This story is a birthday gift to a lovely and thoughtful person I have met over here, -mina- (Dear Mina, it's belated hope you don't mind).
Break of Dawn: An Abhi-Pragya one shot fiction
Shanaya Ray, Deepa Dixit, Tannu Mehta- what is common between these three girls?' thought Pragya as she individually googled the name of these women. All were famous, tall, pretty and stylish women from the celebrity world.
Pragya was researching on the women whom her husband, the famous rock star Abhishek Mehra aka Abhi had dated previously. She knew about Tannu for sure. He had once talked about Deepa when he told her about his past relationships. This Shanaya could have been just a rumour, she imagined.
It was never an easy task for Pragya to hear or read about the women from her husband's past, although she would try to feel better thinking she too had a past with the one sided affair she had with her best friend. But since Abhi was a famous celebrity, his personal life would be dissected in media every now and then, more so given his carefree and unashamed nature and a knack to invite controversy. He loved attention and the media gave him plenty of it. Pragya would be amused how even her name would be dragged into news headlines although she consciously kept herself away from the media. And several times the stories would be so ridiculous that she would have a good laugh reading them.
One thing that often bothered Pragya though was how media wrote her off as Ms. Plain Jane with a disbelief on how the hot and happening rock star Abhi has married a woman like her. If she thought about it, the media was not wrong in a way. Abhi would have never married her if it was not for circumstances. He married her under severe misconceptions and pressure from his grandma. He had assumed that she was a gold digger interested in marrying the rich and famous for which she had trapped his sister's lover boy. To get her out of his sister's way, he had married her to teach her a lesson. It was only much later, he had realized he had done the biggest blunder since she was neither a gold digger nor someone who snatched his sister's lover. It was all a confusion created by his sister's wrong postulations about her.
Life had changed for both of them after marriage. It started with hatred from his side and helplessness to stay in the marriage due to social pressures from her side. He had used every single opportunity to taunt her, mistreat her, hurt her since his intention was to only divorce her, once his sister's lover came back to her. But destiny had other plans for them. Even in unfavorable situations, they had somehow been there for each other when life had been unkind to them. He had paid her mother's emergency hospital bills, which could have taken her a lifetime to pay. He had saved her family's business of marriage hall when it was under threat. Basically, he had taken care of her biggest fears and problems while he still hated her. On the other hand, although he had hurt her in the worst possible way as a husband by even maintaining his relationship with his girlfriend, she had somehow understood the basis of his misunderstandings and prejudices against her. And she was not in a situation to clear them either for him. She had always felt a need to care for him, protect him and she was there for him when he was in great financial troubles, or got involved in a police case or when he was defamed in the media.
So the good part was even in adversities, they had developed a deep bond where they had gotten used to each other and even became dependent on one another. There was great sense of friendship between them and there was also the protective stance of a husband from his side and the caring attitude of a wife from her side. And when finally Abhi had realized he was alone at fault and had hurt her the most, he had shattered but she had given him the strength to put himself together.
After the truth was out, Abhi had requested her to start a fresh life with him, only if she wanted. She had agreed to that since she couldn't think of leaving him even if she tried. She had bonded with him emotionally.
After they restarted their life as husband and wife, she had never felt so pampered in her life and he was doing that effortlessly. She could share her mind with him as comfortably as she would share it with her personal diary and he was even more an open book for her now. She had turned out to be happier than she ever was in her life and he cherished making her smile from the bottom of his heart. They still fought like school kids at times continuing their great ability to be argumentative with each other, but he was the first one to make up using his amusing ways that never failed to make her laugh. And he was always her big support and now she had to come to learn that he would do just anything for her.
Even with all this, there was one thing that was still forbidden between them. It was the physical intimacy. He sure did kiss her on her forehead when he said good mornings to her, he would give her hugs every now and then, he would kiss her on her cheeks when he left for work and he held her hand pretty much everywhere they went. But the physical intimacy was restricted only to these little gestures. She often thought he flirted with her but he was a great tease inherently. She had often caught him stealing glances at her but she could never tell if it was attraction from his side or it was just his planning a prank on her, which he often did. From her side, she was attracted to him undeniably and she was ever so conscious of him. Her heartbeat would go haywire even at the thought of his proximity and it was exasperating to her in all honesty that they hadn't moved ahead consummating their marriage.
After thinking for weeks and weeks about why he wasn't making a move on her even though their emotional bond had only gotten stronger, she was left puzzled. One thought that often crossed her though was this idea that he perhaps preferred women of a certain type. She remembered how he used to say she wasn't attractive, she didn't know how to dress right, when he hated her. He used to often make fun of her long sleeved anarkali dresses or unflattering sarees. She even vaguely remembered him once telling her when she was accidentally drunk, how he would never want to kiss her lips. These days he used to complement her once in a while that she looked pretty and would even take her on expensive shopping trips where he would suggest the color of clothes to buy for her but he had never bought her anything out of his choice.
Knowing him better now, she knew he was not going to force her to wear anything, but somewhere she felt he preferred women dressed in a certain way, evident from his previous choice of girlfriends. Since he was a celebrity, most of his affairs were known to the public, and she could easily find pictures of him with those girls on internet. One thing she noticed was all of them wore skin hugging, revealing outfits, more so in their pictures with Abhi. Hating herself for the torture she was giving herself since she was looking at her husband and the man she desired with other women, she thought to do this one thing for him.
Although she had enough comfort with him to talk her soul out, she didn't know how to talk about the matters of physical intimacy. She was in a dual mind regarding his stand on it. What if he never wanted it with her? This was something that bothered her. But somehow she also believed that the desire she saw is his eyes for her was real too. Then, why was he not acting on that? Was it because the way she dressed turned him off? Did he want her to dress up like the women from his world? He must be used to idea of sexy dressed women and a modestly dressed woman like her would be a big bore for him, perhaps?
The more she thought about it, the more she was convinced that she needed to look enticing for him. From the time she was conscious of her body, she never had tried to dress up in an appealing way. Not that she didn't ever want to but she never felt she could pull it off. She was always the "not" beautiful one in her house being constantly compared to her chirpier, pretty sister. She even had marriage proposals broken up because people would find her sister "more" attractive than her. Now it was the matter of her husband. And he was the No.1 rock star in the country who would perhaps could have many beautiful woman dying to be with him. And she was his wife. He sure would want her to be alluring too.
Pragya determined to give it a go at pleasing him by looking her best, perhaps the way he preferred. How does she go about it? The first person she could think of was Andy, Abhi's favorite designer. The good part was Andy was an unassuming, friendly guy and she was very comfortable with him. She called him up and asked him to design an evening gown kind of dress for her, similar to the one a certain celebrity wore for her recent Oscar appearance. Andy had the dress delivered to Pragya two days later.
That night, after dinner, Pragya and Abhi went to their room to call it a night. Pragya went into the changing room and after a couple of minutes of contemplation, she decided to try on the gown. It was a green lace-satin gown with a sweetheart neck and thin spaghetti straps. As she put on the gown and gave herself a look in the mirror, she closed her eyes in nervousness. She had never worn something like this. She tried to gather courage to get out but her hands wouldn't let her open the door as she knew Abhi would see her as soon as she got out.
"Chashmish" she heard his familiar voice. How much she loved to hear him call her with that nickname he had for her spectacled self! "How long does it take you to change? Open the door now", Abhi was knocking the door, making Pragya all the more panicky.
This is all for him, she told herself several times finally gathering courage to open the door. As soon as she opened it, she turned her back to him feeling her heart explode out of anxiety.
For a second Abhi felt he was dreaming. He was hypnotized at the sight of his wife, dressed in a very revealing outfit. Half her back was exposed and her curves had put his senses on overdrive. Although she had turned her back, he could see her all with the mirrors and he even noticed that she had closed her eyes. That sight of her made him smile.
"Well, Whh... What's up with you?" Abhi put his hand on her shoulder and turned her towards him. His eyes automatically checked her from head to toe and he was literally drooling at the woman of his desire right in front of him, teasing him.
"I... I thought you would like me if I dressed this way" Pragya somehow finished her sentence.
"I like you anyway. But this is beautiful.. and I love you in every way.. Do you doubt it?" asked Abhi as he took a step towards her.
"Because you never.. I mean to say..may be you would want me to dress this way to find me attractive" Pragya said in a low voice.
"Why would you think so?" Abhi interrogated amused by her words.
"Because all those girls.. I mean like Tannu used to dress up..like...and you never desired me in that way...I don't know Abhishek. I just want to be.. I am sorry" Pragya looked at him with a film of tears forming in her eyes.
"Do you really think I don't desire you? Do you even notice.." Abhi said in an annoyed tone.
He suddenly locked his fingers with hers and pushed her to the wall, pinning her hands to the wall on her sides.
"Do you even know what you do to me? Do you feel me?" Abhi pressed his body to hers making her gasp. With his lips inches close to hers he whispered, "Do you feel my heart thumping? You drive me crazy...senseless. All I want to do right now is to kiss you and make love to you till the break of dawn."
He suddenly moved a little away while still holding her hands. "And it's not about me. It's about you. Every day I keep myself away from you because I want you to come to me. I know you enough to say that you will give in yourself to me because you believe it's your duty or because you don't want to hurt me. But I don't want it that way. I cheated you into marrying me. I hurt you every single day after that. But this, I don't want to mess up. I want you to be in this as much as I am. You say I never desired you. But what about you? Do you desire me? You never told me. That's why I am unsure. I know that you love me and will do anything for me. But I want you to do this for yourself too as much as you will do it for me. That's why I am holding back and waiting for you. You get me, don't you?" Abhi said sincerely.
Pragya's eyes filled with tears but a smile also crept on her lips. It was reassuring for Abhi.
"You look so delicious, I want to eat you up. But I need to know. You know what I mean? And one more thing, Chashmish in her chatri like dresses is way sexier than this. Because I keep imagining what's hidden in those meters and meters of clothing that I can't see" Abhi whispered in her ears sending her senses over the edge.
Pragya was unable to breath with his nearness causing havoc.
He let her hands go to say "Why are you not saying anything? Now, please cover up, before I do something that I can't explain to myself." Saying so, Abhi walked out of the changing room.
Pragya finally took the breath that she was not able to for the last few moments. Her heart was doing its little happy dance for his assurance and his thoughtfulness for her.
She changed into her pink sleeping anarkali and walked out of the changing room. She sensed that Abhi was taking a shower. She took her side of the bed and nervously waited for him to come out.
Abhi came out after a few minutes whistling a song. He looked at her and winked making her blush. He laid on his side of the bed and bent over to kiss her cheek. "Good night baby" he said before turning his back to her and going to sleep.
In a few minutes, Pragya could tell that he was fast asleep. But sleep was no where near her catch. She thought about words and ways of telling him how much she wants him and desires him. She couldn't seem to get it right in her head. She deicded to use the best expression she could come up with, which is by writing. She took a paper and pen and poured all that she had been thinking about him and her on that sheet of paper. She kept the letter under Abhi's favourite pillow hoping that he will find it when he wakes up the next day.
As she took her side of the bed again, Abhi seemed to move in his sleep and he turned to be on his back with his face slightly turned towards her. Pragya kept looking at his face and studied his masculine features. His words in the dressing room kept resonating in her mind and a sense of him being all hers prevailed in her in a way it had never been before. She ran her forefinger on his eye brows alongside his cheek bones to his chin. She felt her heart fill with love for him as she looked at him endearingly. Something made her move closer to him and she slowly pecked his lips with hers. "Hmm...What are you doing, Chashmish?" Abhi said in his sleep.
Pragya pressed her lips on his this time, tightly. Abhi opened his eyes. Before he could realize anything they both were kissing each other. Abhi held her face in place as he intensified the kiss and while Pragya clutched on to his T shirt. After their long first kiss, Abhi rolled her to her back and looked into her eyes as he breathed over her. Pragya held his dog tag chain that was dangling on her face and pulled him closer. "Love me till the break of dawn" she said in barely a whisper.
And that was enough drive Abhi's passion to the point of no return.
"Oh baby" saying so, he kissed her with all his love just beginning to make love to her till the break of dawn.
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