There was a time when she dreaded falling asleep. Despite being on her feet all day long and coming home dead tired, she’d often count sheeps or focus on her breaths for hours before falling asleep. Only to be thrusted in a land between dreams and reality that leached every ounce of peace from her very bones.
Pallavi wasn’t foolish to miss that time but she couldn’t help but compare, now that tossing and turning, in a half-awake state, in her cozy bed is nothing but pure ecstasy. She cast an inaudible prayer heavenwards, savouring the warmth surrounding her, the faint heavenly scent- not at all flowery, carrying a hint of familiarity. Like....
She had company. In. Her. Bed.
A startled gasp escaped her as she sat bolted upright, clutching the counterpane to her heaving chest. After she calmed down, a little, she glanced over her shoulder at a sleeping Raghav, who also happened to be naked. Waist up, she realised, unsure if she felt relieved or disappointed.
As he laid there, on his stomach, stripped of not just his clothes but all his masculine defenses and sour frowns, a curious feeling fluttered through her stomach, soft and undeniably sweet.
The squeak from the door made her wheel around to be confronted by a pair of anxious eyes. Pallavi lunged - too late, too clumsily and landed on the floor with a soundless “thud” in a tangle of sheets.
Her Aai stood in the doorway, unfazed by her athletic feat, her gaze flickering to Raghav behind Pallavi.
“Aai... It’s not... I know.... It looks like... believe me...” she stammered unable to form a coherent sentence.
“What are you blabbering Pallavi? And Raghav? Is he OK now? These boys, I tell you. Played Holi with water all day and then came down with fever. It’s late anyway, so I told him it’s absolutely fine if he stays the night” she said while touching Raghav’s forehead, checking his fever.
Of course, it was fine. He was her husband, afterall. And him being in her bed shouldn’t make her this nervous. It shouldn’t make her heat up like a fireball. She must’ve caught his fever.
“Here’s your food” Aai handed her the plate. “And lock the door properly before you go to bed” Aai smiled and wriggled her eyebrows in a funny manner but the meaning behind it was lost on Pallavi. She nodded her head vigorously.
After Aai left, Pallavi resumed her task of studying her husband who was sleeping as carelessly as a babe. With hesitant steps, she made her way to bed. He looked so out of place in her room, half feet of his legs stretched out of her small bed.
“I’m twenty-seven” she was sure he’d say if she told him that he looked like a seven year old while sleeping.
Suddenly, she wondered what it’d be like to look at a child and see hints of Raghav’s handsome face, to witness the same disarming smile play on a much younger version of him. He’d make an awesome father, she knew. But what of her? Will she make a good mother when she isn’t even a wife in true sense?
She came out of her reverie as she noticed a ghost of a smile on his face. Was he mocking her privately? Did he realized how rattled she was? Did she saud something out loud?
“You rouge..” she hurled a pillow at him. “You’ve been awake all along”
His mischievous eyes opened, gleaming with pure deviltry and his shoulders shaking violently. His laughter had a rich, ringing note to it, disarmingly beautiful.
Frowning, she crossed her arms at her chest.
“what?” he tried to pull a poker face. “Were you trying to suicide by jumping off your bed on being discovered in it with your very own husband?”
“My little mouse, you’re such a prude!” he grinned in that boyish manner and Pallavi felt attacked in a way she couldn’t name.
She swallowed the distance between them in an instant and presented him with her most stern look.
“Retract that... it’s derogatory.”
“What? Little mouse?”
“Prude.... retract that, now.” she ordered almost leaning on him.
“Give me reason to do so...” he lifted himself up on his elbows.
In a swift, impulsive movement Pallavi rolled on top of him. She pinned him underneath her by straddling his hips between her knees. Balancing her weight in such a way so as to maintain the contact between their bodies but not quite crushing him.
[Ahh...this is frustrating to explain in words the position I’m imagining them in. I’m miserably failing to paint the picture with words but you got it.... didn’t you?🤔]
Her eyes narrowed slightly as she peered down at his widened ones.
“Take that back Raghav, now.” she repeated.
He was quick to recover the shock and held her gaze with a blunt refusal to break the eye contact first.
“As I said, Pallavi, give me reason to.”
His long warm fingers made their way to her waist, neither pushing nor pulling, just steadying her. Breath trmbled out of Pallavi and as if sensing her hesitation, he instantly loosened his grip. Her gaze softened at his gesture and resolve hardened. With slightly shaking fingers, she traced his torso, sinking her fingertips in the grooves between the hard muscles bands, scoring his bronzed skin, softly, sensually, with her nails. She felt his hands resuming their position- steady, assuring, encouraging but not wandering, unlike hers.
When he rewarded her with a priceless encouraging smile, she placed her lips against the pulse on his neck, without a conscious thought. A shiver ran through him and Pallavi’s body mirrored the reaction. A felling, akin to delight, ran through her heart, percolating into the pit of her belly and continued to pool... lower...
She used her teeth, slightly scraping and then her tongue, soothing, licking. She knew her clumsy attempt lacked originality. He knew it, too, for it was him she was trying to imitate from a time when he was generous in giving and she was a silent recipient. How she took him for granted, until now.
As she continued her ministrations, he let out a long, shuddering sigh. She smiled against his skin, she was doing alright.
In an attempt to thread her hands through his thick hair, she lost her balance and sank down over his body. In that moment there were no thoughts, no focus, just unadulterated desire coursing through every cell in her body.
Before she could wrap her mind around these new feelings burning her up, his hands shot up to her shoulders, gripping her firmly. In a fraction of a second, he peeled her off himself and gently placed her on the foot of the bed.
Both of them were breathing heavily, hungrily.
Instantly, she missed his touch. The loss of his warm body brought her a kind of agony, she’d never known before.
The rejection felt like a backhanded slap. Her heart felt the sting in full measure and her mind started to question everything she’d believed in. Was it all in her mind? Did she read too much into those kisses they’d shared? Did she imagine that longing in his eyes? Did she mistook his kindness to be... love?
Sitting exactly where he so gently dumped her, she waited for the shame to overcome her, to feel the lick of temper, vengeance. But none came. She didn’t felt humiliated or berated. All she felt was a heart wrenching grief- too deep for tears.
Both of them sat in silence- thick with emotions and unspoken words because to speak would have been to relieve herself of pain and tears choking her throat. She wanted to hold onto that pain. Forever, if possible.
She heard him suck in a deep breath, exhale deeply and speak in a gentle tone.
“Get ready! Let’s sneak out of here”
Her head snapped up to lock her puzzled eyes with his twinkling ones. To her surprise, she didn't see sympathy or emptiness but a wildfire, consuming her doubts and emanating hope.
"We're going home." he declared literally vibrating with a happiness she always wanted to see in him.
She jumped into his arms and instantly relief flooded her heart. The slight tightening of his arms around her made the tension in her body evaporate like it wasn't even there in the first place.
"Sure, let's do that" she smiled through tears and hugged all the tighter.
Little did they knew that they were already home.
Happy Holi fellow Raghvians🤗
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
Geet - Hui Sabse Parayee
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