Chapter 16
ARYAN
The sun was up high when the curtain, to my right, separating Kethaki and me was drawn. We sat in on copper ornate chairs as the preparations for Haldi had started. It was hot and I was sweaty. I wanted to get this over with sooner, rather than later. My skin was already crawling at the sensation of the paste being applied to my skin.
"Where is the Haldi bowl?" Tara Maa's voice rang through the garden as she called out to Nath.
"Why are we sitting here if the preparation isn't done?" Kethaki asked, as she sat in her settee to my right. I couldn't see her, but from the translucent silhouette of her that I could make out, she was dressed in a white lehenga. Her pink bangles jingled as she rubbed her palms against the skirt. The ones made out of real flowers stood out like a blooming flower amongst buds in a bush.
I wanted to stick my nose in them and see if the flowers were more fragrant or if it was her skin. But, there was one thing for sure. The petals weren't softer than her skin.
"Well, if your family can run around in the sun and prepare for your wedding, the least you can do is sit and give them company," Arti aunty said, as she set a bowl full of yellow gooey paste in front of us. Just the look of it was setting me on edge.
"Oh, hush! We will apply only a little," Tara Maa said. She was crouched, setting up the ingredients for Haldi.
"Can't we just, not, do it?" I asked. I couldn't stop looking at the bowl.
"What's your problem?" Kethaki asked.
"He hates sticky sensations," Papa said, his voice laced with a touch of amusement.
"Ugh, such a child," Kethaki replied, her voice dripping with disdain. I resisted the urge to open the curtains and dare her to look me in the eyes and repeat what she said.
"Rich coming from you, Princess," I replied.
I felt her glare through the sheer curtain. She must be recalling the tantrum she threw when she was asked to hand me a dish during lunch last year.
"Stop it, you two," said Tara Maa. "We are starting." She sat down in front of me, with Dadi and Chachi, and from the curtain that just separated Kethaki and me, I found the ladies of her family taking their seats.
"And let's set the mood!" Parth pressed play, and the giant speakers started playing some party songs.
"I promise not to slather you with it," Dadi Ji said and gently scooped some paste in her fingers. The touch of her fingers was feathery, half due to her age, and half due to holding on to her promise. "See?"
I heard a slight 'eeecckk' from my right, and saw her leaning away from her mother, laughing, as Jaya Aunty rubbed Haldi on her neck and shoulders. The duppatta that was pinned on her shoulder and waist shifted and slid down to reveal a hint of cleavage.
And the mole right above it.
How I was able to see it through the sheer curtain was a testament to my memory
"You can look at your fiancée later, Aryan." Tara Maa's voice carried over the song, and I turned to look at her. She gave me a mischievous smile as she gently tapped my face, shoulders and knees, applying the paste. "Her family is preparing her to look like the most beautiful bride on her wedding day." Then she pinched my nose with the hands that were stained with Haldi. "For you!"
I turned to look at the girl again, and this woman was now smeared in Haldi from head to toe.
"Oh god, Mahi," Kethaki exclaimed as Maithili reached down to her waist and rubbed the Haldi there. That was when I noticed the waist chain. "Why are you putting so much?"
It jingled.
I looked away.
Chachi came over and tapped her finger against my cheek. "And we are making sure that you look beautiful for your bride on your wedding day, too." The finger tapped on my other cheek.
It jingled more as Maithili rubbed the paste on her waist and stomach.
"It really is about shining bright and one-upping the other," Papa said from the sidelines as he watched the whole scene.
Her bangles jingled next, as she physically tried to push her hands away from her waist, laughing louder than I had heard. "It tickles, Mahi!"
"But Bhai is losing big time, Mama Ji," Shiva said. She took a huge scoop of the paste and went to apply it over my face, when I grabbed her wrist and stared at her. "Bhai, you should be covered in Haldi to bring out your beauty. Only then, you will even come close to the dusky beauty your bride is!"
Her giggle rang through the space that separated us. "Shiv!" She exclaimed. I could make out Shivansh rubbing the paste all over her face. "I am so going to murder you!"
"Keep that thing away from me, Shiva, or I will throw your husband off a cliff."
"Keep it up, Shivansh, and I will push your face in the bowl of Haldi," Kethaki laughed.
"Ugh, why is he so boring?" Shiva pushed away, and Shivanya took her place.
"Tell me about it!" She said and looked at the other side, longing. "It looks so fun!"
"Oh, it will be!" A new yet extremely familiar voice called out, and Om entered my line of sight.
"Bhai," Shivanya screamed and threw herself into her elder brother's arms, who hugged her back.
"Akanksha!" Shiva hugged the new bride.
"What are you doing here?" Vedika Bua hugged her son and pulled Akanksha into it.
"We cut our Honeymoon short." Om pulled out. "Akanksha didn't want to miss Aryan Bhai's wedding!"
"Yes! You are my favourite brother, ever!" She said and sat in front of me. "Don't tell my other brothers, please!" She dipped her fingers in the paste and gently applied some on my cheeks.
"You've got it!" I replied.
"Bhai, we can't have bhabhi looking better than you on your wedding day," Om said. He grabbed the bowl of Haldi and proceeded to throw it at me, when Akanksha grabbed his hand to stop him.
"Do you want me to turn into a widow before I even get to celebrate my first wedding anniversary?" She said and pointed at me.
Om then noticed my expression and gently placed the bowl back in its place. "Yeah, I mean, it's a tradition, anyway. No need to make it fun, like they are." He sat down and put some Haldi on me.
"Okay, Jay, you are a child. I will pick you up and throw you in a pool!" Why was she screaming so much? And why was she laughing so much?
"God, look at his face. He does not even care that we are not having fun," Parth said. "I am not even allowed to do my best-friend duties!"
"And what would that be?" I asked.
"To make fun of you and make this wedding memorable!"
"Don't bother, Parth." Vikram walked over. "He is a boring man who doesn't know how to have fun!"
I ignored and concentrated on what was more important.
"Oh my god, you don't have to slather my entire body in Haldi." Her voice was shrill with mirth.
I turned to look. The curtain had separated a little, and I had a partial view of her left profile. And it was all yellow. Her white lehenga had turned yellow in some parts. And her skin? Every part of it was yellow.
"I am going over there to have some fun," Parth said and walked over to the other side.
"Me too!" Shiva said and ran behind Parth.
"I am coming too," said Shivanya as she followed her sister, and slowly, everyone left. Just my family stayed behind.
"Don't worry. I didn't like my Haldi Ceremony either," Papa said and passed me a bottle of water. "It's too sunny. Drink up."
I took the bottle from his hands and took a sip. Her side of the venue was bustling with laughter, while the people on my side were talking about work. I saw my cousins applying Haldi on her. She laughed as Shiva smushed her face. It was a sight, watching my cousins mingle with her. It seemed like she got along with every single member of my family, but me.
"Want to join her?" Anil Mama asked.
"Okay, I am going to throw it at you!" Kethaki said, as Om smothered her face in Haldi. Then, she proceeded to throw some at him. It landed on Shivanya,
"No," I told Mama.
"Are you sure?"
"Oh, you didn't," Shivanya said and put more Haldi in her hand and rubbed it all on her back and waist. And would you look at that.
It was backless.
"Yes." I was sure. I did not want to be a part of this in any way.
"Fine, but I'm going to go," he said and left me there.
I continued to observe the scene unfold in front of me, as I bided my time to get the hell out of there and take a shower. How she was enjoying this was something I didn't understand.
Parth stepped forward as he tried to weave his way through the crowd. "Now it's my turn. Two of my childhood friends are getting married."
Somebody pushed him.
He tripped.
I acted.
My hand shot forward through the curtain, and I grabbed Kethaki's waist. Before Parth could fall on her, she was already in my arms, and I pulled her to me, right from her side to mine, and she landed in my lap, while the curtain broke off from its hinges and fell on us, covering us both as her ass settled right on my cock.
We froze, our bodies hidden away from the world as the curtain wrapped around us.
Her fingers clutched my kurta, and her hand landed on my chest. She bunched up in my arms as she felt me harden under her.
It came to life at her first touch, and just like that, my most guarded secret was out and laid at her feet.
"What the..." she trailed off, as I got harder. I blamed her voice. Especially, with the look in her eyes.
What was it? They were open wide in shock, but then why, why was there anticipation? The brown of her eyes looked like honey in the sunlight, and I wanted to dip my cock in it, and have her lick it off. That's how sinful they looked.
I looked down at her, her eyes wide from the sudden turmoil or my arousal, I didn't know.
"Are you..." She whispered.
"Hard?" I asked. I shifted under her and rubbed my cock directly on her ass. "Take a guess."
There was no way she wasn't feeling it. There was no way in hell, she couldn't feel it. Her mouth dropped. Her hands frantically left my body, and she flailed them around, trying to take off the curtain that hid us from the rest of the world.
"The distance between us is getting shorter and shorter, Princess." She paused for a second and then desperately tried to remove the curtain. "How long until you give up running away from this?"
Was she blushing? I didn't know, nor could I find out, thanks to the Haldi that covered every inch of her.
Was she thinking of that night? Her blush would have answered that.
"Stop deluding yourself! I am not a coward who runs away!" She squired right over my cock.
I smirked. "Such a liar."
She managed to remove the curtain that was draped over us and took a deep breath. She tried to get off, but my hold on her body tightened.
"Thank you for your help," She glared at her cousins, who all had their phones in their hands.
"We were busy recording." Maithili pointed to her phone.
"By the way, what were you two talking about?" Shiva asked, her hand resting on her waist. "We tried to listen, but you were whispering and the music was loud."
"None of your business! Help me get off!" She said as she tried to get up.
"Should I?" I whispered in her ears. "Help you get off?" Her glare pierced through my skull and landed straight to my cock.
"No, don't!" Maithili said. "Stay there, Di."
Kethaki paused. "What? Why?"
"We have to finish the rasam." She pointed at the buckets of water our servants held in their hands, standing in a straight line. "Now we have to wash off the Haldi."
"Yeah, that's why I am going back to my seat." She tried again, but my hold was firm. If she needed to get off, she had to remove my hands. And she wouldn't do that. She didn't want anyone to know how tightly I held onto her.
"But it broke!" Parth said and pointed to the copper chair that broke from his body weight. "I am not hurt at all, by the way," he continued and raised his forearm, which dropped blood from the deep gash on his hand.
"Also, we should save water, Bhabhi," Shivanya said and signalled the servants to hand over the buckets.
"No!" Kethaki said, but nobody listened. "Papa!"
Viraj uncle opened his mouth to say something, but Jaya aunty grabbed his hand, and he stopped.
"Maa!"
"We have to finish the rasam," Jaya Aunty replied and looked at Shivansh. He reached over to grab a bucket and walked over to us. Parth grabbed another, then Maithili, Shivanya, Vikram, Om, Akanksha and Shiva.
They walked over to us. If only they knew what was hidden from their view.
"It's time for Shiv and Parvati's Rudrabhishek," Maithili said, and they surrounded us, standing in a circle.
My erection got harder at the thought of her being my ardhangani like how Mata Parvati was Mahadev's, and at the feel of Kethaki straightening, it became angry. "If you keep moving, Princess, I will drag you away from here and have you take care of the problem you created."
Her head snapped towards me. "I did not create that problem. You are a pervert who can't control himself."
"I have been controlling myself just fine, Princess." I leaned in and whispered. "Otherwise, it would have been inside you a long time ago. Not being tortured so brutally, like this."
Her face crumpled in disgust. "Oh, you are sic--" she screamed as the first wave of water hit our heads. In the scorching heat, the water felt colder than it was.
"It's cold," she screeched. I pulled her taught against me, trying to give her some of my heat, hoping to relieve her from the cold.
The stream of water fell on us like a waterfall, and the haldi paste, which had partially dried up in the sun, started flowing down our bodies. While I had barely been touched with the paste, she was smothered in it. Her hair was matted where she had had the paste thrown at her.
It formed a layer of protection on her skin against my touch.
As the water cascaded down her face, her slender neck, I raised my free hand and gently wiped it off. I could feel the softness of her skin under my hands as the Haldi came off. She stiffened under my touch. I could feel her pulse rise under my fingers.
As more water came and drenched us both, I began cleaning her waist. I gripped it tightly. The waist chain came in my way, and gently, I slid it away to get better access to her skin.
She really had the softest skin.
Her breath caught, and she turned into stone in my hands.
"What are you doing?" She managed to whisper, but instantly closed her mouth as some dirty water entered her mouth.
"I've spent more than a decade trying to convince myself that the warmth of your skin that night wasn't just something my memory invented to keep me breathing." I raised my hand and began to wipe away dollops of Haldi from her face.
It was small. So was her nose. Her eyelashes tickled my fingertips as I wiped away Haldi from under her eyes.
She tilted her head. "What?"
I shifted and adjusted my hold on her. It was getting bolder as she was now completely on me, hanging from my firm hold on her waist.
"It haunts me." My touch was extremely gentle. I didn't want to break her. Not yet. "The feel of you still haunts me."
"What the fuck are you going on about!"
"The curve of your back. The way you arched when I touched your spine. I still remember it with a clarity that feels like sin." My voice was barely a whisper in her ear, as I worked my way to her back, and like expected, her back arched slowly. Most of the Haldi had been wiped away. "You arched into my hands and then ran like a coward."
"I could smell the sweat on your neck and the fear in your pulse." My hands returned to her neck, and I wiped away the last of the Haldi from her body. Her chest rose and fell quickly, matching the rhythm of her pulse. "But not once did you say my name."
As I got done, I dropped my hand. "I still wake up with your taste in my mouth." With that final statement whispered like a callously protected secret, I helped her stand.
She stood frozen in shock at the things I had told her. I never believed I would ever admit these thoughts to her. The torture of her touch that had followed me like a shadow was my reality, and I had been unable to accept it. But the moment my dick made contact with her, every single leash I had put on me to keep myself in check, pulled taught. And then, the anticipation in her eyes had snapped them.
As my secrets lay bare in front of her, I decided to reveal them all.
"I believe we have entertained you long enough." I addressed our families and stood up. My clothes were soaked, and so were hers. The white dupatta clung to her skin and did nothing to expose the expanse of her stomach and chest. Her body was exposed in the most wanton way, which made you want to imagine more.
I took off the waistcoat of my kurta and draped it around her body.
There was a round of cheers from around us. My cock was twiching, and it was the Devil's grace that I could hide it behind the long kurta.
I walked inside the Palace from the courtyard, when Veer slipped beside me. He had his iPad in his hands, and he passed it over to me. "Our suspicions were correct. Kethaki Ma'am has set up the surveillance van outside."
I raised my eyebrow. "And? Were you able to find out why?" My security team had notified me about an ice-cream truck the day it was set up. For precautionary reasons, we had kept an eye out, and it was a shocking surprise when we found out that Dia had been fluttering around it.
He shook his head. "I couldn't install the latest version of the program on the device. When you handed it over to me yesterday, I placed it on top of my phone, and within the duration that I held the device, I was able to install the alpha version. Beta is faster and can penetrate deep, but it takes longer to install."
I took a deep breath. It was no brain teaser to figure out that the van was installed at Kethaki's orders. But the reasons for it were unknown. "We don't have the content and information, then."
Her expressions from yesterday came back to my mind. Her grip on the iPad. Her smile fell from her face. Her sudden need to flee.
"Alpha version can help us keep track of the software they are using, but not the information fed into the software. They have been tracking an IP address that was traced to a town in Karnataka, but what they have been trying to trace, or who, we have no idea."
I nodded. "Do we know anything else?"
'What are you doing, Kethaki? Who are you trying to find? What is so important that you had to set up a separate IT team, away from your family's eyes? Why were you scared?'
"We might." He opened his iPad. "When you handed me her iPad, a short clip of your engagement ceremony was playing on the screen. It was extracted from the surveillance camera set up in the ballroom."
I stopped walking. "What clip?"
"It was the moment you exchanged rings. I have watched the entire video more than ten times, but nothing seems suspicious from that angle. There was nobody who seemed out of place, and nothing out of the ordinary happened."
I played the video. And sure enough, nothing had happened.
My cock twiched at the moment, when I had slipped my ring on her finger. I handed him back the iPad. "Tell me if you find something else," I said. He nodded, and I walked straight to my room. I slammed the door shut behind me as the events of Haldi started playing in my head. My breathing had gone rough, and I took off my Kurta and undraped the dhoti and opened the knot that kept it tied around my body.
I needed to wipe off the Haldi from my body. I needed to wash off the scent of flowers that clung to my skin. I needed to wash off the softness of her skin.
Running a hand through my hair, I walked into the shower stall and turned it on. The cold blast of water hit my body, and it soothed the tingling sensations on parts where her body touched mine, setting my soul and dick on fire. Taking a deep breath, I leaned on my hands against the wall opposite me and relished in the cold stream. Just like how I had brazenly enjoyed the cold stream as Kethaki sat on my lap, her body flush against mine.
Slowly, I wiped off the remaining Haldi paste from my face and body, and every time my hand touched the dried Haldi, the sensations of her body clinging to me surged in my head.
My fingers twitched with the need to touch her again. The tingling in my fingertips, as they clung to the last of her body heat that had seeped into my skin, sent waves of electricity down my spine. They curled into a fist, and I punched the wall.
The pain did nothing to relieve me from the torture.
I punched the wall again. And then again. And again. I punched it until my knuckles bled. It didn't help with the tightness between my legs, but it did help with the one that was in my chest.
I recalled the mole above her cleavage, and the tighness returned.
I took a deep breath and looked up. The spray of the shower hit my face. I took another breath and clenched my jaw.
I brought the hand that was bleeding away from the wall and to the back of my neck. Rubbing my nape there, I tried to calm the headache that had gripped my skull since she sat on my dick like it was her throne.
I sighed and closed my eyes.
Bad decision.
Everything hit me all at once.
Her pink sundress that fluttered in the wind on that beach. The thin straps that begged me to snap them with my teeth. The back that was exposed tempted me to run my tongue along the curve of her spine. Her long hair, frizzy and knotted due to the wind, wanted me to wrap it around my fist and pull her to me, using it as a leash.
Her white dupatta had hidden the cleavage, and how it had come undone and revealed what it hid. The flower ornaments that surrounded her in their fragrance, so strong, my mouth had watered. Her wet, dusky skin, against the wet lehenga that revealed everything and nothing at the same time, wrapped her like a gift.
A reward for keeping myself in check for eleven years, around her.
"Fuck you, Kethaki," I growled as my bleeding hand reached to grab my throbbing cock.
~*~
Enjoy this picture of Kethaki and Aryan ;)
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