Part 9: War and Peace Update 2
He didn't
know who she was fighting, her or him as he watched her lower her hand beneath
the tap and washed off the food mush stuck to her fingers. Her ever present
smile was now beginning to amaze him. What had happened to the girl, who bit
off the head of any guy who dared to come close to her?...he wondered as he
opened the tap next to her. She was now calm and bearing his pranks with
uncalled for patience which bothered him. He grew curious to find out more of
her...and more importantly about her mysterious eyes that were often playing
hide and seek with him.
Before she
could walk off into the annoying crowd of her relatives, he stopped her by
tugging her wrist, but held his position by the sink without facing her.
"And
they say...it's all fair in love and war..."He asked as he caught her nod a yes
in time. Yet again, the smile graced her beautiful face. He was losing himself
in her momentarily as his gaze dropped to other features of her face, but his
mind fought back with a coherent thought.
This
means war...you do know that right?" He wanted to clarify that it was more of one than the other.
She said yes
now, more so in a whisper. He let go of her hand and walked close to stand
behind her. His breath grazed her nape, pooling gentle warmth into her belly.
She shuddered slightly, impossible for him to infer the effect he had on her.
As he inched in closer, she closed her eyes in prayer for a moment of self
control.
"So I
shall seek vengeance in all means unfair is what you comprehend then?" he
questioned, to which her answer was once again her shy smile; it only propelled
him to give a comeback all the more unjust than what was called for.
Either of
them did not move from their spots as they came to realize that their little
conversation of love and war had long come to an end. It only seemed easier to
come up with battle plans than to find reasons to go away from each other now.
He chuckled at all that was drawing them towards each other. Well a name would
be nice, he thought. But it was a game he would have to play with her another
day and so looking straight ahead, he moved aside and quickly walked away from
the washroom.
Right when
he rounded the corner of the hallway towards the main marriage hall, Adhi met
up with him in a hurry.
"Machax...sorry...I
had to...fianc pressures...You know all about it..." Adhi said, tapping
his arm gently.
"No...I
don't...mard ban sale...I'm being singled out against her army" He said.
His male ego sounding every bit hurt.
"Dude...You
have just been married for 2 hours...wait it out, it will all come to you in
good time" Adhi said.
"Anyways
I know how to make up...They are asking the pandit for a date and time"
"Ok...you
will just have to do better than that..." Maan said confused, trying to
guess why anyone would ask mauhurat to go on a date. Adhi was quite the chap at
moving information from one person to another, but all very useless nonetheless,
he thought. The only date he was interested in finding out was the one, he
would be alone with her and the time, was the hour when her own family would
push her inside the room and lock the doors behind her. Any other factual were
mere waste of his precious RAM, unless...Adhi...was...
His face
brightened at the possibility and his eyes widened with eagerness. Adhi didn't
have to answer his question now, for he knew that Maan knew what he was talking
about and they both screamed in excitement the next moment.
"First
night"
The guests
had all left and the empty hall echoed even with shrill whispers. And so it
made it all the more easier as they eavesdropped from behind one of the
pillars. Maan heavily relied on Adhi for the translation as Premi aunty prodded
the Vathiyar when they thought they were alone by themselves.
"But
why on earth do you need mahurat for your first night?" He asked Adhi in a
whisper, unable to comprehend the unique obsession of his new in-laws; they
literally had been feeding, sleeping and bathing him per these "kaalam's", he
concluded.
"Don't
know dude...it's just a timeworn way of doing things...Will you stop your
interrogation?..I'm not able to listen" With that Maan switched to silent
mode.
"Dude...not
good news...Given your nakshatras the pandit thinks that only 20th of this
month is auspicious, that's like another..." As Adhi mentally calculated
the number of days in his mind, Maan spat the answer in an agonizing hurry.
"14 days...No...you
gotta do something" he said.
"Do you
want me to bribe him?..." Adhi asked with a loud guffaw, passing off the
statement more as a joke.
"Sssh!..."
He silenced him first. "Well if the man will take it...why not?" he
said as Adhi turned to face him in surprise. His mind raced a mile a minute to
come up with ways to bring down the large gap of 14 days the pandit had come up
with. He was leaving in another 4 days and she wouldn't show up at his
apartment for lord knows how many more months...And so he knew he needed to act
now and fast.
"Ok...let
me try…I know this vathiyar personally…it might just be your lucky day after all"
Adhi said as Maan looked at him with disbelieving ears, that his friend was taking it all personal that what it was.
Adhi moved out
of their hiding spot and into the space between the two pillars, doing every
stupid gesture known to mankind to attract the Pandit's attention. Adhi faced
her mom's backside and so for now he was safe to enact his silly notions. The
dance went on for another few more seconds as Adhi waved high and low to
distract the frail man who had been drilling his head inside a small book.
Luck was
with them that day and just as he was about to give up their petty endeavor the
vathiyar had looked in their direction. He had instantly stopped the swaying of
hands in mid-air and took out the wallet from his pocket in a jiffy. Taking the
notes out one by one as he spread them into a fan, he took one note out of the
arrangement and handed it to Maan, who now peeped from behind the pillar.
The pandit
was initially puzzled at all the beckoning he had caught sight of but now the
two men were indeed speaking his language. Given the secrecy in their positions,
he had sharply deduced that the case of the date had indeed deeply bothered the
groom. But Adhi was persistent and now took another note and added to the one
that Maan was already holding. The old man swallowed his nervousness at the
sight of the small and easy fortune that was coming his way.
"Premi...innoru
thadavai...parkaren...satha poru (Premi..let me take a look at it
again…Wait)" He said as he kept looking back and forth between the corner
Adhi was and his book.
"Pannandu
vechikalame…Sittha yogam nanna irruku (12th seems auspicious)" Hearing which
Athi slapped his forehead and pushed another couple of notes into Maan's hand. Just as the days lowered and the number of
pink notes increased on the other side of the hall, a greedy smile was creeping
up the pandit's face.
When a good amount had collected in Maan's
hands, he decided he was ready to announce the mahurat for the same day.
Although, when he spotted another female in a green sari, signalling to him
from the opposite corner, he held back his announcement to Maan's dismay. She
threw an angry look at Adhi first and then returned to her previous act of
waving at him. She had a smile pile of notes in her hand too. The vathiyar was
about to faint that same bemusing moment. He thought he had to check his stars
first. It was either his luckiest day or the worst for he could merely be
hallucinating the two images that fanned the lump sum of money at him.
Being far
away from the duo, he didn't know which pile was heavier. It also did not take
long for him to know that the women desired just the opposite of what the men
had wanted. He sat there dumbstruck, silently and intently peering into his
book and attempted to ignore the battle of the sexes that was on full display
on either sides of the hall.
Maan leaned
further out and saw that Geet had just done the same looking for him. Having
seen Maan catch her behind the other pillar, she pulled back instantly and
closed her eyes to give out a content smile. She had underestimated her husband
to a large extent, she thought. He was now making this abrupt milestone of her
life, even more thrilling and interesting than what she would have experienced
had she fell in love and had decided to elope with the man of her choice.
Maan could
not help smile at their silly war they were now openly waging against each
other. His chest swelled proud as he thought of his competing wife. But now his
chest swelled up some more as he felt victory close.
The pandit
being a man known to practice fair dishonesty, he had ruled the date in Maan's
favor since the male gang had approached him first. Breathing out a heavy sigh
and as piercing disgust came upon Meera's face, Adhi grinned cautiously and
slid back into their hiding. He hoisted thumbs up at Maan, who peered out the
other side to find Geet walk back to her room; her defeat lacing her steps all
the way.
He had
missed the look on her face and so he sped to her room, through the hallway
behind the dias. The score was Maan 1 and Geet 0 and his insensitive male ego,
just had to rub it in. Meera had already joined her in the room and when he
entered he found them discussing harshly in Tamil unable to make sense of all
words they were hurling at each other.
"Erhm..."
he tried to clear his voice to announce his presence. The two girls raised
their face towards him and Meera gave out a smile and left.
She stood up
from the chair and walked backwards as he advanced towards her; her hands
shaking tremulously from the moment she saw him in her room. Seemingly, he had
noted her nervousness and so took her left hand into his as he tipped her chin
to face him once again. He knew she made him do things he felt was out of
character even for him, but then it was too late to make the statement, for his
hand that had held the chin was now around her back. He was taking it far,
before they could at least have a talk about the sudden changes that had come
into their life…But then "What the hell?" She was upping her game too either ways,
he thought.
"Geet…you
will just have to let go of that shyness now…given that it's not such good
company at night" He said, implying all that he wanted to indirectly. His words
left a tingle inside her. She didn't know how, but now every time he touched
her, a myriad of changes were coming to be in her being. Her feet shook, her
knees grew weaker and the head rush that made her want to slip and fall into
his arms…the worst being her quivering lips, that gave away how much he
affected her. It strangely made her angry that she was the only one under the effect
and that was quite enough of the negativity needed to launch her into
coherency. She wanted to answer him.
"I think
it's here to stay…" She looked at him more willingly now "Somehow it knows no
one is surrendering to anyone tonight…not even if the other begged for it to
leave, you see" she said, with that same coy smile, which was now getting to
him for her words didn't match her eyes.
"It's quite
sad that we disagree there…for I'm more leaning towards you abandoning your
intervening partner and for you to seek me out instead"
She gave out
a challenging laugh "Isn't that bordering on over-confidence?" She asked; the
fizz that he stirred in her now fading away from his open arrogance and added "Given
that you only have 9 hours to make me pine for you…That's being a tad bit
delusional Maan" She gestured to show him "small" by straightening out her
thumb, index and middle fingers horizontally and raised her hand into his line
of sight, more closer to her eyes. She had tilted her head as she had done that
playfully and it only drove him crazy to close the distance between them and
knock her into a senseless kiss. But he didn't and held back his verve to act
upon his impulse. Instead he drew her body closer to his, holding her by both
her elbows; his thumb tracing patterns continuously on her smooth skin by the
side of her arm. She was turning him into an animal, he thought.
"We will
just have to wait and watch don't we?" he said as he let out a villainous smile.
But before
he could carry out all that his slick mind was dictating, her troupe of cousins had
walked in on them. He had flushed and she had turned a deep scarlet; he had
excused himself the next passing second.
They were
only husband and wife and the thought perhaps was going to take time sinking
into them, for he had every bit regretted the move right after he had exited
the room. The feeling of teenagers sneaking upon each other seemed more like
what they had experienced that unsuspecting moment and that brought a shy smile
upon both their faces, even as they were rooms apart. Well, at least something
was common between the two; of course only besides their other commonplace passion
to bull doze each other with words and ploys.
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