PART
29
This
was the world to her….. and now there was no reason to say no…..
"Armaan"
she said making him sit next to her and him still holding the ring in his hand…
"you know " she smiled wiping away her tear…. "I had an
inclination that this night wasn't going to end so soon.. especially after that
wonderful thing in the restaurant….." he smiled she continued "You
want to know my answer…. Hmm…. Armaan….. my answer is…..Yes…….." At this
Armaan was flabbergasted and exited.. he couldn't believe she just said yes……
She
brought herhand in front of him… and he put the ring on it…….. And her tears…
they just couldn't stop…………. He just hugged her in a tight embrace……and she she
just responded back…… "thankyou Armaan" she whispered……
"Thankyou
Riddhima" he whispred back……….
It
was like a moment that they had never experienced….. They lay there for a while
in that embrace….. it was like after an eternity they had finally found happiness….
Armaan then broke the embrace but still close to her… he wiped her tears and
nodded his head in a negative telling her not to cry anymore……
"Riddhima
don't cry … ab there will only be happiness…." She nodded in a positive to
that…….. and they hugged again…. It was like there was no tomorrow…..It was
like a lovers plight….Parting even for a second was gruelsome…. With a lot of
effort they broke the hug….. each wiped the others tear and then they started
to go up to their room……. They changed their clothes and lay on bed……each on
their side of the bed but still staring at each other and smiling………
A
month or so passed from that day and every single day after that little
confession had been bliss for the both of them.
Riddhima
got up earlier than usual and went to shower. She came out of the shower and a
smile left her seeing Armaan still sleeping. She noiselessly went out of the
room and into the kitchen.
It
was 5 am the sky was still dark and everyone in the house was asleep. She
decided to make some tea for herself and after making the tea she stepped out
in the verandah, sat on the arm chair and sipped her tea. The fresh morning,
the misty environment, and a hot cup of tea, the husband sound asleep in their
bedroom, the inlaws sleeping peacefully, and her friend like sister in laws
sound asleep as well. Life was indeed perfect, lovely and beautiful. She felt
that this was like a dream indeed but she knew the prices she had had to pay to
reach unto this dream. Shrugging the thoughts off she took a sip of her tea.
And just sat back and enjoyed the quiet environment.
Armaan
happened to wake up and seeing Riddhima's absence he got up as well. He ame
downstairs and came up close to the verandah. Just as he had imagined where she
could be, he saw her on the armchair carefreely sipping her tea.
He
enjoyed the view. This was indeed his little family. And he hoped it would stay
such. He came up to her and put a hand on her shoulder.
"Good
Morning Riddhima" he wished her with a simple kiss on her forehead.
"Good
morning Armaan" she reciprocated with a sweet smile.
He
came and sat next to her on the swing close by the arm chair. And started
swinging the swing chair gradually.
She
suddenly remembered to ask him," Let me get you some coffee"
He
smiled as she helped herself to make coffee for him. He liked this that she was
being the perfect wife for him. Even if she would not have tried, he was still
just happy to have her by his side.
She
brought his coffee for him and handed it. He smiled and thanked her. She smiled
back. They shared a glance at each other and then Riddhima moved her gaze off
to someother area…. The birds chirping.
They
sat there in the early morning stillness and then as the sun started to show up
Riddhima started to retreat and go back to her room to shower and prepare for
the rest of the day.
Armaan
followed suit after a while and went to shower once Riddhima was done. By the
time Riddhima reached downstairs and started making breakfast the house was
starting to wake up. The day began , she
served everyone, made sure she ate, packed lunch for everyone helped
Ananya with her work, made sure Armaan took his lunch, wished him a great day,
made sure Billy took his lunch, and made sure Anjali and Muskaan ate well
before they left out for the day.
Once
done there, she started preparing for lunch and continued on her errands. Her
day progressed smoothly.
Armaan
returned home on the evening with Billy. Muskaan and Anjali were still not back
yet as Muskaan had taken Anjali to the mall for some shopping.
Muskaan
actually had a plan and that too a wicked one. She knew exactly what her bhai
bhabhis life had become. A boring dull routine. What sheplanned to do was bring
excitement to this routine.
It
Was 9 pm and Muskaan was still not back. Ananya was starting to get worried.She
tried Muskaans no. but it was not being reached. She hesistantly told Armaan
about it. Armaan was appalled at her that she did not tell him that until now.
He called Muskaans no. No ring. He called Anjalis no. Luckily her phone rang.
Muskaan slapped her forehead in apprehension. She had forgotten to turn Anjalis
phone off. She grabbed the phone from Anjali and managed to hear ARMAAN speak,
" Anji tum kaha ho. Kya Muskaan tumhare saat hain"
Muskaan
replied from the other end, "Bhai main Muskaan hi hoon." Hum yahan mall main
atak gaye hain. Mere phone ki battery dead ho gayi hain aur Anji ke phone pe
abhi tak hame signal mil hi nahi raha tha."
"Tum
kaha ho mujhe bas yeh batai, main abhi aata hoon tumhe lene" he said
frantically.
She
gave him the address of the place where she wanted him to go." Bhai bhabhi koh
bhi saath le ana. Akele mat ana. Kafi tufan hain bahar." She added.
Armaan
was flabber gasted. Why would he take Riddhima out in this weather. HE said yes to her but he was not going to take
Riddhima with him.
He
told Ananaya and Riddhima that he was going to go pick up the girls and that
they should stay kaput.
Armaan
reached the place that Muskaan mentioned on the phone. Muskaan saw from her
hiding that Armaan came alone. "Darn it" she said."My plan just flopped. How
could I even imagine bhai listening to my antics"
Saying
that she came out of her hiding with Anji and they went up to Armaan, Armaan
was happy to see them and quickly asked them to seat inside the car due to the
heavy rains.
While
driving back Muskaan asked him "Bhai bhabhi kyun nahin ayi"
Armaan
looked at her worriedly and then said "Tumhari bhabhi koh lata toh phir main
aur pareshan ho jata aur phir agar tumhe dhoodte dhoonte tumhari bhabhi koh kuch
ho jata toh.. toh phir hum saare yahin atak jaate"
Muskaan
to herself, ' yahin toh main chahti thi bhai ki aap dono yaha ruk jaye taki aap
kuch time spend karee k dusre ke saath as husband and wife, khair koi baat
nahin.. plans toh mere dimag main ate jate rehte hain…..'
Riddhima
was worried at home about the three of them. She tried calling Armaan but his
phone due to the rains couldn't be heard.She was panicking.
Then
she heard the car. She ran to the door. Muskkan and Anjali stepped out the car
and hurried inside. Ananya took care of them and made sure they ate and then
took them to their rooms.Riddhima waited for ARMAan to come back. He was all
drenched. She immediately took out the towel for him and asked him to go change
his clothes. He did as commanded albeit with a big smile.
Muskaan
could stop smiling seeing this. She later retreated to her room with Anji,
Ananya and Billy going to their respective rooms.
Riddhima
was still downstairs clearing the food plates and setting the house clear.
Armaan came downstairs his hairs still wet. He walked up to Riddhima and looked
at her.She was busy in her work but him staring at her did not go unnoticed.
Yet she continued to do her work. He came to her, held her hand, and made her
stop and notice him. She stopped and looked at him, surprised as to what did he
plan on doing. He stood there and just shook his head. All the water sprinkled
on to her. She fidgeted and tried to move out of his grip but he held her hand
tight and continued. He stopped, she stopped fidgeting. She looked at him with
a questioning expression. He just smiled and said I wanted you to be part of my
rain experience today.
It
took her a while to understand what he meant but as she understood it she
appeared pensive.
"Is
it so" she said" then why did you not take me with you Armaan"
Taken
aback he pondered and then said " Had I lost you in trying to find them what
would have become of me"
She
went close to him, him being apprehensive now , and since he was standing close
to the sink he was an easy target for Riddhima, but he didn't guess she could
do something like that, inching close to him she opened the sink tap held an
amount of water in her hand and once ready she said "you would have become a
drenched husband" saying that she sprayed the water on to him and ran away.
He
took a sec to understand what she meant and he ran after her " wait here you
little missy" saying that he ran after her. She stepped out in the rain
thinking he will hesistate before stepping out as he just changed and he did
infact stop for a min right outside his parapet. He saw her making fun of him,
provoking him like a little kid to come and win the water fight and he ran… ran
after her forgetting everything…. They chased for a while but ultimately Armaan
was able to catch hold of her… Just as she was about to retreat back into the
house he caught hold of her hand and pulled her with a force towards himself.
She collided with him with a force and they both landed on the floor of the
verandah.
He
immediately asked her " Are you hurt?"
She
nodded a negative and asked him " Are you?"
"Yes"
he said
Worried
she asked " where?" and straightened herself and pulled him up to a seating
position on the floor.
He
held her hand and .. she was afraid where had she hurt him… he brought it to
his heart…..
A
second into it and she realized he was fooling around. But the moment was such
that she couldn't let it go.
They
just stared into each others eyes for some time. It was still pouring heavily
and they were still out there in the verandah staring into each others eyes.
He
inched closer to her. Her heartbeats increased a thousand fold. He came a
little more closer. This was too close for comfort for her. She closed her
eyes.
He
stopped where he was. Saw that she closed her eyes. And looked at her eyes now
closed. A smile escaped his lips. So simple and so innocent was Riddhima he
wondered. He was about to close his eyes when …… thud…
They
heard a noise.Armaan left his eyes open And Riddhima opened hers. They stared
at each other.
Somemore
noise of leaves rubbing each other. They broke apart from each other and turned
to face the noise.
They
saw someone running away. Armaan looked at Riddhima and signaled her to go
inside the house. He ran after the guy until the exit of the verandah but before
he could catch hold of the person he ran away. Armaan didn't want to run after
that guy for no reason on a rainy day. Infact he was pretty upset with the guy
for ruining his moment with Riddhima. He made a mental note to look into the
matter. He retreated his steps towards the house, stepped in and visually
searched for her. He realized she must have gone upstairs when he heard some
movement in the kitchen.She saw him coming and as soon as he reached the
kitchen she gave him a towel to dry himself off the rain. While he was drying
his hair she asked "who was it?"
Armaan
still wiping his hair but looking in her direction, "Don't know Riddhima I ran
after the guy looks like it was a guy… so I ran after him a little but he
escaped. So I don't know who was it but I will make sure I find out. We cannot
have people prying into our lives especially when we were romantically
inclined" he smirked.
Riddhima
opened her mouth in exasperation on hearing what Armaan just said.
He
winked at her .
She
immediately closed her mouth and retained her calm composure.
"We
should still find out who was it … you know you have two young girls in your
house. We should be careful."
He
made a note of it.
He
looked at her the towel now in his hands holding it out for her. She took it
and started to retrace her steps back to their room. He looked at her as she
walked away from her for a while.. his hands went on his hair now almost
dry…. He smiled…. He moved his head so
that the hairs sprinkled the remainder of the water and he went to close the
door and then head for his room…..
Riddhima
was in her room while Armaan was still downstairs… as she was entering the room
her thoughts went to the towel in her hand…. The water from his hair made the
towel wet …. She smiled …. And remembered how he held her hand and sprinkled
all the water from his hair onto her….
She walked to the washroom …Left the towel in their and then took her clothes out to change
herself.
He
entered and the room was amiss Riddhima but there was light in the washroom. He
knew where she was. His mind was giving him all kinds of naughty ideas. He
shook his head…. Not yet boy not yet….. and he smiled.
Riddhima
came out of the washroom and saw him standing in front. She froze. She was
afraid what would Armaan do now after what happened downstairs in the verandah
between the two of them….
Before
anything she composed herself and said "Armaan I have taken your clothes out
for you since you are also wet. Here" she said and took them from the chair
where she had kept his clothes and handed it to him. He looked at her " umm ok"
he said took it from her hands making sure he touched her hand while taking
them deliberately.
She
stayed still as he took it and went in the washroom. But as he closed the
door…. She relaxed….. why …… she was becoming so conscious in front of him..
after tonight… she laughed a little to herself… " boy I cannot be this 16th
century girl.. comeone he is my husband and I should behave a little more like
a wife" she thought and laughed to herself.
tHEn
she prepared the bed and laid on it.
As
soon as she heard the unboltin of the bathroom door she closed the light on her
end and pretended to sleep…
Armaan
came out and saw in front of her.. she was sleeping ….. well he knew there was nothing he could do
now.. he laughed a little to himself…. Came onto the bed laid for a few min and
then dozed of to sleep as did Riddhima.
'Armaan
woke up around early morning. He turned on the bed to face a sleeping Riddhima
whos back was facing him……….
His
emotions from last night too strong…. Even until morning …..
He
inched closer to her….. and called out her name "Riddhima" very affectionately.
She
was in sleep .. didn't hear it….
He
called her name again and this time touching her shoulder making her turn to
face him.
She
gradually came to consciousness. Opened her eyes and saw Armaan……
A
beautiful smile escaped her lips….. which was noticed by Armaan ….. he smiled
at her too… and they stared into each others eyes…. Gradually he made a step
closer to her…..he kissed her forehead.. he cheeks her lips her neck and he
just immersed himself into her….. and Riddhima…. She gave in as a dutiful and
loving wife….. and more importantly as Armaans Riddhima….'
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