Accidentally in Love
Chapter 9: Tune of Love

There was an aura of pure brightness in the sunrise today, thought Naina, as she stood in the balcony watching the deep color of mehendi in the sunlight. She smiled, recalling how elders would say that the color of signified the love of husband for his wife. The deep color in her hands meant that Sameer loved her a lot. Not that she had any doubt about it, but still… it felt like an evidence for all those taunting relatives who kept on wondering how a rich and handsome boy agreed to marry her.

“Uff Bela, yeh garam paani kyun nahi aa raha”, a voice floated to the balcony. Naina sighed. This had been a constant scene ever since the arrival of guests at her place. The nagging and complaints never stopped. Sometimes the staying arrangements were not appropriate, sometimes the facilities inadequate, and most of all the food was never proper. There was a constant demand of tea throughout the day even though it was the month of March. And some people who wouldn’t ask for tea, they would keep on demanding cold-drinks or lassi. It seemed as if people didn’t come to bless her or Sameer, but for finding faults with everything.

A bald uncle was talking to Chachaji, “yeh kaisa sabun hai? Hamam nai istemaal karte kya?”

“Ladke ki kundli toh theek se dekhi na”, an old lady enquired of Taiji, “aise kaise sadharan si ladki se shaadi karne ko raazi ho gaya?”

Phulla bua called Naina to sit with her, “idhar aaja tu beta… mere paas.”

Just then Rakesh entered along with another relative who enquired about coolers in evening function. Rakesh seethed, “aree bade ghar me shaadi ho rahi hai Naina ki, iska matlab yeh nahi ke kharcha ladkewale de rahe hai. Humse jitna banega hum utna hi karenge.”

Chachaji smiled, trying to handle the situation, “Bhaisaab aap fikar mat kijiye. Shaam ke liye cooler ka intezaam kiya hai, aur mausam ab tak itna garam nahi hua hai. Hamare damadji ka parivaar bahot achcha hai, woh kisi baat ki shiqayat nahi karenge.”

Another lady asked, “aaj samaan kya kya de rahe hai tilak me? Zara pehle se dikha dena.”

“Aree haan”, her companion added, “ek saath sab kuch aaj mat de dena, warna ummede badh jayegi ladke walo ki. Thoda samaan aaj dena, thoda shaadi ke din, aur baki ka pagphere ke waqt.”

Bela listened to everything with a smile on her face, agreeing to all advice, trying to filter the useless ones in her mind.

Naina sat in between Phulla Bua and Preeti, listening to snippets of conversation, and sighed, feeling a buildup of headache. It was her sangeet today, and finally she would be able to meet Sameer… after so many days… how will he look? What will he do when he would see her? She missed him so much… His voice, his teasing, his smile, and that glitter in his eyes… God… He was just perfect… She would love to see the reaction of all the girls who had arrived for the wedding… So many of them had kept on teasing her all her life using the words Taiji used to taunt her, or just making fun of her. Even some of her school friends, except Swati, teased her that she would never find a man to marry because all she did was read books. But now… she would stand with Sameer and look at all of them, happily enjoying their jealousy. She chuckled at her own petty thoughts.

Phulla Bua nudged her, “kya hua tujhe? Muskura kyun rahi hai? Sameer ke khayalo me kho gai kya?”

Naina blushed, “nahi dadi-bua… main toh bas…”

“Yeh aur Jijaji, dono bas ek dusre ke khayalo me khoye rehte hai”, Preeti teased, “roz phone pe baat karke bhi dil nahi bharta.”

Phulla Bua’s eyes narrowed, “roz phone pe baat? Rasmo ke beech me bhi.”

Naina paled, and Preeti quickly said, “nahi nahi… abhi kahan… yeh toh pehle ki…”

“Chup kar”, Phulla Bua snapped, “aur  tu… Naina…”, she smiled and continued, “jaanti hun main sab… dil bada bechain ho raha hoga na… tu toh khushnaseeb hai, ke shaadi se pehle aaj dekh paa rahi hai. Theek se dekh lena firse, kahin koi kami toh nahi hai…”

Naina smiled, “unme koi kami nahi hai.”

Phulla Bua grinned, “uff… itna pyaar abhi se… aaj toh ab Sameer se achche se milna padega… Dekhu toh zara itna kya khaas hai ke meri bholi si Naina ka dil chura le gaya.”

The day passed in some small rituals, several songs, teasing, arrangements, and soon Naina was sitting in-front of the dressing table while two girls helped her get ready. The peach and maroon lehenga added a soft glow to her complexion; she had teamed it with a choker necklace and big earrings, combined with a mangtika. The makeup was light to complement the pastel shade of her dupatta and skirt, the only highlight being her eyes which had been given a bold smoky look. When it was done she blinked several times, it was tough to believe that her eyes could look like this. The parlor lady commented how her groom would be totally smitten by her today, and she blushed.

Very soon the fairy lights were turned on, the lamps lit, it was the Sangeet evening and everyone was eagerly waiting for the groom’s family to arrive. Ladies tried to spruce themselves up as much as possible, some elderly women watching over the things that were to be given in tilak today, and the men were still running around handling small tasks here and there. The food was being prepared at a separate corner, but the fragrance often floated along with the air. Several girls practiced their dance steps, songs playing over a portable tape-recorder, and for children it was the perfect opportunity to run around unsupervised.

At 6:30pm sharp, a boy came running towards the mandap and informed in a loud voice that the groom’s family was arriving. A wave of excitement ran through the people and someone sent word upstairs to make Naina ready soon. Preeti listened to the kid who had been sent to inform and squealed, “jijaji aa gaye.”

Naina’s heart thumped, and something fluttered inside her belly, he was here… finally… Several cars honked and Preeti leaned out of the window to see around five cars lining up inside their society. All the neighbors were peeking out from their balconies or standing on road to see the arrival. Naina also stood up and went to stand near the window, hidden behind the curtains in a way that she had a partial view of the road but no one from downstairs could see her. She was desperate to see Sameer, that was all her eyes searched for, and soon she saw him descend from a white car, dressed in a cream-gold kurta-pyjama with maroon sleeveless embroidered jacket. The kurta sleeves were pushed up to reveal his forearms, and she noticed that as soon as he got down even he started looking here and there. Soon he looked up, and flashed a grin at Preeti, gesturing with his hand to ask where Naina was. Preeti giggled and pointed to her side, he understood that she was hiding behind the curtains. He made a pleading gesture signaling one with his finger, and Naina laughed understanding that he was requesting her to come out once. Just as she was about to obey, a few ladies entered inside the room, and Preeti quickly pulled back Naina.

Down below Sameer’s smile faded, but Munna patted him on his back, “chinta mat kar… Bhabhi aa jayegi thodi der me neeche, tab achche se dekh liyo.”

Sameer smiled, and turned towards Chachaji and Tauji who had come forward to welcome them. The relatives from groom’s side looked around at the preparations, and some of them wondered why there was no proper party plot. The arrangements seemed mediocre to many of them. Some even made a few whispered comments about how the cold-drinks were not cold enough, and the chairs were shaky. Sameer was seated for the Tilak ceremony, and after a few minutes of fidgeting anxiously he heard Chachiji asking someone to bring Naina down. Finally he would be able to see her…

Another ten minutes later just as he was refusing the second glass of cold-drink, his heart thumped and he knew she had arrived. He stopped in mid-sentence, turning to see her, and as he vision filled his eyes he drew in a shaky breath. God… she looked gorgeous. The lehenga suited her perfectly even though he had been slightly skeptical of the color combination when they had bought it, but she had been adamant on buying it, and he could now see that it indeed looked ethereal. The floaty peach skirt and dupatta made her look like a dreamy illusion, too soft to be real, but the maroon blouse stood out solid and bold, highlighting her fair complexion. As she was made to sit beside him, he stared at her without blinking, the earrings were big, the eye-shadow sparkling, and the lipstick shade made his heart skip beats. There was a fragrance that teased his nostrils; even amid the spicy smell of vegetable being cooked in the corner, he could clearly smell her floral scent.

“Oye, bas kar ab”, Pandit’s voice made him jerk.

A few relatives laughed and Naina blushed. Sameer smiled, his hand itching to touch her. Keeping his voice extremely low, he asked, “tum sach me ho na?”

She smiled, still not looking at him, and nodded gently. His gaze kept returning to her, and he noticed that she was also trying to look at him from the corner of her eyes. After a moment he asked, “kaisa lag raha hun?”

She blushed, and slowly replied, “bahot handsome.”

He bit his lip to control from smiling wide, and said, “tum bhi kamaal lag rahi ho. Kaash theek se dekh paata bina kisi disturbance ke.”

Naina was about to tell that she also wanted the same thing, but just then she overheard a few ladies discussing about the middle-class society. Her face fell, and Sameer understood, he softly spoke, “ignore karo Naina… Rishtedaaro ka toh kaam hi hota hai kamiya nikaalna.”

She took a deep breath and nodded. He was right. Hadn’t she seen such things in her relatives too? All of them were just looking for any and every chance to complain.

He teased, “kab tak aise bina dekhe baat karogi? Dekh toh lo mujhe.”

Her cheeks flamed again, “sab hume hi dekh rahe hai. Chup kariye.”

He chuckled, but fell silent as Chachaji and Naina’s brother Arjun approached him with a thali. They did his tilak, placed gifts on his lap, and blessed him. The same ritual was done by Naina’s father, Tauji and a few others. Then Vishakha came to bless Naina, she placed a saree and some jewellery in her lap, whispered something in her ears and then they both smiled at each other confusing Sameer. Soon after the main ritual, Deepika came running to them and jumped to sit between them, making Sameer scowl and Naina giggle. And finally she looked up at him, he grinned as their eyes met, and it seemed time stopped. They could have stayed there like that for ages, if Deepika hadn’t prodded Sameer asking, “bhaiya , aise kyun dekh rahe ho bhabhi ko?”

Naina moved her eyes away from him, blushing furiously, and a few people laughed at the innocent question. Some other women came to bless her, and one of them commented, “Vishakhaji, society chahe jaisi bhi ho, aapne bahu bahot sundar dhundi hai apne bete ke liye.”

Naina’s eyes widened on hearing this, and she automatically turned to look at Sameer who beamed with pride. Vishakha smiled, gracefully accepting the praise for her daughter-in-law. Taiji who had been tensed since the beginning of ceremony with the constant complains now relaxed a bit on hearing the appreciation for Naina.

Soon the dance performances started, Preeti, Swati and a few other cousins performed on “woh mere jijaji”, while Munna and Pandit performed on “waah waah raam ji.” After a few more dance numbers it was finally time for Sameer and Naina’s performance, and they danced beautifully on “mehndi lagake rakhna.” Given it was a spontaneous dance performance, Sameer took every chance he could get to be close to Naina, he twirled her, and when she looked confused he simply winked at her. He knew he won’t get much time to dance with her properly before the family would pitch in, and so on the next twirl he slid his arm around her waist, pulling her flush to him, and her hands clenched on his shoulders as she looked up in his eyes. He leaned down letting his forehead touch hers, and smiled down at her, as they swayed to the tunes of love.

True to his guess, the next moment all the friends and family members bounded up on the stage to dance with the bride and groom, and Sameer laughed releasing Naina from his hold so that they both could dance. It was a lively atmosphere as everyone from Nanu to Deepika danced to the euphoric Bollywood beats. The madness lasted until thirty minutes more, after which people calmed down, and the Agarwals rushed to see the dinner arrangements.

Sameer saw Naina talking with Preeti and then they discussed something with Chachiji and went off somewhere. He frowned wondering where she was going and how come she didn’t tell anything to him. As he sat there with Rohan and Deepika trying not to feel lonely even in the crowd of people, Pandit came up to him and said that he needed to come along for something urgent. Rohan also stood up, but Pandit gestured him to wait. Sameer kept asking where was he taking him but Pandit didn’t answer, they walked out of the mandap, and inside the society building, around the side and were at the backdoor of a ground floor flat.

Sameer frowned in confusion, “yeh kahan le aaya mujhe?”

Pandit grinned, opened the door and pushed him inside. He stumbled, trying to balance himself, and grabbed onto the refrigerator. Someone giggled, and he looked back to see Preeti exiting the room and shutting the door. His confusion increased, but before he could ponder over the strange happenings someone caught his hand and he nearly stopped breathing. It was Naina… He knew it was her…

“Naina”, he whispered, and the next second she was in his arms. He enclosed her in a hug, tightening his arms around her, and she sighed as if the hug gave her relief. Well… at least it did to him… A relief, a bliss that he had been craving for, and yet hadn’t realized the extent of it.

After few minutes he asked, “Naina… yeh iss tarah… tumne mujhe…”

She cut off his unfinished questions, “aap milna nahi chahte the?”

“Naina”, he pulled back to cup her face, “of course milna chahta tha… lekin iss tarah… agar bahar kisiko pata chal gaya toh? Aur yeh hai kiska ghar?”

She smiled, “kisiko kuch pata nahi chalega… Chachiji se humne kaha hai ke mere lehenge ke pins theek karne jaa rahe hai. Preeti aur Swati nazar rakhe hue hai, jaise hi koi mujhe dhundega woh bata denge. Aur aapke baare me koi puchega toh Munna aur Pandit kahenge ke aap bathroom me ho. Yeh ghar meri saheli Shefali ka hai, toh koi risk nahi hai… bas lights mat chalu karna…”

To say that he was impressed would not be enough… Naina had totally blown off his mind with the plan… Goodness… He could have never imagined Naina doing this… A plan to meet alone during their pre-wedding ritual, and she had somehow managed to involve his friends in it too without letting him know. His woman was an absolute genius.

Her voice broke in his thoughts, “kya soch rahe hai aap?”

He grinned, “yahi ke main kitna lucky hun.” Glancing around he spotted the kitchen window, it was partially open and light from outside was entering through the gap in the iron bars. He shifted to the small patch of light careful to be out of range of view from anyone outside. They couldn’t turn on the lights but he needed to see her. And even though he had seen her dressed up outside, this was different… The dim light made her skin glow, and the stones in her jewelry glittered. His eyes roved over her face, the deep eyes, the smooth curve of her cheeks, the sharp line of her nose, the plump lips that were curved in a small smile as she watched him observe her. His gaze dropped further south, the dark shaded blouse was overlapped by peach transparent dupatta, and through that he could see her skin… It took him a moment to register that she was actually wearing a blouse that was low cut enough to give him a hint of the soft swells of her breasts… He swallowed audibly, commanding himself to look up, but he was mesmerized by the forbidden sight… It wasn’t much, but it was more than he had ever seen…

Naina kept looking at him, having a fill of his face while he spent time in observing her… She liked it… She was free to note the smallest detail of his face like the way his brows furrowed slightly in confusion, the way his long hair fell on his forehead, the way his eyes took on a deeper shade suddenly as he looked at her lips, the way his throat worked up and down as he swallowed. He was hers… The realization made her shiver… Tomorrow they would be married and then she would have all the freedom to touch and explore… She wanted so much… She wanted to trace the veins on his forearms with her fingers, she wanted to touch his face, she wanted to smoothen the lines on his forehead when he was lost in thought, she wanted to touch his hair and see if they were just as silky as they looked. And she wanted to kiss… Yes, over the past many days while being away from him, she had thought and thought about the promise he had made her in that part that day… The promise of a kiss on their wedding night… And she wanted it… She felt as if that step would be monumental in her desire to belong to him, in her want to have him all for herself. And when she was his, he won’t be just staring… But… wait… What is he staring at with so much concentration? Her lips curved in a frown as she looked down at herself, and soon her eyes widened as she realized that he could see the line of her blouse.

She blushed immediately on realizing what was going through his mind, and didn’t know what to do… Should she just stand there and let him look? Or should she let him know that she knew? After debating for a couple of minutes she decided to let him what he wanted, and she would do what she craved for… Trailing her hands up to his shoulders she stood up on her toes and kissed his jaw. Sameer gasped, his hands coming up to hold her waist, and that was another new sensation for him because his fingers landed on her bare flesh. She shuddered in his arms, clutching on tighter, her lips still moving on his cheek… Oh God… She was kissing him! He trailed his hand up her back only to be met with more bare flesh, this time her back, and he groaned softly…

“Naina ruko”, he gasped. She paused immediately, tilting her head to look at him, and he gulped on finding her so close. He somehow managed to croak, “tumko pata hai tum kya kar rahi ho?”

Her lips pursed in a cute frown, as if she was puzzled by his question, and then she tentatively asked, “umm… kiss?”

He chuckled, “haan… par tumhari saari lipstick mere gaalo pe aa jayegi aisa karogi toh. Phir koi puchega toh kya kahogi?”

“Oh”, her pretty eyes widened, “toh ab?”

He smirked, “aankhen bandh karo.” She did as he asked, and he moved his hands up and down her back, savoring the feeling, enjoying the sight when her lips parted on a soft exhale. He dipped his head, brushing his lips on her forehead, over her closed eyes, her nose, the gentle curve of her cheeks… When he came to her lips he blew gently and placed a feather soft kiss on her chin. On her back his finger traced the outline of the back-cut of her blouse, “yaad hai na maine peechli baar kya kaha tha?”

She smiled, her eyes opening to meet his heated gaze, “12^th March 1997.”

“That’s right sweetheart”, he grinned, and hugged her.

After a few more moments he reluctantly said that they should leave else everyone will be suspicious. She parted from him, and grinned, confusing him when she asked, “rumaal hai?”

He nodded and pulled it out from his pocket handing it over to her. She wet it at the kitchen sink and then proceeded to wipe his cheek, making him chuckle and wish he could have seen the mark of her lips on his skin… But not to worry… He would surely get plenty of opportunities after tomorrow.

Sameer went back first, and immediately the Agarwals made him sit, starting to serve him. He innocently queried about Naina’s whereabouts, and Chachiji replied, “beta woh aa jayegi abhi… zara ghar tak gai hai. Main bula laati hun.”

But before anyone could leave to call her, Preeti and Swati came back with Naina. He smiled at the sight… She looked just like she had before… shy, demure, and beautiful… No one would guess that just minutes ago this same woman had been so bold and sensuous… That was only for him to know! And he liked it… very much!

As they started to eat some lady commented, “ab bas kal subah haldi ka shagun aur phir shaadi…” Sameer and Naina looked at each other, smiling, eagerly anticipating tomorrow, it promised to be the most precious sunrise of their life.