Close to midnight, Nachiket and Ragini reached the terrace, with ice cream in hand. Terrace was, no doubt, Nachiket's favorite part of the house. He had taken it upon himself to redesign it. The seating area was now under shade and Ragini's small terrace garden consisting of a few flower pots was covering almost half the terrace area now. When Ragini had asked him if he was doing all this to make up for all the flower pots that he broke, he had pretended to not hear her. Ragini didn't ask him again, she was enjoying this new hobby of his, a little too much.
'I think it's full moon tonight' said Nachiket, looking up at the starry night. Ragini looked up at the clear night sky too. The whole terrace was washed in the full moon light. 'It looks beautiful!' said Ragini.
Nachiket put Ragini down on her feet again, and after keeping the ice-cream and bowls on the table, she joined him as he stood looking down at the view.
'Kahin ghoomne jane wala mausam h,' said Nachiket, putting his arm over her shoulder.
'Haan, next month ka kuch plan karte h. I read about this..'
'Itni jaldi kaise maan gai tum? Raat ko suraj nikla h kya?' said Nachiket, earning an elbow in the ribs. He grinned, making Ragini smile.
'I have been thinking about it for some time. I think we all deserve a long long holiday,' said Ragini. Nachiket was pressing his hand where Ragini's elbow had hit him. She removed his hand and stared pressing and rubbing the place gently.
'Ice-cream melt ho jaegi. Chalo,' said Nachiket. Ragini didn't want any ice-cream, so Nachiket filled his bowl and started eating. 'What flavour is this?'
'Kyu? Acha nahi laga?' asked Ragini. She had picked up the magazines and newspapers from under the table and was sorting them in two heaps.
'Nahi, acha h islie puch raha hoon kaunsa flavour h- Ragini- ab tum ye safai mat karne lag jao. Romance karne ke lie leke aaya tha main tumhe upar,' said Nachiket, and grabbed the magazine from her hand.
'Mujhe nahi pata kaunsa flavour h. Abhi khaya nahi maine. Aagham leke aaya tha,' she said, and took the copy of magazine back. 'And I am not cleaning. Just sorting. Tum ice-cream khatam karo, fir hum Romance karte h,'
'Ragini, aise nahi hota h,'
'Nachiket, aise hi hota h'
'Tum..' said Nachiket.
'Kya tum?' said Ragini, holding an old newspaper with both hands. 'Tum hi late kar rahe ho. Jaldi khatam karo'
Ragini finished sorting the magazines and kept the latest issues under the table. Nachiket was still eating. He was regretting filling the bowl to the brim. Ragini placed the old newspapers and magazines near the terrace door and came back to sit near Nachiket. He was still eating. She took a deep sigh intentionally, making him look at her, 'This bowl has got some magical quality. Doesn't matter how much I eat, I can't seem to finish it,' he said defiantly.
'Oh! Come on!' said Ragini and picked up the spare spoon from the table to eat it.
'This has got dark chocolate in it,' said Ragini. 'No wonder you prefer it over your wife'
'Excuse me?'
'Romance karna tha to chod sakte the khana,' said Ragini in a matter-of-fact tone.
Nachiket opened his mouth to retort, but then as if changing his mind, he smiled and said, 'Tumhara hi rule h na. Don't leave food on the plate. Saara khatam karo. Leaving food on the plate is disrespecting it. Ice-cream is food, no? I was just following your rule, see,'
Ragini was quiet. And Nachiket was grinning. Winning any argument with his wife was a rare feat, and he was going to enjoy the moment of his glory. He took the last spoonful of ice-cream into his mouth, and kept the empty bowl on the table. What happened next, was definitely not what he was expecting.
Ragini was inches away from his face when he turned, and the sudden movement made him lose his balance. Ragini's face followed him, her fingers in his hair and her mouth forming that perfect seductive smile. When she spoke next, it was barely a whisper, but Nachiket could hear every word clearly. She said: 'I am glad you finished your dark chocolate ice-cream. Your mouth will taste even better now'. And then she kissed him.
Nachiket had read somewhere that a kiss under the stars when there is full moon is the closest thing to heaven. And at that moment, when Ragini's cold lips touched his even colder ones, the warmth that spread in his whole body made him understand what that writer must have meant. She kissed him slowly, tasting the sweetness of ice-cream still on his mouth, his hair curled around her fingers, silky and fine. And once he got over the mind-numbing shock and comprehended what was actually happening, it was incredible. Her kisses tapped into deep mines of his memory, and the years that had separated them fell away as if they were nothing.
After moments in which he was sure he could live a lifetime, she pulled back to look him in the eye, and her chest was heaving and she said, 'I need to say this-- I love you Nachiket,' and he wished, more than ever, that he knew how to capture moments like these and revisit them forever. 'And I also think we should go downstairs,'
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