THE LEGAL BIND

Chapter: 35 - Rituals.

Revika and Vardaan were asked to perform the morning aarti. Although Vardaan didn’t like the idea as he wasn’t all that religious, he did for Revika. After the aarti was done, it was distributed among everyone and soon after the newlyweds were made to settle in the middle of the living room. They were supposed to find a ring in the rose petal filled milk. It was a huge vessel and that made it all the more fun.

Vardaan Singh Rajput

Once the first round began, I was determined to let Reva win, I knew she would be ecstatic if she did and I wanted nothing more than that. I put my hand into the huge vessel as did Reva. I pretended to look for the ring as I stared at the gritty face Reva made, she seemed hell bent on finding it. I loved seeing her so focused, she had a tiny frown that made her all the more pretty.

My hand grazed hers and we froze, she looked at me and our eyes were locked, she quickly shied away and I chuckled. She pressed her nails into my hand, thinking she could make a difference to my calm demeanor, I remained unfazed. She seemed even more annoyed now. I smirked at her and she silently huffed. Soon, her hand shot up with the ring and she squealed. I smiled, she looked extravagant with her smile.

We went for two more rounds after that of which I won just one. Reva was happy to have been the winner of the ritual. Raunak that was on her side was getting his bet money from Ishani and Ishani gave me disapproving looks and grunts along with so many huffs before she finally decided I was supposed to pay because I failed her. I shook my head at the ridiculous suggestion but went ahead to pay anyway.

Reva enjoyed our exchange along with the family. The next ritual was Reva’s and my ‘Pehli Rasoi’. In our family, My Daadu sa and Daadi sa, started the new version of this ritual. Traditionally, the bride is supposed to make her first meal post the wedding, generally something sweet, but, when my grandparents got married, Daadisa was more skilled in combat than in cooking, so to help her with the ritual, Daadusa snuck into the kitchen and made the sweet dish that she loves today – Angoor Rabdi.

When they were caught, they explained everything with utmost honesty and from then on it became a ritual for both the newlyweds to make the dish together. My mother did too and so did Kakusa and Kakisa. It was now my turn to do the same with my beloved wife. I was happy to help her out, but she seemed to know her way around cooking so there was little left to help with. We decided to both make a dish each.

Reva was making Rasgulle, as a sweet dish and I decided to make lemon rice which is a south Indian breakfast, Maa had it at a restaurant once and fell in love with it, I learnt to make it for her. We were left alone in the kitchen and now there was this comfortable awkwardness in the air. Reva was looking everywhere but at me as she fidgeted sub consciously with her Pallu end.

Revika Shastri

It was super awkward in the kitchen as we were alone. I wanted to get to work, but I couldn’t seem to move my feet. It was all fun and games up to now, being teased and winning in the rituals, but now that we were all alone, I couldn’t help replay the incident in our room this morning, my neck heated up. The mere thought of our proximity was enough to make me all hot and red for him.

He chuckled and stepped closer to me, I almost thought he was going to pull me closer as his hands raised in such a manner, but he just reached for the apron hanging on the wall right behind me and then within a second, he was on the other side of the kitchen island while I was left shocked and breathless. He was teasing me and I could see that he was finding it amusing.

He had some nerve constantly teasing me and testing my – already running thin – patience. I decided that I needed to do something about it. I got all the stuff I’d need out from their respective places in the kitchen and got to work. I began by making the sugar syrup. While I let the sugar melt and for the syrup to pick on desired consistency, I observed my husband cooking.

Perfect, in every way. He looked like he was heaven sent as he gracefully cooked. I leaned with my back against the counter as my gaze refused to leave the man in front of me. The way his arms flexed as he picked up the stuff from the counter had me drooling. I hadn’t taken my time to look at him and ingest all his intricate details and now that I have, I don’t think I can ever stop.

He was focused on his work as he spoke, “Like what you see that much?” he had that smug grin on his face again. I internally scoffed at how cocky he could be at times, I decided that it was time for vengeance. I slowly walked towards him, I held him by the shoulders and turned him to face me. I placed my right palm flat on his chest and slowly slid it up to his neck as I leaned closer to his ear.

I caressed his cheek as I whispered in his ear, “No, you looked funny, I was amused, husband.” He let out a ragged breath and I knew I had an effect on him just like he did on me. It made me more confident, just as I was about to pull away, he grabbed my waist and pinned me to the kitchen island. His right hand around my waist as his left was on the island, he leaned down to be face to face with me. His eyes dark, he was breathing heavy, “Don’t play with a fire you can’t handle just yet, Reva,” he said, his voice husky, with a hint of what I picked on as frustration. He knew what I was trying to do.

I cleared my throat, but it sounded like a whimper. We stared into each other’s eyes for a while before he reached out for the stove where I left the long-forgotten sugar syrup. He turned off the stove. His hand then moved to the side of my face; his palm so big it covered more than half my face. He caressed me as he leaned his face closer to mine, he placed a long kiss to my forehead. I was hoping he’d kiss me; I just had a flash in my head, I was backed onto the island as he devoured my mouth and body with those heavenly lips. I snapped out of my fantasies when he said, “Let’s focus on the task at hand and we can finish this later, maybe in a more private place like our bedroom, yeah?”

I didn’t trust my voice so I nodded. I didn’t know where all these fantasies were coming from all of a sudden, but I didn’t mind them. He was my husband. I wasn’t sure I was ready to consummate this marriage, but I definitely loved being in his proximity. He gave me a nod back and rubbed our noses together before he finally let me go. He got back to work with a smile that I mirrored but with flushed cheeks. He was driving me insane and he clearly took pride and amusement in it.

“Ese na Mujhe tum dekho, seene se laga loonga…”

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Proximity>
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