Chapter 9

Part 8 A

Mist to mist, drops to drops. For water thou art, and unto water shalt thou return.

Kamand Kojouri

“Oh my sweet Mahi….” There was something in that voice, a vulnerability that Mahi could not pin point and yet she could sence it all the same.

And if that infamous passion between the lovers was anything near what she was feeling then, she never wanted it to stop.

It was the most pleasurable and fulfilling sensation in the world, to be held in his arms like that, to be looked at – the way he was looking at her, as if she was the only thing that mattered in this world.

Heat pooled inside her like thick molten lava while her heart thrummed inside in an erratic trend, ready to burst forth if he didn’t kiss her right then. But his lips still remained an inch away from hers, teasing with that tantalizing little smile and his fingers drew erotic signs down her open neckline of the dress.

She could have begged him right then to kiss her but apparently she wasn’t the only one here, about to beg. She could hear his sharp intake of breath as his fingers touched the centre of her bosom and even though there were layers of clothing between his skin and hers there was no mistaking his reaction.

“I want you, Mahi! Oh God! I want you so much that it hurts!” He groaned, the vulnerability in those dark eyes getting clearer with every passing second.

“But I won’t kiss you, not after how harsh and aggressive I have been to you today. No!” He shook his head, his expression like that of a man starving from years denying his favorite delicacy and Mahi could have moaned in frustration, she almost did.

“Not until you agree to marry me.”

It was as if he could read the frustration and the need for him, written on her face because he was once again smiling like a tease while his hands took free reign upon her body, touching and caressing her so intimately yet lovingly that while one moment she wanted to hide away, shyly. The next moment she recalled that she didn’t wanted it to stop.

“Tell me that you will marry me…Say yes!” His fingers ran through the seam of her top in a slow sedate route in such a fashion that could turn any woman mad.

“Say it!” he demanded again, causing Mahi to finally give in with half out of her mind with trepidation, pressed so close to him.

“Yes!” She wishpered. “I will marry you.”

A gorgeous smile lit up his face as he surveyed her from, under his lashes, his face slowly coming down for that long promised kiss and she closed her eyes.

When the doorbell to her apartment rang loudly and then rang again.

She opened her eyes with her heart thudding in her chest while he continued to hold her close, kissing her nose, her cheeks, the lobes of her ears, murmuring sweet nothings in her ears and for one moment Mahi forgot that someone was at the door.

But there it was again. The doorbell was now ringing continuesly as if someone had jammed their fingers into that bell.

And Mahi sat bolt upright on the bed, pushing Kartik away abruptly because through the thin walls of her apartment she had just heard something.

The voices of two men, arguing. ‘Her brothers!’ She jumped out of the bed. “Oh God damn it!” She muttered walking out of her bedroom. When her mother’s clear voice rang throughout the apartment.

“Mahi darling, open the door.”

“What is it?” Kartik asked, morosely, getting himself out of the bed too with his bottom lip thurst out, giving her a pouting look.

Seriously, he looked like a child who had been denied his favorite candy and that he would be throwing a large  tantrum any moment now.

“I- I Think it’s my family….oh god!” Mahi covered her face in her hands and haulted behind the door, hearing the cute blabbering her little neice and nephew on the other side of the door and her brother’s talking.

‘What would she say when they would ask about Kartik? Her mother was of course going to assume the worse and then…’ She heaved a sigh. ‘She was doomed.’

“Mahi!” Now her father was calling and Mahi wanted to cry.

“Why aren’t you opening the God damned door?” Kartik bellowed behind her and Mahi snapped back frustrated. “Because if I open the door my family is going to see you and – and I don’t know what to tell them…”

“Tell them the truth darling that I am your soon to be husband.” He suggested picking up his blue coat and tie from the sofa. “Anyway, now that we are getting married it’s natural that I meet your family.”

“Nooo!” She went red in the face. “Get out now! My mother would kill me and my brothers will kill you if they find  a man in my apartment with me this late at night.”

“Seriously? It’s the twenty first century…” He tusked at her now, amused.

“It doesn’t matter what century it is!” She pushed him towards the open balcony on the other side of the room that overlooked the buzzing market downstairs. “It’s still India and my parents are very religious people!”

“And I don’t want to break their heart…so, just go!” She pushed him till the railings of the veranda. “Just go!” She muttered and he gave her a lopsided grin. “Fine I will leave through this balcony if you kiss me!”

“No!”

“Yes”

‘NO.”

“Yes”

“no”

“Fine then, I will stay right here and say hello to your family and tell them what a wild little cat you have been in bed.”

“fine!” She snapped red in the face and stood up on her tip toes to reach his mouth. Her plan was simple.  to give him a little peck and then sweep him out of here before she could let her parents inside but of course he had to take that away from her too.

As soon as her soft lips touched his, the familiar charge between them sparked and somehow became a full fledged thousand watt electricity that shocked them both. She tried moving away but his hands had gripped her back side intertwining their bodies so that not a wisp of air can come between them and then he kissed her.

It was sweet and sensual and mind blowing and beyond any dreams that Mahi had ever had about kissing a man.

“Mahi! “ A loud voice boomed beyond the door and Kartik reluctantly let go of her as she started panicking once again. “Go! Please!” And so he started his descend through her little balcony to the floor below  where people  were milling around in and out of the shops in that street.

By the time she finally opened that door her parents were looking positively alarmed. “ we heard voices but you weren’t opening the door.”

Her mother murmured taking a seat on the sofa along with her father while her brothers continued to harass her with  further questions.

“What took you so long?” Tejas asked and she had to lie through her teeth. “I had fever as Pallavi might have told you so I was in bed.”

“But We heard voices.” Chirag pressed and Mahi wished she could faint again and somehow turn the conversation away from here. “It was the Tv.” It was on and I just switched it off when I came to open the door for you all.”

“oh my poor baby…” Her mother hugged her tight as she checked her temperature. “We came as soon as we heard that you were sick.” 

“How are you feeling now darling?” Her father asked as the two toddlers ran around the room like a giggling tornado. “Better.” Mahi was glad to be back in a conversation where she need not lie anymore.

“Yes, the fever seems gone now.” Her mother nodded.

Finally the rapid fire phase ended and they all settled down but of course her little niece and nephew continued to run around and squeezed their way in through the legs of the adults and wound their arms around Mahi’s limbs.

“Bua…(Aunt)” They unisioned together that was a message in itself. ‘pick us up!’ It said and she obliged by picking them up one by one and placing them on the large sofa by the tv.

“Have you eaten anything?” Her mother asked while moving towards the kitchen and suddenly mahi found herself blushing furiously, remembering about a certain someone serving her soup in bed and then much much more.

“Yes, soup.” She murmured as she settled herself on the rug of the now full room.

“But you all didn’t need to come here all the way from Noida, anyway it was just fever and I could have coped and you didn’t need to drag the kids all this way.”

Suddenly her mother peeked from the kitchen doorway. “Oh dear, you have forgotten.” Her mother exclaimed.

“What?”

“Tomorrow is 26th January, the republic day parade! Divya must have told you that the kids were chosen for the children’s programme at Lal kila and I had called you last week, to remind you to book 3 rooms in a near by hotel for us all.”

Mahi looked at their face with a blank dumbfounded expression because yes she could now remember her sister- in –law’s call and her mother’s reminder to book three rooms for them so that they could stay in Delhi on the night of 26th, enjoy the parade and then drive back the next day but after all that had happened in the last week in her life, Republic day parade had been  the last thing on her mind.

“Shit!” Chirag was laughing somewhere in the back. “Com’on Tejas let’s go and search the nearby areas – if we are lucky we could find a room or two for tonight. I have no intention of sleeping on the floor.”

Suddenly the door bell rang, distracting everyone for the moment.

“It’s almost 9.” Tejas muttered. “Who could it be now?”

It was Kartik, in his now – rumpled blue suit and bedraggled hair leaning on the door frame like a gorgeous Greek statue.  

“good evening…I am Kartik Rao.” He stretched his hand out for a shake to Tejas who had opened the door and now stood looking at him, confused. “Mahi’s boyfriend.”

And Mahi wanted to kill him so bad right then! She had got rid of him from the back door and the bastard had now crawled back through the front.