PriDa FF: Confessions Of Love Epilogue pg 90 - Page 3

"What the..!" Damini shouted. Her captor made no response and simply held her all the more tightly. She tried to struggle but her efforts ended in vain as they did not affect her captor in the slightest in fact she had the faintest notion that he was quite enjoying himself. She gave up as he made her walk forward effortlessly. She did not know why she was not scared. The arms holding her felt familiar. Her initial struggle had been due to panic not fear, she felt almost safe, protected. The whole idea seemed absurd yet as she listened to the steady heartbeats of the person holding her she felt a surging sense of recognition. It was as if that rhythmic beating was ingrained in her very blood. As if her heart knew who the person holding her was. As if it shared some sort of relation with that heart. And this sense of security... There was only one person in the whole wide world who could make her feel vulnerable and protected at the same time. "Prithvi..." she murmured smiling softly as they stopped. " Surprise." he murmured in her ear and kissed her bare shoulder softly sending tremors of pleasure through her body as he removed his hand from her eyes and placed it on top of his other hand which was wrapped around her stomach. Damini opened her eyes, only to be blinded instantly due to the sudden exposure to light. As her eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness, a heavenly sight met her eyes.

A path covered by petals led up to a table laid out for two and canopied. The source of light for the table apparently seemed to emit from within the folds of the canopy. The table itself was exquisitely decorated with candles and roses, a bottle of champagne lay inside a bucket at the center. Surrounding that were two bowls, they were covered so their contents were unknown. Something about the bowls seemed to tell Damini that their contents were not ordinary in any way, but she could not quite put a finger on this strange feeling.

Prithvi saw Damini observing the two bowls lying on the table. They seemed to have caught her attention and her eyes lingered on them for more then a few moments. Prithvi couldn't help but smile, it was almost as if she knew...

Prithvi entered Avni's kitchen and looked around. Avni followed him inside. " Jeej,what are you doing here.. We still have some planning left to do. Are you hungry?" Avni asked. Prithvi did not answer he simply looked at the stove a little speculatively. "Earth to Jeej.. I'm talking to YOU" Avni said a little loudly Prithvi looked up at once. " What? no Avni im not hungry" he replied. " Then what are we doing here.. We should be in the lounge" Avni said, " yes I know.. er. Avni.. Lasagne is Damini's favorite food right?" he asked slowly. The question caught Avni off guard. " Yes Jeej it is. I have ordered some for tonight." She answered. "No cancel it." Prithvi said. " What? Why? It's her favorite food in the world why do you want to serve her something else.. What do you have in mind Jeej?" Avni asked a suspicion forming in her mind. An idea had flitted across her mind. But she ignored it. It was crazy. He couldn't possibly think of doing such a thing. " Er jeej you are not thinking of making it yourself are you?" Avni asked a little tentatively. Prithvi looked up at once. : Er yes.." he answered. "Have you.. Have you ever made it before?" Avni asked. Prithvi coughed a little and ran his hand through his hair " Er no.. I don't .. Er.. Exactly know how to make it either.," he said a little sheepishly. "Are you sure you want to do this.?" Avni asked, hoping a little that he would say no. "yes" Prithvi replied firmly. Avni couldn't help but shake her head a little. "Okay ill help you then.." she began but Prithvi cut her off. " No you just tell me what to do.. Ill make it myself." He said firmly. Avni tried to argue but Prithvi remained adamant on the matter and finally Avni gave up. She grabbed a chair and sat down. As per her instructions Prithvi first took out a packet containing lasagne strips, followed by a packet of minced beef from the freezer, onions, a bottle of garlic paste, tomatoes, a can of tomato paste, some oil and the rest of the ingredients. He then began to chop onions a task, which proved to be harder then he had expected because of the tears that kept gathering in his eyes. Avni looked at her Jeej working away. Every time he picked a new onion to chop he eyed it as though it had done him a great personal wrong. Once he was done with chopping them he let out a huge sigh of relief. He then proceeded to grate the cheese. Prithvi turned out to be a fast learner much to Avni's surprise. He managed to follow most of her instructions quite easily though he burned himself a little badly on two occasions, Once when he touched the pot in which the lasagne was boiling with his bare hands and once when he tried to take out the dish containing the baked lasagne with his bare hands as well. Apparently it seemed he had a personal vengeance against the use of mittens, and only used them once he had gotten burnt.

Prithvi gazed at the freshly prepared lasagna 3 hours later. His hair was tousled and stood on end because he had run his hands through it so much. His shirt was untucked, a bit of tomato paste was smeared across his left cheek, his hands were burnt, and he smelled but a sense of victory still coursed through him. He had actually done it. " What do you think?" he said turning towards Avni. " I think that Damini Di is really luck to have a husband like you.." Avni replied smiling. Prithvi grinned and turned away from her before she could see that he was blushing a bit. As his eyes ran around the kitchen his face fell a little. It looked like a tornado had hit it, when he turned Avni too was eyeing the kitchen. Prithvi shrugged a little sheepishly and got to cleaning.

As Prithvi gazed at the entranced face of his wife he knew that every thing had been worth the effort, and he knew in his heart that he would do this and much much more just to see his wife happy and smiling.

Damini for the matter was now looking at the dance floor, which was flooded with light. It was circular in shape. The light of the dance floor seemed to come from its edges. It seemed that the length of the circle was covered with bulbs. They were very small in size but they somehow managed to emit a very powerful glow, which managed to light up the whole dance floor effectively. Damini realized that the insides of the place itself were huge and in utter darkness. The only parts visible were the table and the dance floor giving it a serene, mystical look, as if nothing existed beyond this place and she and the person holding her were the only two occupants in the world at the moment. She turned around to face Prithvi "Prithvi, what's this all about? How did you manage all this?" She questioned. She still remembered his harsh comments to her before and she was determined not to get wooed by a dinner setting, no matter how astoundingly romantic it was. She would not let him see how much she had loved it and the extent to which it had touched her. She was not going to go easy on him. Well at least she could pretend to. Prithvi smiled almost knowingly. "What this is all about you will find out in good time. As for how I managed all this, well I took a day off from work to arrange all this.. and oh Avni helped a lot... she's a very good saali" he replied. "Damini... I know that I haven't been the same in the past week... but it's just that it's been a crazy time. And I don't why I did what I did. I wasn't thinking straight. "He continued running his hand through his hair, trying to say for once the right thing. "That's your excuse? That you didn't know? You didn't know how much you hurt me? You are not that dense Prithvi and we both know it! You know perfectly well that the man I was living with in the past week was not the man I married, not the man I fell in love with... not the man whom I thought loved me as well, cared for me, who vowed to protect me, promised to take care of my happiness more then his own life. Then why did you do all this Prithvi? Why were you pretending to be somebody you are not? I know you Prithvi. you can't lie to Me." she said a silent plead in her voice, requesting him, begging him to tell her the truth for once. Prithvi closed his eyes and turned away. "You don't know... you don't Damini. I'm sorry for what I did... I truly am." he whispered. "If I don't know.. then educate me... please!" she said as she turned him around to face her again. Prithvi opened his eyes and simply looked at her. "No more lies Prithvi. this time I want the truth. Can you give that to me? Can you?" she said a soft plea in her voice as her eyes welled up with tears. Prithvi simply stared, an inner battle raging inside him. His heart demanded that he tell her truth. His heart could not lie to her. If he gave in to his heart he knew he would lay it out for her and she could do anything she wanted to with it. Love it, take care of it or stomp on it and cut it into little pieces. And he knew he would be helpless. She held the reins to it and it was subservient to her will. His mind told him that the truth would cause him nothing but anguish and she would leave him. But not forever. she loved him. her heart belonged to him as much as his belonged to her... his heart argued. Ignoring the battle inside him he simply reached out to wipe her tears. He did not care what happened to him. All that mattered in that one moment was that she was crying and he was once again the source of her tears. But the truth would also cause her to hurt profusely a voice inside him whispered. Yes but it would kill her only once. Every lie that he uttered killed her every time. The truth was solitary. The lies were countless. She wanted the truth. And he would give it to her. He would give her what she wanted. What he wanted no longer mattered to him "Damini do you remember your father?" he asked as he let his hand fall to his side. A dead calm settling over him.