Click! The door opened. She pushed it with huge bag of grocery and books in her hand. This was the first rain of the season. She wanted to go out and get wet. Rains for her were freedom, something that washed off all her emotions, happy, sad, hurt, pain, excitement, everything. She felt empty and light. She put on the stove but today her head was not in cooking. She had decided to make Mexican for dinner. Cooking and serving would give her pleasure. The pressure cooker built up steam. She went in to the room undressed. She took a quick bath and put on some music. She realised there was some sprint in her step. Her head felt funny she just slipped into her bathrobe and started cooking. Evening was setting in and droplets of fresh rain kept pouring. While stirring the red pasta sauce she got lost into the beauty of the fierce sky, a small droplet hit her eye and she shut her eyes.
She heard a voice from behind said, “Ash, I don’t think we can go today, its pouring crazy it’s early this year. I’m sorry ya. We shouldn’t have ……” But she wasn’t listening she was in the terrace with her new formal dress with her most treasured manolo blahniks lying on the side, soaking herself. Her eyes were shut and water pouring from her hair to her face, neck, waist, feet and on the concrete ground. And that’s when he kissed her.
She opened her eyes and the pressure cooker gave the final whistle as if pleading to take of all the steam. Aastha was quiet. She knew what she was going to tell Vikram tonight would shake up her life. Turn her world upside down and maybe even make her the very vulnerable. Right now she was just enjoying jumpy the feeling inside her heart and stomach. But she was still what she was that day on the terrace… highly insecure.
Vikram was her life. She loved him; she had given everything she had to him. Many times she would talk to herself and call herself, ‘stupid’. But the last one year was the most beautiful year of her life. Most of the times they would just be sitting in one room, working on different things and just stealing a quick glance at each other in between the incessant clicking of their laptops. Or they would just lie down on the bed staring at each other for hours. Not touching each other just staring and the alarm would ring for them to get dressed and go to work. There were times when they would not talk for days because of the most trivial matter but both knew that it was needed. Sex was just another form of having a great conversation with the ‘Special Vikram Coffee’ in the middle of the night. Inspite of all this he was still a normal hot blooded man who loved kissing her at every chance he got, and she was still the petite woman who blushed at every kiss.
She was not sure how he was going to react to this.
She realised it was late and she needed to get dressed. She tried on a few things and finally came down to a simple kurta and jeans. As she wore her glasses she realised if she hadn’t met him she wouldn’t have known that glasses make her nose look thinner. She smiled and laid down the table. He came; they kissed and settled for dinner. “How do you do this, Ash…? I mean how? You make like perfect food for a long tiring work day? I’m gonna eat all the lasagnes” Vikrant went on. Dinner was over and she was clearing the dishes. All the while she tried to pick up hints as to how he would react. “We... We should live together.” She just said it concealing her nervousness and excitement. She had said it a lot of times before but this time she meant it, even he knew it. He looked at her, nodded his head and suddenly got up went inside. She was a little shocked. She turned and faced the sink with her eyes closed. This was the most insulting few seconds of her life. At first she wanted to cry. She thought to herself. ‘He’s selfish, mean and stupid, maybe…’
Suddenly he held her hand from behind and slipped a ring in her hand. Before she realised what happened he took her to the terrace outside. “Vik…what… I…?” he kissed her forehead and whispered in her ear, “I’m selfish, mean and stupid but so are you! And now I’m not asking you, I’m telling you… Let’s get married!”
