Love is Not Blind Ch. 02

"Correct me if I am wrong Su, but after Nayan's accident, you put your life on the back burner. Oh, you went ahead with your studies and then your career, but your dating life took a backseat."

"Nayan, needs me, Reshmi. Mom and Dad won't be around always. Yes, he is very independent, he has picked up the pieces of his life and put them together very well. But he will always need someone."

"You realise that I am in this too? I can never ever take your place or the place of Uncle and Auntie, but I can and have made a place for myself in his life. And now I cannot even imagine a life without him and without all of you."

"You are the best thing that happened, not just to him, but to all of us, Reshmi. You know we love you a lot."

I took her face in my palms. "Su, now some of the load is off you. Open your heart to romance. You need to find someone, who will love you, who will care for you, and will still let you devote a lot of your time and energy to your family. Don't for a moment think that I am playing Cupid between you and Partha. He is my favourite cousin, he is as good as my brother, but that does not mean you have to date him. I just want you to know, you can have your own life in which all of us will still play important roles, but now is the time to let go. There are no feelings that you need to suppress anymore."

"I gave him my number, he hasn't called or messaged..."

"Do you have his number?" She nodded. "He is a shy character. Why don't you text him?"

"What do I text him?"

"He is probably thinking the same thing. Why don't you just tell him that you all have reached home safely, and thank him for his hospitality? That should start a conversation."

"Isn't it late?"

"If he doesn't see your message now, he will reply to it in the morning."

I prepared to leave as Su texted. "I better get going, that brother of yours will be tossing and turning and asking Siri what the time is every 5 minutes."

Even as I turned to leave, Su's phone tinkled. Su smiled. "He wants to know why I am up so late?"

I grinned. "You handle my brother, I'll handle yours." Su stuck her tongue out at me and turned to her phone.

I put on my nightclothes and got under the duvet with him. This horny, crazy boyfriend of mine was naked underneath. I murmured in his ear, "Very impatient, aren't we?"

"Very," he whispered, "I love, long and lust for you, and you torture me mercilessly."

"Caress my lips, Nayan."

His hands came to my mouth. "You mean these or the ones downstairs?"

"These, my enraptured lover, I am about to show you how I wear lipstick on my bee-stung lips."

"Show me, uh? Well, go right ahead and 'show' me..."

I slid down, gently held his engorged member between my fingers and thumb, and caressed the outline of my upper lip with it. "I normally do the upper portion first," I said, as I pressed my lips harder on his tip. "I like the outline darker..."

He squirmed as he chortled.

"Mmmmm, this lipstick tastes good too," I giggled.

"You are a witch," he retorted. "Only a witch can turn an aircraft into a makeup item."

"You want me to turn you into a frog, my prince charming?" I asked him.

"Why not, I will be kissed again."

"Not necessarily, I might decide to just carry you around in my pocket"

"Aah, my princess, in that case, I will be closer to and hence perpetually kissing your other lips."

"We'll see about that," I said, "now let me colour the rest," and I went about painting the rest of the fleshy margins of my mouth with his pinkish head. He was oozing now and I licked my lips as I tasted him. I took my time. "I think I would like this darker and richer," I said as I stroked my lips with my thick 'lipstick.'

Then I moved up and brought my face close to his. "Want to taste my lipstick?" I teased, moving away as his lips sought mine.

"You cocktease!" He muttered, just as I started to kiss him ferociously, with a lot of punch, pushing my tongue deep in, trying to touch the roof of his mouth.

His hands tightened around me, he pulled me closer to him, crushing his chest into my breasts and I could feel my nipples pushing through my pyjama tops and rubbing against his. I bit his lower lip, he responded by biting my upper one. We started to rock together gently, and after a while, we gently let each other go. For a few moments, we just stayed with our lips touching gently.

"Wow! That was some kiss," he exclaimed, "what brought that on, Resh?"

I kissed his eyes gently and laughed. "That was your birthday kiss, my darling Nayan, happy birthday!"

He rolled me over and was on top of me. He started to kiss every inch of my face, gently and tenderly, whispering, "I love you, Reshmi, how can I thank you enough for coming into my life?"

"Yes, Nayan, that is a tall order, but you can start by making me come all over you and then coming all over me."

He slid his hand under the pillow, I knew he was feeling for the condoms he had kept there.

"Not now, Nayan, I want to feel you, I will put it on for you just before you penetrate me."

In a while we lay completely sated and held each other tight in our after-play, I wondered how my man could be so tender while making love, as I drifted off to sleep.

We woke up early, I kissed him and wished him happy birthday again and we got ready to go down to the lake to jog. We went down to the kitchen, Nayan stood to one side as I started to make ourselves some coffee and was halfway through when Auntie walked in. She hugged Nayan and kissed him repeatedly on his cheeks and forehead, wishing him a happy birthday, and then she did the same with me.

"You are an amazing girl," she said, "I thought Nayan will just be morose and depressed every year on this day, but you changed everything."

Then Uncle and Su came over to wish him. Nayan was very cheerful. He apologised to all for being so unsociable over the last three years and hurting people's feelings. Of course, being the loveable person he is, everything was easily forgiven and forgotten.

We went for our jog, and when we returned, I asked Nayan to shower and get dressed quickly as I wanted to wash my hair. Auntie said that she was planning to oil and massage Su's hair and scalp, and she would do the same for me, real Tamil style.

She warmed up the oil with some herbs thrown in. We wrapped ourselves in towels, then she lovingly applied the oil and rubbed it into our scalp and oiled our tresses.

"My mother, and then my mother-in-law used to do this for me. Now it is my turn to carry on with the tradition," she said.

She gave each of us a bowl of Shikakai powder. "This is made from the fruit pods, bark, and leaves of the Acacia Concinna tree, and is a natural shampoo," she explained. "So just use this, don't use any synthetic shampoo and rinse thoroughly. Dry your tresses with this thin cotton towel and then wrap your hair in it. The towel will absorb the excess water. Then come out into the lawn and dry your hair in the sun. Now hurry up, both of you. You have to help me prepare a special lunch for the birthday boy."

Surely there is something wonderful in a mother's touch. Both Su and I were feeling quite giddy by the time we dried our hair in the morning sun. Nayan came over and held both of us in either arm and buried his face alternately in our hair.

"Exotic," he exclaimed.

Between the three of us, under the expert supervision of Auntie, we cooked a feast. We made Payasam, a sweet pudding made of milk and vermicelli, garnished with cardamoms, crushed almonds, and cashew nuts. I found some of the dishes quite similar to the Bengali ones that Ma and I make.

Su had ordered a birthday cake that was delivered at 6 PM. She called all of us over and then she opened the box. It was a large, rich, and round chocolate cake, which said, 'Happy Birthday Nayan' in the centre in white icing, and all around the circumference, it had 'Reshmi' written repeatedly in pink.

"This was Su's idea," Uncle said to me. "She says that you complement, supplement, complete Nayan, and the two of you cannot be considered separate."

I hugged Su, then both of us described the cake to Nayan. he was visibly thrilled.

Then it was time for the gifts. Auntie brought out four small boxes and gave two to Nayan. "This is from all of us here," she said. Nayan fumbled with the gift wrapping, so Su unwrapped them for him, and opened the tightly fitting lids of the boxes. I looked on amusedly, as Nayan gripped the contents in each hand.

"You guys got me an Apple Watch and Air Pods?" he squealed excitedly, as he tried to hug all of us around without letting go of his gifts.

Then Auntie gave me the other two boxes, as everyone chanted, "Happy Birthday in advance, Reshmi."

"We know your birthday is exactly ten days away, and we will celebrate that here too, but you can have your gifts now," Auntie said.

Now it was my turn to try and hug everyone all at once. I knew my gifts were identical to Nayan's and I was thrilled.

"You know, you guys can pair your Air Pods and listen to the same music simultaneously?" asked Su.

"But Su, I still need to get an iPhone, so will you accompany me tomorrow to the store?" I asked.

"We can do better than that," said Uncle, and he brought his hands from behind his back, and I knew from the packaging that he was holding two iPhones in his hands for both of us.

"Haven't you guys gone overboard, gone absolutely crazy?" I asked.

"No, not at all," said Uncle, "the iPhones are a gift from your Ma and Baba to both of you for your birthday. Nayan's phone anyway needed an upgrade, so we planned all this out, and Partha was very helpful in getting us good prices from one of the stores in Hyderabad."

I was on cloud 9 when Uncle added, "I am getting our Hyderabad gang on a video call so that they can join in the cake cutting and birthday celebrations."

The rest of the evening was a riot, with Ma, Baba, Mashi, Mesho, and Partha joining in virtually for our very own birthday party.

Later in the evening, after dinner, Nayan and I called Ma and Baba again to thank them for the lovely gifts.

Su was furiously texting when I went to wish her a good night, so I just hugged her and winked. Then I got under the sheets with Nayan, our lovemaking was tempestuous and frenzied.

We spent the next couple of days transferring the data from our old phones to our new ones, setting up our watches, measuring the kilometres we walked and jogged, measuring our heart rates, and doing all those crazy things that kids do with their new toys and gizmos. Nayan of course was particularly happy, he could now talk to his other girlfriend Siri without having to pull out his iPhone.

We went back the following weekend for my birthday. I took an off on that day, a Monday, the cake this time had my name in the middle and Nayan's all around the periphery There were video calls with my parents and my cousin, lunch and dinner with all my favourite stuff. Nayan gifted me a gold bracelet studded with rubies and pearls that Auntie and Su had helped him buy. It matched the necklace that Auntie had gifted me when we sought their permission to marry.

Then when we were alone, he gave me a very sweet and deep birthday kiss, and then another and another. We made love over and over again till we were exhausted and sore.

"It is the happiest birthday of my life," I told him.

"As of now sweetheart, wait till your next one," he grinned.

______________________

The Ex-Factor

We had finalised the dates for our wedding. It was to be on the 12th of May. This was summer vacation time for all schools and colleges, so Nayan did not have to miss his classes, and he could go a bit easy on his research work. I had applied for six weeks of leave, which had been granted, for in the last three years I had accumulated a lot of holidays which had to be compulsorily availed else they would lapse.

The wedding was still over six months away, Ma and Baba had booked the venue, the invitations had been designed and sent for printing and we were busy drawing up the guest lists, doing our shopping and all those things that we needed to do for a wedding.

It was a Sunday when we wanted to take a break from these wedding-related activities and just let our hair down. We went to this restaurant that was famous for its sizzlers, though it was far away from our home.

Nayan loves sizzlers, but he finds it difficult to manage the hot food where too many things are served too close to each other on a single platter.

"I will have it served to you on a plate once the sizzler is brought to the table, Nayan, and this restaurant provides an apron that you can put on, so that the splatter from the sizzling sauce doesn't get on to our clothes," I explained.

The food was great. We took our time, sipping from tall glasses of fresh lime soda as we ate our spicy sizzling dish, savouring every vegetable in it, from the potato fries to the stuffed tomato and capsicum, the beans, carrots, spring onions and the spinach that came with the main portion of a huge vegetable patty on a bed of rice flavoured with herbs and spices.

"You remember the first day we had dinner together at your place, Nayan?"

"Of course I do, you got me three flavours of ice cream and we had a banana split for dessert. You know Resh, sometimes I miss you terribly when I am at work, and I think of that evening. I didn't even know how you looked like, yet you felt like someone I had known all my life."

"Nayan, we joked about the candle stand on the table, I promised you that we will go out someday for a candlelight dinner. We still haven't got around to doing that."

"Let us do it one day, Reshmi, it will be so romantic."

I just rested my head on his shoulder and took his hand in mine. "There are a lot more things I want to do with you Nayan, make love to you in candlelight, kiss you under a full moon, take an overnight train journey with you, go on a cruise..."

"Hey, this looks like a plan for a honeymoon," he said and we started laughing. Then the waiter came across and took our order for dessert, and we were still laughing when it happened.

I had noticed this lady sitting a few tables away from us sometime during our meal, and she was now approaching us with a smile. She looked beautiful, though when she got close, she did seem a little tired and haggard.

"Hi Nayan," she intoned, the voice was very musical. "How are you?"

Nayan looked up in the direction of her voice, his forehead wrinkled, and I knew he was trying to place her. "I am just fine, how are you?"

"I am so glad you can see again," she gushed.

"No, I cannot see. Do we know each other?" His forehead remained wrinkled. We were sitting side by side and I reached out for his hand which rested on the sofa and squeezed it reassuringly.

"Are you being difficult Nayan? Of course, you can see, I was watching you eat, I actually thought you could be someone else, but your eyes gave you away..."

Nayan gripped my hand tightly. "Shagun? I am sorry, it took me some time to recognise your voice. No, Shagun, I am still blind as a bat and I navigate through my food by echolocation."

He was grinning now. I could see he was back in control of the situation. Except that the name started to bring out a deep resentment in me. So this was the woman who hurt my Nayan. Yet I knew, from the pressure of Nayan's hand on mine, that he wanted to handle this by himself.

"Can I sit down for a moment?" She asked. Then without waiting for a response, she pulled out the chair across our table and lowered herself on to it. I had to admit, she did that gracefully, though I still found her snooty.

The waiter came across on seeing she had shifted tables. "We are waiting for our dessert, Shagun, shall I order something for you?" Nayan asked.

She turned to the waiter, "I will have what they are having, and please put that down in my bill," she said, in a rather dismissive tone.

Nayan now placed his hand around my shoulders, and pulled me to him so that we were cheek to cheek. It was something that he always loved to do to me, and that act of his always radiated an intense feeling of love and possessiveness. It was a gesture that I loved, and it always made me smile. This time, my smile was broader.

"Meet Reshmi, Shagun, she is my best friend, my confidante, my girlfriend, my love, my partner, and my fiancee. We are getting married a few months from now."

"Congratulations, both of you," she responded, the tone was rather cold, but I wasn't bothered. I smiled at her, just to be polite.

"How have you been doing?" Nayan asked. "We lost touch a long time ago. I heard you are married."

"I am single now, we are separated, I think the divorce will come through in a few months. But no regrets, Nayan."

"I don't know what to say, I only hope that you know what you are doing and that you find happiness at the end of all this."

She reached out and grabbed Nayan's other hand that was resting on the table. "I need to talk to you alone, can we go over to my table? Or fix up some other time when we can do this?"

I was about to go livid when Nayan flipped his hand and then held hers by her wrist. His other hand still was around me and I felt a reassuring squeeze on my upper arm.

"Reshmi is everything to me, Shagun, she is my secret sharer. There is nothing that I conceal from her, and even if we were to talk alone, you can be sure I will share our conversation with her. I don't keep secrets from her. But you can be sure that what you speak won't go beyond the two of us if that is what you want."

"Very well. I just wanted you to know, that I have been thinking about you a lot these past few months. I was hoping you hadn't moved on, that I might be able to rekindle some things from our college days."

"Nothing has changed, I am sure you know that. I am still that same crippled individual with whom you saw no future."

"I was stupid then Nayan."

"What happened to your marriage Shagun?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Did he cheat on you, Shagun?"

"Yes."

"Did you cheat on him?"

"No. but I almost did."

"You are lying, Shagun."

"What the fuck, Nayan, how can you even dare to insinuate this?" Well, she had her eyes blazing, but I was amused. This stupid bitch didn't know what Nayan was up to, because she did not know that my Nayan operates with a different set of senses.

"You are stupid even now, Shagun." He lifted her hand that he was holding by her wrist. "Your pulse rate went through the roof when you answered my questions. Okay, this may not be evidence in a court of law, but you are lying, as far as I am concerned."

She pulled her hand from his grip. I tried to keep a straight face and then smiled when the waiter brought our hot chocolate fudge.

He placed one before Shagun and the other before us. I asked him for another spoon.

"Start on your fudge, Shagun, Reshmi and I always share our dessert."

I let Nayan hold the tall glass with the scoops of ice cream and the hot chocolate sauce, and we plugged our spoons in one by one. Nayan scooped out a spoonful and held it towards me, I moved my lips to suck it out of the spoon, and then I gently kicked him under the table. He got the message, I was telling him not to irritate her further, so he took the next spoonful to his lips.

"It is not too late, Shagun, you should try to mend things. Why don't you and your husband give it another shot? Get yourself a therapist, if required both of you should go for counselling together. I am sure there would have been some good times, so why not get things back on track?"

"It won't work."

"Have you tried? It is very easy to burn bridges, very difficult to build them. And it is even more difficult to build a new path to happiness, whether it involves another person in your life or not."