Royally yours

38. Rakhi

Daksh

If I say I was mesmerized by her, it would be an understatement. I have seen her dancing previously but this time it felt different. It felt divine. It may be because it was the first time I saw her doing a classical performance. She ran away after kissing my cheek. That's something she is doing more often now and damn me if I say I am not loving it.

I am going to leave for Jodhpur tomorrow. I have no idea when Chaitra will be coming back. I checked my emails and then decided to let sleep take over. I had a beautiful dream about us going on a bike ride with her hands around my torso and her head resting on my back. I hope that dream comes true soon.

The following day I woke up and went for a jog. By the time I came back, Chaitra was already in the temple performing aarthi. I went up and took a bath and rushed down just in time to stand in front of her to take aarthi. She gave me a piece of Prashad and smiled. I returned her smile and we walked to the dining table stealing glances from each other occasionally. We had our breakfast and I was about to walk out but Rudra uncle stopped me.

"Beta, when are you leaving for Jodhpur?" He asked me getting up from his place.

"Today evening uncle," I replied with a smile and Chaitra looked at me with a piece of Idli in her mouth. Her mount was hung open and Bindu closed it with her hand smiling at her. She looked down embarrassed.

"Can you take Chaitra with you?" He asked making me nod my head instantly. I looked at her who gave me a small smile of assurance.

"Chaitra are you done packing?"Ishika asked to which she nodded in positive.

"We would have dropped her if not for an emergency meeting in Hyderabad and Dev also having something important to tend to," Akash said giving Chaitra an apologetic look.

"It's completely fine Annayya. And I have even traveled alone before. Now Daksh is also coming with me, right?" She asked giving him an assuring smile.

"I'll take care of her. Don't worry!" I assured him and he smiled in return nodding.

"It's Rakhi time!" She chirped and pulled her brothers to the living room. She made them sit on the couch in a row.

She applied tilak on their foreheads and then did their Aarthi. She tied Rakhi to all of them one by one and made them eat sweets. Then Bindu tied Rakhis to Hithen and Dev while Ishika tied Rakhis to Aakash and hithen. They gave gifts to Chaitra, Bindu, and Ishika. She hugged her brothers while they kissed her forehead lovingly.

"Love you all!" She chirped making all of us smile.

"We love you too Chaithu!" The three replied making her smile and kiss their cheeks one by one.

Then I met a few clients in Udaipur for some brief meetings and returned by evening. My jet was ready by the time we reached the airport and we reached Jodhpur in the next few hours. 

"Will you come home with me? I will drop you at your hostel tomorrow, please?" I requested her. She thought for a while before nodding slightly.

We reached home and my cousins ushered us in. We freshened up and went down to celebrate Raksha Bandhan. Nithi di, Aakaansha, Akshaya, Maitri, and Divya tied Rakhi to me and to everyone else leaving their respective partners. 

Chaitra was sitting on the balcony when I went to check on her. She was lost in some thoughts. I went and sat beside her. She gave me a smile which I returned.

"What are you thinking?" I asked her. She sighed placing her head on my shoulder. I tilted my head and placed a small kiss on her crown.

"About my college. It starts tomorrow and I have to do an internship this semester too. And my last internship  was a disaster." She sighed again making me chuckle. She looked like a kid who didn't want to attend school.

"Why don't you join an internship in our company? Abhi and Rakshit are going to join there too." I suggested but she shook her head in negative immediately.

"I don't want to get something because I am your fiancee. I will join your company as an intern if I pass the interview," she replied making me look at her with pride and amusement. 

"Okay! When do you want us to get engaged?" I asked her and a tint of pink formed on her cheeks listening to me. I love the way she blushes at my words and talking about our wedding.

"Maybe in the week of Ganesh Chaturthi!" She almost whispered which I might have missed if it was not silent. I nodded at her.

"I will ask everyone to start preparations then," I said and scooted closer to her. I want to feel her close to me. 

"Can we have it as a simple affair with only family? We will have a grand wedding." She suggested nervously. I wrapped a hand around her shoulder and she rested her head on my chest.

"Anything you want" I replied and she nodded but frowned after that making me look at her amused at how she managed to have a completely different expression a second ago!

"What about you? How do you want it to happen?" She asked after a few seconds of silence and thinking or maybe talking to hersepf.

"I don't care how it happens as long as you are the one with whom it is happening," I replied honestly. She kissed my cheek and again rested her head on my chest. I wrapped my hands around her pulling her closer.

"We have a lot of shopping to do, right?" She asked looking up at me. I nodded in affirmation.

"You just choose your outfit. Leave other things to me and your brothers. We will handle everything else." I replied and she nodded. 

We spent the next hour discussing what theme we wanted for our engagement, rings, decorations, and the people we wanted to invite. In the middle, I found her yawning and smiled at her.

"You should go rest," I suggested and she nodded smiling sheepishly. We both walked in and I dropped her off at her room and left after kissing her forehead and wishing her night.

Rohan and Naksh came to me and said we needed to talk. We three climbed onto the terrace and settled down on the couches.

"What is it?" I asked looking at the serene sight of the moon hiding behind the clouds.

"Your sister is eating my brain about your marriage. She is throwing tantrums saying she will be looking like a hippo in 5 months and she won't be able to dance too." Rohan explained pulling his hair.

"I understand. But we can't neglect Chaitras' own wishes about her wedding. It's our day and we should be deciding when we want to get married as it will be us whose lives are going to change. Mainly, Chaitras' life is going to change completely after marriage and I want to give her time to accept the changes slowly. I will talk to Di about it." I replied. I don't want to force Chaitra to speed up things for my family's happiness. I am not being selfish and keeping her above everyone but just being considerate. Even Di and Rohan got married only after Di started her own brand and was ready to take this step. They were in a relationship for three years before the marriage topic came up and they got married 2 years after that. I can't take away that right from Chaitra when my sister got those rights. I am sure my family would give the same rights to my other sisters too so why not her? I know my family and her family will be happy if we get married and they have some dreams about both of us but we both will be living a life together. We both are going to share a life and face the challenges life is going to throw at us. If I force her now for my family or her family, she might have difficulty adjusting and that may lead to differences between us. I don't want to ruin a long-time bliss in a hurry to get things done quicker for everyone's sake. I need to prepare myself for this new responsibility of being her husband. I don't want to fail as a husband.

"Please do! Or else she is going to kill us with her deadly glares." Naksh said shaking his head and I nodded.

"I will. She is my sweet Di after all!" I said with a smile and Rohan let out a dramatic sigh murmuring thank god.