when gauri's trance broke as paritosh came infront of her and clicked her picture. Gauri let out a burst of laugh at paritosh and then shook her head at him. She started to work again and paritosh kept clicking her pictures.
She was happy that her friend was here, it gave her a sense of having someone from her family with her. "meri nahi anika bhaujaai ki photo lo
"vo abhi yahan hain nahi aur tum bahot acchi lag rahi ho. He said and continued clicking her pictures. Suddenly gauri's back stiffened as she felt uneasy. She straightened up from arranging the seating on the floor and turned to see omkara still standing where he was but this time he was scowling.
Gauri looked at paritosh then at omkara and after that she left from there quickly.
The ceremony had started and after much insisting from both anika and dadi gauri sat down for the ceremony as a woman drew intricate designs with henna on her palms. She could again feel someone looking at her and she knew that it was om.
~
Omkara was boiling with jealousy inside but he didn't show it to his brothers. "bhaiya, ye paritosh toh bahot bada chantomai hai, dekho kaise photo kheenchne ke bahane bhabhi kea as paas makkhi k tarah mandra raha hai rudra said to shivaay
Om looked at rudra with a I'll kill you look " aur yeh sab teri wajah se hua hai
"I know varna aapko kaise pata chalta ki gauri bhabhi bhi kam nahi hain, unke chahne wale bhi hainiss duniya mein, aur yeh paritosh toh sabse aage hai, isne apni shop ka naam hi bhabhi ke naam par rakha hai rudra said further to provoke om then continued "aur ek aap ho, ek stole tak toh bhabhi ko de nahi paye, huh!
After this om couldn't really argue with rudra because he was right, he wasn't even able to give the stole to gauri that he had brought for her and here paritosh had named his shop after him. For a second omkara wanted to just pick him up and throw him out.
From the second he had seen gauri in that pink saree he couldn't remove his eyes from her and he wouldn't blame that vidrohi for hovering near her. he wanted to go near her and talk to her but what would he say, he stammered in front of her as a teenage boy would in front of his crush, sighing he just looked.
Just then dadi came with a few jewellery boxes. "puttar ye humare khandaani zevar hai, isme se jo tumhe pasand aaye lele aur gauri tub hi pasand karle both gauri and anika had mehendi on their hands so dadi asked bhavya to help them try the jewellery. "arrey bhavya gauri ki help kardegi main anika ko pehnata hun na shivaay suggested but dadi scolded him "billu!
"haan dadi?
"do feet ki doori she reminded him.
After that bhavya helped anika and then gauri but while removing the necklace bhavya accidently detached the hook of her mangalsutra and gauri didn't realise as it fell down and bhavya left.
Om saw as the mangalsutra fell but before he could point it out, paritosh had picked it up.
Gauri saw as paritosh picked up her mangal sutra but she couldn't take it so he told her that he would help her wear it. stunned gauri couldn't stop him. From the corner of her eyes she saw om striding towards them and he took a glass of juice from the passing waiter and intentionally bumped into paritosh, spilling the drink on his clothes, before he could get close to gauri.
Gauri looked opened mouth as om took the mangalsutra and turned to gaur. Gauri blushed as suddenly she started to feel as if everyone had their eyes on her but no one was paying attention to them.
Om bent down in front of her and leaned in, he brushed her hair from her shoulder and his fingers brushed her collar bone. Om noticed a visible change in her breathing; she had started to breathe faster.
He leaned in more and gauri could feel his hot breath on her ear, her heart was beating so fast and she was surrounded by his scent. Omkara was deliberately delaying in completing the task, he looked into her eyes as he touched her, his touch feather light on her nape but it was the most he had ever touched her intentionally.
Merely a minute or two had passed but gauri felt as if she had lost the track of time. Om had finished hooking her mangalsutra in place and now started retreating but couldn't resist whispering in her ear " tumhe choone ka haq sirf mera hai and he leaned back enough to look into her eyes.
Gauri stopped breathing for a second and her heartbeat skyrocketed, she wasn't able to digest his behaviour, she thought if he was drunk but the dismissed the thought.
The woman who was applying mehendi asked her the name to be written in her mehendi but gauri was not able to speak in close proximity with omkara so he said it for her all the while looking in her eyes "Omkara. And then he stood up and went back and stood with shivaay and rudra.
Gauri tried to calm down but it was impossible, she had no doubt that the colour of her cheeks now matched the colour of her saree. She looked up to see omkara staring at her and looked down at her hand as the woman wrote his name on her hand.
~ to be continued ~
waiting for your comments 😃
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
