two stories of marriage

chapter 16

Ishita, who had not set the alarm last night, found herself still awake on time, old habits really do die hard. She opened her eyes to a sleeping dushyant, realising how little of space there was in between them, her feelings of discomfort returned. She changed her position as she now slept on the opposite side such that her back was facing dushyant.

She thought of last night, there was these mixed feelings that were overwhelmed her whenever dushyant came close to her. There was the nervousness that came from the butterflies in her stomach, along with the hesitation of being unfamiliar with him, but when he gave her the space last night, she felt a part of her discomfort fading away, it was a small part of it, but it was a good beginning.

Suddenly, she felt something on her toe. She turned slightly to see what it was, as she noticed dushyant had stretched his leg a little, causing his toe to touch hers. She turned back to her side, as a light smile came on her face and she closed her eyes, letting a tiny feeling of his touch sink in.

                                                             ***

Dushyant felt rays of sunshine on his face, as he hid his face into his pillow while groaning, ishita, who realised she'll have to wake him up as the pulling the curtain away didn't work, walked towards him as she hesitantly shook his arm as she exclaimed,

'dushyant!' she immediately lifted her hand off his arm, hoping he'll just wake up.

She was about to shake his arm, when he just turned towards her, as she walked back,

'bas do minute aur!' he requested with his eyes still closed.

'dushyant, breakfast thanda ho jaayega...' she said very softly as she sat on her knees and got a little close to him.

Dushyant, reluctantly, opened his eyes, as he whispered,

'good morning.'

He got up lazily as ishita too got up from her knees, and dushyant asked,

'yahi karna hai kya breakfast?' as he noticed the breakfast tray.

'haan woh mummy aur purvi bhi ab jaake soye hain toh..'

'kyun, unhe kya hua?'

'arre woh humare upar joh log rehte hain na, woh kuch kaam karwa rahe the toh awaaz bahaut ho rahi thi raat ko uss kamre mein..'

(inspired from reality guys, main bhi bahaut dukhi hoon mere upar waalon se, saara din drill aur saari raat thak-thak...)

'yahan toh zyada awaaz nahi aayi...'

'haan, aap bach gaye, pehle yahan bhi bahaut hoti thi...' she said as she kept the breakfast tray in between them.

'well, i guess bahaut lucky hoon.' He said as ishita nodded.

'toh aunty-i mean mummy aur purvi kab tak soyenge?' asked dushyant.

'dopeher tak toh soyenge hi...' replied ishita, as dushyant nodded.

                                                                  ***

Purvi, who could never make herself sleep during the day, got up to get a coffee. She got out of the room and found ishita watching tv with dushyant in their room.

'arre, tu uth gayi?' asked ishita.

'haan, aapko pata toh hai, subha-subha nahi so paati main.' Replied purvi, as she leaned by the door.

'coffee banaon?' offered ishita, who got up from the bed and purvi just nodded.

'baith na, main bas abhi aayi.' Said ishita as she exited, while purvi sat on the bed with dushyant.

'hey, jiju..'

'hey, saali saibha..'

'kya yaar jiju, itne boring ho ki subha-subha news dekhte ho..'

'arre nahi, woh jaise hi tv on kiya yeh hi tha pehle channel..aur phir mere competitor ki news aa gayi toh..'

'oh, i see. Aapki toh morning sach mein good ho gayi phir...'

'haan, ab fraud kiya hai, bechara..'

'ab iss hi khushi mein, kuch gaane sun le...'

'oh sure, why not.' He said as he handed her the remote, as purvi changed through the music channels, when suddenly dushyant asked her to stop, guess what, they both love the song!

As they both sang along to it, ishita entered, as she just ogled at them, and then she burst into laughter.

'yeh lijiye, aap dono ke liye banadi thi...' she said as she kept the tray with the two cups of coffee. As they both calmed down from the excitement and silently sipped their coffee.

Ishita wasn't the least bit shocked, purvi could easily build rapport with anyone, she didn't have any discomforts or anxieties, she was always an outspoken, life-of-the-party, but ishita preferred the silent corners, and she shared them with only a few.

                                                               ***

In the evening, purvi was carrying bags with her mother in the sabji-mandi, completely annoyed with her mother's bargaining, she got a text from kavin,

'meet me at my house at 6?'

Purvi, who would have loved a escape from this sent a thumbs up.

'mummy, kitna time lagega?' asked purvi as she saw it was already 5:30.

'arre, ye manjaye toh 10 min...haan bhaiya...' said her mother as purvi just sighed in disappointment.

A few minutes later, when she finally saw her mother was done, she handed her the bags and ran with the excuse that her friend has a family emergency. She took an auto and reached kavin's home at around 6:05, as she rang the doorbell and was welcomed by kavin.

'hey!'

'hey, so what's up.'

'woh toh surprise hai,toh andar aane se pehle..' he said as he took out a blindfold, purvi let him blindfold her, as he held her hand and walked her through. Finally, at about after 10 steps, he took of the blindfold, as he yelled, 'surprise!'

Purvi opened her eyes to a candle light dinner table, that had the meal from the first place they had a fancy meal like this at.

'yeh humne...' said purvi

'varsha aur rishabh ki engagement party, we got out of the madness of the party..' continued kavin

'and ate by the beach at night...' finished purvi

'we both loved the silence...' they said in a union.

Through all this their gaze was still fixed on each other. Ah, the love oozing uncontrollably from those eyes...

He pulled out a chair for her to sit down and after that he seated himself. The meal was less about the food but rather the looks they were giving each other, they didn't have to talk with words, the eyes were enough for them...

After they were done, kavin slipped his hand into hers as he remarked,

'i know you have been feeling very bad ki tum guitar nahi baja paa rahi ho, you miss being able to express all of your emotions with that music, it's your favourite thing in the world, so i thought this surprise might cheer you up a bit...' he said earnestly with so much affection that purvi just hugged him,

'i could never feel down when i have u...' said purvi after she came out of the hug.

Their eyes met, as these emotions they were feeling couldn't be expressed with words and they both could see it in each other's eyes, and they were at a point where they both could feel each other's emotions inside of them. They couldn't resist these feelings getting too stronger, as they locked their lips for a kiss.