"Last night." She replied sleepily.
"How?"
"I sneaked out when every one had slept." And she moved to switch off the alarm and tried to move from his embrace.
"Stay here for a while." He said and stopped her.
When she woke up next was an hour later! And darted out of room to get ruhi ready. Thanks to her dear husband, her daughter was already late and when she asked him to drop her to school, he diverted his attention in tying his tie as if there was nothing wrong in being late and focused on task at hand instead. When she tapped him to get some response he asked "what do I get in return?"
"Huh?" She sounded exasperated now. "Raman, she is getting late!"
"Its not my problem if her mother is a lazy bum and she prefers her beauty sleep over her daughter's school!" He smirked.
"I have to get ready also and I seriously can't make it in time if I have to drop her."
He turned around then and replied sumugly "shut up and put those lips to a better use woman!" And sealed her lips to his and he was off in the next minute with his daughter in tow.
She was still reeling from the aftereffects of that kiss when her mother in law came in to ask for the mehndi preparations for the day, she had no other option but to give her input.
By the time she got done with supervising the decoration and food, she was running late. She had chosen a Punjabi avatar for today to please her husband. Ruhi was just as much delighted to see the bright colorful outfit which was same as that of her mother's. She had tied her hair in side fishtail and she was giving herself a last inspection when her phone rang and it was the one and only, ms. Iyer!
"Yes.'
"Okay."
"Hmm.."
"Sounds good."
"Right. Listen I..." Her husband chose that moment to arrive.
"Don't you have yo get ready mihika?"
"Yes, I'm ready." She was still in phone when he grabbed his casuals and left for shower.
His beautiful wife who had been running on his mind the entire time at work was still busy talking to her sister when he came back from the bathroom. Her was irked to see her ignorant behavior towards him so before he could stop himself, he grabbed the phone from her, cut the call and threw it on bed.
She looked at him first and then at the phone and then back at him. "Raman!"
"What?"
"I was going to hang up.."
"I saw that!"
"She is the bride and she was was having cold feet."
"And in the porocess of pacifying her, you forgot you have a husband too?"
Before she could explain any further, her daughter came in announcing the mehndi-aunty has arrived and asked if she could be the first one to apply it. She had to leave then, without clearing the air.
He was still in the bedroom, trying hard to complete the presentation but he kept getting riled up more and more with the passage of time. He found several reasons, for starters the music was way too loud although being a Punjabi it had become second nature to be loud but today it bothered him, next every one kept rushing in and out of his room and his siblings kept asking him to join them.
May be he over reacted, he thought, and it probably wasn't her fault but she should have at least acknowledged his presence when he came back. Crap! He can't even go after her now with a house full of people. He should have known better than to allow her to get under his skin and have this effect on him but who was he fooling? As if he had a say in falling for her, it had happened before he could stop himself short.
The one person who was solely responsible for his current state came in the room. At last. She came in with a cup of tea and snacks for him. Amidst all the hustle bustle at home and the drift between them she never failed to fulfill her duties as a wife, a mother and a daughter in law. She kept the tray at the coffee table and went to get some thing from the cupboard. Call him a lovesick but he couldn't let these moments pass by in vain so he got up from the couch and went after her. Apologizing directly does not suit well with his image so he took another approach, the one he was used to and so was she, " you are mad, you know!"
She took out the bed spread to use in the living room and almost collided with him "is there anything else you'd like to call me?"
"Yes." She was infuriated by now because he still hadn't acknowledged her efforts of dressing up for him. He continued "you are mad but you are magic!"
It wasn't an apology but it was more than that. She didn't have it in her to stay cross with him for long so she gave in "I'm sorry." And she lowered her gaze.
"Show me how sorry you are." He demanded.
When she looked up to see what he meant, he merely raised an eyebrow indicating well his intentions.
She dropped the bedspread then and snaked her hands around his neck, stood on her toes and began to kiss him with all the ardour she felt for him.
When Ruhi opened her parents room, looking for her morther, she found her father behind the cubboard door. " papa? have you seen mama? She has to apply mehndi you know."
It was then he acknowledged they had an audience now but thankfully she hadn't witnessed the entire act due to the barrier of the cupboard and he reluctantly moved away from his wife. "Yes, she is taking out the blanket."
"I'll be out in a minute Ruhi." She informed her daughter, hoping she will wait for her outside.
But the little angel had other plans, she came in jumping and showed her henna hands to her father. "How does it look papa?"
"Its beautiful, just like you." And kissed her cheeks.
By then she had her racing heart in check and the bed spread in her hands, she made her way out while the father and daughter continued their chit chat.
Chasing after gold mines
Crossing the fine lines, we knew
Hold on and take a breath
I'll be here every step
-Between the rain drops
-Life house ft. Natasha Bedingfield
Shiv Shakti
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