The Life She Wants

Sixteen

A couple of weeks later

"Good morning," Aadya whispered into Tanay's ear, stroking his hair.

"It's Sunday."

"Happy birthday."

His lips curved into a smile. He pulled her closer and kissed her hair, mumbling a "thank you."

"Aren't you excited?" She frowned at him.

"Oh, I'm very excited." He snuggled into her. "But I wanna stay like this for a while more. You have planned the day, huh?"

"I have!"

"Ten more minutes."

"Okay."

Tanay stepped out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his hips and walked into the bedroom, searching through his clothes for something to wear.

"Wait, Tanay." Aadya placed the plate down and joined him in the bedroom.

"Yeah?"

She pulled out a newspaper-wrapped box from the space under the cupboard and handed it to him.

"I forgot to buy the gift wrap paper," she bit her lip, "sorry. Happy birthday."

"Aw, it's okay. You didn't have to get me anything." He smiled and kissed between her brows.

"Open it." She clapped her hands, excitedly.

He chuckled and carefully unwrapped the box. "Oh my gosh. It's beautiful, Aadya." The first thing he saw was the floral print Nehru jacket.

"Put it on, put it on!"

He puts it on, admiring himself in the mirror.

"Love..." He didn't have any words but his smile said it all. "It's a perfect fit! You made it for me."

"Do you like it?" She wrapped her arms around him and peeked over his shoulder in the mirror.

"I love it." He pulled her from behind him and pecked her lips. "I love you so much."

"I'm glad you like it." She grinned. "Now, hear me now." She stepped back. "So you can wear it like this, with the jacket. You can wear it without the jacket and add this broach to the pocket when you're wearing it without the jacket. And then you can wear the kurta with black pajamas or jeans; isn't it cool? And you can also do like the kurta with black jeans and the jacket!"

"So cool." He chuckled, lifting her chin up and kissing her lips again.

"Now, come here." She grabbed his hand and pulled him to the kitchen. "Stand here. No wait- where is north?"

After a couple of minutes of finding the north and just randomly pacing through the house, she finally got back and smiled, standing in front of him.

"What are you doing?" He chuckled.

"Shh." She took a little kumkum on her thumb and drew the perfect tilak on his forehead and the excess she rubbed between her mid partition of hair. She brushed off the little what had fallen on his nose with her pinky finger, blew on it and then smiled at him again. "Perfect?"

Tanay eyed her up and down and nodded. "Perfect."

Her cheeks heated up.

She took the kaju katli and fed him. He ate half of it and fed the other half to her.

"Why all this taam-jham though?" Tanay asked.

"We are going to the temple and it's your birthday." She kissed his cheek and walked into the bedroom to pin her pallu properly.

She put on her makeup. Her blouse matched Tanay's jacket. After she grabbed her purse, they left the house.

They walked the distance to the temple, hand in hand. In the temple, they prayed. Aadya took her time, and Tanay let her.

"Beta, pallu aage Karo." The pandit of the temple said. Aadya did as told and spread her pallu in front of him. He dropped an apple from in front of the idol into her pallu and with his hand on her head, blessed her.

She smiled, taking his blessings and walked back to Tanay. They ate the fruit together, prayed again, thanking the gods for everything.

After that, they had an amazing South Indian brunch at a restaurant. They clicked pictures, shared laughs, roamed around until the evening.

In the evening they decided to watch the sunset at Marine Drive and made their way to it.

Tanay wrapped his arms around her shoulders, resting her chin on her head while she leaned back into him with her hands on his, smiling at the sunset.

Life had never been so peaceful.

"What do you think we will be like in our 60-70s?" Aadya asked him.

"Hmm," he tightened his hold on her, "old and wrinkled," she gave him the stink eye. He chuckled and continued, "rocking in our rocking chairs in our living room or on the roof of our house with wine glasses in our hands."

"I like that." She grinned. He kissed her cheek. "And what are we doing till we turn 60-70?"

"We'll still be sipping on wine." He answered, making her giggle. "Travelling, making happy memories, making love, lots of love." She laughed out loud.

"Adopt a pet?" She asked.

"Definitely." He nodded.

"Can it be a cat?"

"It can be anything you want." He smiled. "Except hamsters."

"What do you have against hamsters?" She furrowed her eyes curiously.

"Let's just say they think I'm tasty." He rolled his eyes, remembering the hamster that bit his finger once.

"Can't blame them, huh?" She grinned cheekily. Tanay groaned and laughed. He wanted to kiss her so bad.

"That's it. We are going home."

Aadya laughed out loud as Tanay stopped a cab for them.

"Thank you for making my day special." Tanay smiled at her. "I really loved it. Especially this." He gestured to his clothes. "I have never felt so special."

"I'm glad you like it."

When they reached their home and made out for a good thirty minutes, they decided to change.

The doorbell rang while Tanay was in the bathroom. When he stepped out, he stepped out to Aadya holding a chocolate cake with a candle lit on it.

"Too many surprises in a day." Tanay joked.

"You deserve it." She smiled. "Come on." She took the cake to the living room. Tanay insisted she cuts the cake with him.

"Let's bring out the wine?" Tanay asked, almost getting up. Aadya pulled him back down.

"Nope. We went to the temple today! No alcohol."

"It's-"

She shut him up with a kiss and smiled, kissing him again. "Happy Birthday once again."

"Thank you, love." He smiled and pulled her on top of him, caressing her hips.

"I love you."

Tanay touched their foreheads with a grateful smile. "I love you more."

THE END