Parivara: Story of a Family

5 : Outside Castle Walls

Abhay escorted Payal to the pavilion for chai, neither of them saying a word on their walk. Once they had reached the pavilion, Papa and Maa greeted them with large smiles, while Divya glanced at them questioningly. Payal simply smirked at her older sister before going to sit beside Aditi and Vishu, who was seated at the youngest sister's feet.

"Where were you?" Aditi asked Payal once she was seated.

"None of your business," Payal told her nonchalantly, accepting a cup of chai from a servant. Aditi and Vishu looked at each other knowingly and shook their heads.

"So how is business, Abhay?" Papa asked, sitting back and enjoying some grapes.

"Fine, thank you. Everything seems to be peaceful with our neighboring provinces, though there were some taxing arguments."

"All turned out well, I hope?" Papa prodded as Abhay began to stir sugar into his chai.

"Yes, all is well." Abhay gave a reassuring nod before drinking his chai. As he lifted his cup to his lips, his eyes quickly darted to Payal, then turned back to Papa. Payal pretended not to notice, but a small smile played on her lips. Aditi and Vishu also noticed, again glancing at each other and rolling their eyes.

"Please, no business now. Let's enjoy the arrival of our son-in-law," Maa smiled and lazily lounged against the cushions.

"Of course, of course." Papa chuckled turning back to Abhay. "Tell us how you are, not your business. Any new plans, adventures?"

"Not exactly," Abhay looked down, his shoulders stiffening. "Right now we're waiting to hear news of pregnancy from Divya so we could travel to my birthplace to stay with my mother." He looked back up, glancing furtively at Divya and continued, "She has a comfortable bungalow set up for her where she stayed during her pregnancy with me, and her mother before her stayed."

The group became tense at his words, Divya bowing her head in shame. Maa noticed her daughter's discomfort and began to smile and tried to change the subject. Aditi nudged Vishu with her foot and indicated leaving with her eyes. Vishu understood, standing up and excusing himself. As conversation carried on, a tense presence still underlying everyone's sweet words, Aditi stood and slipped away unnoticed.

She ran as soon as she was out of sight, her anklets and bangles tinkling as she did. Aditi scurried through hallways and dashed down staircases until she came to a small door in the back of the castle gates: the servant's entrance. She quietly opened the door and slipped out, into a large, grassy field.

Vishu was waiting in the middle of the field, his back to her, picking at the tall grass strands. Aditi, as quietly as she could with all of her jingling jewelry, stalked up behind him and pounced, throwing herself onto his back with a battle cry.

Vishu cried out, "Hey!" And flipped her gently over. They playfully smacked each other around until Vishu just surrendered under Aditi's slaps, chuckling as he did so. He asked, "How was it when you left?"

"I don't know, they were talking about gardening or something." Aditi replied, fixing her dupatta. "No one noticed I left, just like always."

Vishu looked at her, cocking his head to the side and raising his eyebrows. Aditi merely shrugged at him. There was no point in arguing, it was true; people hardly noticed what Aditi was up to most of the time.

Vishu tried changing the subject, stating, "It became very awkward very fast."

"I know!" Aditi exclaimed, picking at the grass. "And you saw Payal! She's acting strangely, I don't like it."

"You know Payal," Vishu told her. "She's always up to no good."

"I thought I'm the sister who's always up to no good." Aditi giggled.

"No, Payal is the sister who always has something up her sleeve that's good for her and usually bad for someone else," Vishu explained, taking a seat in the soft grass. "When people say you are always up to no good, they just mean because you always hang around me."

"Hey," Aditi plopped down next to him on the ground as he bowed his head sadly. "Don't talk like that. You're the son of a respected official."

"Yes, the bastard son." Vishu corrected, looking up at her sadly. It was Aditi's turn to raise her eyebrows accusingly. Vishu bowed his head again, picking apart a piece of grass. Aditi threw her arms around him and gave him a tight squeeze, letting him be held for a moment. Then she let go and nudged him a little.

Vishu nudged back, a small smile playing on his lips. Aditi giggled and nudged him harder. Soon, they were grappling again, nudging and pushing. They wrestled a little in the grass, until Vishu ended up on top of Aditi, holding her hands down on either side of her face.

"Ow, Vishu! My clothes will have stains on them!" Aditi cried out, giggling.

"As if you've ever cared about your clothes, pagli (crazy)." Vishu chuckled, Aditi also laughing with him. She was still giggling when Vishu stopped, looking down at her as her face wrinkled with her laughter. His mouth curved up in a crooked grin as he watched her, until she realized she was the only one laughing. She looked up at him with wide eyes, her eyebrows raised again. Vishu could hold back no more.

He pressed his lips down onto hers, closing his eyes as he did so. Aditi kept her head still and stiff, her eyes still wide. After holding each other's lips for a moment, Aditi also closed her eyes and let the kiss happen. Vishu deepened the kiss, their lips curving around each other perfectly. Aditi slipped her hands out of his grasp and brought them up to his shoulders, slowly sliding them up into his hair. He wrapped his own arms around her waist, picking her slightly off the ground and pressing her against his chest. Vishu's body shivered as she ran her fingers through his hair, and Aditi could feel herself also begin to quiver. Her heart began to beat loudly in her chest, and her every sense felt heightened.

The kiss became more heated, quicker and stronger. Vishu let her fall back down against the grass, and let his hands roam her torso. He reached up to her shoulders and instinctively pulled her shirt sleeves down to expose her shoulders. He broke his lips from hers to begin heatedly kissing her now bare shoulders and neck. Aditi breathed heavily, his lips creating a buzzing in her body.

As his kissing became more passionate, Aditi's eyes opened and she became confused for a moment. Quietly, she said, "Vishu, Vishu stop." And gently pushed his lips off of her. Vishu did stop, pulling away and sitting up slowly. His eyes burned with passion as he watched her sit up as well, pulling her top back into place and using her dupatta to cover the neck he had covered with kisses. They both straightened up and then sat there, curled up in the grass, staring at each other, unable to say a word.

Now Aditi knew that they had been up to no good.