Chapter 52
'Nahi Nivedita, tu yahaan bet, main Divya ko le jaa thi hoon.' Hemlata smiled at Nivi and helped Divya up before taking her to freshen up. Nivi watched them go with a smile, feeling happy and content with the way everything was going so far. They were at the Sood house; it was Divya and Sid's engagement and they'd exchanged rings earlier but Sid had gotten an important phone call so Vandana had suggested they take Divya to have a break for a few minutes.
As Nivi watched Divya leave, she thought she looked radiant in a heavily embroidered pale pink lehnga. Sid was wearing a similar shade sherwani and Nivi thought they'd looked good together as they exchanged rings and they both seemed to be glowing with happiness. As she thought about it, she suddenly remembered Viren standing just behind Sid; instead of watching the couple he'd been watching her and the look on his face had made her forget where they were for a minute till the clapping broke through her thoughts.
She looked over now to the other side of the room where people were dancing and Viren was trying to teach Yash some moves. Nivi laughed to herself as Yash tried to copy Viren but he just looked awkward whereas Viren made it look effortless. He was wearing a deep blue sherwani and maybe Nivi was biased but she thought he was the best looking person in the room and she'd had to remind herself to breathe when she'd first seen him at the entrance. She'd missed him anyway and seeing him dressed like that had left her a little speechless.
She hadn't seen Viren at all since he'd climbed through her window, only spoken to him over the phone. He was so busy lately because Siddarth had asked if he would help out at the office while the wedding was happening and Viren hadn't been able to say no, so for now he was working both at the Ad agency and at Sood Industries. Despite that, he still stayed up late to speak to Nivi even though she kept telling him he needed to rest too. As she watched him dancing with Yash, she wondered where he got the energy from.
'Aise nahi Yash! Haath aise rak ke..' Viren tried to show Yash an easy dance move but Yash gave up and just started doing his own thing as Viren laughed and looked around. His eyes fell on Nivi sitting on the slightly raised chaise where Divya and Sid had been sitting earlier. Everyone was rushing around her busy or catching up but she was sitting there quietly with a smile on her face and Viren wished he could steal her away from everyone and ask her what she was thinking.
As he watched her, he thought again how beautiful she looked; when he'd first seen her in the doorway standing next to Divya he'd been speechless and Divya had teasingly whispered for him to close his mouth as they walked in. She was dressed in pale purple lehnga with her hair all curled to one side with the curls falling over her right shoulder. For once she was wearing heavy jewellery and Viren had noticed her touching her earrings more than once throughout the evening as though she was uncomfortable with them.
'Mere baare mein soch rahi thi?!' Nivi jumped as she heard Viren's voice whisper in her ear. She'd been day dreaming and hadn't heard him come up and sit behind her; she turned a little to look at him, he had his back to her and their shoulders were almost touching as he turned and leaned in to whisper. Viren looked like he was in a mischievous mood and Nivi didn't want to encourage him so she said a little sternly, 'Kyu? Mere paas koi aur kaam nahi hai kya?!' and she put a cushion between them. 'Accha?!!' Viren looked around quickly before grabbing her left hand which was still on the cushion.
'Viren!' Before Nivi knew what was happening, Viren pulled out the cushion from under their hands and covered their hands with it before arranging Nivi's scarf over it. 'Accha, so you weren't thinking about me...at all?' He asked with a cheeky smile as Nivi looked around and tried to pull her hand away but he gripped on tightly, still smiling and Nivi frowned, feeling worried, 'Nahi toh! I don't spend ALL my time thinking about you, you know,' her voice was a little panicky as she lied and kept looking around, thinking someone would come there any minute.
'Riiight...so tell me; how many sketches have you made of me since the other night?!' He winked and Nivi went red at his words and at the memory of the other night; she hadn't slept at all after he'd gone... She looked down, not saying anything and Viren stroked the back of her hand with his thumb as he leaned forward and said softly, 'Pata hai Nivi, when you blush, even your ears go red!' He reached up with his free hand and ran his fingers over the tip of her pink ear as she shivered and jumped a little, 'Stop it Viren! Please...'
Viren laughed softly but moved away a little, still keeping hold of her hand. Nivi felt a little relieved till she heard him say quietly, 'I haven't even started yet Moti...' She was about to ask what he meant when they heard someone say, 'Divya nahi aayi ab tak?' It was Vandana, holding a glass of juice for Divya. Nivi went pale and tried to take her hand back but Viren carried on smiling innocently as he held on and twisted his fingers around hers, causing her hand to tingle. 'Umm nahi Chachiji...bas aa thi hi hogi..' She sounded nervous and Vandana frowned and then noticed Viren. 'Viren, tu yahaan kya kar raha hai?!'
'Kuch nahi Tayiji, bas aap hi ka intezaar kar raha tha!' When Vandana gave him a questioning look, Viren smiled cheekily, 'Ek dance... please?!' Vandana started to laugh, 'Badmaash, mein iss umar mein tere saath dance karoongi?!' She looked at Nivi, 'Tu Nivi ko kyu nahi le jaa tha?!' Viren's hand tightened on hers just as Nivi jumped and said nervously, 'Nahi Chachiji, main kaise...?!' She looked at Viren pleadingly but he shook his head still smiling; he was about to argue when Divya and Hemlata came back and so did Sid.
'Maa. Mujhe kuch dher ke liye bahar jaana hoga...site mein kuch problems ho gayi hai.' Siddarth looked worried and when Vandana asked if it couldn't wait till the morning Sid explained there was some mix up with the deliveries and it had to be dealt with tonight. Vandana looked at Divya worriedly but she put a hand on Vandana's arm and stood up. 'It's ok Siddarth, go if you have to, don't worry about me ok?' They smiled at each other and Viren felt Nivi squeeze his hand and he understood because he'd been thinking the same thing.
He stroked her palm one last time before letting go and standing up. 'Bhai tum bhi naa! Agar tumhe har chotti chotti cheez ke liye pareshaan hona tha toh mujhe kyu kaam pe raka?!' Viren rolled his eyes, 'It's your engagement, you stay here and I'll go ok? Just tell me what I need to do and then I'll get changed and head out.' Nivi smiled at Viren and he smiled back before getting some instructions off Sid and heading up to get changed. Nivi watched Viren go, feeling happy but also a little sad that he had to go.
Edited by anjaani07 - 12 years ago