Dear Balhians, wrote this OS after a long gap. Hope that you will like this random single shot again. I look forward to your feedback...hope that you will enjoy the idea behind it. It's written from Ram's POV...do hit like and comment..your feedback means a lot ! Pardon the mistakes...its unedited version. If I sit down to edit it then it might take forever to reach you...so please excuse the mistakes!
Alright...Alright! Before you all jump to conclusions that my room has been broken into...let me make this clear that the arrival of this STRANGER was with my consent...I think.
Well, I got married after the intense emotional blackmailing session of my family,so even though I consented to marriage I am not sure that it all happened with my actual consent!
Nevertheless, now there is a stranger residing in my room. From the moment of her arrival I have had to make so many sacrifices...I gave her two shelves for her books, made space for her vanity and i emptied some space in my closet for her clothes and on top of that, the ever generous person that I am,I even gave her a drawer. Can you imagine the amount of adjustment I am having to go through? This has been my room... My personal haven for the past 15 years. I think that I even saw her eyeing my bed... Come on! That's the heights of greediness. Thank goodness she changed her mind and walked on over to the big chaise lounger. I am not as nave as you might have panned me from my frustrations.. We are married and I know that we have to share a bed eventually but that's eventually. I believe in true equality of the genders, sleeping together now would be treating each other like prostitutes... pardon my language... But that's how I feel. If down the line, at some point we have feelings for each other than it can be a real marriage but right now, I can sense that Priya ( yup that's my wife's name) is also relieved to see that I am not expecting anything from her in this marriage except for sharing mutual feelings towards this arrangement. Without actually stating anything it seems that she also in agreement with the expectations from this marriage of compromise! She will always be that stranger in my room!
Two weeks later
Why doesn't she get the idea that I have been and can continue to take care of myself. She doesn't have to make sure that I eat on time or take out my clothes for that matter ...women are such mothers!
Five weeks later
It's actually kind of nice to have someone waiting up for me when I get home late. She makes sure that I don't go to bed hungry. I have noticed that all my clothes seem color coordinated and matched so all I have to do is grab a set and I am ready ...I have always been an organized person but never did it occur to me that I can set up my wardrobe this way. But I tell you she is irritating as hell sometimes ...always taunting me to exercise and to eat healthy...for a hard working guy like me what's wrong with eating a few paranthas here and there...okay..okay, she might have seen me put a few dollops of butter on them..but yaar, that's the authentic way of eating paranthas otherwise there is no point in eating them...a must try I tell you! I have to tell dadi about this ...dadi is the only person, Priya seems to be scared of, probably out of respect but I am sure dadi too is gonna side with Priya...she seems to have cast some type of spell on her.
Three months later
My life is an organized mess these days...I mean while my stuff is surprisingly organized, Priya's stuff is everywhere. Yeah, she didn't bring a whole of stuff with her like she had threatened earlier but whatever she has, somehow ends up all over the room. I think that we have finally gotten into the rhythm of things...we leave together for work and come back together...her coaching center is on my way and besides that's the least I can do for all the things she does for me, most importantly she keeps my family happy. Dadi and Rishab seem to be huge fan of hers as they can't stop raving about her and don't move a finger without asking her. But why did things have to get messy like that...now it's kind of awkward between us and as usual it's all MY FAULT!
The other night I had gotten up in the middle of the night to get some water. As I sat up siping from the glass, my eyes fell on Priya as she slept on the couch. For the first time, my mind took in her feminine form, her curves, the soft features of her face, She has such beautiful and small hands...I chuckled imagining them in my large ones as we did do that during the wedding ceremonies..her hands had disappeared in mine. While I was reminiscing, she moved and in the process, her blanket came off and oh my! I could not take my eyes off those legs of hers. With her night dress riding up with her movement I had a pretty good view of those sexy legs. My mind at this point was going cuckoo, not being able to think straight I had to pretty much make myself go sleep on the terrace so nobody will notice that I wasn't in room all night. On top of that, that same morning, on way out from the bathroom I collided into Priya and we both feel onto the bed. My lips had accidentally brushed the skin of her nape and that unusual feeling of wanting more of her started coming back. As we laid there, with her pinned underneath me, her scent and softness had me completely beguiled. If it wasn't for her attempt to shift my weight on her, something would have surely happened...as I got up embarrassingly, we both acted quite flustered and made for a fast escape at the moment.
All day our interactions were quite awkward,while I checked her out at every chance I had, Priya seemed quite disgusted ( I hate to admit it). She seemed lost and tearful. Two days later, realization of my wrongful behavior dawned on me so I decided to apologize.
"Priya, Dekho I am sorry for the way I have been acting" I mustered the courage to speak up
Before I could utter any more words, Priya threw herself on my chest crying uncontrollably.
I held her like a true gentleman. I felt horrible that i was the cause of her misery "Priya, I really am sorry...I promise that it won't happen again" she shook her head on my chest and looked up through those tear brimming eyes " Mr. Kapoor, it's not you!"
Confused I asked her again animatedly then "what is it? Why are you so upset from the last few days?"
She hesitated then handed me her phone. There were several messages from some guy Ashwin and he was beyond disgusting. There were remarks about how Priya looked more beautiful and tempting after marriage and he was a fool to reject her... And the blatant proposal to see if they could still work out things between them. Reading all those messages, my head just spun. I felt very angry at this guy and also more disgusted with myself. Am I also like this guy? Definitely not!
I held her for a while then reassured her that this Ashwin will be taken care off. I am gonna be a good friend or a companion to her...yup that's what a gentlemen should do.. And that's who I am!
Four months later
Ever since I confronted that swine Ashwin and gave him a firm warning not to even dare think of Priya otherwise he will be responsible for the consequences ( I think he is well aware of my status and connections) Priya has been acting bizarre around me. She doesn't argue with me over petty things, I get to eat paranthas twice a week granted I exercise daily and she does seem to be daydreaming quite a bit as I often find her with a book open, staring in the distance just smiling away. I have even walked into the room to find her talking to herself in front of the mirror.I think that I need to call up a therapist or someone to have her checked.
Almost six months later
Finally, I get my room to myself for a few days. Priya's sister is doing an ad shoot locally and has requested Priya to be with her since it's her first shoot and she is nervous about it. Apparently, Priya has always been with her in her struggling days and knows how to keep her calm.
Three days later
Okay, I have been eating all kinds of junk pizza, chips, Candy...watched a whole lot of cricket and even tried catching up on all the pending work ...yeah, believe it or not that was my check off list... Things I would do if Priya wasn't around and to that I might have added calling Vikram to come over. But gosh darn it, nothing seems fun anymore... With every bite of pizza, I wanted that direct and indirect nagging of hers. Cricket would have been more fun if she had drooled over how good Dhoni was looking totally missing the point if he was playing well or not... And it's really a nice break to watch her musing over the book she reads while I work on my laptop... You have to see the faces she makes.. You can pretty much figure out what's happening in the story.
Knock Knock
"Arre aa Rahi hun Na... Ek minute toh do" Priya muttered
"Mr. Kapoor...aap" shocked and pleasantly surprised Priya uttered
"Aap yahan kaise?" Wiping her cheek with her soiled hand she looked at me with a questioning look
" kyun mein apne sasural nahi aa sakta?"
Moving aside to let me in, Priya giggled " Mera woh matlab nahi tha"
"I stepped out to have some pakoras...I even tried that corner shop that you had recommended but.. Never mind" trying to explain the reason for my visit. I was talking in half finished sentences and she kept nodding as if she understood what I was trying to actually say
" you are in luck... That's what I am making right now" she spoke enthusiastically
I moved with her to the kitchen, taking a few hot ones of the plate " ah! That's the taste I was looking for! "
Besides the delicious pakoras, I was missing our chit chat in the kitchen. Often as she cooked, she had me taste test everything while she talked away nineteenth to the dozen.
Walking around the house, I interrogated "where is everyone?"
"Maa aur papa market gaye hain aur Ayesha rehearsal par" Priya answered
I didn't realize that I was staring at her off and on
Priya was kind of getting flustered with that... She realized that there was something on her cheek that was catching my attention. So she tried to wipe it away and in the process smeared more of the batter on her cheek
Pulling her to me, I tucked away a wayward strand of her hair and wiped away the smudge of batter that was stuck to her cheek. Removing the sticky batter, I scolded Priya as I am very particular about messes but that's when I noticed that she stood still with her eyes closed, smiling away. In that moment something dawned on me. Priya's parents had come back and they welcomed and pampered me like always. Excusing myself early I left with a realization... Now I was a man on a mission!
Ten days later
Knock Knock
"Arre Ram beta tum?" My father in law chirped in an enthusiastic tone
Welcoming me he stated " Accha hua tum aa gaye, Priya subah se bags pack karke baithi hui hai..bol Rahi Hai ki tumhare Amritsar wali bua aane wali hain aj toh uska wapis Kapoor Mansion jana zaroori hai"
" kal hi toh Ayesha ka ad shoot khatam hua hai AUR hum kitna chahtein hain ki kuch din Priya humare Saath araam se guzaare par yeh toh aj packing karke baithi hai aur wapis jaane ki zid kar rahi hai" papa complained
I glanced over at Priya who was requesting me with gestures to stick to her story
" ji hain papa, bua ji toh ghar pahuch bhi gayi hain aur woh Priya ke liye hi puch rahi hain isi liye toh mein aaya hun" I lied through my teeth, hoping that he will believe me.
My father in law being an extremely smart man caught on to our lie while my over zealous mother in law questioned us about buaji and we both fumbled for right answers but went along with our story and let us off the hook. "Shipra, aisa karte hain ki hum dono kal parson tak buaji se milne chalengey Abhi tum in dono ko Jane do" papa convinced maa
In the car
Priya seemed upset and aloof and I didn't care to talk much either. I simply asked "are you mad at me?"
"No! Why would I be..." Priya retorted
" it's not like I was waiting to hear from you in these 10 days besides I was quite busy myself" she scoffed
I couldn't help but smile at her antics ... The feisty Priya I knew was back!
Kapoor Mansion
The relief that washed over Priya as soon as she stepped into KM was amazing. She was acting like how someone would feel coming back home after a long vacation away. After an overwhelming welcome from dadi,rishabh and Natasha, Priya headed towards to our room to freshen up. I followed her with her suitcase. As she walked in, she stood dumbfounded in the middle of the room. Her eyes roaming to each wall absorbing the details. I came behind her, putting my hands on her shoulders, turned her a bit towards me, " do you like this?" Her eyes were now brimming with tears
" yaar, itna bura bhi nahi hai ... If you don't like the dcor then you can get it changed" I teased her
Hitting my chest lightly with her fists, Priya stated, " it's beautiful!... Breathtaking!". "you know green is my favorite... Cutting her " yes, I know... That's why I went with sage green"
"And these pictures?" She questioned pointing to the portrait of us over the bed and the collages of the special moments like karwa chauth, from when we played kangana after our marriage, her first meal cooking,sunsets we had watched together, our evening walks,etc...Were beautifully captured on the walls
"Don't ask...I went through A lot of trouble putting these together but do you like them"
She nodded again without saying a word.
"But wait... This is not all" I pulled her with me to the closet.
She held her hand over her mouth, gasping in surprise. I had the closet system extended and now all her clothes were hanging neatly.
She walked around our room... All her belongings were neatly placed as I had made sure that they had a place. You see, I had finally realized that Priya was the one who had been compromising all this time. Granted she is messy but her things were all over since she didn't have a place to put them. That day, when I went to see her realization dawned on me that "I feel at peace with her around and that feeling of being home is only with her. Deliberately or undeliberately she had become an integral part of my life. I liked wearing her choice of colors and styles in clothes, absolutely loved her food preparations, loved her feisty comments, just her presence made me feel at home.
As Priya stood speechless, " do you like it?" unsure from her response I questioned her again
Priya turned around and held both my hands in hers and sincerely asked " Does this mean that I am no longer that stranger in your room?"
Stunned that she knew about how I felt towards her all this time but overwhelmed with our connection I assured her "No! You are my wife... My life! Meri zindagi ho tum!" I took her into a tight hug!
Edited by DiehardRaYafan -
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