The soft knocking sound somewhere jolted him right out of bed, and he strained his ears, trying to figure out what it was. But, on not hearing anything, he fell back down, burying himself under the covers some more as he tried to fall back asleep.
Rap. Rap. The knocking sound once again. He turned his head in the direction of the window, only to see a hand knocking away. Someone was at the window! A burglar?! What in the name of heaven was going on?
Cautiously, he grabbed hold of the big fat dictionary lying on his side table, and made his way over to the window, intent on finding out who this intruder was. It was dark, and he could barely see anything, but he definitely could hear the creaking sound of the window as the person tried to get inside.
And so, he decided to be smart, positioning himself behind the curtains, ready to knock the person unconscious with a good hit on the head, and bash them repeatedly.
The person slowly put their foot on the ground, trying to be as quiet as possible as they made their way inside.
He then heard a voice call out softly. "Raman?"
And that caused him to swivel around immediately, ready to grab the person as he recognized their voice. But, unfortunately, he dropped the dictionary, the big, fat, dictionary right on the person's foot.
"Ayyo Murugan! Raman, is this how you greet me?" the person screeched, as they fell onto the ground with a thud.
Raman rolled his eyes, bending down to sweep the person into his arms. "Ishita, visitors who make their way inside through a window are usually called intruders," he said sternly. "What in the name of heaven are you doing in my room at.." he glanced at the clock, "at 12:00 at night?"
And she wrapped her arms around him in response, hugging him tightly as she burrowed her head in his chest. Only after Raman had carried her over to the bed and dropped her did she slowly look up to see the stern look still in his eyes, the one that said What are you doing here? Are you crazy? He merely lifted an eyebrow this time, demanding an explanation.
"Ramannn. I missed you" she moaned, grabbing hold of his hand tightly so as to prevent him from getting up.
"Ishuu" he began in an exasperated voice, but before he could continue, she cut him off. "Raman. Seriously. It's been 3 weeks since I've seen you, you and your stupid business trips, and you come home and go to sleep. Ravan Kumar. I don't even know why I agreed to marry you because clearly you don't even care about me."
"Oye pagal Madrasan. Don't you start your lectures or jump to your mindless conclusions. It's your fault for not being at home when I came over to visit you" his temper shot up. He absolutely refused to get yelled at for something that wasn't even his fault.
"Tho? I had to go shopping...for our wedding by the way. Mummyji says we need this and Amma says we need that. Do you know how absolutely crazy it has been with just me having to deal with these two? Plus, I told you on the phone that I would be home soon, so you could have stayed up na?" she retorted back, a smallpout forming on her face.
"I was tired Ishita. We live across from each other and I would have knocked on your door at 5 AM tomorrow. I'm sure your mother would have been up doing some pooja or the other" he smirked.
"Now Raman, don't you dare say anything about my mother..." she began, pointing out a finger at him as she seemed ready to start one of her never ending lectures.
"Meri maa. Please don't. I can't handle a Jhansi ki rani lecture right now. Time enough for that after we're married, " he folded his hands in front of her, bending his head, and was relieved to hear a giggle erupt from his fianc. He looked up to see her face lit up in a huge smile, and a smile couldn't help but form on his face as well. Ishita watched as he settled himself on the bed, leaning back to rest against the headboard, and she sat by his side, cuddling into him as his hand came around over he shoulder.
He pressed a kiss into her hair, as she settled her head against his chest. "I guess I should have paid more attention to your threads during the phonecall, huh?" he asked her smiling. "But then again, I never knew that my goody-goody fianc would be willing to sneak out of her house in the middle of the night, and climb pipes and all to see me" he chuckled.
"Raman.." she whined softly, hitting him on the chest, embarrassed at his teasing. She recollected the words she had spoken to him earlier in the evening when he had called her as she was out shopping.
"Ishita. I'm exhausted. If you're not going to be home in the next twenty minutes, I'm probably going to be asleep by then. We can see each other tomorrow," he had told her.
"Fine Raman. If you don't want to wait to see me, I'll do what I have to do," she had responded angrily into the phone before hanging up on him.
"Hey...Ishu. I just didn't think you would do anything. Isn't it usually the man's job to do all the desperate pining away and sneaking into the house? I'm just shocked...that's all" he said cheekily, jolting her back to the present, as he refused to let of the opportunity to tease his Jhansi ki rani.
"Hmph" she scoffed, "I wasn't going to go this far, you know. I called you and texted you after I got home but your phone went directly to voicemail and well, I had no other option. As they say, desperate times call for desperate measures," she smirked as she lifted her head to brush her lips softly against his.
Raman tightened his grip around her, "God, how I love you for doing this" he murmured against her lips. "We shouldn't let all of your efforts go to waste, kyun mere Jhansi ki rani?" he asked quietly, now dropping feathery-light kisses in the hollow of her neck, leaving no question in her mind as to his intentions. Ishita completely lost control of her senses then. Anything more than a mere peck on the cheek made her turn into jello, the knee wobbling, butterflies in the stomach kind. Her checks turned a tomato red as she thought of how he could still make her feel like she had fallen in love two days ago, and not actually over a year ago.
She pulled away from him reluctantly though, willing herself not to succumb to his charms, "Ramann..Raman we should stop" she said quietly, moving away from his arms. "You said you were tired, and that means you should go to sleep now" she told him, reaching up to run her hands through his hair as she gently pushed him down onto the bed.
"Now how can you say that Ishita? You come here, disturb me out of my sleep, and now you're telling me to go back to sleep" he asked her. "That's not fair" he said, crossing his arms over his chest childishly.
She smiled seeing his behavior, and gave in, "Fine Raman. You win. You don't have to go to sleep" she said with a smile, but as he tried to reach out to hold her again she moved back. "I'll just have to update you on all the wedding drama we've been having. Did I tell you what Amma and Mummyji were arguing about the other day?" she began recounting the story of how her mother and her soon-to-be mother-in-law were fighting over the gifts everyone would be given.
And Raman groaned internally, Damnit, he should have just taken the chance she had given him earlier.
And that's how they spent a significant portion of the night, and before they knew it, the two of them had fallen asleep. Raman settled comfortably in bed, and Ishita seated next to him, her head resting against the headboard.
***
"Raman Bhai! Bhai!" The banging of the door jolted Raman and Ishita out of their sleep. Their eyes widened as they noted where they were and what time it was. Shit! The two hurriedly scrambled out of bed, "Ishita...just hide somewhere. We can figure out how to get you out of here when Simmi leaves" Raman whispered, as he rushed towards the door.
"Aiyyo. Where do I hide in this room Raman?!" Ishita asked him furiously, grabbing hold of his hand to stop him from opening the door. Raman glanced around the room with dismay, "Damn it. The dresser doesn't have room for you to stand in, and everything else is fairly out in the open" he sighed. "Hm, behind the bed. Hurry!" he whispered frantically, shoving Ishita in that direction as he poised himself to open the door.
Straightening out his clothes one last time and hoping he was looking presentable, Raman turned to open the door, not once bothering to glance back and check the rest of his room.
"Bhai. Why did it take you so long to open the door?" questioned an angry Simmi, pushing Raman out of the way as she came inside.
"Woh..woh kya hain na ki...I was really asleep. Took me a while to wake up" stuttered Raman, looking around the room nervously. And that's when he caught sight of something on the ground near the dressing table. Ishita's sandals. Damn it.
"Simmi..Simmi what do you want?" Raman asked, desperately trying to get his intruding sister out of the room before she saw.
"Ma wanted to talk to you and told me to wake you up" Simmi told her brother.
"Haan haan theek hain. I'll be there in ten minutes. Tell her that." Raman said, now walking towards the door as he tried to push his sister out.
"Kyun Bhai? Why are you in such a hurry to kick me out? Hiding something here? Like maybe Ishita Bhabhi?" winked Simmi.
"Ishu...Ishita? Why would she be here? There's no Ishita here, Simmi. You and your crazy ideas. Now go!" Raman's tension began to rise as beads of sweat formed on his forehead.
Simmi furrowed her eyebrows, a look of suspicion crossing over her face and she raised her hands up in defeat. "Fine..fine. I'm leaving...you keep your secret to yourself" and saying so, she turned around to look at the room one last time.
And that's when she caught sight of something herself.
Simmi literally pushed Raman aside as she ran towards the bed, and picked up the dupatta, a bright red dupatta that was partially hidden under the covers. Looking at it with a smirk on her face, Simmi slowly turned around, giving her brother a questioning glance as she showed him the dupatta.
"So..uh..bhai. I didn't know that you have a habit of sleeping with Ishita Bhabhi's dupattas!" she smirked.
"I..um..it was...it's a part of Ishita's present Simmi. I got her something from my..from my business trip" replied a flustered Raman.
"Oh really?" Simmi quirked an eyebrow up, "You got Bhabhi a salwar fom your business trip to the US? Kyun? Are the salwars here not good enough?"
When Raman opened his mouth to respond to her, Simmi shook her head in exasperation. "Please bhai, don't even try. Do tell me though, where is Ishita Bhabhi hiding?"
"Your Ishita Bhabhi is probably at home, asleep. You know how she loves that right?" Raman floundered, wincing as he realized how lame he sounded.
"Right..right I believe you" grinned Simmi, and she turned away as if she was leaving the room. But, unfortunately for Raman, she made another stop, near the dressing table this time and pointed out the sandals. "Bhai, Do you think I'm blind or stupid? I'm not going to ask but get her out of here before I bring Ma and Ishita's Amma inside!" Simmi called out, before she raced out to her mother.
Raman sighed, he was screwed and so was Ishita. No doubt about it. Making his way to the back of the bed, he pulled Ishita out, placing a firm kiss on her lips and she instantly melted in his arms. "We should find a way to leave Raman" she whispered, as she heard the footsteps.
Raman gathered her close, brushing his lips across his ears, as he said, with a small grin, "My darling Ishita. There's no way out of this one. We're well and truly caught. Forever."
***
I hope you enjoyed it! Do let me know what you think :)
Indian Idol 15
9