A Young Love Story...

Part 23 - The Friendly Start...

The next morning, Rishi and Ananya woke up, almost simultaneously. While Ananya woke up on a rather positive note, thinking she will try to make this work, she could see Rishi was not fresh enough. She went and sat next to him. She spoke in soft tone. "Rishi! Are you fine? Your eyes say otherwise, though."

"Ananya... I am not fine. I am happy I have you in my life. But I am sad because I seem to have lost that friend I had. I don't expect love, acceptance and trust... It will come slowly, by itself. I am positive. But I do expect openness. Will you please be frank with me, about any goddamn thing on earth? Please!!" said Rishi, rather desperately. 

Ananya sighed deeply. Then she said, "Thanks! Thanks for giving me this chance to be a friend. And I am definitely going to make the most of this. I am going to take advantage of this, and be frank from right now..." She said, as she prepared to tell her next words. "Rishi... I loved Vishesh a lot more than I think I did. I always dreamt of being married to him. So it will take me quite sometime, to accept you in his place. At least in my mind, you will take a lot of time to replace him. But, if love is expressed with body, then this body belongs to you. You may want to ..."

Rishi cut her short, "No! Ananya, I love you with my heart and not body. I am not hungry for intimacy. My thirst is for your acceptance of my soul, not body! So, take as long as you want. I will never allow any weak moments to disgrace your body. I can promise you that much." As soon as he said this, Ananya hugged him tight. She felt safe and secure, as she knew her friend would overpower her husband, if any weak moments did emerge. 

Ananya and Rishi got ready and went down to have a special breakfast, laid down specially for the newly-weds. Amidst many "Congratulations", they both enjoyed their breakfast, and the friendly banter about their own wedding too. Soon after, they got back to their room, and each enjoyed a long hot shower, after which they checked out of the hotel and made their way home. 

Rishi's mother welcomed them with the customary Aarti . She was very happy and it showed on her face. She immediately handed them both an envelope, and said, "Ananya, you and Rishi take rest for a while. Then go and meet your parents. Tonight, you and Rishi have a flight to take at 1 am, for your small honeymoon to Maldives." Ananya and Rishi looked at each other, and were pleasantly surprised. Rishi's mother, Sukanya, left them both alone for privacy. 

After a while, Ananya and Rishi left home to go to meet her parents. On the way, they both spoke about the awkwardness of this entire custom of honeymoon. As soon as, Ram and Rekha saw Ananya, they had tears in their eyes. Each hugged Ananya quite fiercely, and kissed her more than a dozen times. It was as if they had both missed Ananya too much in the last few hours. 

Ananya's mother had prepared a scrumptious meal for the welcome of her daughter and son-in-law. After the deliciously appetizing lunch, Ananya and Rishi sat down with her parents for a while. As they got up to take leave, Ananya's mother handed them an envelope too. Curious, she opened it, and found tickets to Kashmir. She handed the envelope to Rishi and looked at her mom with a question on her mind. 

"After you come back from Maldives on 22nd, you rest for a day. On 24th take the early morning flight to Kashmir, enjoy the heaven on earth, and return on 30th May. Is that good enough?" she asked. 

Both Ananya and Rishi smiled and nodded. The parents were all elated. The newly-weds were annoyed that they had no say in these decisions. 

After a while, they took leave and parted from Ananya's parents. They hugged her some more. 

On the way back, Ananya was quite silent, and Rishi understood it must be quite annoying as well as disturbing for her to accept this honeymoon idea. He immediately said, "Ananya, we can say you are unwell. Let us drop these 2 trip ideas! Alright?" He said.