Arhi FF: Sunshine and Moonlight - Part 52 - Page 33

Part 40

He walked up the stairs to his room, even if he totally wanted to keep the happiness away from his heart because these were dire circumstances, he couldn't ... he just couldn't. Excitement for a new step in life, excitement about calling someone his own, excitement for...something... he just couldn't pinpoint it... But his heart was bursting with excitement. Though he didn't say much in words, he knew is body language echoed the same feeling probably why his family believed what he told them. He never knew this side of himself... it was a surprise... even to him.

He knocked softly on his bedroom door before opening it, he heard his sister talking and when he went in she got up from the bed she was sitting on and walked towards him. Payal was behind her and when he made way for them to leave the room. They stood there staring at him and he frowned at them involuntarily.

So his sister stated that "You think we will leave now without getting you to spit up as much money as you can?"...was she serious, he looked at Payal who looked right back at him and nodded.. ooh she was serious.

He pulled out his wallet and took out 15 - thousand rupee notes that were there and handed them to his sister and said "Happy Di?"

She looked at the money and sort of nodded like "may be" and said "We have more demands."

His one eyebrow raised in question and she continued "we want you to take us shopping this weekend to the new mall and buy anything we like..." "Di just use the cards that I gave you.." he replied in a "whatever" tone.

"Chote!!" she sounded angry and his patience was running low so he gave in and said "Ok Di whatever you want, make a list, we will discuss them tomorrow morning." And his sister and Payal looked at each other surprised at his reply and started giggling.

"Now.." he said in a low growl... "..out!!" His Di raised her eyebrows at his audacity and he mumbled a barely audible "..Please!!" and the two of them started giggling like school kids and walked out of the room. He followed right behind them and as soon as they and their heavy sarees were neatly out of his doorstep he banged the door closed and locked it. Immediately he heard more giggling in the hall.

He rolled his eyes at their childishness,turned around closed his eyes and leaned back on the door and let his head rest on it. He had steady fast ignored everything else in the room except his sister and Payals faces. He took a deep breath and opened his eyes to capture the picture in his memory for a lifetime.

Some old melodious Bollywood song was playing in the room he realized. Now as he noticed the room... his room that was usually bland-colorless was full of color... roses and rose petals everywhere... in vases around the room, on the walls, on the floor leading to the bed and on the strings leading from the ceiling to the bed forming a curtain around his huge king sized bed and there were more rose petals on the bed... his eyes stopped there and just there where the heart shaped rose petals stopped and her gorgeous bridal lehenga started.

The lehenga was neatly arranged in a semicircle around her. She was sitting with her knees up and her hands on her knees. She had fisted her lehenga into handfuls at her knees... this had lifted her lehenga up a tiny bit making her dainty toes visible to him. The beautiful toes were covered in intricate mehendi patterns and they were laid gently against the beige satin sheets on his bed. He lifted his eyes to see her face covered in a veil. He took a moment to make a memory of this beautiful picture in the depths of his brain never to be forgotten.

He remembered how breath taking she had looked when she had walked towards him this morning. He then remembered how the whole world had erased for him except her and her walking towards him this morning. He also remembered the questions in her eyes, the worry and stress that had become her companions since that fateful day. May be no one else could see it but he could. No makeup could hide the dark circles under her eyes from him. He moved then, involuntarily towards her, he needed to know she was alright, because the look in her eyes had bothered him the whole day.

When he reached her he sat on the bed where her knees were, lifted his hands and placed them on hers, which were bunching the lehenga so tight they were almost stark white. He gently eased her fingers and she trusted him enough to let go of her hold. She trusted him... his chest puffed up with pride like he had never known before. Once her hands were no longer fisted he left them laying on her knees and moved his hands towards the edge of the bridal veil that was covering her face. He slowly lifted it off her face, noticing each part as it became visible to him... cherishing it memorizing it...

First her cute little chin, then her beautiful lips,

then the tip of her delicate nose which was a little red at the tip and that amused him to no end,

he noticed her healthy fair cheeks with a slight blush on them they looked like he could bruise them even if he just laid his fingers on them,

then her beautiful doe shaped eyes outlined with kohl which were lowered,

he noticed her beautiful long eye lashes,

her arch shaped eyebrows,

her forehead with flawless skin

and then finally her hair line which had a slightly displaced maang tika giving him a view of the sindoor he had filled in her parting this morning...

making her his... yes!! She was his... his to be cherished, his to be adored, his to be pampered, his to be protected, his... so that he could do whatever SHE wanted... HIS WIFE...

He didn't know he had said her name out loud until he heard it himself "Khushi..."

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She lifted her eyes, her heart was hammering at an impossible rhythm and she was holding her breath for god knows how long. She didn't want him to look into her eyes, because when he did, she felt he could read her soul. But she couldn't resist looking up at him not after he called her like that...

She met his eyes and she read his expressions go from something she could not decipher to deep worry, which he masked very quickly and the iron mask was back on. She knew her eyes were filled with tears, questions and worries about their families future... she also knew he understood all of them. His hands lifted and held her face in his palms and his thumbs slowly wiped the tears from her eyes, which had finally left her eyes comforted by his presence.

She felt peace at that moment she let out the breath she had been holding and she knew with this man by her side she would be able to handle anything, any vile thing that comes her way. She felt him caress her cheeks to wipe off all traces of tears from them and then she felt him sigh very inaudibly and she looked up to see if the stress was taking its toll on him too. She just could not picture him sighing, he looked into her eyes smiled very very slightly and said almost as a whisper

"Nothing can reach you now... I will figure this out, one step at a time..." and then when she registered his words he took his hands off her face and stood up and walked away towards the poolside doors and before he left the room he said "Your luggage is in the walk in closet." he pointed to another door in the room "freshen up and take rest.." and just like that he was gone.

She immediately felt cold, she had felt warm and secure with him around, she wanted it back. "Khushi don't become too clingy...life as it is, is complicated enough for him..." she reminded herself and got off the bed and adjusted her heavy lehenga and walked towards the closet.

She opened the door and saw it was no closet, it was a whole new room by itself, it was definitely bigger than any room she had shared with her jiji when growing up, she saw lines of coats, shoes, wallets... she also caught a glimpse of color and realized her packing had been undone too. It looked like she had been staying here forever. She moved towards her things and saw there was even a locker with the keys probably for her jewelry, if it was the previous Khushi she would have been awed and would explored the room like it was a mystery to be solved. But Khushi right now had no heart for such fun things.

She slowly removed all her jewelry one by one with the help of the ceiling to floor mirrors in the room and put them in the locker, she stopped at her mangal sutra and pondered on how fast her life had changed in the past 2 weeks. How much had happened... she shuddered to think what would have happened if not for this man who she gets to call as her husband...

She wouldn't have known what to do, but he had become her strength in her time of helplessness, he stepped up to fix her life putting his happiness on line, she knew he was not the type to commit to a woman, but he had figured out that this was the best way to help her and he didn't back out once he knew his happiness was on line. He had stood by her every step of the way not flinching way, just like with the rest of his family, he had considered her his responsibility.

Yes, she knew he thought he was at fault for bringing that vile man into her life, she respected him for that,

she knew his thoughts were always on what to do to get the man away from their lives, she understood the amount of stress that put him in,

she knew that his confidence crumbled every time he saw his sister happy but he would gather himself up without anyone's help, she admired him tremendously for that

she knew that there was an emotional storm raging inside that smooth sleek exterior he showed in front of everyone, she venerated him for that...

on top of all of these she had added herself to his list of burdens... She realized that tears were streaming down her eyes. She took off all the unnecessary bridal items from her body except her lehenga, choli and dupatta and she realized that she had left her nath on the bedside stand, she had taken if off just before he had come into the room.

She stepped back into the room to get it and put it in the locker with the rest of the jewelry. Cool breeze touched her body and she turned and saw the poolside door open and her husband standing there with his hands in his sherwani pockets, looking up at the sky in deep thought...looking like a prince from some fairy tale..

She could feel his emotions in a turmoil... a storm was raging inside that calm body...

A slight smile formed on her lips involuntarily, he was so much like his name suggested, a deep ocean, a whirlpool brewing at the ocean bed but the surface was as calm as it can be... her deep ocean... her Arnavji...