***EDITED
What a story Aani!!!
Just when I thought this was going to be a wistful one, you turned it around and descriptively told us how Raman and Ishita would have reacted immediately in the moment after their 'intimate' moment ended...
The slip n fall was a bonus 😃
I found the last part of the story very interesting. I completed my edit on Nikki's post some time ago, and here's what I said in conclusion. (I won't put in my entire reply)... I loved the fact that your story was also leading there...
"How wonderful it would be to be Raman right now. He's living with a woman for few months now. He sees her as an ideal woman, some one with a golden heart and a strong moral compass. She is his perfect companion, life partner or Humsafar as they say. Now suddenly, BAM... attraction hits him in the face...
He is now going to go through a phase of:
- reconciling his own feelings
- analysing her looks and looking for answers in her face
- trying to maintain the facade of normalcy that they have established after a long time
- forming an approach to how he would want to take these feelings forward
- trying to maintain the delicateness and sensitivity of their relationship.
He has to do all this WHILE he is sleeping in the same room as her. There is no escape for him from her, and hence his feelings too.
The reason I said it would be wonderful to be Raman right now is because, he gets to fall in love with the woman he already loves but doesn't know it yet. He gets to woo a woman, who is already his. He gets to find ways to try and wriggle out of the awkward situation he is in, when he himself doesnt want to get out of it... This phase may be the most challenging phase in his life. Only, the challenges are going to be sweet, so he cannot even complain about them! "
"The opposite of Loneliness is not Togetherness , It's Intimacy" - Richard Bach
7