[This chapter contains description of intimate scenes and actions. Reader discretion is strictly advised]
The December was freezing cold in the lush green countryside, and she went out dancing like a romantic fool into the grass fields that extended beside the small cottage.
"Radhika! Just how many times I've told you to close the door when you go out? What are you, an infant?"
But she was long gone, skipping her way through the wet grass. The gentle breeze brought with it the scent of the damp soil, and the mellow beams of the rising sun only made the view more picturesque. Radhika sat on a rock by the banks of the small river that meandered its way around the crop fields, and splashed her face with the fresh, sparkling water. She was experiencing a certain childish happiness she hadn't felt in a long while, she smiled in herself thinking just how much she had longed to visit her hometown all these years she was stuck working her corporate job in the city. Now she had a very different life lying in wait for her, and she was looking forward to enjoying every bit of her new life.
"Is Devesh arriving today, dear? You didn't even tell me when he's coming! At least inform me beforehand, will you?"
"Yea ma, Dev told me he'll try to reach by evening, he was planning to leave early morning, but his superiors called him up for an urgent meeting."
"Aah...Such a good boy, working so hard even when he's so young. Was he in the same department as yours?"
"Yea ma, I was his former boss, but right now I preside a different department. But yes, we met each other at the office for the first time."
Beaming with happiness and giving her mom the tiniest mischievous smile, she sprinted away in the direction of their house, leaving her mom standing among the stony banks of the river.
"Stupid girl, at least help your mother through this wobbly path!"...
But in her mind, her mom was very happy. Being a single mom was always tough on her, especially after her husband stormed off the house one day, saying that he had found someone who actually loved him, and didn't boss around all the time. Remembering her days with her husband, she felt a choking sensation in her throat. Even today, she couldn't blame her husband for leaving her. Everything he told her was true...he was a very hard-working man who sacrificed every moment of his life for the betterment of his dear daughter, and his lovely wife.
Mrinalini slowly made her way back to her small cottage, sobbing as she remembered how Abhimanyu was crying when he walked out of the house, he wasn't doing anything out of spite. And although she didn't believe it at first, she had come to know over the years that Abhimanyu never had anyone else in his life than herself.
The broken mother looked up at the glimmering sky, hands folded in prayer, and then looked at her innocent daughter running around and playing with their dogs in the lawn. She prayed to God that Radhika never made the same mistake that she committed. Devesh eventually pulled up in front of the cottage in his car and was greeted by an excited Radhika and a smiling Mrinalini, who was leaning on the balcony, looking at the two lovebirds embrace each other. Devesh kissed Radhika on her forehead, and as soon as he realized that her mother was fondly watching them from the balcony, his face went red with embarrassment.
Radhika dragged the flustered Devesh into the cottage, and almost pushed him into the washroom. His face was really showing the stress of his work, and he was barely walking when he entered the house. Mrinalini started arranging the food on the table, while Radhika unpacked Devesh's stuff in her room. Radhika had a smile pasted across her adorable face. At the table, Mrinalini watched as Devesh often fed Radhika with his own hands, and suddenly retract his hands...it was actually funny how young lovers were so innocent and caring. As the sun slowly went down beyond the horizon, Mrinalini went down to the local temple to offer her prayers, and slowly made her way back to her small home, enjoying the mild evening breeze on her way.
When she eventually returned and was making her way to the kitchen to get some snacks ready for the evening, she was rather surprised to see Devesh already tending to a mixed salad, with some onion fries and a tray of carefully prepared strong cups of tea. She noticed small drops of tears rolling down her cheeks, as she remembered Abhimanyu coming back from work every day and making her the best cup of coffee she had ever tasted. She felt that she could see Abhimanyu in Devesh, and regretted everything in her life, all over again, she felt as if her past was standing in front of her, looking down on her pitiful self, and she felt a tight sensation in her chest as she controlled her urge to cry her eyes out in front of Devesh. He was so absorbed in decorating the salad dish that he didn't notice someone standing at the entrance to the kitchen. As he turned around, searching for the coriander leaves that he had chopped up for garnishing, he freaked out so hard that it almost felt like his soul had left his body. Mrinalini couldn't help but laugh at the poor boy, who was desperately trying to gain his composure back at this point. Radhika came out from her room, looked at the almost white face of Devesh, and then at her mom who was banging the table at this point, while laughing like she had never laughed, and she guessed what had went down.
"Come on ma, don't freak out my little boy, he's already afraid of ghosts."
She then went over to Devesh, gave him a soft kiss on his cheeks, and whispered,
"Ma does it sometimes without knowing, she wasn't trying to scare you. I bet she was looking at you work. She loves to see people working when they are engrossed in their job. I mean as a teenager I can't even count the number of times I got freaked out because she was standing at my door like a stalker, watching me study."
"Don't tell weird things about your ma to your husband, stupid girl."
Radhika literally froze in her place, and slowly turned her gaze towards her mother, who had already taken up a cup of tea and a bowl of salad and fries and was munching away at them to her heart's content.
"Devesh, you're going to be a very good cook you know...although next time, its coffee for me, I'm not a very tea person, my son."
Devesh was stuttering like an old, rusted engine at this point, everything that came out of his mouth sounded gibberish, but finally he managed to say, "Y...ye...y... yes m...ma".
And then, Radhika and her adorable mother, Mrinalini started laughing like someone released laughing gas in the atmosphere. Although Devesh was feeling very shy and awkward, but this felt like home, somewhere people would want him to be, somewhere he'll be loved...somewhere he could come back after a tiring day and lie down in peace.
----------------------------------------
Devesh was going through one of the greatest times of his life, he was an enthusiastic participant in the household chores, cooked with Mrinalini a lot of the times, sang with the others while staring at the starry sky, and was really taking a break from his life. Radhika would often look at him, sitting like a hermit out on the lawn, or on a rock near the river, typing away at his laptop, and smile fondly. Even though they were on a leave, they had to sometimes work from home, and it became pretty regular, but they got to be with each other, and in a place both of them called home.
Mrinalini was washing the dishes while Radhika brushed her teeth after dinner, Devesh had retired earlier that day. Although both mom and daughter had a lot to say, they didn't speak, rather they kept doing their thing in silence. Just before Radhika was about to enter her room for the night, her mom hugged her from the back, tight, and whispered to her ears," Don't hide anything from him, my dear, love him the best you can." Radhika was a little startled by her words, she wasn't expecting this now, not at least from her mother. She slowly turned around and held her mom closer. She could feel her sobbing slowly under her shawl, and she hugged her even tighter.
"What is it ma? Is it about him?"
Mrinalini looked up at her kid, wiped the tears from her eyes, and cupped her daughter's face in her withering hands. Radhika felt the melancholy in her mother's eyes, but she held back her tears.
"You know, your Devesh is just like your dad...he's too selfless, he works so much, doesn't take care of himself...and always thinks about you. I overheard yesterday he took over a night shift for you just so that you could get some rest, he stayed up on the living room couch till almost sunrise, I had woken up for my morning prayers, and spotted him gathering his work stuff up from the small tea-table. My dear, don't reject your man someday just because he couldn't spare much time for you. Just remember, everything he does is for you, and your future child."
Radhika covered her face to hide her watery eyes...she couldn't keep herself from crying. The mother and the daughter held on to each other, crying their hearts out in the middle of the night.
She entered her room, and spotted Devesh sleeping like a baby on the bed. His breathing made the slightest sound she could have ever thought of, and she kept looking at him, while drinking water from her bottle. In her mind, she was kind of laughing about how her man didn't have a muscular figure and wasn't really the best-looking guy you could stumble upon. She placed the bottle back on the bedside table and climbed into the bed. Devesh slowly opened his eyes, groggily smiled at her, and almost immediately fell asleep again. She slowly chuckled, and sat down in her spot, looking at his sleeping face. She felt a certain warmth that she had never felt. She pulled the sheet over her...and very slowly inched towards her love...and before he could wake up from Radhika's breath down his throat, she planted a gentle, warm kiss on his lips. She was still looking at him when he eventually understood what had just happened, her eyes were filled with hope and passion.
"Dev, I'm not very good looking you know. I don't have a very good figure, even...even..."
She couldn't say it, she was too embarrassed to even look at him at this point. She closed her eyes and disappeared below the sheets. But she felt a pair of arms grab at her waist...she slowly opened her eyes and felt a kiss on her earlobe.
"I wasn't looking for the perfect girl, I'm happy I got to meet someone who loves me so much I can't even imagine my life without her. You're the most precious thing the happened to me, my dear, don't be ashamed of what you are. You're the most perfect human being, in spite of all the flaws people point out in you."
Radhika was smiling through her tears, she felt a kiss on her neck, and on her cheek. She slowly turned around and faced Devesh. She fell for him all over again at that moment. He wasn't trying to act like a playboy, he wasn't trying to be something that he wasn't, he was lying beside her, holding on to her, like a child holds on to their mother. They embraced each other, and slowly the kisses became more passionate, the two bodies clung to each other, experiencing everything they had to offer.
Devesh slowly started to unhook her bra...he was shaking like a child even in the heat of the moment, but Radhika gently held his face in her hands, and kissed him in affirmation, she wasn't the least bit uncomfortable. She felt wanted, she felt accepted, she felt loved. She had never felt confident about her body, but Devesh made her feel at home.
"Radhika...are you really okay with this? I know you have certain traumas related to your body, I'm sorry I think I overstepped..."
Radhika held his mouth shut with her hands, and she undid the rest of the hooks herself. Devesh just stared at her in awe, he was almost stunned. The small lamp in the room glowed a mild yellow, and her smooth golden-brown skin glistened in the faint light. He was mesmerized, admiring every curve she flaunted, sitting on top of him now. His face was growing red every moment, but he suddenly sat up and grabbed Radhika close to his bare chest. Both of them felt their breaths on each other, Devesh went almost numb feeling the sensation of her soft, small breasts on his chest. Even after quite some time had passed, both of them kept holding on to each other.
"Can you feel my heart, Dev? Can you feel my breasts? What do you think Dev?"
He could barely answer when she suddenly got up and held his face into her chest. Devesh hugged her closer...they slowly fell back on the sheet, clothes were thrown off, the candle in the bedside lamp slowly died down...the distant sounds of the night slowly died down as well, but in the heart of these two amorous lovers, the flames of passion burnt brighter than they could possibly comprehend. Grabbing on to each other, feeling each other's skin, their touch, their breath, both of them succumbed to the pleasure of making love for the first time since they started seeing each other a year ago. Their eyes never left each other, they kept looking at each other smiling through the overwhelming sensation of pleasure and fulfilment. And after some time, both of them shared the longest kiss they could possibly have shared and slumped back in their places in the bed.
"Quite the guy you are in bed, aren't you, Dev?"
Devesh was too embarrassed to answer that, he was still in utter disbelief as to what had just happened, and Radhika poking him at this moment made him curl into a ball. Both of them were panting, yet their hands held each other, Radhika gave her love one last kiss on his forehead before sleep overcame her tired body, and she cuddled onto Devesh like a small kitten. As he held her bare skin close to him, he was crying with joy, his emotions were pouring out like a waterfall. He felt so fortunate, so lucky to have someone like her. He touched her forehead, folded his hands in prayer, hugged her closer, and slowly closed his eyes. Sleep came over him, and before long, they looked like two lost kittens holding on to each other for their life. The moonlight poured into the room through the cracks in the wooden window frame and lit their innocent faces in a mesmerizing bright light. A gentle breeze blew across the fields surrounding the house, and it felt as if nature was happy that two of her children had reunited.