Anu, Dev and Janki arrive at the Tripathi house just after the guests have finished gushing over the glowing newly wed bride and bestowing their gifts to her. The sight of her child looking so beautiful, face glowing with happiness and her entire attire complimenting her skin tone and looks, soothes a part of her heart in relief and assurance, assuaging some of her pent up guilt too.
"Mom!Papa! Dadi" Malini rushes towards them the moment she sees them while Aditya too follows at a more slow pace. Malini hugs her parents in a tight hug after which she hugs Dadi too while Aditya politely greets his in-laws, seeking blessings by touching their feet.
"You are looking so beautiful beta!" Anu gushes, her eyes filling with happy tears as she caresses her daughter's face.
"Thank you mom"
"What have you even used? The makeup looks so different and even the style of bindi is not how you would wear it! And this saree would not have been your choice for mooh-dikhayi" Anu tells her observations.
"Yes Mom, it's actually Imlie who got me dressed. She selected the saree and she did the makeup the way she knows it, in village style" Malini says, eyes softening in pure affection that just mentioning the name Imlie brings in her.
"She indeed has done a very good job!" Anu accepts, mentally making a note to thank Imlie.
_
Seeing that she isn't required around, Imlie slips into the kitchen, hoping to make herself some tea to help with the headache pounding behind her eye lids. It isn't her date yet but all the symptoms so far indicate towards it either way even if the intensity or severity is more than usual.
She mentally makes note of how many pads she has and realises to her dismay that it is just half a packet which will not be enough for the entire duration. Resolving to ask Rupi Didi to take her to the shop so she can buy some more, she sets the tea to boil.
Lost in these thoughts, she fails to register Anu entering into the kitchen. It isn't until a voice hesitantly whispers her name that she snaps out of her thoughts. She turns to see Malini Didi's mother standing there.
"Arey Kaki, did you need something? Hum chai bana rahe the, aapke liye bhi bana de ka?"
("I was making tea, should I make some for you too")
"No no beta, it's fine. I just came here to thank you"
"Thank me? But for what?" Imlie asks confused.
"For bringing happiness to my Malini and dressing her up so well. I have never seen my daughter look this happy and it is because of you, so thank you!"
"Arey Kaki, you don't have to thank me for something I have done out of love for Didi and I surely am not the sole reason behind Didi's happiness. The entire family is loving and they all make her happy."
The humbleness in her touches Anu's heart. For the first time she they've met, Anu is able to set aside the fact that Imlie is from Pagdandiya. In her eyes, in this moment, she is her daughter's younger sister, her happiness. She pats her head and walks from the kitchen.
_
As the function reaches its end and the guests depart, Nidhi and Rupali are sent away to decorate the newly wed couple's room. With a bouquet of fresh roses and a few vases along with a cover full of loose petals, they enter the room and begin decorating it. Placing the vases all over the room, they decorate the roses. The loose petals are spread all around, even on the headboard, just to give the ambience. It is not as elaborate as the movies. Instead it's more realistic in its motive of creating a romantic ambience.
It is just as they are adding the finishing touches, lighting few candles, dimming the lights and changing the bleak bedsheets with a more lively color and placing the comforter that Radha comes in to check the progress. Satisfied with all their arrangements, she beckons them out.
After bidding goodbye to her family, Malini begins to move towards her room but she is dragged into Rupali's instead where she is handed over a beautiful nightgown to change into. It is the darkest shade of red and it is more comfortable and modest than sexy which makes it more endearing than awkward considering she wouldn't know what to say to her sister-in-law in case it had been a more revealing piece. Because the truth is that despite being together for seven years, they have never even thought about that aspect of their relationship and even the thought of it now makes her uncomfortable. She is not ready to move into that phase, not when they haven't even kissed and not when the equation between them warrants more emotional intimacy and mutual respect than sexual attraction.
So she changes into the nightgown, finally feeling the tiredness of the day and makes her way to the room. There is a slight nervousness in her but she knows with surety that Aditya is on the same page as her in this regard.
_
There is an awkwardness that permeates through him at the sight of his decorated room. He isn't in any way ready for or in need of a physical relationship and the mere thought of it makes him feel extremely out of place. In all these years of knowing Malini, he has never once thought about kissing her or engaging in anything beyond handholds, forehead kisses and hugs and he believes she is on the same page as him with respect to this as well. He hopes that hasn't changed now.
It is as he is lost in these thoughts that Malini enters the room. Her eyes look around, taking in the decoration after which they land on him. He sees the awkwardness he feels reflected in her eyes and it makes him sigh in relief.
"Aditya.." she begins, her initial belief of him being on the same page faltering a little.
"No, you don't have to say anything Malini. I know you aren't ready and neither am I. To be frank, I have never needed any sort of physical relationship at all in all these years of knowing you. We are on the same page here. Don't let these decorations change anything between us" he assures her, leaving her feeling relieved.
"That's great Aditya, thank God! I just got nervous for a second. Anyways, can we call it a night. I think the tiredness of the day is finally catching up"
"Yes of course Malini! I think I'm ready to call it a night too" he says, moving towards the bed. She follows him after closing their door. They take the respective sides of the bed like the previous night and settle down comfortably after switching off the already dimmed lights.
"Good night Malini"
"Good night Aditya"
_
He is woken abruptly from his slumber by incoherent sounds coming from beside him. It takes him a moment to make sense of the situation, to realize that it is Malini's voice that is repeatedly chanting 'Gone', her voice that is also breaking between her repeated, troubled chants. He sits up immediately and switches on the light. Malini's face is scrunched up, tears flowing down her cheeks. Her hands are restlessly moving over each other before her one hand shoots up and a anguished whisper of come back reaches his ears. Her entire body begins to shiver and he begins to panic! He tries to wake her up by repeatedly and frantically calling out her name but it is of no use. So he shakes her shivering form, pleading her to wake up and that is when she sits up with a jolt, disoriented and with the vestiges of the nightmare she was in the captive of, still lingering.
"Malini, Mun, you're okay. It's just a bad dream, you're okay" Aditya says in a soothing voice, trying to soothe her when her expression transformed from disorientation to horror a moment back.
"Oh God no! Oh God! Oh God!" she says, confusing an already panicked Aditya more.
"Mun what is it? What is it? Do you need something? Is there something I can do? Please calm down. Please tell me what's happening."
"Aditya, I can't do this now. I...just please can you do me a favor. I know it is our suhaag raat and even though we aren't ready for any physical intimacy, it is still a night we should spend together. But I...I need Imlie here.."
"Imlie! Here...why?" he is perplexed at Malini's words and the familiar surge of resentment he has towards Imlie surges even more at Malini's need to bring her here, on this night.
"Please Aditya! I'm sorry but I....I can't explain this now....I need Imlie...I can't sleep here. I am going to where she is" Malini decides seeing the disdain on his face, despite not being in a state to understand why he would harbour it for Imlie of all people.
She gets out of the bed and moves out of their room while Aditya is left watching, completely shocked.
*not proofread. Forgive errors*
Love,
Pratyusha
YOU ARE READING
Lakeerein - Ties That Bind Us
Fanfiction------ Can Be Read As General Fiction ------ One night. One event. Lives of two people altered completely. When Aditya Kumar Tripathi, Chief Executive Reporter at Bhaskar times stepped into Pagdandiya and met Imlie, he did not know how his life woul...
