I am back with a Maha quick update for this TS which I promised to wrap in three shots. You may find the way I have ended the third part weird but ...
I will add an epilogue of course to give this beautiful concept from Sukanksha, a unique closure.
I would like to say that this story is completely in a different context with only Raman and Ishita and theit love story.
No Shagun, no Ruhi no Adi.
It is the journey of two strangers, getting attracted to each other as they found themselves sharing each other's life, hence the beautiful title.
Thank you very much for your amazing responses.
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"I hope you don't mind the sleeping arrangement." She looked at him and he nodded and uttered a good night to her.
"Won't you ask me about...about last night?" Ishita asked, acutely embarrassed as he looked at her
"Should I? I think you were very clear. I would like to think that you are still uncomfortable with me and need time. Is there any other reason?"
She shook her head and looked away. "Good. Take all your time. Good night."
And he turned off the main switch and laid on the couch, his heart beating faster than usual.
Raman was grateful that the dim light was camouflaging the expression on his face. He had faced her very calmly while his heart was pounding all the time and when he had asked her the question, he had prayed in his heart...if she had told him what he was dreading? Raman closed his eyes tight. He wouldn't be able to bear it if she had said that she was forced into that marriage. She hadn't and he had heaved a sigh of relief but still...he was restless.
One month later...
One morning...
Raman was already in his office and Ishita was alone, sitting on her bed, staring at the front page of the magazine she was holding for the past ten minutes. One whole month since they were married and still they were living like strangers, nothing had really changed. They were sharing the bedroom, him gracing the couch while she was given the king size bed. Well...she did feel guilty at times, seeing him turning and tossing on that couch and then having back pain in the morning but she was still not comfortable sharing that bed with him.
How would she when he would flaunt his grumpy face to her, thus putting a brake to her enthusiasm to befriend him? She was genuinely trying to make an effort to, at least, be cordial to him but he was simply not interested to even share a few words with her.
She was still lost in her thoughts, trying to solve the enigma named Raman Kumar Bhalla when her best friend cum sister in law Simmi came in.
"Oye Kya hua? Why are you so morose? Bhai said something?"
"That's the problem Simmi. Your Bhai doesn't say anything to me. I wonder if you people didn't force him into this marriage!"
"Oh don't be silly! Bhai is not a very vocal person but he loves you. He loved you the minute he saw you."
"How do you know if he isn't very VOCAL!"
"You just have to look at the way he looks at you!"
"Oh please! Are we talking about the same person here? He never spares me a look and the last time he did, you know how he described me!"
Simmi giggled and shook her head while Ishita turned away with a sulking face, reminiscing what happened during the "Muh dikhayi ki rassam" ceremony.
Ishita was wearing a Punjabi suit, a gift from her mother in law, a lovely red and green suit with a large, striking golden border enhancing it.
On that day, with all the ladies surrounding her, blessing her and congratulating her mother in law for getting such a beautiful bahu, Ishita felt like a star. It was embarrassing being praised so much but Ishita admitted sheepishly to herself that she was loving the attention. She was still smiling and blushing when he had entered the room, with his legendary attitude sticking to him like his shadow. Without a single glance at her, he had sit besides her and greeted the guests, bestowing a small smile from time to time on those lucky mortals, Ishita had noticed. And then suddenly, her bubbly and feisty neighbour had joined them.
"Hello Pammi Aunty!" She heard him muttered in that deep baritone.
"Oye Raman! How many times should I tell you, Aunty from a hottie like you! I don't like. Pammi kaho na! By the way, congratulations. Kitni soni hain yeh tumhari biwi." The healthy lady had exclaimed, making Ishita blushed.
It was only then that he had then stolen a glance at him, just to see his reaction but...nothing! A bloody expressionless cardboard he was! Raman Kumar Bhalla neither acknowledged the remark nor thanked the lady for her kind words for his wife, as Ishita expected. She decided right there to ignore him and enjoy the attention she was getting from others until...the moment she decided to get a juice in the kitchen.
He was standing near the fridge with a bottle of water in his hand, his back to her but he was clearly not interested in whatever his mother was telling him.
"Maa! Please!"
"Kitni Soni lag rahi hain! Very beautiful!"
"Yes, very beautiful. She is looking like a beautiful Christmas tree. I think she should better stick to her five yards...!"
He had stopped the moment he had noticed her and had stared at her while Toshi Bhalla had tried to save the situation in the hope that Ishita hadn't heard their conversation but she had heard him.
"Simmi, your brother called me a Christmas tree!"
"Ishita! Bhai didn't mean it! I know him! I saw him stealing a look at you on that day. He looked smitten! You should see the way he looks at you when your attention is else where and the look on his face when I caught him he admiring your photograph found in his drawer. He may not say it but he loves you. Why would he agree to marry you if he didn't?"
Ishita blushed at the thought of him, looking at her stealthily and admiring her photograph.
"He is just a weird man, you know, as you say yourself, AKDU but ONLY from the outside but really loving deep inside. Why don't you make him take back his words?" Simmi patted Ishita's cheek and left to attend a call, unaware of the effects that her last words had had on that crazy girl.
Take back his words! Why not?" She mused on a sudden new surge of restless defiance. It was high time to show him that she was not made only to wear a saree but...
"I'm not even beautiful", she sighed, standing in front of the mirror. "Well not in the classical sense of the word anyway. My figure is ok, I suppose, well...if some people find Indian figure attractive. My face wouldn't stop the traffic. It isn't the kind of face you would expect to see on the wife of a business tycoon like Raman Kumar Bhalla, is it? My mouth is cute and vulnerable looking but my eyes...they are too big and my nose too strong." Ishita scowled at her reflection in distaste."Look at my hair! Donned the same way since I was in high school!"
Then do something about it! An impatient-sounding voice inside her challenged. Well...I think the time has come to surprise Mr Perfect, she muttered to herself and set out for a crazy shopping spree.
She returned back home late in the afternoon, her hands full of shopping bags and gifts for her sweet mother in law and for Simmi. The two friends immediately rushed to Ishita's bedroom for her to try them on.
"We better make a stiff drink ready for Bhai when he gets home !" Simmi exclaimed and whistled as soon as Ishita came out of the bathroom wearing a little black dress which stopped at knee-length.
Ishita blushed and smiled broadly, loving the reactions she was getting as she tried many more dresses with Simmi unaware that she was still running a full pistons of defiance. She was still busy pirouetting in front of Simmi, this time in a red gown, revealing her milky back with the deep V-cut, when he walked. He stopped and stared and with that the room seemed to come to a shuddering halt with Simmi eying him warily while Ishita, caught in the middle of coming to her feet, had to force her suddenly shaking limbs to finish the move. She then stood staring at Raman. It was Simmi who broke the spell, I rather go and help in the kitchen." And she rushed out with a giggle.
Her attention was turned entirely on Raman's perfectly inscrutable expression as he ran his narrowed gaze over her. As she watched him in growing tension, she saw a small smile twisting his lips.
"Well...are you going somewhere?" He asked, making Ishita frowned. He knew damned well that she was not going anywhere. The mess on the floor was clear evidence of her coming back from a shopping spree so what was he getting at, with his cryptic "going somewhere..."
It was obvious to Ishita that he wasn't going to make a single remark about her new look. The rotter!
"And if am considering going out, what would you do about it?" She demanded with her chin stubbornly high.That smile tilted his mouth again and sent a trickle of angry frustrations shooting down her spine."
"Then I would say have a nice time but... be careful...", he drawled.
The man was better at this game than she could ever be and how easily he had managed to totally deflate her exciting day.
"I am on my way in, not out." She said defiantly and stood looking at him as he moved across the room to pick a long, flat box.
"What's in this?"
"A salwar suit," she answered reluctantly.
"And this one?". He nudged another box.
"Underwear."
Realizing her blunder, she blushed profusely and snatched the packet from his hands.
"And this?" He continued, unfazed and ignoring the acute embarrassment on her face. Grrr! Ishita's patience was wearing out with each passing second. "A couple of sarees! Why?" She demanded."Wasn't it you who gave me all these credit card things? Now don't tell me you are going to read me a lecture on over-spending?"
He ignored that and opened another box. Ishita was on the verge of exploding now.
"That's a dress worthy of a dinner in one of Delhi's exclusive restaurants."
She had turned back to the door by that time but his words had her spinning back to stare at him.
"Are you asking me out? She queried with a blatant lack of guile. "Yes!" He nodded, with all dry mockery. And Ishita had a feeling that he found her lack of sophistication highly amusing. She flushed heatedly, wishing the world would just open up and swallow her rather than continue to put her through the purgatory. Nothing she could do, it seemed, would ever make her anything more that a silly, gauche fool in front of him.
"Yes Ishita. I am asking you if you would like to dine out with me tonight." He repeated more gently, as though reading her discomfort and suddenly sorry for causing it.
"Oh! No! I mean...I...I was just trying on my new set of clothes...I don't want to go out." She stuttered uncomfortably, knowing that he had only asked her because he felt obliged to, may be after seeing her desperation to get his attention...
Ishita stood rooted on the spot, completely taken aback. Why the hell was she desperate to get noticed by him? Wasn't she the one who wanted nothing to do with him and had promised to harass him? She should have been grateful that he was neither imposing himself around her and was giving her unnecessary attention and irk her. Why was it annoying her that he was distant, aloof and disinterested in her? Simmi was saying that he was smitten by her but he was definitely not showing any sign of it. The man was only meant to confuse her more than she was already.
"Of course she wants to go." Toshi Bhalla chipped in and Ishita turned to find her mother in law winking at her. "Take her somewhere nice." She said to his son over Ishita's protests.
"Mummy ji! No I don't want to go. I was out all day. I want to help Simmi to prepare dinner."
Toshi Bhalla dismissed her daughter in law. She was quite happy to mind the kitchen which took the wind out of Ishita's sails somewhat.
"Go and get ready and Raman you come with me. I need to talk to you."
Mother and son walked out of the bedroom and Ishita heaved a sigh of surrender. Now what next! She would need Simmi's help for her hair so she walked out to look for her
but stopped when Toshi's voice drifted towards her, sounding cross and stern.
"If you ask me Raman, this evening out is well overdue and it is high time that you start involving her in your business socialization too."
Ishita waited curiously to hear Raman's reply but his voice was too pitched low for her to catch the words. "Rubbish! How do you know she would not be comfortable when you are not giving her the chance to find out for herself?" Toshi Bhalla was saying.
Ishita stood up the stairs and listened to her mother in law who continued brusquely, "and I'll have to say about something else while I am at it. I don't know what has been happening between the two of you but I have noticed how distant you are with her. She is your wife not a guest here. You liked her and accepted to marry her. She was your choice then why are you so aloof around her son?"
"Maa..."
"Please beta! Ishita is my friend's daughter and you must know by now how much I am fond of her and her mother. Our friendship means much more and is above everything else. I promised Madhu to take good care of her daughter. Don't break that poor child's heart and make her miserable. Keep my words and keep her happy always."
Ishita felt her heart sink. She had been the one who had been making things difficult, hence the aloofness and distance between them and there he was taking all the blames. Ishita remembered her mother's words instantly. She was indeed lucky to have such a wonderful family and wiped the sole drop of tear running down her cheek. She walked away, with the determination to set things right this time. It was time that they stopped playing hide and seek with each other and have a heart to heart conversation.
It was only then that a new beginning would really start for her...with him...her husband.
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