FF: New York times Thread 5 Completed 10/03 - Page 12

Loved Maan and Naini's moment... yes, a great closure indeed.

Naini finally uncovered the secret to inner peace! I will truly miss their play "hide-and-seek", it was fun and very sensual!

My Fav! line...
"What were women, if not a living mummy of secrets and untold desires..."
It's so true that a woman's heart is a deep ocean of secrets and some secrets should remain locked up in deep places.

To Rishabh and Naini ~Vincit omnia amor; Omnium rerum principia parva sunt
Excellente... kudos to you for the perfect closure! :)

Simply loved how you seamlessly gave R & N their closure. Very well written. :)

Loved it! That was an awesome update! Beautifully written. That was so sweet. Dadi is my favorite. Hehe.

That was a beautiful update! The fun, the emotions...all of it was in perfect proportion. The last part, when Naini told about her pregnancy...it was a kodak moment. Loved the entire update to the bits. Do continue soon.

Part 107: Beginning of the end

She closed the door and slid down next to him on bed, resting her head over his extended arm. Closing down the distance, she molded herself to his side. With the exhaustion of the day driving into their bodies as splintering nails, they were ready to drift into sleep in no time.

There had never been a greater day of significance in their lives as a family and the celebrations didn't stop until late in the night. First the woman had engaged into the age old tradition of a prodding session to extract as much details from the couple as possible. It hadn't taken long for Geet to make believe Naini that it was entirely harmless chitter chatter and she'd indulged her bhabhi likewise.

Although Geet had been nearly done taunting Naini and Rishabh for being sneaky as they were, she couldn't help putting two and two together as she'd digested the information Naini had given her. In an utterly nave moment, entirely motivated by impulse, she'd loudly exclaimed her surprise at Naini having conceived while the husband and wife had still been at odds at each other. The revelation had been the end of Naini and she'd buried her face deep into Rishabh's shirt and cried "This is exactly why I didn't want them to know". Maan had excused himself to go find Yash in the living room when the rest of the women folks had had a ball tormenting the already mortified couple. Naini had become a poster girl for flushed women for the day, beating his own wife at it, with Rishabh not being left far behind and had turned into the archetype for embarrassed men in all of New York.

"Tomorrow is another day on the other side of the coast" She said, sighing openly, waiting for him to say something about the travel madness they have been going through the last few months. His grip on her arm tightened in response wordlessly and that was all. He had no idea how badly she wanted to hear him say that he wanted to tether her to him. Although she never heard them, she knew that is what his action had meant. In efforts to create the same uninhibiting moment of tenderness, of complete surrender with her she was strangely determined to keep talking.

"Do you miss me at all, when I'm gone?"

He instantly turned to look at her and said "What do you mean? Of course I do"

"How much?"

"More than how badly you want to hear me describe those feelings" He said thwarting her efforts to have him express anything remotely mushy. It wasn't much, but it made her feel better that her husband at least knew what she wanted from him that moment, when most men wouldn't have a clue.

"Daadima said you took over all her responsibilities from the India office. Why?" She asked and he smiled like that qualified for the top silly question of the month.

"She shouldn't be doing all that she is doing at her age, Geet. Are you ok?" His forehead scrunched up as he continued to peer into her "I thought you are tired and wanted to go to sleep. So I don't know where you are going with the questions" Running his hand up to her temple and smoothing her hair down, he added "Sleep now. We have to get up again in a few hours"

She refused to steer away from the topic "I would like to think that you have too much time on your hands..." Raising herself on her elbows, she gave him a coy, knowing smile, "You did it to keep yourself busy from missing me"

"Seems like we are at our very best romantic but goofy self tonight?" She made a face and faintly felt it even hurt a little. Whatever little hope she had, to have him speaking his intimate thoughts of her, left her and she settled right back on the pillow.

"Humh! Hot chocolate" She sighed wistfully "I have never seen a couple more in love" Her voice came out low in a way every teenager had while reading a "And they lived happy ever after..." kind of love story. He didn't need an explanation, who she was talking about, rather being compared to.

"Hey! I'm still here you know" He said, turning in profile as he drew his arm out from underneath her neck, to face her. But she had no intentions of gazing longingly at him, while he ducked her every attempt to make him less blunt or have him believe in a realm of words that didn't go with reality. She shifted around and looked away.

"Geet..." He whispered, and inched in nestling his chin in the crook of her neck. His hand traced the path of her arm and hugged her tight.

"You seem to be taking inventory of all the changes...but you didn't want to ask why I shifted to the gym across the street" He said, his tone had a trace of a hint wanting her to pick up.

"I know that the gym was closed for renovations" She answered without a care.

"Yes, but gym has been re-opened and I haven't moved back" He nudged himself and tipped his head to lean in and kiss her cheek. She still didn't seem to catch on and he was already far from his comfort zone when it came to expressing even with his own wife.

She found him draw himself back and she strained to her him get something from his bedside drawer. He was back in no time to his previous position of nestling his body against her and handed her an envelope.

"Because I want to move to our gym when you will also start going with me" As ridiculous as his claim was, his voice reflected a silver of the same aching she'd had before. It was the most anxiousness she'd managed to get out of him in a long time. She smiled despite how heavy the light envelope felt in her fingers.

Something of a grim foreboding hit her before she pulled the papers out. It was her green card papers that neither of them had discussed ever since her move to the city. Now that it was finally here, it meant she could come back home and needn't bother about a job to hold a valid resident status in the US. Her eyes stung with tears of relief for finally being able drive him crazy in person, than having to do it over phone all the time. It meant breakfast and dinner together and if time permits even a cup of chai in the evenings. No more of those lonely dinners on a table where three other chairs were always empty. Most of all she hoped she wouldn't so much need his verbal reassurance for all that he felt for her. And all those meaningless yet inexcusable fights, as if it was a cursed haunted spirit, can go torment another couple for all it wants.

But the papers also implied she would have to quit her job she'd only started 5 months ago and had just started to get comfortable. She'd only recently begun to realize her worth of sense of self through her work. Her job had given her an identity outside being a failed daughter, wronged wife and becoming part of a family that came with a responsibility as sizable as its pedigree.

It seemed unfair to be stuck with a dilemma when by all means when she shouldn't be having one. Why did life always want her to give up something in order to get something in return? Nevertheless her case wasn't hopeless yet and she was certain she could get the same identity at NY too. But first, she wanted to finish up what she'd started with her current job and all she'd to do was buy some time until she could accomplish that. If only that damned-yet-ego-ballooning opportunity to be able to represent her company at the national data conference wasn't an intimidating three and half weeks away.

"All you have to do is say the words and I will cancel the return tickets right this minute" His choice of words were perfect to tell her what she'd wanted to hear and she couldn't bear it coming at a time like that. The brimming tears poured down her cheeks. She realized he knew California law didn't need prior notice from employees when quitting. It stung a tad bit that he didn't care about the career she was trying to build even if it was at a job she'd forced herself to take.

"When were you planning to show me the papers?" The words escaped her lips to her own surprise and he was slightly disconcerted at that too. She braced herself and wiped her tears before he could.

He was taken back at the lack of her typical fast paced fumble of words she normally did when she was overjoyed "Why aren't you happy?"

"I thought we could discuss about me putting the papers after my data conf..."

He didn't know what came over him that instant, but he lashed out of the bed. She wanted to discuss quitting? The idea roused a mutiny inside him. Why had he imagined the answer was only obvious? And as much of a hard head he was, his expectation in the matter had been that much irrational. He feared she'd turned into a career obsessive woman ever since the Dev incident, trying to prove to the world she was worth her salt. However, it was her own scruples she was nursing and that much he was sure.

She'd least expected him to blow up on her. "I knew this was going to happen" he said. He felt out of control in his body, unable to do something about the constant self-doubt she lived with.

"There is no need for any discussion Geet. You can damn well do the same job here and I want the fights and arguments to end right now" At the time when his anger got his better senses, he felt the urge to take things into his hands, something he should have done a long time ago.

She sat up thinking he was weighing his peace of mind over everything else. Indeed they had fought over every insignificant thing under the sky, but that was no reason he couldn't give her any due respect to let her make a decision about her own career. And it was only a matter of a few weeks at the very least.

"I want you home...done and packed up before Meera's wedding" He declared an ultimatum, gritting his teeth.

"No!" she revolted quickly, missing his clenched jaw. Every negation from her reinforced his hold on his decision he'd just taken and her efforts to justify keeping the job induced an illogical adamancy in him. Some part of him didn't even want her to get on the flight the next morning.

Drawing in a deep breath, she tried to keep her calm, wishing he would listen to her explanation. "But Maan...my data confe..."

He cut her off. "You can decide if that data conference is worth us spending hours over the phone"

"Maan just let me..." Once again, his impatience won out.

"We are done talking for tonight Geet" He threw his shirt on and walked out. It was just like him to leave in the middle of an argument that wouldn't go his way, although the abrupt baseless anger left her baffled.

Somehow it felt like the last straw and she didn't run behind him. She'd started the conversation for the night with the words that had first brought them together in the beginning and now no ounce of the hot chocolate feeling remained that moment. It was told that weathering the first year of the marriage assured success to many couples and at the current rate she was unable to help herself from already imagining the worst for them. Oddly their argument didn't seem like the end of the sore long distance relationship they had endured this long. Instead it appeared to her as the beginning of the end...

THANK you folks for all your lovely comments (I doubt I'm going to get such lovely ones with the hardcore drama that is left in the last 6 updates 😉) Sob...Sob...