***
Persistence
"Vrinda! Sam! Can someone please help me?" Her voice was tight, laced with impatience and frustration, as she called out her friends. For the last thirty or so minutes she had been desperately struggling, but to no avail.
She twisted her head, trying to see the back of her choli in the mirror behind her, but her efforts were futile. She couldn't reach the tiny zipper wedged between the stiff fabric.
"I'll be there in a moment!" Sam replied from outside, sounding frantic. "Just hang on for a bit, Vrushika."
Huffing, Vrushika stood in the centre of the room with her hands on her hips. This was not how she had been expecting the day to go and she was terrified that the worst was yet to happen. Amidst the loud chatter and music, chaos could be heard outside the room. Her brother seemed to be arguing with someone, while Amar tried to mediate. She could hear Palki Ma'am barking orders and her father meekly responding. Sam sounded panicked while Bharat and Maccy were laughing. Vrushika wondered what could possibly be happening outside.
Moments later, she heard the door open and close. The lock clicked shut, but she didn't think much of it - she was still struggling with the back of her top. Hearing footsteps behind her, Vrushika breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank God, you're here Sam! Will you please zip me up?"
Then she felt knuckles brushing lightly across her back and she jumped in surprise. She could recognise that touch - his touch, anywhere. "You?! What are you doing here? You're not supposed to see me before the wedding. It's unlucky!" She gasped loudly and tried to turn around, but his arms came up around her in seconds and he pulled her back into his chest, holding her in a tight, warm embrace. Her heart thudded against her rib-cage - she desperately wanted to see him, now that he was here. They hadn't seen each other once in the weekend's wedding festivities.
Her fiance was a stickler for tradition, so she could hardly believe that he was here with her when they had been strictly forbidden to see each other until the wedding. She wondered how she could have possibly missed his arrival. With her back to the mirror, there was no chance she could have seen him approaching, but usually she knew his entrances and his exits like the back of her hand. It seemed contrived and clichd, but she often just sensed him when he was around. Sometimes by the sound of his footsteps. Sometimes by the subtle distinctive scent of coffee, that lingered in the air around him. Sometimes, she just knew that he was home even before he walked through the door.
She was shaken from her thoughts, by his insistent nuzzling at her neck.
With his face buried in her neck, he chuckled softly against her skin. "I just wanted to hear your voice."
"You're delirious," she exhaled sharply, as his lips ghosted over her shoulder. "We're getting married in two hours. You're not supposed to be here. If someone sees you, we'll be in trouble." They would get such a scolding if his mother, or God forbid, her mother caught them together.
"I made sure to lock the door." His tone was light and flirtatious, which meant that really, he was up to no good.
Vrushika sighed, "Shouldn't you be getting ready?"
"I am ready," he replied seriously. "I've been ready for the last year and a half. I've been so ready, it's driving me crazy." In his head, it sounded funny and playful, but he couldn't control the husky quality to his voice as he spoke it. He couldn't help but voice his desire. He ached with his longing for her, and knowing that it would be over soon only served to tempt him more.
"Shantanu," she warned sternly. She didn't have time for his innuendos, not today. "What are you doing here?" Vrushika asked again, trying to sound composed, although the man holding her so closely, was quickly barraging past all her defences.
"I'm getting a feel for what I'm going to undo tonight," he fingered her zipper meaningfully. Her back was still bare to his touch, and his fingers came across a slight, rigid bump. He gently stroked the reddened scratch that marred her otherwise porcelain skin. It must be from the harsh fabric of his sherwani, he surmised grimly. It must have scratched her sensitive skin when he pulled her up against him.
Leaning down, he pressed a kiss against the scratch. Her body trembled against him, and her breath hitched as he kissed her back again. And again. Then some more, in a line of sweet, tender kisses across the length of her back. Her skin was so soft and he couldn't help himself. With his fingertips, he traced his name onto her smooth skin and he could feel her skin warming under his touch. He wanted to write his name across every inch of her skin, with his fingers and lips.
"Stop," she whispered breathlessly as he continued his pleasurable torture. "Please, I can't take it anymore," pleading helplessly, she arched into him, instinctively.
Chuckling darkly, he pressed on last kiss at the nape of her neck, before dutifully pulling the zipper up, but he wasn't ready to let her go just yet. Catching her earlobe between his teeth, he nipped lightly, chuckling again as she yelped. Smirking, he whispered into her ear, "Trust me. I'm only getting started. Just wait until tonight."
Blushing at his insinuation, she tried to break away from him, "oh please. The only thing I'm doing tonight is getting some well-deserved sleep."
He groaned and slapped a palm over his forehead in frustration. She was obsessed with sleep. "Listen to me. We are not getting any sleep tonight," he asserted authoritatively. "It's our wedding night."
As if she needed to be reminded. The thought had been weighing her down for the last few months. It wasn't that she didn't trust him. She trusted him more than anyone, she trusted him with her life, but she was terrified of letting him down. Inexperienced, and shy when it came to intimacy, she didn't know how to please him. She didn't even know what to do, although her mother, Sam and Palki Ma'am had tried to have that talk with her.
She needn't worry. For all his suave moves, and flirtatious banter, he was simple and pure at heart. He loved her, and she loved him. For him, that was all that mattered. Sensing her hesitation, he smiled softly into her hair. "You're so comfortable," he sighed contentedly, just holding her warmly in his arms now.
"I'm not a chair," she retorted indignantly, stopping her struggling momentarily to glare, before realising that he couldn't even see her expression, if he was standing behind her.
Laughing, he swept her thick, lustrous hair onto one side, baring her left shoulder to his attentions. "You take everything so literally," Shantanu laughed, nuzzling into the crook of her neck affectionately.
His laughter was wonderful and rich. It made her feel warm, and it was enough for her to lose her worries for the moment. Taking advantage of his loose hold now, she swiftly swivelled in his arms to face her future husband.
He stole her breath. Shantanu looked dashing in his ivory and gold sherwani, the one she had chosen herself to match her bridal lehenga. Her heart swelled in affection for the handsome man standing before her. He was a dream come true - her real knight in shining armour and she felt incredibly blessed to have him.
While she was quietly appreciating him, Shantanu stopped laughing. He only smiled and waited for her to notice.
And notice she did.
She gasped in surprise when she realised that his eyes were closed. "Have you had your eyes closed the entire time?"
"No one said I couldn't meet you," he grinned smugly, "just that I couldn't see you."
"I can't believe this," she muttered in disbelief. Shantanu was veritably insane. Only he could come up with such an absurd loophole. It was undeniably sweet and she couldn't help but smile at how adorable he looked with his eyes closed and playful smile in place.
"Hey," Shantanu grinned impishly, "You ought to know that you're marrying quite a creative guy."
She reached up and tenderly cupped his cheek, "that I am." Leaning into him, her fingers traced across his closed eyelids and she felt tears well up at the corner of her eyes. Her heart felt so full. She couldn't believe this was really happening. By the end of the day, she would be his wife, and she would have it no other way.
Her sweet, strawberry breath fanned across his chin and he wanted to lean in and capture her lips with his. But more than anything, he wanted to see her. "Screw tradition," Shantanu growled suddenly. "I want to see you."
Just as his eyes were about to flicker open, Vrushika quickly covered them with her hand, "no. Not yet. We've waited so long for this. We're going to do it right."
"I really wish I could see you," he sighed, with longing clear in his voice, but he bowed his head in acceptance. She was right. Just a few more hours, before she was all his. He had waited eight years for her, he could wait a couple of hours more.
"You will," she smiled against his lips. "Soon. It'll be worth the wait, I promise." Pressing a chaste, sweet kiss against his mouth, she pulled away quickly before he got carried away. Slowly, she pulled her hand off of his eyes after making sure that he wasn't peeking.
He leaned his forehead against hers and whispered, "I love you."
"I know," she replied teasingly. It was bound to irritate him, and she couldn't help it. There was nothing cuter than her annoyed fiance.
"Why you little," he muttered in agitation. He had expected a reciprocation in the least, although he knew how she felt. Words were hollow to him, but sometimes when she did say it aloud, he felt invincible. Who would have thought, that those three little words from her mouth could bring him to his knees?
"I have to go," she said softly, not bearing to part from him. "I can hear Sam calling." More like yelling for her, as the wedding procession would begin in less than an hour and she had to yet to wear all her jewellery.
"Go," he said quietly, with a gentle push, "I'll be waiting for you."
Gathering her skirt, she made her way to the door, before turning back one last time, with her heart in her mouth. "Shantanu?" She called him from the doorway.
"Yes?" He turned back to her, his eyes still closed tightly.
"I love you more."
And there she left him, with his eyes still closed, a silly smile on his lips, the scent of her lingering on his skin and the promise of forever.
Edited by Propinquity. - 9 years ago
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