Their night-after
It was 3:47 AM. He tried to turn around, and found that he was free to do so. His arms were no longer held captive. Surprised he opened his eyes. She was nowhere to be seen on the bed, or in the room. He saw a faint light from the washroom. Rubbing his eyes, he got down from the bed to see what his crazy wife was up to at this hour.
There she was, trying to hold her long hair with one hand, while cleaning her face with the other, after what looked like vomit. Startled, he ran to her, held her hair behind and rubbed her back, helping her ease out the nausea, and brought her outside the washroom.
"Are you ok?", he asked, worried.
"Hmm... Must be those stale chips I ate in the evening."
"Are you sure?"
"What do you mean?"
"No, I just mean... nothing."
"What?"
"Just wondering, how fast are my swimmers?! You've already stared vomiting!", he smirked.
"Raman! Whatever!"
Assured of her fineness via her normal reaction, he made her sit on the bed.
"Are you still hung-over from yesterday's drink?"
"Hung-over? Yes. From the drink? No", she blushed.
He loved the shade of crimson her cheeks turned to. He minimized the distance between them and whispered in her ears, "We're in your Appa's house. Have some shame, Madrassan!", and laughed out loud.
She immediately covered his mouth with her fingers, afraid someone might hear and wake up. It was then that she properly looked at him. After their morning's teasing session, they hadn't gotten even a single mind-free moment to themselves, and it was the first time in the entire day she was looking at him, in his eyes. Eyes, mocking her at the moment, but otherwise full of his love, for her. She could not feel anything but ecstatic and felt her eyes welling up. She touched his face, cupped it in her hands, and gently kissed his forehead.
He, on the other hand, had been watching her face intently for these few minutes. Acutely aware of the way she was looking at him, and the reason behind the unshed water in her eyes and her soft kiss, he was in his own utopian world.
He grabbed her shoulders and pulled her closer, and then... rapped on her forehead thrice.
"Ow! Raman! What are you doing?"
"Trying to open that under-developed brain of yours, so that I can fetch answers to a question that has been bothering me since morning."
"What question now?", her eyebrows raised.
"Was it... really... a 2 on 10?", was his innocent question.
"What? Why are you bothered with what score did I allot to that stupid sam... Ohh!", and she hollered.
"Sambhar?!"
"You thought I was rating YOU?", she had tears in her eyes.
"What else would I ask you to rate the first thing in the morning after our... first time, you stupid woman?!"
She could only catch her stomach and roll on the bed. He grabbed her wrists, rolled over, and pinned her beneath him.
"So it was not a 2 on 10?"
Lowering her eyes, she shook a muted no.
"Then?"
"Ramannn..."
He bent and kissed her eyelids.
"You know what? I don't want to know. Your cheeks are a scorecard for me. The redder they are, the higher my score is", he winked at her. She smiled innocuously, her gaze still down.
"Listen?"
"Hmm..."
"Look at me"
She looked up at him, and found herself drowning in his eyes once again. Eyes, that were looking only at her, that probably always looked only at her. He was no different. Her glassy orbs pulled him in, making him lose his sanity.
"You know I was right. You ARE a reject. You were, are, and will always be, too good to exist, to be accepted, in this big, bad world. You intimidate people with your selflessness, and, your madrasi roar. And, you ARE a gold-digger, only, you dig the gold inside of your pure soul to shower the treasure on others, making their lives worth living. I don't know why have I been singled out for you to let me have the biggest pile."
Saying so, he slightly brushed his lips with hers, tasting the salt that dropped from her eyes. She could never have thought he could fill so much love in those hateful words from their past.
"Even I was right. Any woman who would get married to you, would have her life turn upside down. The sheer intensity of your pain, love, passion and possessiveness has shattered my soul and re-built it so many times, making me go insane in all senses of the word. But you know what? If not for this insanity, I wouldn't have been able to survive for long."
Of course, she would remember the conversation he was referring to. It was the official beginning of their love-hate relationship. From the meeting where, they admitted, it was difficult for both of them to breathe in each other's presence, to the moment, here, where it was unbearable for them to breathe in each other's absence.
"You make my heart flutter so much madrassan, I feel as if butterflies born in my stomach will fly out from my mouth any day. Just remember one thing my Jhansi ki rani, no matter what turns our lives take, you'll always find yourself wrapped within me, catching my arms to hold on to, every single night of our lives."
"You complete the essence of my very being, Raman. I find myself so crushed by the strength of your love and longing that I forget to live when you're not around me. Just remember one thing my raavan kumar, you'll find me encased in your embrace forever, my hands entwined with yours, every single morning of our lives."
And thus ended, their night after. Or did it just begin?
Anupamaa
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
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