I had written this many months back, but due to some reasons, was unable to edit it and publish it. I don't know how many of you still want to read this, but I thought, I'll put it out for those who might have come upon this story recently.
Do share your comments and give votes. :)
The candles had warmed up the room quite a bit, their sweet luxurious aroma filled the atmosphere, "Can you locate the AC's remote?" he looked around for it.
When he decreased the temperature to 18 degrees, "I will freeze, Raghav!" Prachi looked at him disapprovingly.
"These candles though! I'll switch on the fans, then?"
"Then the candles will go off!!"
Raghav looked at her defeatedly, he then looked at his clothes and thought of removing his Sherwani was the best option! He got out of the sherwani and removed the turban and placed it on the bed, "So is there anything I can do to help?"
She gestured him to come to her, as she sat down on the dresser's stool, "this dupatta needs to be off my head or else there will be a neck misalignment." He giggled as he got to work, removing the hairpins one by one, trying his best not to tear the dupatta. And once the dupatta was safely folded, he looked at his bride in the mirror. Stopping the sudden urge to sit on his knees, and plant a kiss at the spot right below her floral bun. She felt the bun, "this is pretty right? I don't want to get rid of it so soon, but then with these hairpins, they might poke me throughout the night!"
"that's a dilemma! Try not to injure yourself, give your hair some comfort?"
Prachi chuckled, as he assisted in removing the floral ornamentation off her hair and then the hairpins that had kept her hairdo in intact . As the hair came lose, she could feel the roots of each hair go through a painful sensation. "Aahh it's paining !!" She passed her hand around her scalp, massaging it, then stopped to stretch her neck, back and forth, right and left, she pointed at the mangtikka. As he removed the pins keeping that in place, he loosed the hair and softly massaged her head. Prachi had been noticing him from the mirror, he had done the job with so much integrity, focusing all his attention in the task that he failed to notice how much it was affecting Prachi. She had never been so close to the man she loved. Her cheeks flushed and her heart beat kept increasing. Definitely in love, she noted.
While, he had paid attention to the red sindoor, which had been concealed earlier. She closed her eyes, enjoying the head massage she was getting, slowly leaned back to him. He looked at her, her eyes closed, a smile on her lips.
"Prachi?" he asked her gently, thinking she had dozed off.
"Why did you stop? It felt so good." She innocently questioned.
"I thought you slept."
She shook her head. "I was enjoying this head massage, what about this, give me a head massage every night, okay?! I didn't know I would get a masseur in you." How could he say no to the first thing she ever asked him as his wife, he just nodded a yes.
"Great then," she moved her hair from the back of her neck, "let's remove these neck pieces!"
He loosened the string of one of the choker pieces and carefully got if off her neck. Then assisted in remove the second one, leaving only her mangsultra, an infinity sign. He then knelt to help with the safety pin on her blouse. He was so close her ear, she looked at and smiled. He struggled to remove the pin, it has been placed under the blouse, "why do you girls have so many pins on you!" He screamt, "Ouch!!! " He stabbed his finger with safety pin as he removed the pin and threw it on the dressing table.
Worriedly, she turned to him and his bleeding thumb, "Raghav, I'm so sorry!!" She looked around for a tissue. She found some loose cotton and pressed on his thumb.
"I'm okay! It's just a little drop!" As she strongly held his thumb, he stared at her, when had she become so bothered about his pain and needs. Holding her face with his left hand, he assured her, "I'm okay!" She lifted the cotton and the bleeding had stopped, "its just a prick, Prachi!"
"I know! But still! I'll do things on my own, you sit here. I'll go change!" She lifted her heavy lehenga and walked inside the bathroom. He felt warmth, no it wasn't the candles anymore, it was the happiness and the sudden sense of satisfaction in life, a calmness he felt after years of seperation from his best friend. This moment was going to stay memorable. As Raghav looked around to capture each detail of his new room, he sighed a relief, it was going better than he ever had imagined.
"Raghav!" Prachi shouted his name, peaking from the bathroom, "Pihu di, won't be able to come?"
Raghav looked at her in disbelief, "I'm not calling her now! I'll give you your phone, you can call her!"
"Acha listen," she encouraged herself, "the knot in my lehenga is really tight, just help loosen it a bit. I won't ask anything else!" He stood up but she quickly said, "Nevermind! Raghav, just call Pihu di!"
He looked at her baffled, "I'll give you the phone!" She shut the door and prayed to God and opened it after a few seconds of silence. "Prachi?" he softly spoke on the wooden door.
She opened the door, "the knot is very tough!" She gestured towards the left waist, he tried untying it, but it had been purposefully done in numerous times so that the heavy lehenga would stay put on the waist. He got on his knees to get a better view of the knot. Raghav was always very focused, he would be so engaged in his task and work, the human machine knew only one thing, give effort to get the desired output. In this case, his task was the knot in Prachi's lehenga, and the desired output was the untied knot. As he struggled, Prachi looked at her man, kneeling before her, she really wanted to ruffle his hair, but that would distract him and all she wanted was to get out of this outfit with as little awkwardness as possible.
Although it seemed clear to Prachi that Raghav was busy with the knot, but little did she know how much he was distracting himself. Prachi always made his heart melt, work on desires he did not think would exist. As the knot came lose, he could see the red marks the lehenga's band had caused on her tiny waist, he gently touched the red mark, trying to sooth it with his pricked thumb. An electric current passed Prachi as she should feel his touch on her waist, it was a new sensation, a pleasant one. He stood up and as Prachi held the lehenga with her right hand, she faced him and gave her left hand to him, "hold me." She let go of the heavy lehenga, although it dropped, the cancan kept it in structure. With the help of her husband, she stepped out of it. She was wearing black cycling shorts.
"I also need help with the blouse," only God knows where she had the courage today. "I zip is really tight, but it's the blouse that really needs to be removed with a little force." He still hadn't looked below her face, like a task, he coveted himself to keep his eyes on the task in front of him, the blouse. He unzipped her, but to his shock, he didn't imagine her to open up to him like that. She held on to the dupatta, still on her right shoulder, and turned her back to him.
"Will you be able to remove the sleeves with such chunky bangles still on?"
She realized the issue, " and turned back to him, she shyly looked down at her wrist, and innocently tried removing the jewelry on her hands. As they both slowly removed her bangles from both hands, she could feel how close the had gotten. She could feel his heartbeat, she turned back again, "how let's try!"
"Hmmm...How?" "
"Raghav, like a shirt, " just pull it up!"
Okay," he said so mechanically as if asked to do a job on a construction site, as he unhooked her blouse, his hands brushed on her skin. He wanted to do so without excessive touching, "Prachi, your hair!" Swiftly, she tied her hair in a messy knot.
She stretched her arms up, "like a shirt Raghav!" He pulled the arms and slowly the blouse came off. And there she was, a flawless bare back, he couldn't look away from the nearly flawless beauty in front of him, he looked at her endearingly, but he quickly looked away to the other direction and folded the blouse next to her lehenga on the bed. There was silence, " You want me to bring you your nightsuit?" He heard the door shutting and he turned to see that she already ran to the bathroom. With a sigh, he could feel his heart in his chest, his cheeks flushed. Was he dreaming of Prachi?
Prachi held herself with the help of the door, allowing herself to breathe as much as she could, she couldn't breathe normally, she had asked Raghav to help her undress. She covered her face with her hand. How embarrassing. She quickly removed her cycling shots and got into her new black satin cowl tank and pyjamas pants, she put in the matching shrugs, looking at herself in the mirror, she shyly lowered her eyes. She looked beautiful, she removed her heavy earrings, opened her hair. Tucking her hair behind her ears, she looked at herself, the only color on her face was of her sindoor, her nude lipstick and her mangalsutra sparkled in the light. When she opened the bathroom door, there he was, her husband, wearing his glasses and now in his night suit, looking out of the balcony. A song played in their dim room, many candles were blown out, a few remained keeping the room very lightly lit.