Sorry for not translating the Hindi lines to English. I don't have enough time to sit for a long time and edit it. If you have any doubts comment over there, and I will explain it in English.
Ekansh:
Ek undekhi dor hai jo nah chahte hue bhi unki taraf kich Rahi hai. Jab patha hai ki unke sath humara Safar sirf kuch hi dino ka hai phr bhi unki fikar karne mei humara Dil Hume majboor kar raha hai.
There's an unseen force pulling me towards her, even though I don't want it to. I know our time together is limited, but I can't help worrying about her.
When I kissed her, she had short, shallow breaths. She smelled sweet and tasted sweet too. I don't know what came over me to kiss her. Her innocent, childlike eyes and thoughts make me feel vulnerable. There's a strange attraction to her. I've never experienced this before, but for the first time, I longed to kiss her. At that moment, I forgot about my girlfriend.
She stood up and announced, "I want to go!" And she ran away from there.
"Are Ruhi, Sharma gayi. Jao Ekansh lekar ao use," Akriti di teased her.
Nodding my head, I stood up and chased her back.
"Ruhi!" I yelled. She stopped but leaned her back against a tree trunk.
"Go. Ekansh. We shouldn't have kissed." Shaking her head, "Leave me alone."
"Ruhi, I didn't want you to be called a loser." I gave a reason. Which was true but I even got dissolved in the moment.
"You have a girlfriend." Why the hell does she keep reminding me that? I know I have a girlfriend but she is my wife. And I don't want her to feel defeated.
"I will not kiss you again. But let's go back, they might get suspicious that we have some issues."
"Ekansh, we have to prove that we have issues. There is no compatibility between us. We are not perfect to each other but this kiss has destroyed everything." She rambled and hugged herself with her arms.
"Do you regret this kiss?" I don't know, why I even asked her that question. She stared at me. She was confused.
Then drifting her gaze to the ground. "I want to go and meet Dadu." She took a step away but I caught her wrist and pulled her back and trapped her between my arms. "What do you want?" She yelled at me. Her sudden outburst startled me. "Have some shame, Ekansh. Last day you were busy with one woman and today you are sticking your lips with another."
"Ruhi..." I didn't believe my ears for a moment when she spat those words at me. "Do you mean I am a man whore?"
"Yes... Yes, you are!" She yelled back.
"I just thought to support my wife," I explained to her. "But it's alright." I moved back. "You can have whatever opinion on me you want. And I assure you that we will be nothing but strangers from this moment."
"Ruhi. Ekansh," we spun to meet her second cousin. "Come soon, we started grilling."
Thankfully no one talked about the kiss. We males did grilling and females were enjoying it by devouring the panner, chicken and mutton grill by going through old albums. I saw Ruhi be involved more in her thoughts rather than paying attention to other females' chitter-chatter.
Iklav Jiju handed me a plate full of chicken grilled leg pieces. "Go and give it to Ruhi, she hasn't eaten anything," I took it along with my Coke bottle in which we secretly mixed vodka.
"And this is the picture of Ruhi's when she was 3 months old," Akriti di shared by showing the old photographs. When I handed Ruhi the plate of chicken leg pieces, "Ekansh, sit beside Ruhi, I want to show you something." I placed my Coke bottle beside hers and sat down. "This picture, I saved it for 22 years." She showed me a picture, in which I was 6 and in my arms there was a small baby girl. And I was kissing her on her lips.
"Ruhi, look your Ekansh already claimed your lips when you were 3 months old." When I turned to look at her, she was blushing red and because of the light falling on her face, she looked magnificent. "Do you both want this picture?"
"Yes," I added and simultaneously she added, "no."
"Ruhi, it's ok, if you say yes." Her second bhabhi giggled.
I moved back to her cousins and chitchatted with them. I prefer chicken more than mutton or paneer. I felt full after a few pieces. But suddenly we heard giggles and claps of Ruhi. When we all turned towards her she was swaying to and fro. "What's wrong with her?" I heard them speaking. She was sipping her Coke. As she communicated, her speech was turning slur.
"Then he went all mad when he didn't find me..." she glanced at me and giggled throwing a flying kiss in my direction.
"What made her this bold all of a sudden?" They spoke again. When it hit me, I smelled my Coke bottle.
"I think, I know it," I informed and trekked to her. I was about to grab her coke which should have been mine, she pulled her hand on her back.
"That's mine. And then..." she turned back to other females, "Ekansh hugged me tight in the gurdwara and cried like a baby, why did you leave me and all..."
"What did you mix in it, Ekansh?" Akriti di probed with anger.
"Ekansh, why weren't you careful?" Iklav Jiju scolded me.
"Sorry, I didn't expect the bottles to get exchanged."
"Iklav?" Akriti di raised her brow with suspicion
"Jaan we just mixed some Vodka in our cokes and seems like he exchanged with Ruhi..." Jiju hit on my shoulder.
"Ohh! This night is so wonderful." Ruhi yelled and stood up.
"Great work. Ekansh before Dadaji finds out take her to room." Nodding my head, I grabbed her hand and tried to pull her with me.
"Where are you taking my loving, Scooby, dooby, chubby husband?" Everyone was laughing at her words.
Once we were away from others,
"Ekansh, ap jante ho hum ek Aathma hai."(Ekansh, do you know that I am a ghost?) She spoke and giggled. "Mei tumhara khun pi jaungi."(I am going to suck out your blood!") She shouted and pulled her hand from my grasp.
"Ruhi!" She began to run in a different direction. "Ruhi!" I ran behind her. It was dark and not every path had a light. "Ruhi!" I increased my speed and grabbed her waist. Instantly I pulled her towards me. Before she escaped again from me, I lifted her in my arms and walked to the manor.
She was waggling her arms and legs so that she could jump out of my grasp. But I pulled her close to my chest and fastened my grip. "Ap bhut bure ho." (You are a bad man) I ignored her. Suddenly she bit my cheek.
"Ouch! What the freak?" She put her tongue out and teased me.
Waheguru! She is so cute.
"AP gussa hogaye na aj humari bathon see."
"Are you angry with me for what I said?" She voiced cutely like a toddler.
"Ji. Nahi."
"No!"
"Toh phir se kiss kariye Hume."
"Then kiss me again!" I shook my head.
"I am a man whore." I reminded her, stepping inside the manor and trekking to her room. Her room was on the first floor beside her dadaji's.
"Phir hum kya bole jab ap pura din apni biwi ku chod kar kisi aur ke sath din guzarne chale gaye."
"Then what should I say when you went off to spend the whole day with someone else leaving your wife alone?"
I placed her on her bed, but she didn't let go of my neck and kept her hands locked around my neck. "I thought you don't mind with whomever I be." I pulled her hands away and covered her with a comforter. "Sleep!"
She caught my hand, "Hum bhut akele hai Ekansh, ap jitna Anthra se pyar karthe ho usi me se 1% Hume bhi kar lijiye."
"I feel so lonely, Ekansh. Can't you just love me for 1% of what you love Anthra?" I stared shell-shocked at her. She looked broken but her words sounded true. I left her hand and moved to the door. "Ekansh, come and touch me please." I switch off the lights.
"Sleep, Ruhi!" I spoke and walked out of the room. I have to stay away from her. There shouldn't be anything between us. I can't hurt Anthra. She will be devastated if she knows I cheated on her. That kiss... Hell, what was I even thinking?
Hum bhut akele hai Ekansh, ap jitna Anthra se pyar karthe ho usi me se 1% Hume bhi kar lijiye.
She is drunk which means she would never say those words if she was in a State of sober.
Ruhi:
He walked away. He just walked away.
I sniffled, wiping tears from my eyes. There is no hope in this relationship. I hugged my panda stuffed toy tightly and cried sharing my pain with him. "No one loves Ruhi, Panda. No one."
I hadn't realised when I drifted into sleep but when I woke up I felt heavy-headed. And someone was knocking on the door. One of the maids stepped inside my room after I let her.
She placed a tray on a desk beside the bed and said, "Ekansh Pra is with Dadu. He asked you to do breakfast and get ready. And he requested you to take this pull too" She handed me a sachet of Aspirin pain killer. I took the pill before climbing down my bed. I went to take a warm bath and got dressed in a dark blue and pink Patiyala dress.
I feel like something happened with me last night but it's like a part of my memory is missing. Maybe Ekansh can tell me what happened to me.
But something happened to Ekansh, since we started for Amritsar he was silent. Maybe because he was driving the car. I went through my mobile, there were hundreds of texts from my old University WhatsApp group. I went through them, everyone was either sad or depressed or annoyed that the university was shutting down.
An hour passed and he was still sore and silent. Did he fight with Anthra?
"Is everything alright?" I asked.
"Yes." Was all he replied.
"Did anything happen to me last night?" I found myself asking after 10 minutes.
"You accidentally drank my Coke, which had some vodka mixed in it."
"Oh, god. Did I create any scene?" I inquired, feeling angry at my cousins.
He glanced at me for a moment and inquired instead, "You don't remember anything that happened last night?"
I shook my head and voiced, "No."
He sighed for some reason. "Nothing happened. But can I ask you something?" When I have a curt nod in response, "Do you like me, Ruhi?"
Why is he asking me this? Did I by any chance confess my newly taking birth feelings in front of him? Or because I spat on him last night and called a man whore.
I chuckled. "Don't even doubt that. And it's no. I want to focus on my career, Ekansh and this wedding is an obstacle to my success." I lied while staring at a windshield in front of me.
Then we both fell into silence. Seems like my clarification has lightened his heart cause he seemed to be relaxed since then.