The Morning After Ever After
"Hmm?" he said, blinking as his eyes got adjusted to the blinding sunlight streaming into his bedroom. He stifled a yawn as he turned around to face Khushi, who was apparently very interested in the texture of their bedsheets.
"Arnavji, uthiye. Warna koi aa jaayega," she said nervously, picking at a crease in the soft white satin.
"Who's gonna come?" he muttered, turning around to lie on his back.
"I don't know," she mumbled. "Hari Prakashji. Or Anjali Di. Or maybe Laxmi." She tried her best to stifle the giggles that involuntarily rose up inside her.
"Whatever," he said, snuggling into his blanket and staring at her dazedly. With his tousled hair and sleepy amber eyes, he didn't look a day younger than five.
"No you don't understand. You must get up," she pleaded. He only closed his eyes in childish defiance and buried his head in his pillow.
"Arnav," she breathed, moving herself over him. His breath momentarily stopped and his hands stretched out of their own volition to grab her waist and pull her into his embrace. As she was slowly cocooned in the warmth of his chest, she felt a delicious soreneness rise up between her legs.
"Arnav," she said, this time more maternal than seductive. "You don't understand."
"What?" he asked. "I am capable of understanding everything okay, Ms. Khushi Kumari Gupta. Don't play stupid with me. I know you all you want to do is kiss me right now."
He's dreaming, she thought sadly, as she ran a hand over his forehead. He's dreaming that I'm the old Khushi, the one he'd begun to stop hating. Almost.
"Hmm," he moaned, grabbing hold of her wrist. She tried not to sigh, especially when the gesture reminded her of the way he'd grabbed her wrist exactly the same way the night before. That same amount of longing seemed to be radiating from him. "Or is it Raizada? You're not a Gupta anymore."
"Chotey!" Anjali called from outside, tapping on the door. "It's time for you to go to office, come down. And where's Khushiji? She didn't come for the morning puja. Please tell her it's a parampara in Raizada household ."
"Actually, I'm not too well Anjaliji," Khushi called out, quick not to let her sister-in-law come and investigate. "And Arna-he's taking a shower right now, he'll come downstairs any moment."
"Okay," Anjali said, and Khushi waited for the sound of her footsteps to fade. Then quickly, she grabbed hold of Arnav's arm and tugged frantically at it.
"What the-" he exclaimed, getting up immediately. "Khushi?" he asked, startled by her sight. Her hair had been let loose down to her waist, her jewellery and makeup was missing, and more importantly, she was naked. She quickly wrapped her hair around herself as she saw his eyes travel down her neck, and he was reminded of Ariel in The Little Mermaid.
"Let it be," he said softly, tossing her hair behind her shoulders. She shivered as his fingers pressed on the very spot of her heart which she used to clutch at whenever she saw him before they'd been married. "You look beautiful." Indeed, even with a disheveled appearance, he couldn't help but inch closer to run his hands over her cheeks. Khushi once again felt a sudden very non-chaste desire flare up around her thighs, and she backed away.
"Is that you who's saying this?" she asked enquiringly, raising her eyebrows. "You, who couldn't stand my sight six months back? Is the sight of a woman without her clothes enough to make you forget all your hatred for her?"
"You're my wife Khushi," he said angrily, pulling her close. "You're not just any random woman. I have every right to look at you, to make love to you. That's exactly what I told you last night: That you can't expect me to lie next to you at night and not touch you. As a matter of fact, I'm the only man in the world who is allowed to touch you."
This time the fire was in her chest, and when he pressed himself to her, she forgot all the curses and lectured she had been prepared to hurl at him and allowed herself to be taken, her nightmare turning into a fantasy. As she arched herself back, all thoughts of going down and putting on her miserable farce in front of her in-laws, all thoughts of the saccharine apologies she had got from her own family members, went sinking down, and every emotion inside her was concentrated only in the places where Arnav Singh Raizada's hands happened to be caressing inside her.
She tried not to cry, thinking of all the accusations he had thrown at her, all the ugly stories he had concocted up about her and Shyam in his mind, and yet like a spineless woman, she was allowing herself to lie on the same bed that he slept in and let him do whatever he pleased. Once again, she was just an object of desire to hurt and manipulate when a man pleased, the way it had been with that nefarious Jijaji of her husband.
Suddenly, she realized that she wasn't trapped in his embrace any more. He was staring at the ceiling, a look of utter desperation his eyes. She got up, clutching the blanket to herself.
"What happened?"
"I want to hold my wife, not a doll. If you're going to cry when I sleep with you, I might as well as go and lie on the floor."
"But I'm not crying," she said indignantly.
"Tell that to Naniji or your sister. They might believe you. But I'm your husband Khushi. You can't get away with lying to me."
He turned around to look into her eyes, and his stare was so intense, she forgot all his other frightening eyelocks in the past. "I've raised a finger upon your chastity Khushi. I don't think any woman can live with that. I don't even expect you to. I even know that my sister's giving you grief about all the allegations you made on her husband."
He paused, and then tilted her chin up with his finger. "Tell me Khushi. Do you want to live with me with all your hatred caged up inside your heart? Or do you want to go away somewhere where you can find someone else's love?"
She stared down at her feet, at the blood red mehendi on them. She had agreed to give the Raizadas a second chance, even accepted her family's apologies without any fuss. She and Arnav had had a proper marriage, and yet it seemed even more of a compromise than what they'd had six months ago.
She gently moved his finger away, but her chin remained the way it was, as fierce determination shined in her eyes. "Hatred can go away whenever it wants, Arnavji. But true love doesn't come back again."
Kumkum Bhagya
Pyaar Kii Ye Ek Kahaani
Kabhi Neem Neem Kabhi Shahad Shahad
