Part 6
Ash leaned her frame against the railing, contemplating the laughing couples in front of her. She had to start somewhere.
~~~
Days later, the house was bursting in excitement. Gayatri and Lalit had started the preparations for the wedding already and a pandit had been called to settle the date. But according to him, Rajveer couldn't marry yet, so the date was fixed for 6 months later. Preet had been the the first to notice the glimmer of dissapointment in Rajveer Bhaiya's face and had procedded to mock and tease him for days to come.
Meanwhile, Preet and Meher's first anniversary was fast approaching, a mere month left. On Heer's suggestion, Gayatri threw herself into the planning of that party, deciding the wedding preperations could wait till after.
In Prem's life, happiness seemed to be bursting from all directions. He had just signed one of the biggest deals of his life and to celebrate, he had taken the whole family out to dinner. Sitting at a huge table, Lalit survyed his family. His oldest daughter Kulraj with her husband sat three seats apart, which were occupied with their children, Ketan, Tannu and Vikas. Lalit smiled as Tannu snuck a piece of chicken from her father's plate who was engrossed in discussion with Prem.
Prem sat next to Heer, a protective arm wrapped around her, gently shielding her stomach. Both were married for a couple of years now, happy to be simply enjoying life with each other. Next to Heer sat Meher who was arguing with Preet. Lalit shook his head at both of them, the pair had brought such light to the family, he felt indebted to them.
Meher in particular, who had sobered down Preet like no one else. Their marriage was a rushed affair, Preet almost killed the pandit when he said that "toofan aane waala hai inke zindagi mein." He had mangaed to convine his parents that the pandit was a quaking duck and had no idea what he was talking about and just like that, Preet and Meher were married.
At the other end of the table, sat Ashlesha and Rajveer, who Lalit considered part of his family. They brought up the rear, completing them. Straight opposite him, sat Gayatri. The one person who he owed this family too.
Prem stood up, gently hitting his spoon to his glass, waiting for silence to take over the table. Once Kuldi managed to unstick the piece of chicken Tannu had stuck in her brother's mouth, choking him, Prem turned to face his father, beaming.
"Bauji..."
Lalit held up a hand to stop him. "Jaanta hoon."
Prem's mouth dropped open. "Par...kaise...mein toh kuch kaha bhi nahin."
His father smiled up at him. "Tera baap hoon mein. Mein toh bohat din se jaanatha tha, teri Maa ko bhi."
Prem turned wordlessly towards his mother, who smiled at him. Prem returned the smile. Preet had been watching this exchange, a obvious look of frusteration on his face as he tried to comprehend what was happening. But the smile between Prem Bhaiya and Maa had done it.
"WHAT is happening? Anyone care to explan?"
Prem smiled at Preet. "Heer maa baani waali hai."
The whole table burst in shock, everyone congratualting Heer, left and right. Heer herself remained sitting a blush working its way up her neck, much to the amusement of Prem. As the table quited down again, Preet spoke.
"Kiska baacha hai?"
The table roared in laughter at the sight of Prem's face who couldn't seem to decide of Preet was joking or not. Preet chuckled, and decided to cease the teasing. Of course his decison had nothing to do with the fact that Meher was shooting daggers at him with her eyes.
The rest of the evening passed in a blur, everyone happily anticipating the baby, simply happy. Everyone was quick to point out that during pregnancy the mother glowed, but in this case, Prem was looking all that much brighter. It was well past midnight before they pulled into the driveway. In the hall, they all exchanged their goodnight's, everyone retiring to their respective bedrooms. Ashlesha looked back and surpressed an urge to go grab Preet as she watched his retreating figure with Meher.
Back in their room, Preet nurtured a glint in his eye, as he watched Meher walk into the bathroom, to change before going to bed. He went and hid himself by the door, so when Meher came out, she couldn't see him. As she stepped out, he snuck up from behind her and leaning down, he picked her up, her small frame sliding into his arms. Meher shrieked.
"PREET! Kya kare ho? Choro mujhe, mein ghir jaoougi!"
"Nahin girongi, mein hoon na?"
"But Preet, what are you doing?"
"Romacning...SRK style." He winked at her.
Meher could feel herself turning red and squrimed. Not so long ago, Preet had admitted he liked her best when she blushed and with her eyes lowered she could almost hear the smirk on his lips. Preet gingeraly lowered down on the bed and she raised her gaze, begging him, mentally to stop torturing her so.
He started traching her collerbone, causully posing an innocent question.
"So how was your day?"
"Hmmm...."
Meher's voice trailed off, finding it impossiable to reply because Preet was postivialy driving her insane. She pushed him off her and stalked to the dresser, to remove her jewlery. Sitting in front of the mirrior, Meher cursed, seeing her bright red face. She started removing an earring when she felt his fingers, slowly pushing past her hair, to her ear, to take it off.
She shut her eyes. Oh she hated him. She really hated him. Why, when he could just take it off in literally seconds, he was taking his sweet time to slowly take it off, caressing the nape of her neck as he did so. She could feel herself arousing, his breath on her neck
"Preet...OH...sorry."
Meher and Preet both turned to see Ashlesha standing in the doorway. Preet smiled at her, trying to cover the moment.
"No its ok Ash...kya hua?"
A twinge of annoyance went through Meher but not towards Ashlesha, but Preet. Ash smiled basfully at the pair of them. "Woh..my closet door is stuck...." her voice trailed off.
Preet waved an arm. "Oh that. Hang on, I'm coming."
He turned to face Meher for a split second - apolagzing with a pout of his lower lip. For duties sake, she smiled back at him and watched him walk out of the room, with Ashlesha. She felt strangly empty. Like someone had just left her, not physically, but emotionally. She turned to the dresser, to remove the earring. Alone.
~~~
Ashlesha felt herself smirk, as Preet walked towards her. She paused for a second, savouring the picture. Preet, walking, towards her, to her, leaving a stricken Meher in the back. Ashlesha sighed before leading Preet towards her room.
***
There you go. Radzie di told me to get "out of my funk." 😆 So I had to listen to her, and churned this out. The begining is kinda just blabber, it might come is use later, it might not. I just didn't know what to write so I just had Lalit have a "quiet bhashan" 😆 Comments or hits of the like button are very appreciated!
--shabz
EDIT ADD!
Woah there are tons of mistakes. Sorry. :)
Edited by shabo24 - 16 years ago
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