The Best of Things
(Ragya, Swasan) Fan Fiction Series +16
By Bubble
Chapter 65
Swara and Sanskaar stood to one side, showering flowers on the couple just finishing their pheras.
Lakshya had been on fire all day. He had found this lovely ashram in Rishikesh that performed marriage rituals by the riverside - he had arranged for the priest and organised everything they would need for the ceremony, delegating a few jobs to Sanskaar. In between he had called Swara to harass her and follow up if she'd gotten everything they needed. Swara and Ragini had finished their shopping, then checked out of the Haridwar hotel and driven to Rishikesh, where the men had decided they would stay the night.
Ragini... well, Ragini simply did everything she was asked to.
+++
The previous night, he had come back from Swara and Sanskaar's room and dropped the bomb on her. Kya hai yeh sab, Lakshya?! she had protested. She hoped he was joking, but in the morning he bathed and left as soon he had gulped down a cup of tea.
"I'm going now to make the arrangements and I'll let you know - you simply do as Swara tells you, Ragini! And when I tell you the time for the mahurat, just be there!" he told her imperiously.
Ragini was stunned by the turn of events, by the sheer storm Lakshya was raising over this.
+++
Through the day, Lakshya was running high on adrenaline - hyper, impatient, hustling everyone into doing what they had to do. It was only around four in the afternoon, when Swara finally brought a decked out and absolutely ravishing Ragini to the mandap, that he took one long look at her and quietened down. When she sank onto the low seat beside him in front of the sacred fire, he assiduously arranged her red lehenga around her and nodded at the pandit.
Ragini looked at him under the rim of the ghunghat halfway over her face... there was no doubt about it all - he was choosing her now.
+++
Earlier in the morning, Swara had taken Ragini to the market... and had been at her wit's end because her sister had been amazingly pliant, and at the same time, effectively non-cooperative. She had just stared unseeingly at every single garment, not even hearing Swara as she tried to settle on something suitable for her to wear.
Swara didn't know what to make of it. They were already married in every way - so what was Lakshya trying to do? And when Ragini loved him so much, what was she thinking so much about?
Then, Lakshya had called Swara. Ragini had turned sharply at his voice as Swara held the phone to her ear... she could hear him demanding a status update.
"We haven't been able to decide on anything, Lakshya!" Swara told him in desperation.
"Don't worry too much about it, Swara! Drag her over in her night suit, if necessary, it doesn't matter," he said.
Swara laughed. "Achcha, speak to Ragini..." she started to say, and put the phone on speaker because Ragini's hands were occupied with two chunris that the salesgirl had given her.
Just as she put the speaker on they heard him say... "...Nahin, Swara! I don't want to speak to Ragini. Bohut kah sun liye hum! Ab mujhe kuch nahin kehna, aur uski toh ek nahin sunoonga!" Ragini's head was bent intently to the phone. Swara bit her lip. What was happening between these two?
"Haan... lekin, Swara..." Lakshya's voice continued, "Ragini se kehna..."
He was silent for so long, Swara glanced at the screen to make sure the call was still connected.
"Ragini se kehna... chaar baje, shaadi ke mandap pe main uska intezaar kar raha hoon."
He cut the call.
++++
They concentrated on the rituals as if their very breath depended on it. Soon, they stood up for the pheras. After the fourth round, Lakshya made way for Ragini to move past him to take the lead. She was unsteady for a moment, and his arm shot around her waist to hold her. She steadied himself against him and moved in front with a little smile. She looked happy again, he noted... secure, confident... a woman sure of herself and of her man. The tightness in his heart eased.
"Do you think Lakshya realises how deep in love he is?" muttered Sanskaar to his wife.
"No!" she whispered back, "I don't think he knows at all."
"He's being very dominating about this shaadi business, though!" he said, "There was no way he was going to let her slip out of his life."
"Exactly! He's operating on sheer instinct - but I don't think he understands what it means yet," she said under her breath, flinging more flower petals at her sister and her husband.
Lakshya tied the mangalsutra around Ragini's neck and then reached for the sindoor, fully absorbed in the task of filling her maang with vermillion. He glanced intently at his bride; Ragini had not looked up from contemplation of the sacred fire in several minutes. The pinch of sindoor he had trailed along the parting in her hair glistened bright in the afternoon light. He didn't move away however and she felt his breath against her forehead. She looked up at him and found his gaze on her... she looked back at him then, letting him see her eyes... What he read there, only he knew, but satisfied, he dropped his hand and turned to the pandit for more instructions.
"Does she know?" Sanskaar asked, continuing the muted conversation with his wife.
"Hmmm... I think so," Swara said, "She was mulling over his behaviour all morning. I could barely get her to focus on anything! She looked so dazed at first... she came with me, did whatever I asked... but she was so lost in her own thoughts. I had no confidence at all that I could actually bring her to the mandap. Main pareshaan thi, because nothing was moving, and on top of that, Lakshya was calling me every fifteen minutes, demanding updates! Suddenly, I don't know what happened - Ragini just came to some decision and she started focussing! Sanskaar, within an hour, we had the joda, jewellery, bangles and footwear!"
"What an interesting situation!" Sanskaar grinned.
Edited by soapbubble - 9 years ago
Mannat Har Khushi Paane Ki
Cricket
