Chapter 14
660 Words
I suck in a breath when he comes closer to me and close my eyes, waiting for anything that will prove that he is really my Aarush. Anything means anything, a slap, a kick, a squeeze on my throat, anything... When I don't get anything, I look at him and am surprised to find him looking at me with soft eyes. After few seconds, those eyes turn intense and I avert my eyes, blushing...
He comes so much close that I feel his breath on my face. I gulp and keep looking down when he keeps a finger on my chin. I look upwards at him and he sucks in a breath and says, "I want this same face for my wedding night. Can you do that?" I nod without thinking and when his words register in my mind, my eyes widen and I immediately shake my head. He chuckles in his deep voice which makes me shudder...
What are you doing Kshitija? You waited for this man for so many years and when your love is finally here, you are rejecting him... I look at his eyes and say, "I want to marry you."
He looks at me with wide eyes but when he gets out of the shock, he takes my lips in his again, this time his tongue was included... I push him away when I find something on his tongue which I don't want on my husband's tongue ever, the taste of a cigarette... He nearly falls, not because he is weak but because he didn't expect this...
I look at him with fire in my eyes and say, "I will not marry you till you stop smoking and drinking."
His eyes harden and I meet his glares head-on. Why will I get scared? I didn't do anything wrong... He comes near me and grips my hair tightly. I look at him with fire in my eyes and say, "I will not marry a man who smokes and possibly, drinks..."
His eyes soften and he releases my hair and hold my chin. I look into his eyes and hear him say, "I am addicted. I can't do anything on this but please don't do this to me... I love you..."
I close my eyes and let tears fall from my eyes. I can't do this to him... He loves me too much and if he still can't leave them, he must really be addicted to them but at that moment, I remember something I must have thought of earlier, my small-small, cute little children. I can't marry him before two months, before their academics year ends...
I open my eyes and look at his eyes which are full of love... I say, "I am ready to marry you but I have one condition."
"You can ask anything, Jaan..."
I look into his eyes again and say, "I want our wedding rituals to start after two months..."
"Okay."
"And what about dowry? How much do you want? Five lakhs, ten lakhs, twenty?"
"I want only one thing for my dowry."
"What?"
"You."
I gasp and look at him. It's unusual for a man to reject dowries, especially in our caste... That's why I was saving money for my own dowry and no one knows it... He smiles at me and unknowingly, I smile, blush and look down, trying to hide my blush with the help of my hair... He chuckles at my reaction and is about to come near me when we hear a knock on the door.
I open the door and dadda looks at me with a smile but when he looks at that man, he frowns and looks at me. I frown and look at that man to know what is wrong and when I do, I avert my eyes quickly from both of them and move outside the room, to the kitchen shyly...
You know why? Because his lips still had my lipstick!
- Writer
