Amala jotted a few more grocery items onto the piece of paper attached on the refrigerator door with a small magnet; which already had a long list of things penned on it. At the same time, she hurtled here and there in the kitchen to finish lunch preparations as fast as she could. Today was the first day for her to give a tuition class to some of the neighbourhood children, and she wanted to be fully ready to receive her new students and their parents that afternoon.
"Amala..!" Came Abeer's voice from the front yard, and she looked up through the window and saw him dashing towards the house. "Amala!"
"What happened, Abeer? Why are you so loud?" Amala asked in apprehension, and a strong sense of worry washed over her as she noticed a rare expression of tension at play on her husband's features.
"Amala... I need your help..." Abeer said in an urgent manner, "I have lost my pen, and I need you to find it for me!"
"Your pen!!" Amala almost shrieked at him, not believing what she'd just heard from him, "Abeer... you scared the life out of me for a pen?!" She added, shaking an angry knife at him.
"Calm down, Amala..! Here..." Abeer said, and he removed the knife from her clutch with a mild touch, and carefully placed it on the table. He then held both her shoulders with firm grips, "hear me out first... that pen is not just any other pen, Amala... it's a family heritage... a very old and important one!"
"But Abeer... I have a dozen chores to finish by lunch time, and then..." Amala began, waving her hands between them as if trying to visualize for him how much she had to do...
"Please Amala..!" Abeer pleaded her earnestly, "It's Masso's father's pen... please help me find it!"
He looked at her with big round eyes, brows knotted into an arch and lips curved into a tiny pout... he looked too adorable at that instant to receive a "no" as an answer from her; Amala realised as her heart skipped a beat or two.
"Okay, fine." Amala agreed with a sigh, giving in at last, "but I'm doing it only for Masso's sake."
"Thank you!" Abeer said, a wide grin stretching over his face. Amala pulled his cheeks lovingly as an endearing smile shaped on her lips.
"Now tell me, where you had it with you the last time?" Amala asked.
"In my jeep..." Abeer replied at once, and Amala raised her brows at him. "I had it in my pocket when I drove the jeep somewhere this morning, and then it was gone... I didn't get out of the jeep, so I assume it fell there." He tried to explain further.
"Abeer... it's your pen, and it's your jeep..." Amala said, sounding a little cynical now, "why are you asking me to search it for you?"
"Because you have a smaller figure." Abeer blurted out matter-of-factly.
"What?!" Amala exclaimed, gaping at him.
"I mean... it must've fallen under the seats somewhere..." Abeer said, scratching the temple of his head as he shut his eyes for a second and then reopened them, "you're smaller than me.., so it'd be easier for you to look for the pen there."
Amala eyed him with a studious look for a few moments, still not very convinced by his explanations. But then, much to Abeer's relief, she nodded and gestured him to follow her.
As Amala made her way out of the kitchen to the TV lounge, however, she totally missed the glimpse of a mischievous smile that glinted in Abeer's eyes as he silently walked behind her.
"You better not be wasting my time, Abeer!" Amala warned him, as they reached the shaded spot under which Abeer's jeep was parked.
"I'm not. Trust me!" Abeer answered, giving her a playful wink. Amala creased her brows at that, her growing suspicion clearly visible on her visage by now, but Abeer gestured towards the jeep. She nodded again and climbed in silence to the back seat of the vehicle.
"If it had fallen somewhere down here," Amala began, squatting down in between the seats, "I'll surely find it easily by taking a peek. But if it had gotten stuck in some crook... then... you will have to remove the seats to get it, Abeer."
"Amala..." Abeer started as he climbed on the other side of the back seat...
"What are you doing, Abeer? Get down right now... how on earth am I supposed to scan the place for your pen with you sitting there?!" Amala reprimanded him in a highly annoyed tone. But Abeer paid no heed to her scolding and grabbed at her hand, pulling her up and making her sit opposite him.
"Relax, Amala. Masso's father's pen is safely put in my desk's drawer." Abeer confessed to her, an apologetic smile appearing on his face.
"What..." Amala started, still baffled as to how the pen reached his desk's drawer from there all of a sudden, and then it hit her...
"Abeer..! You tricked me!" Amala fired back at him, sounding thoroughly angry now.
"I'm sorry, Amala. But there's something really very important that I need to tell you ask you, in fact." Abeer said in a gentle voice, holding both her hands mildly in his own to calm her down.
"Still! You could've just asked me..." Amala said, eyeing him with a frustrated glare.
"And you would've complied?" Abeer retorted back, his voice was still very calm but his eyes gave away that he was on the verge of losing his temper as well, "seriously, Amala, you're so busy these days setting up your catering business and preparing for your tuition classes that you barely spare a second to give me a proper look!"
"Yeah, like leaving behind my duties and sitting in a corner romancing with you all day will automatically fill the plates for the entire family!" Amala snapped at him, and she slid her hands out of his soft grips and folded her arms across her torso, still glowering at him fiercely.
Abeer closed his eyes as he bit on his lower lip... this was not the flow their talk was supposed to unfold in..! He took one deep breath, and then opened his eyes and looked up at her again.
"Look, Amala..." he said, reaching out to hold her forearms, "I really don't want to fight with you right now. I told you, didn't I..? It's very important for both of us."
"It better be..." Amala replied, as she raised an eyebrow at him and maintained a stern face. Her crossed arms, though, relaxed a little at his touch. "And it better be worth the childish prank you just pulled on me!"
"That it is!" Abeer said, as his pleasant smile replaced the strained look on his visage, "I guarantee you on that."
Amala looked at him closely, intrigued by his last confident retort, as he took yet another breath before retreating his right hand to pull out something from his denim pants' pocket. He brought a half closed fist in front of her, keeping it suspended in midair between them for a few moments... and then he slowly stretched open his fingers. A little box made of dark wood with fine golden carvings on its edges rested on the palm of his hand. She glanced down at the box, and then up at him again, a sudden feeling of astonishment taking over her senses, and making her lose the ability to form a question asking him what's this all about.
Abeer had this brilliant grin on his lips by now; adding a unique charm at that instant to his already attractive aura. Then, he pulled away his other hand from her arm, and opened the wooden box for her it held a gold ring with a single diamond studded in the middle, in its velvety confines. Amala blinked down at the sparkling precious stone, and the intricate designs carved onto the glowing yellow metal on either sides of it, feeling perplexed beyond words as her crossed arms loosened completely and now rested on her lap.
"Abeer..." Amala muttered at last, as her eyes darted upwards to meet with his. She looked at him in silence as the moisture gathering on her eyelids blurred her sight falling mum again as words continued to betray her.
"Mrs. Akdu Abeer Anand will you marry me once again?" Abeer proposed to her, the most handsome of smiles adorning his face.
"Yes... yes, I will!" Amala replied at once, as happy tears rolled down her face. "On one condition, though that you never stop calling me your Akdu." She laughed out through her ever flowing tears.
"That I will never ever do, rest assured!" Abeer laughed back, running the thumb of his free hand over her cheeks to dry her tears, "may I?" He added, nodding at her left hand.
She presented her hand to him with a contented smile, her anger completely overshadowed by a loving look in her eyes by now. And Abeer took out the ring from its lovely wooden box, placing the empty box on the seat beside them. And with the lightest of touches, he took her hand in his, and started sliding the band in her ring finger. Their eyes stayed connected throughout, as if they found a charm too strong in each others' gaze that prevented them both from breaking away from that deep look.
After he'd adorned her hand with the ring, Abeer brought it near to him and planted soft kiss on her fingers.
"Now you're officially bound to me." Abeer said with the sweetest voice ever, and Amala lowered her eyes as a rosy colour started to paint her cheeks.
She tenderly retrieved her hand from his and took a glance at her newest, and obviously the most precious, piece of jewelry. Tracing a finger on the simple yet charming ring; a euphoric bliss tickled the down side of her tongue.
"Abeer..." she said after a time, noticing something on the ring she didn't till now, "those carved designs on the sides of the diamond... are they..."
"Two As." Abeer completed for her, his features lighting up passionately with a proud smile, "for Amala and Abeer."
"This is so beautiful, Abeer!" Amala breathed, covering her mouth with her hand as fresh tears started to well up in her eyes.
"Well, you can give me a thank you gift if you want to." Abeer said, flashing a naughty wink at her as she raised her gaze up to him again. He wanted her to forget about those tears and laugh again for even if they are happy ones; he just didn't like the sight of them in her gorgeous eyes.
"Oh yeah..?" Amala retorted, flicking a brow at him as she compressed a chuckle, "a yes wasn't enough of a thank you gift?"
"Actually..." Abeer began, resting his arms over her shoulders, and gradually lowering his head towards hers till the tips of their noses brushed against each other. "I was expecting a much sweeter thank you gift, you know."
"Abeer..." she said in a half laughing tone, distancing him from herself with a gentle push, "behave yourself! We're in the parking lot, remember?"
"Oh, you'd rather give me the thank you gift in private?" Abeer playfully asked.
"Shut up!" Amala said, a flustered smile showing up on her face in place of those tears by now. "And tell me one thing from where you got the money to buy this ring? It must've been expensive..." she added.
"Ah... about that..." Abeer said, feeling a little uneasy, "you remember I'd received an offer to do a photo shoot last week? The person who assigned me was a well-known businessman, and he appreciated my photography skills so much that he gave me a pay-check with a sum way larger than what I'd named at first saying that I have talent worthy of even more than that! And... I used that money for the ring."
"You did what?!" Amala asked in horror, "Abeer! Didn't we agree that you'll be saving your earnings from the assignments for your photography studio?"
"I'm sorry, Amala!" Abeer said, puffing his cheeks a little as his head hung down Amala instantly knew he was trying to put up a guilty act, and couldn't help but suppress a slight giggle.
"Abeer..." Amala smiled, giving him an affectionate pat on one cheek, "just promise me you'll never do it again."
"That, I can't do. You see, I don't think I can stop spoiling my dear wife. Nothing is more important than that." Abeer replied as he looked up at her, and tapped the tip of her nose once as he flicked up his brows at her teasingly.
"Then you have to say bye-bye to that dream of opening your personal studio, dear husband!" Amala retorted with a chortle, and made to get up.
"Where are you going?" Abeer asked, holding her wrist with a swift move to stop her.
"Back to work..." Amala answered, "I'm a bride-to-be, remember? I need to work and make money for my wedding shopping." She jokingly added with a sweet smile. However, she still kept her hand on his in a caring touch.
"This is not fair, Amala!" Abeer complained with a grumpy scowl, "we've just started to have a proper talk after so long, and you want to leave already! Even as I thought of all sorts of bizarre excuses to get to spend some time with you, and give you that surprise proposal which you wanted in the first place."
Amala contemplated his sulky expressions for some moments, even as she knew he probably wasn't that much upset with her going away, but rather wanted to pull her legs a bit she also knew for a fact that he'd actually put so much effort to convince the stubborn her to leave behind her works and sit with him here right now, enjoying those little moments of peace with him... away from the entire world and its chaotic worries...
Without putting a further thought into it or uttering a single a word, Amala went near Abeer and gave him a tiny peck on his cheek.
"I hope this is a sufficient compensation for now," Amala whispered in his ear as her hand rested on his shoulder lightly, the other still locked in his grasp, "thank you, Abeer... I love you!"
And then, she darted out of the jeep without giving a second glance at him, a burning redness making home of her face now.
Abeer sat there in silence, a bit too taken aback to react instantly he watched her sprint through the parking area as his heart pounded against his ribs madly, his mouth still half opened.
As she reached the set of stairs leading up to their house; Amala turned to look at him with a shying smile... only then did Abeer come out of his trance, and flashed one of his widest and most adorable smiles at her.
I love you too! He signed at her from where he sat in the jeep, and blew a flying kiss to her. She gasped at first at that, but then caught hold of the invisible kiss and kept her hand on her heart, before turning away with a blissful beam to ascend the stairs.
Edited by Diaa - 8 years ago
Cricket
Music Corner
