Their marriage happened in the most elegant and beautiful way. Gauri looked breathtaking dressed as a bride and Omkara looked so handsome that Gauri almost slipped into a fairy land.
Anika had made sure that the decorations were on point. Shivaay had helped her handle the staff and both the families and the guests were amazed by the beauty in which the decorations were done. No one could have made better preparations than Anika in such a short amount of time.
When bidai happened, Gauri couldn’t control her tears from falling down even though she fought the urge to not cry. She hugged her parents who were already in tears and gave them her goodbyes. Then she hugged Anika and Shivaay who were now crying because she was crying. Although Shivaay seemed like a tough man, Gauri could see the concern and worry in his eyes for her, but it also showed the happiness he had for her. Anika hugged her for a few minutes before wiping her tears and letting her go, wishing her a happy married life. Shivaay too hugged her comfortingly and then placed a gentle kiss on her forehead as he nodded in assurance. The pain of separation was clearly visible in the eyes of Gauri and her parents. It broke Omkara to see her like this.
“Please take care of my daughter.” Harsh said as he kept Gauri’s hand in Omkara’s.
“I will, till my last breath.” Omkara replied with utmost sincerity. “Please take care of yourself. And come to our house whenever you feel like seeing her. Or if you let me know, I’ll bring her over.”
Gauri looked up at Omkara with great respect and admiration. She felt truly lucky to have him in her life.
Gauri was talking to her mother when Anika went up to Omkara and said, “Please take care of her, always be there for her. I know you will, but as her best friend who is no less than her sister, I just wanted to say it. Don’t make her sad and take care of yourself along with her.” Anika nodded questiongly as a tear slipped from her eye.
Omkara nodded in assurance, “Don’t worry, and please don’t cry.”
“Areyy!! These are tears of happiness not sadness.” She said with a smile as she shook her head at him.
After her goodbyes with everyone, Gauri and Omkara sat inside the car. Gauri who still couldn’t compose herself, kept looking out through the window silently wiping off the tears that fell as the car drove away.
As a child she always wanted to get away from them. She thought just like all those Princesses were swept off their feet by their Prince charming, she too would be taken away from all misery by her Prince charming. But growing up, she realised that Prince charming didn’t exist, the world was too cruel for any one to live in, and she had wished if she could, then she would never marry. However she was sure that Omkara was the closest she could have to her Prince charming. But even then she couldn’t help but feel scared to fall in love. However, somewhere in her she knew that eventually she would fall in love with him, and that would be the happiest day in their lives. And today she felt bad about leaving her parents.
Omkara who noticed her silent tears, slowly placed his hand on her’s and gently squeezed it, assuring her he was there for her. Gauri looked over at him with tear filled eyes, surprised by his action. He cupped her face and wiped away the tears and gently placed a kiss on her forehead.
This simple act of his had calmed her down and had even managed to distract her. Her concern now was the butterflies in her stomach that arose due to his kiss.
She wanted to hug him so badly but was too shy to initiate any physical intimacy. But as if sensing her feelings, he placed a hand around her shoulder and pulled her close to him. Happily, she placed her head on his chest, feeling his warmth and heartbeats. Then, she realised how hard it was to rest with all those things in her head- the heavy embroided chunri, the maangteeka, flowers and all those clips attached to her head.
“Thank you.” Gauri mumbled as she tried to take in the feeling of being close to him.
Omkara frowned in confusion, “Why?”
“For what you said to my parents. Thank you, Omkara.”
“They’re my parents too now. Can’t a son do atleast that for his parents’ happiness?”
Gauri was too moved by his words. She wanted to hug him so badly but she just stayed in that position.
*******
“Bhaiya- bhabhi, will I become a chacha very soon?” Rudra asked in a whisper as he lead them to the entrance of the house.
Omkara smacked his head while Gauri gaped at him.
“I was just asking because you both seemed to go very quick” He replied, referring to when he walked in on them while Omkara was changing his t-shirt. But before anything, he runs off so that Omkara couldn’t catch him.
The Grih Pravesh happened very well, with Jhanvi able to make Gauri comfortable. And then Priyanka and Bhavya led Gauri to Omkara’s room and made her sit on the bed.
“I can’t believe thr I finally got you as my bhabhi!” Priyanka exclaimed happily while Gauri chuckled. “Oh god my wish got fulfilled! Didn’t I tell you that you guys would look so good together bhabhi?!” Then hugging both Bhavya and Gauri from both sides, she said, “I have the world’s best bhabhis! My bhaiyaas are so lucky to have you both!”
“Stop buttering Prinku!” Bhavya said laughing.
After a little chit chat, they heard Omkara coming with Rudra so they got up and went towards the door.
“You can’t enter so easily, bhaiyaa!” Priyanka said blocking the door. “Give me my money and I’ll let you in.”
“But it’s my room” Omkara replied, slightly surprised and annoyed.
“Money first bhaiyaa” Bhavya said forwarding her hand.
“Yeah otherwise you won’t meet your bride.” Priyanka said, shrugging. “We know you’re desperate, so just give us our money and we wont be troubling you.”
“Haan haan bhaiya, you know how much Prinku troubled me when I was to enter my own room for my suhagraat. And now even Bhavya is on her side, forget winning against them.” Rudra said as he recalled that night with a frown, while Omkara felt shivers on his body hearing the word suhagraat.
Finally, he gave in to their demands and gave them both some money. Then he got inside the room and closed it behind him. Looking around the room he saw it decorated with rose petals and lit candles. And there in his bed, no their bed sat his bride, her face covered with the ghunghat.
He stood there debating whether he should lift her veil and ask her to freshen up or if he should just stand there and ask her. He could see her move her fingers nervously. Taking baby steps, he walked up to her and sat on the bed. Gauri flinched and he could feel her panic as he slowly lifted the veil. Her eyes looked down and her lashes fluttered with worry but he smiled reassuringly at her.
“Don’t worry. I’m not going to do anything to you. We decided to give it time right?” Omkara said with a naughty smile. “I know you’ll be tired. I’ll go freshen up. You can remove the jewelries by then and then freshen up and get some sleep, okay?”
Gauri looked at him in wonder, she felt like she was falling for him whenever he did little things like these. She just nodded her head and saw him vanishing into the bathroom.
She sighed in relief as she thought about how her life had changed now.
After a while, Gauri came out of the washroom wiping her hair with a towel when she saw Omkara sitting on the couch typing into his phone. Seeing her come, he looked up at her and got lost in her.
She looked too good with her wet hair. He thought.
“Let’s sleep?” He finally asked as he made his way to the bed. When Gauri nodded, he asked, “Which side of the bed do you want?”
“Which side do you normally use?” Gauri asked back.
“Left.” Omkara said, thoughtlessly.
“Then I’ll take right.” Gauri said with a smile.
“You can choose left if you want to Gauri-“
“I’m more than fine with the right side, Omkara.” Gauri stated interrupting him.
Nervousness was quite visible in both of them as they laid down on the bed, this being their first time sharing a bad with a person of another gender. It seemed like despite being tired, sleep wouldn’t come to them.
“Did you sleep?” Omkara finally asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence.
“No.” Gauri replied as she turned around to face him.
Their eyes locked in the darkness and a warm feeling spread within them. Out of no where, they started laughing.
“Why are you laughing?” Gauri asked finally, controlling her own laughter.
“Why are you?” Omkara asked back.
“I don’t know. It felt funny.” Gauri replied still giggling.
“Same.” Omkara said as he drowned in her laughter. Why they laughed they didn’t know, maybe it was a mechanism of the human mind to control nervousness.
“Good night.” Omkara whispered as he drifted off to sleep. “Thank you for coming into my life, for giving me a chance.”
Before Gauri could reply anything, she could hear him snore very lightly, not the kind that irritates you but the kind that let’s you know the other person is asleep.
“Good night Omkara.” She whispered with a smile as she fell into her world of dreams.
To be continued…
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