Tials Of fire !!! Adni Untold Saga Chapter 16
IPK3 Season 1 Episode 86
Previous thread chapters, the link below
https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/topic/4905329
Just recently I said to a friend, "Bhakton ke Bina Bhagwaan Nahi"( What is God if not for his Devotees!). Similarly, what am I (as an FF author) without all of you, My sweet friend readers and commentators. So, taking a moment to sincerely thank all of you who kept me inspired to write till 16th Chapter.
I am myself astounded because when I started I wanted to just write the SR and that was it... but now? Now, the story has grown over me... I feel like I am living in Raizada mansion...experiencing all Adni emotions... And believe me, it feels like a roller coaster ride😆. I wonder at times , how you gals feel. So please do share your heartfelt feelings after you read the chapter. I'll be very happy with your honest feedback..
Charu Rohtagi passed away recently. May her soul rest in peace. Such admirable character of Naani she played in IPKKND3. Not just the character was positive, I found even Charu very positive person through her smiling BTS pics, her enthusiastic IVs. She had a beautiful smile which reflected in her eyes. It seems she wanted to become an actress but family responsibilities restrained her. So after her daughter's marriages, when she was free, She pursued her acting career aspiration. Hats off to you, Charu mam. Your life will inspire the women of India.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Devvv..."
Chandni called out in her deep slumber...knowing that his familiar heat would encompass her immediately...
"Dddev... " She called out again... "Haath rakho na...(keep your hand on me) "
Feeling completely disoriented, she again demanded in happy expectation of his hand coming over her body...that very familiar weight on her which she was now so much accustomed to...
Nothing happened... a sudden bereft feeling crept on her still sleep clouded mind...forcing herself to focus, she raised her head above and turned to check if he was fast asleep... Her sleep ridden half hooded eyes did not register his frame... She squinted hard to look again; but he was not in bed...
Oh God! Where is he? In gripping fear, she jolted awake; her eyes searching the darkness of the room. But he was nowhere to be seen...Has he gone to the bathroom? Her still fazed brain wondered...then slowly memory started coming back...
Long through the passionate night, their raging desire for each other had shown no signs of burning out...they had come together again and again in the explosion of need...Finally, well past midnight, she had just lain on the ground, like a sated wanton, in the aftermath of the sensual storm Dev had unleashed in her body... Drained and exhausted completely, sleep had covered both of them with its dark blanket of deep oblivion ...
She realised her body was aching, but pleasurably... "Glorious..."she said dreamily to her memories.' I remember myself on the ground and he above me, both of us asleep... how come I am on bed with warm quilt covering me? When did he bring me to the bed?...'
She could not remember at all...suddenly aware of her nakedness inside the quilt, she called out in the bathroom direction, "Devvv..." ...no response...
She pulled the quilt around her and staggered to the bathroom... The door was open but he was not inside...
"Oh God!" fear gripped her heart all the more...
She walked to the basin to splash water on her face... There was something stuck on the mirror...A note???...She splashed water on her face...wiped it dry...put on the light and then read the note,
"Busy with urgent official calls. Go back to Sleep. Don't disturb yourself!"...
'His handwriting same as him... bold and uncompromising!'
She thought with a wry smile...why should I complain now? Hasn't he been the same since he was fifteen or even lesser...Every time he made me do a murga........Last time when he left without a look back.......and then later when he challenged me about mahapooja...always bold and uncompromising!
And now he has the guts to tell me to sleep away; as if I can sleep without him?...
She came out of the bathroom and went near her wardrobe... another note stuck there... She put the bedroom light on...
"Go to sleep, Chandu. Be back after my calls"...
'hummm, that is so typical of my husband', thought she, thinking of my comfort all the time'...Is he making the calls from his study? She wondered. She put her clothes on to go out and check him...If I put the lights on, everyone will get disturbed...it's hardly five o'clock now, she glanced a look at the wall clock...There were candles in the side cupboard from previous night's decorations... she took out one and lit it for just enough light to show her the way...she put the bedroom light off and tiptoed out.
He was not in the study... must have gone to the terrace...she tip toed to the terrace, only the candle light showing her the way... she entered the terrace and saw his frame near the parapet, shining in the moonlight ... His very familiar visage indelibly engraved in her mind...a rapturous smile broke on her lips... 'My hubby, Mera Dev', she thought with loving possessiveness...
He was not the fifteen year old boy at all as she remembered from her childhood...sex appeal flowed from him like an invisible heady scent...he looked physically formidable ...six feet body with broad shoulders and wide chest narrowing down to lean hips and long legs...
Sheer force and power embodied in a kind of raw male beauty...his overwhelming sexy magnetism pulling her towards him like a moth towards fire!
He was engrossed in his call...She could hear him now...perfect British accent English...his voice impossibly deep...a flat inflection to it making it sound exotic and authoritative...
.....His lips disconcertingly sensual ..... a contrast to his hard angles and bone structure...A tiny, traitorous part of her yearned to claim his mouth and drink his passion.
He sensed her and turned...his heart-stopping lopsided grin, the typical Advay Tedha Smile, that always set her toes tingling...
.......His gaze running from her bare feet up to her eyes. She couldn't tell what he thought, but she felt as if he'd caressed her by his glance...So seductive, it made tiny tremors quiver up and down her spine!
He saw her against the dark sky studded with soon to disappear stars...her face lighted up by candle...pure morning fresh beauty...no make-up, no saaj singaar...
The line of her bare shoulders looked incredibly fragile... her neck long and pale, her hair tussled up and flying in the cool breeze...he remembered their touch while drifting through his fingers like gossamer...
She had just donned her kurti on ... simple, elegant yet showing off her every sensual curve to perfection ...She had not bothered to wear a bra inside, he noticed... looking both ethereal and unbelievably sexy. ...
She was so young, so naive and so desirable...An intoxicating mix...His blood hummed in response, as it always did around this woman...His legendary control eluded him as his mind filled with images of losing control inside her until she found release in cries of ecstasy.
She came and stood close to him quietly, not wanting to disturb him...just soaking in the close vicinity...Her mind crowded with thoughts about him...
There were many things she hadn't known before he'd torpedoed back into her life, their home...Their marriage might have been a catastrophic accident but one thing she knew for certain was that the feelings he evoked in her were the feelings she'd spent her entire life waiting for... she knew at her deeper level that the connection that she felt with him would always be visceral...
Though attentive on his call, his heart wandered in her thoughts...how did it actually feel to be so wrapped around a woman's finger that your life isn't yours anymore... Is this what's true belonging? He smiled at the thought and looked at her. The cold breeze was hitting her bare skin and making her shiver just a little... He gestured to her to go down n bring some tea and a shawl.
Chandni understood him and started leaving... Wondering in her heart what that enigmatic adieu had meant? Somehow, she had a nagging thought at the back of her mind. Am I kind of excluded from his business life...his other very significant part?...all past memories came back sharply to her mind... the bedroom scene after her first PTSD here The way he had excluded her vehemently from his talk with his bro...
He's that type of a man...the type to tell me on my face that I don't have right to talk between him and his bro... How angry he had been then! And yesterday, when I stopped him from going to office before the pooja, how angry he had got!
Somehow, I don't know what marriage is supposed to mean between us... a woman shares everything of hers but a man needs his own space... his work life, his relations, his friends... I will never ever be allowed in his work space, will I? Like how he asked me now to leave when he was on his business call?
Why am I letting all these insecure thoughts bother my mind? He loves me and that's all that matters... He's been gracious enough to include my family in his family trip. I should be happy with that. His work will always remain his own. Why should I expect him to include me in everything? He does need his space...
But the heart wanted what the heart wanted. It overrode the rational brain and yearned for things that could never be...She shook her head to throw away all thoughts and focused on her task.
He stared at her parting frame and smiled happily. He didn't want her to hear his next convo...She would understand, it being in English, and that would spoil the whole fun of surprising her and watching her elated face. He liked the feelings she evoked in him with her happy smile, he really did!
Soon Chandni returned with two mugs, one his favourite honey lemon green tea and another being her favourite ginger cardamom tea...she walked balancing everything and facing the cool breeze...
As soon as she entered the terrace, he walked towards her and took the tray from her hand... Put an arm around her to protect her with his warmth and both walked to a secluded corner and sat there...under the stars and the moon... a loving couple wrapped in a single shawl... Sipping the hot drink in their hands while his arm around her shoulder actually building and conserving their heat together...just a feeling of togetherness... no name, no rationale... just the warmth of togetherness in the sensual morning mist swirling around them.
Suddenly Chandni giggled, her innocent hearty Chandu giggle! Her big brown eyes sparkled with her laughter.
"What happened? Why the giggle? "Dev hugged her tighter to him with a smile.
"Beautiful memories of us from childhood, cherished in my heart... you have always been my protector; and more so my Maths professor. Remember, Mastarji had once asked me the dodging table of two and I did not know the answer at all. I was almost in tears when suddenly you came at the class door and showed me with your fingers...mastarji had almost raised his stick to beat me up but you saved me... that day itself, you were greatest math expert of the world for me... Now you are for your professional world!"
Dev's heart expanded in his chest... a lot of feelings all coming together, a happy pride at himself, a surging love at her for her remembering every smallest detail ... the feeling in his heart while saving her, not completely understood then but so clearly defined now...
Outwardly he teased her, " I was not saving you, I was saving myself. If the mastarji had beaten you, I would cut off his arms; and then I would be put into jail."
Impulsively, Chandni put her hand on his mouth. "Never say bad things, and not at all early morning. As if I would let any harm come to you... "
She clung to him closer, "Aap ko pata hai, Dev? Do you know, I fell in love with you when we were together and then fell deeper in love with you in the years we were apart."
"Is that so? Did you understand love then? You were hardly eight..."
His voice trailed out in his dreamy memories of the past. How much ever he had tried to wipe them completely, they had still made way into his heart... hating her from the guts, yet loving her deep within his heart... that's how life had been.
"Pyaar ki koi umar nahi hoti, Dev."(There is no age for Love, Dev)
Her hand slided on his chest; all her love in her touch. Heat stirred inside Dev. Dev's hand moved going under her arm searching for her softness left unprotected without the bra.
Chandni jerked, her eyes wide and her heart suddenly beating in a wild tempo..."Not now and not here, Dev. Downstairs people would be awake already and anybody can come here."
Chandni could hear the echo of her heart pounding wildly. She knew how his mere touch made her lose her mind every time.
His gaze meshed with hers in the semi-darkness, holding her captive for endless seconds as the silence pulsed with erotic promise around them. He looked like a dark angel that had alighted briefly on a cloud...
"Ok! Let's go down to our room." His voice was very deep, very rumbly, very very male taking a leisurely ride on her senses. Chandni felt a frisson of heat slither down her back.
"No Dev! I need to go for my bath, do pooja in Mandir and start work. Come let's go."
Suddenly she jolted up and left in hurry. Almost running to dispel the sensual mist around her... her hair flying in the air chasing the dawn behind!
Lazily, Dev followed her. 'Advay Singh Raizada always gets what he wants!'...He made no attempt to curb the sexy arrogant laugh escaping his mouth.
Chandni finished her bath with a smile... the pleasurable ache soothed with the hot shower on her body...She dried herself and dressed up. When she came out, he was not to be seen.
'Good, at least I can do my work', she thought and humming happily sat in front of the dresser. She picked her box to wear her mangalsootra but as she opened it, a folded paper inside baffled her. Is it another note from him? She opened the paper and saw that they were flight tickets from Paris to London...for Chandni and Advay Singh Raizada... Her humming stopped immediately; all happiness disappearing from her face.
London? Naani's voice came reverberating in her ears about his girlfriends in London. Sasha came from London.
"No Way!" She exclaimed looking up from the paper and saw him right behind her in the mirror.
He was leaning nonchalantly against the wall, hands in the pockets of his snugly fitting jeans...the sleeves of the casual shirt rolled back to display his formidable forearms...the jeans clung to his well muscled thighs in a way that could only be described as provocative...His relaxed arrogant confident aura oozing a very virile sex appeal!
She felt a throb of electricity that went straight down to her core...He was watching her with disconcertingly intense eyes...his gaze so piercing... She felt as if he could read her mind, her soul... suddenly she felt stripped bare!
He had waited in hiding, happily expecting to see her elated face... but her entirely unexpected reaction baffled him...He could not understand her denial and kept searching her face to get a clue...Something troubled him, a rare sense of trepidation...Anger rose inside Dev...
Extremely conscious and scared of his look, Chandni turned around...a panic rising within her trying to hide her thoughts from him... His gaze could pierce her, could undress her, pleasure her and promise her more , all within a split second.
"What's that "No way" supposed to mean?", he said softly but with an unmistakable tinge of steel in the deep voice.
His air of command was impossible to ignore. She rose to her feet and faced him. She shivered internally fear streaking through her. Outwardly, she steeled herself and put up her bravado,
"It means we cannot use this ticket. It's just for two of us and that too, London???" The city name came in almost pleading, questioning tone.
"Who says we cannot use the tickets? What's the exact objection on...two of us or London?"
"Hannnn?" Chandni couldn't decide.
"Objection?" a solid demanding voice...not allowing anything else but very logical very reasonable answer.
"Both!... both, actually...The whole family is going to Paris. How can we leave them and proceed ahead. What will they think about us?" Chandni felt Family reason to be better as his priority was always family.
"They will support us completely and be happy for us. I know my family. We are going and that's decided."He was dismissing her refusal already.
"NO! No, we are not going to London. London falls westward of Paris. Westward travel is inauspicious." His expressions made her all the more diffident...desperate to give some believable justification...
She blurted out, "Meri Janam Kundli mein likha hai."(It's written in my horoscope)
Dev's expressions were changing fast... from angry, he was now feeling amused...Amused at her total innocence at lying. Suddenly she reminded him of his desktop picture of Thumbelina which he had kept in memory of young Chandu. He had always imagined her as his dream Priya. She looked equally innocent now.
My wife can get real comical when she's baffled about how to lie to me. She believes she's smart to use Janmkundali because I won't know anything about it...But you're mistaken, woman!...
"I have soft copy of your Janam kundali...there's nothing written there...plus there's no logic known that a person cannot travel westward. Allahabad to Mumbai was a westward travel for you and you're safe." He broke her bubble with a sneer.
Chandni was losing ground. Her head filled with lurid images of pouting blond glamazons crawling all over him. There was no way she would allow those glam sirens use their blandishment to gain advantage on him...she remembered the wretched feeling in her heart when he touched Sasha...
There was no way she would ever open herself again to that kind of heartache...some ghost from his past coming to claim him...She could not face another heartache which would never get mended.
And then there was the extreme fear of Sasha and her father...They had lost their mission to win over Advay and they were like wounded wolves now...They were extremely dangerous and could harm Dev himself... Chandni remembered the bomb incident and shuddered.
"We'll go to some other place, please... somehow I don't want to go to London"
His unbelieving expressions made her desperate. She turned and blurted out, "Why don't you understand, Dev ...London spells danger...Sasha and her father could attack us again..."
A sense of fatalism making her voice tremble!
"They attack us? When did they attack you?" Dev caught her words and his voice rose immediately in anger.
Chandni cursed her wild running mouth...She had never wanted to tell Dev about Sasha's misdoings...he was violent when angry... She had discussed with Pooja and Naani never to tell Dev about Sasha's father and hidden the recorded camera clip with them.
"Oh! how silly of me... did I say attack? Must have slipped from my tongue...I meant visit... Visit us...they are your close friends there so they might visit us...we won't get any privacy... Oh Dev! Why can't you just agree with me?"
Dev knew in an instant that what her tongue had slipped out was truth but he knew his wife...Once she decided not to tell something, she would just not tell...he had known her nature from 'the Baby misunderstanding mishap'...Always protecting her loved ones at the cost of her own good.
"I agree with everything that you say ... always! But this time why don't you agree with me?"
He drawled seductively playing her own tactic at her........He moved like a silent big pawed predator towards her...a mocking expression on his ruthless face... He looked even larger in the mirror and far more formidable!
Chandni panicked and turned towards him again... Dev put his hand out to touch her...She knew all her battles would be lost if he touched her now... The heat of him already touching her like electricity making her pull her breath in.
As her last battle, she turned her cheek away from his touch, gathered all her wits and pleaded,
"Please Dev... Aise nahi...not like this... This is just not fair..."
His response to that was to possessively touch her throbbing pulse at her neck. Then he traced her open neckline with the back of his palm...Her being Intriguing and feisty made her all the more beautiful... irresistible!...His mouth curled up in an indulgent smile...a mouth sculpted to sin!
He just wanted to seduce her back into bed and scramble her brains to pieces until she had no objection whatsoever.
"Don't you know the famous cliche...Everything is fair in love and war!...Let's give a different meaning to it...Let's battle our war with 'not so fair' love..."
He moved forward until she was bracketed between him and the wall... Heat zinged straight to her belly, her toes curled, she clenched her fists...He put his hands on the wall behind her, pressing even closer... he could feel her lithe curves pressed against him, the delicate fabric of her dress no barrier at all...
He bent his head and inhaled her unique scent...her bath fresh scent which enthralled him...wild flowers, innocence and unslaked desire... and his heart started to thunder. She wasn't moving, but she wasn't pushing him away either. He pressed his mouth to her neck, his lips finding her pulse point and his blood leaping when he registered how fast it was... he nipped at her skin gently, before soothing it with his tongue. She shuddered against him. He felt ruthless...It was one of her weak spots...he knew it!
He clamped his hands onto the soft swell of her hips and pulled her into him pressing against his hardness, where she could feel his power. He was so hard it hurt.
Her eyes widened and darkened... she arched back against him, longing for his kiss...out of their own volition, her hands were in his hair, fingers like claws... Out of its own volition, her mouth opened and pressed onto his...until he seemed to come out of his momentary shock... and then he kissed her back.
'I'll do this but not agree to London', Chandni thought to herself as her last hope, then quit thinking and simply savoured the exquisite, heated sensations that were rocketing throughout her as she returned the kiss in total abandon. Dev knew this was a kiss of commitment, a kiss that spoke of their honeymoon together, of love that would last...forever.
She loved his taste as much as she loved his scent. She loved the feel of his mouth pressed to hers. She loved the texture of his skin and the softness of his hair, the only part of his body that wasn't hard. She loved everything about him, but most of all, she loved the look in his eyes when she broke the kiss to gaze back into them.
He knew she was trying to say something but he could hardly hear anything in the rush of blood to his head. His engines were firing on all cylinders and he wasn't interested in any delay. He plucked her up into his arms as if she weighed nothing and walked to the bed.
His hands, his mouth, his tongue worked on her body firmly and persuasively...his hands doing the well practised, well-judged strokes to tip her over the edge... Now he had her where he wanted...temporarily sated but vulnerable...
He rasped words against her lips in his sexy drawl, "Bolo, Chalogi"(say, you'll come)
"Dev please... pleaaase" She pleaded... His lips touching her in a way that promised all types of erotic pleasure... She was prepared to agree to anything...
"Pahale haan bolo, first say yes!" he holding back himself and taking her over the edge where sexual tension sparkled in their breath...
"haan... haan yes! yes!" She rasped out in abandoned need... He smiled with satisfaction and then he lifted her into another realm, another level of consciousness, where all the differences between them melted away.
They were smiling into each other's eyes with the type of understanding that only lovers have. He kissed his thank you on her lips and she smiled...he made her feel so special. When he made love to her, she felt like the only woman in the world. It felt as if her body had been made especially for him. It felt so beautiful...They held each other tight, both lost in dreams of a honeymoon that only a short time before had seemed like a battle.
"So? London next... right?" he goaded her.
"Yes... but on one condition." She was not going to lose this battle. He creased his eyebrows quizzically. "You will come in Burkha everywhere." She filled him in on her demand.
"Whaattt?" He laughed heartily, not believing his wife could demand something like that.
"What else? All your past girlfriends... if they see you, I don't know what they'll do..."
She muttered grumpily against his skin... she knew he was too dynamic, too virile. He could set hearts fluttering by merely walking into a place...she was not taking any chances, whatsoever!
"Jalane ki boo aa rahi hai...someone is getting jealous!" He laughed again... Teasing her... At the same time feeling ecstatic at her jealousy... her possessiveness of him.
"My foot! Jale meri jooti! I have said it... bas! Ho gaya! "Chandni grumbled defensively.
"We'll see!"
"Dekh lena!"
Chandni was busy in the kitchen when Murli came and told her that Dev had asked for the Breakfast in the room as he was busy. Perhaps the morning work is pending, thought Chandni and sent across the trolley with Murli. She would have to wake up Shikha...Naani being away, her little sister had given into her lifelong pleasure of late sleeping...she would have to do the Pooja as well in Naani's place...then serve breakfast to Miku...Waking him up was not an easy task after all. She would just have to leave Dev alone with his breakfast.
Dev was seriously thoughtful in his room...rewinding all incidents in his mind since Sasha's arrival...Murli came in with breakfast...
"Murli...Myself and Chandni are planning on London trip. I might need your help in London. Need to pass a parcel to Sasha..."
Murli's elated face with the name of London crumpled at the mention of Sasha. Advay was observing him carefully. "What's the matter, Murli? Why are you upset at the mention of Sasha?"
"Bhaiyya, humara muh mat khulvav aap (Don't make me open my mouth)... the way she treated me and Shilpa...She called Shilpa little helper and ridiculed her... not you nor Chandni bhabhi ever made us feel like servants and that female..." Murli cringed his nose disgustingly.
"Yes, but she left Murli... and last day she tied rakhi to me, after all."
"Oh Bhaiyya... not because she was good at heart... She is devil in disguise rather...You must thank Chandni bhabhi for saving you from her... Chandni bhabhi trapped her with all her crimes and then she did what she did... So it's all Chandni Bhabhi's goodness." Murli defended Chandni with pride.
"Trapped Sasha? How? Sasha was not easy to manage."
"Are Bhaiyya! Bhabhi is very smart...she played as ghost and made Sasha confess about all her wrong doings... She recorded her confession in the camera... Sasha was left helpless completely."
Advay remembered Chandni showing it to him once but he was too much blinded then. The camera had disappeared since then. He decided to play it cool.
"Oh! Who all of you were involved in this plan?"
"It was mainly Naani, Pooja Didi and Chandni Bhabhi...Aadi, Shilpa and Myself were onlookers and helpers."
"The camera chip I wonder if Pooja has kept or thrown away already..."Advay chanced a name to know where the chip was. Chandni , he knew, would not keep it in their room.
"Of course, she must have kept Bhaiyya..." A very confident and smart feeling Murli told Advay, "It would stay perfectly safe with her."
Expressions changed on Advay's face.
"I feel sad for Chandni. She suffered a lot, didn't she?"
"Arrre Bhaiyya? You call that just suffering?..." Murli was really angry at Sasha.
"She could have died in the freezer where Sasha and her father locked her; had it not been for Shilpa saving her." Murli took Shilpa's name with a proud smile.
Memories of incidents that had become jigsaw puzzle in Dev's mind, now started getting solved slowly. His eyes moistened with the thought of Chandni suffering in the freezing cold when Aadi had asked him for ice cream; yet his not being able to detect her. Heaven knows how she must have struggled inside, unable to breathe...
A shudder ran up Dev's nerves at the thought of Chandni's life in danger. But it was no use getting too excited, he would have to know all the details which Chandni had successfully hidden from him... mad girl! He shook his head.
Murli left with empty trolly and immediately Dev called up Pooja to confirm her return plan.
Soon Pooja, Maasi, Naani, Aadi all reached home. Life returned to the silence in the hallway. Aadi ran to his sweet CM and she hugged him happily.
"Maami, what have you made for me?"
"Your all time favorite jelly custard."
"Maami, yesterday why had Mummy got the cow dung mountain made and then decorated it for Govardhan pooja?"
"The mountain is symbolic of Govardhan in Gokul. We worship the mountain with the Annakoot offering."
"Why did Krishna want people to worship Govardhan?"
"Krishna wanted to take us back to Vedic principles of worshipping nature around you. He wanted people to truly believe from heart not have faith owing to fear. He wanted to eradicate the kind of worshipping Indra out of fear of not having rains."
"Maami, you called me Ganesha yesterday, So I am God. Shall I tell all my friends that I am God?"
"They are God too, Aadi. So you'll be telling a god that you're god. Doesn't make sense, right? Rather hold that in your heart and always be good with everybody. Respect the god in fellow human being." Chandni explained Aadi with love.
Dev was watching this exchange from far admiring her natural flair as a mother...answering a child's queries patiently, molding his mind in the right direction, pampering the child to no bounds... Dream of she becoming the mother of his child came alive in his heart...a dream he would very soon have fulfilled.
Pooja walked upto him, "Bhaiyya, whom had you sent yesterday? Those people went in your study!
Advay woke up from his trance and smiled at her, "yes, I know. I sent them. Come with me."
He came towards Chandni and took Chandni's hand in his and then walked towards study. Everybody followed him in bewilderment. Chandni was feeling embarrassed to be taken like that and at the same time wondering what was on his mind.
"Firstly Naani, I want to thank you for recognizing the talent in Chandni and not only giving her a platform to display it but also the necessary encouragement. Had you not started this, perhaps Chandni would never ever tell me about it... the typical secretive person that she is. " Advay smiled at Naani.
Chandni raised her eybrow at what sounded as admiration and accusation both at same time.
"From now on, Chandni, you will not use 'just your known Phone invention" to teach Miku. "His tone was mocking her original way of teasing him.
Then he said openly, "You will do video conferencing with him for teaching him all necessary mantras and pooja rituals. I have also arranged for video conferencing facility in Allahabad haveli. That way anybody in the family can actually speak to Miku live and he will always be with us though away."
The family was thrilled with this idea. Advay allowed the happiness to sink a little and then spoke further, "With this same facility, Chandni, you will also teach my students the knowledge you have." He had pride and love in his eyes.
Chandni tried to catch her breath, "Me?" She sucked in a steadying breath unable to stifle her apprehension.
"Yes you! The knowledge is huge in our old books and you could start explaining the students your way of scientific religion. A lot of research work done by the ancient greats of India could give a new direction to the research done by my students. You can also join in with my lectures to undergraduate batch to align yourself to their ways and their topics. You will then have to do the research on our old books and hold a lecture with supplementary info to them, once a week. I have spoken to the University head and you'll be inducted into part time lecturing."
Chandni could not believe her ears. This is surely a dream! This cannot be real. When Pooja came and hugged her lovingly, she requested,
"Didi please pinch me once. I feel like I'm in a dream." Everybody laughed and Dev gave a wry smile at her innocence.
"I truly can't believe, Dev, that you are including me in your professional world. I am very aware of the limitations of my knowledge; I am not sure how much I will be able to contribute, not even sure whether I can cope with your student's intelligence. Yet the thought that you want me to become part of this life of yours ... I am at loss of words completely." Tears of gratitude sprang in her eyes as she looked at him.
He came near her and slowly wiped her tears, "Is it necessary to cry at all times?" Did he have to raise a brow, slant those lips, and let the smile in his eyes do the talking for him? Chandni blushed.
Pooja said happily, "Bhaiyya aap to sansani pe sansani maachaate ja rahe ho. Yesterday the Europe trip plan, Today this! You have truly amazed me. And I'm very proud of you. This arrangement will give wings to Chandni to fly high in the sky. And not alone, you'll be by her side to support her as required. I have known you all my life. You always do stuff with so much of thought in it. This facility is like three birds in one stone! Vaise Bhaiyya, you were very right in choosing the gift yesterday. Last night, I spent out of home and believe me, it feels so refreshing for the mind. Getting out of the confinement of four walls truly helps."
"Really, Pooja? Come, let's go to your room and tell me what all you did."
Gently he took a happy chattering Pooja to her room. Chandni proceeded to kitchen walking on ninth cloud. Others went back to the hall to share their night out experience.
He knew he would have to play it smooth, slow and safe to get the information from her. Though Pooja was hesitant initially, same as he had smooth talked Murli into telling him details, he smooth talked Pooja in giving him the chip.
"Chaandni!" Advay's anger thundered the walls of the mansion. He was so angry, so loud that Chandni and staff in the kitchen were both stunned and dropped utensils. Dev entered the kitchen looking menacingly angry.
"What has happened to him now? He was so loving and admiring to her just a while back." Maasi wondered.
"Oh God! He asked me for Sasha's chip. He must have seen it on his laptop. That must have caused the anger." Pooja panicked.
"Let me go and stop him before he thunders the hell out of the poor girl." Maasi got up to go after him.
"Stop, Leela! It's between them. They'll sort it out. Let us not interfere as of now." Naani advised firmly.
"But Naani, if he yells and if she leaves again then?" Pooja was seriously worried.
"She won't. She has taken her learning now."
"Don't know why every alternate day he fires her for something or other... how will their relationship survive this way?" Maasi was deeply concerned.
Naani smiled in her memories, "Same as your baba's and mine survived... rather thrived! These people's love is in their anger itself."
"Oh Ma! Pyaar kaisa? Pyaar mein to mogre ke phool barasane chahiye, na?
(What kind of love is this? Love is supposed to shower jasmine fragrant flowers, right?") Maasi remembered her husband.
"Mogre ke phool man mein khilate hain; tabhi aankhon se aise angaar barasata hai...
(when fragrant jasmine flowers bloom in the heart, that's when there's fire in eyes")
Have you ever seen Chiku yelling angrily at anybody else apart from Chandni? Anger or Love, all his emotions are bound to Chandni. It's for us to know and remember; and it's for Chandni to experience and cherish." Naani spoke from her extreme wisdom.
Dev was burning out Chandni with his anger. He looked at the staff and the staff retreated from the kitchen... Chandni just could not understand what had happened to cause his anger... Since yesterday night, they had been having great time, the morning had been equally great...just a while back, he had given her such happiness, placed her on such high pedestal ...The day had rolled out like the most perfect day. ...so she was totally at loss about the cause of his anger.
"Why the hell did you not tell me about Sasha's attempting to harm you... she attacked you, dammit!"
His voice thundering with cold sweat dread that often washes over in the aftermath of a narrowly avoided tragedy. The pressure of his hold on Chandni's arms was hurting her and she flinched. He hurled her away.
In an instant she knew what must have happened. He must have got all information, she had kept hidden all these days. She cursed herself once again for having blurted out about Sasha. Speak in haste and repent in leisure!
"Why are we discussing Sasha now? Did we not close the chapter among us?"
"Chapter closes between you and me Chandni, not between me and them...how did they dare to harm you?"
Advay's growl matched the scowl on his convulsive menacing face...Chandni knew that the unwanted had happened ...by him knowing truth about Sasha... She couldn't guess what he would do with the knowledge...But she had to stop the unforeseen from happening further. She was thinking fast... Somehow she had to dissuade him from any kind of angry revenge that would endanger him.
"Why the hell did you not tell me all these days? Not even after our coming together?" Dev was really hurt at her non disclosure.
"Neither did you tell me you were Dev. The same way as you acted in revenge, Sasha acted in her avenging against me. And you had agreed to marry Sasha... Naturally, she and her father looked at you as theirs and me as their enemy...Why did you in the first place give her an impression that you were going to marry her? Tum apni Chandu ko bhool gaye?" Chandni's own hurt wanted justice. (You forgot your very own Chandu?)
"I told you already, I had never forgotten you. And it was Sasha who insisted on marriage after our friendship, I never promised her anything. She assumed things. I was wrong in letting her assume...and that I did because I did not know your truth...I did not recognize my love for you, then... but Chandu, so did you! You had agreed on marrying PP. Why did your own heart not recognize me then?"
Their fights never went in a straight line... there were always too many things involved.
"I told you I agreed to marry PP only in my blind love for that woman. And yes I agree that I have failed to accept the recognition my heart had for you right away." Chandni's voice had steel in it now.
She looked at him and softened with the angry hurt in his eyes. She exactly knew how it must have felt for Dev to see his Chandani allowing anyone else near her.
"Please, listen to me..."Chandni pleaded at him, "Let's forget about PP, Sasha... Everybody! We are a happy family now... You and I are together... why endanger our happiness? If we are going on honey moon, let's discuss that."Chandni tried diverting his mind from unhappy topics.
"You always do this, Chandu. You don't give me the whole truth. You just don't want to discuss uncomfortable topics, do you? Is it always going be like that between us?" Dev left in frustrated anger.
Chandni followed him to the room. Though the room was lighted up, the aura around him was completely dark... Though his face looked calm, there was war of emotions in his eyes...His sensual mouth which had brought her to ecstasy earlier, now looked almost cruel with an angry tight zipping of lips...it was clear his mind was pacing with his dark fears, his mental state convulsive and dreadful.
Chandni went and hugged him from behind... quietly absorbing his darkness in her optimistic moonlight... He did not hug her back; but neither did he push her away... He allowed her calming touch to soothe his hassled nerves...Slowly, with a happy soothing smile on her face she turned him around. He looked troubled, distracted, almost fragile.
"I am sorry." She pleaded at his angry troubled face, "What is it that you want to know. I'll tell you everything."
"Sasha and her father had planted that bomb in the mandir, she had locked you in the freezer, Chandu, your life was in danger and you never ever told me about it?" He was speaking fast, almost convulsing at the dark truth coming to light now for him.
"Initially, I didn't tell you because you were not ready to believe me. I wanted to tell you so many things; but you were hell bent on pushing me away. Later, when we united in love, I didn't tell you because she was gone from our life and it did not matter any more...
Yes! It's true she did what she did! But as I told you, my outlook towards her is different... she was trying to secure you against me. Can we not let go of that subject altogether?"
"No Chandni." he cupped her face, " Wanting to secure me does not give her the right to take away your life...And what a stupid dumb girl! By putting you in danger, she was bringing me closer to you in spite my own pushing you away..."Dev laughed derisively.
Then he pursed his lips. "I am getting angry at you because I do not like the idea that I get to hear this from someone else... Do you understand Chandni that I would not like to know about your kidnapping from Shikha or someone else... I want to know your experience, not their impression... it feels so important for me as if I am losing a piece about you, your whole being... That makes me feel uncomfortable."
"Kidnap I have told you, right? But yes! Even I want to share everything that I felt , everything that happened...Only then perhaps, I'll be able to face it myself and then as you want conquer over it completely. It's so important for me to tell you everything about me...That man abducted me from a crowd and kept me locked for three days...Those three days were equal to three eons in hell, Dev. Though he did not touch me, the fear of his doing it killed me internally...I didn't know, I couldn't understand who was he, why he had kidnapped and locked me, what was going to happen to me, ... "
Chandni almost relived the memory of her complete mental disarray then. She shuddered and clutched Dev tight clawing his body with her fingers in the fear. Horror of her captivity turmoil dawned on Dev turning into a chaotic pulse beat, her emotions tearing into him, becoming part of his soul. He could see her sitting in the horrifying space, fearing for whatever was on its way...it could have been death! He could experience her pain, torture and disquiet all around. Dev hugged her real tight, close to his heart. The flare of protective anger in his being, his eyes, the instinct to guard her, to not spare anyone who had hurt her.
"Somehow I escaped, Dev!...I was running for my life but he caught me again and pushed my head down in water...I was drowning, suffocating... there was water everywhere... and that water killing me... I thought I'll die!"
Suddenly Chandni started howling...Her nerves were twanging painfully... her belly a contracted ball of nerves... all her pain, her fear, her trauma draining out from her eyes onto Dev's chest, his heart! He softly patted her head caressing the soft silk of her hair...just allowing her to cry her heart out. Her Pain making something hard and cold lodge in his gut...the fear of losing her...lightly sickening falling sensation entered his gut knowing the kind of herculean efforts she must have made to survive...He kissed her hair with pride...his warrior fighter Chandu!
Minutes just passed...slowly the tension inside her dissolved from her howling form, her sobs became softer... his comforting hold, a kind of powerful energy radiating from him shimmered on her like early morning sunlight... warming her against her cold dread...protecting her against her ghastly fears. At last, she just rested on his chest and allowed herself to soak in his warm embrace.
At last, she pulled her nose and looked in his eyes... "At least now, you are not angry with your Katto?"Her lips curved in a smile, and her innocent eyes danced with laughter...Smiling himself, he cupped her face and replied by driving his mouth down on her, kissing her until all his love, his strength was passed into his Chandu.
Hope you gals enjoyed this chapter. Next coming soon... Is trauma of Chandni healed completely in Dev's arms? Do keep reading the next chapter in link below and know for yourself.😉
Chapter 17
https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/post/146006196
Chapter 18
https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/post/146258412
Topic started by Loving2Missing2
Last replied by Loving2Missing2
