The Pendant
I glanced up the stairs in the direction of her room. She had gone up to change, at the request of Badi Ma. It felt surreal that she was here. I really had thought that I had lost her.
My fingers tightened over the pendant in my pocket. The round edges dug into my skin bringing me to reality.
Mishti was here. I found her. In fact, she hadn’t even gotten on that damn plane. Closing my fingers around the pendent again, I glanced around me. Satisfied that everyone was busy with the pheras, I took the stairs two by two.
The door was wide open, I noted as I approached her room; my footsteps slowed and I walked there cautiously. My heart was a little erratic and it had nothing to do with the fact that I had sprinted up those stairs.
Somewhere inside me, I wondered if I would find her there. Would she still be here? Is she still within my reach?
At the doorjamb now, I ground to a halt.
There she was. She was facing the mirror. Her long dark hair was pushed to the left side of her neck, exposing her back.
A grey lehenga, simple compared to what the other women were wearing downstairs, but she took my break away. I swallowed at the sight she made. She was sexy - I know she would guffaw at me if I said those words to her face and she would tell me that I was mad. I wished she could see herself the way I saw her.
I cleared my throat to alert her of my presence. Her hands paused as they tried to tie a necklace around her neck. Her eyes raised up as she looked at me in the mirror.
“Abir,” she exclaimed. I took that as an invitation and crossed the room until I was standing directly behind her. She was tiny. Tiny enough that I could grab her and hide her in my embrace. Like I had at the airport. Like I wanted to do always.
I wanted to protect her. From everyone and everything. Including herself.
She shook the ends of the necklace impatiently. As I looked at her in the mirror, I shook my head. No.
I could see the indignation starting to form on her features. My angry chorni.
I pulled the pendent I had selected from my pocket and let it dangle next to her face. Her eyes widened in surprise.
A soft pink crept up her cheeks as she looked at me again. Who knew angry chorni could blush like this?
I smirked at her in the mirror as she lowered her arms; the previous necklace forgotten. I took her silence as acquiescence.
I let my fingers deliberately touch the side of her exposed neck. I watched goosebumps erupt on her flesh and I willed myself not to groan.
Her breathing was almost non-existent. Her eyes lowered in shyness before they looked up at me again. Our eyes never wandered from each other’s.
Finally, setting the delicate necklace to rest on her nape, I lowered my head next to hers and turned my mouth to her ear, “ Your 2 days are almost over, angry chorni,” I whispered. From downstairs, the pandit-ji's voice echoed through the Maheswari’s house. “Vivaah sampan hua.”
Her eyes were wide as she gasped.
“Your move,” I said as I stepped away from her. She turned around to look at me. I smirked before I left her standing there.
There!
She would have another piece of me with her and I knew that despite the chaos of the wedding and the insanity that was my mother, she would never doubt where I stood.
I smiled in triumph as I went downstairs.
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I wrote this last night when I saw the picture of Rhea wearing Abir's pendant. I love the little hints that we've received so far about Abir and Mishti belonging to each other ( e.g. Haldi, Tilak and even Mehendi...) so I thought the next one was the actual wedding.
Hope you liked it. Reviews are welcome and appreciated.
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