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This is the beginning of my life with Maahi, and I’m going to make it count. I reach the bedroom and push the door open. She’s right there, sitting on the edge of the bed, waiting for me. My whole body burns with the realization that she is mine—her body, her heart, her brain, everything is mine. But when I recall she doesn’t want the same as I do, I look away and head to the closet instead without even saying a quick hi to her. She sees me and gets on her toes, following me there.
“What was that survey about?” she asks. “What are you doing with Devki Estate? You gave me your word, Vikram, and I trusted you. How can you defy that?”
I don’t respond and keep looking for my night suit. She turns me around.
“I’m talking to you.”
Her eyes spill fire, making her look even hotter. I have never desired a woman as much as I desire her. And yet, she doesn’t feel the same for me. She will. I will make sure of that. My fingers raise on their own and touch her lips. I rub them gently while she watches me like I’ve committed a sin by touching her.
“Mine,” I murmur, grazing my fingers on her neck, trying to reach the spot her friend Preet had mentioned—Maahi’s sensitive spot that can tempt her, melt her to my touch. She shuts her eyes close, giving in to my touch, her heart racing as I near her pulse at the base of her neck. If only I could have her forever, starting tonight. As if remembering something, she opens her eyes again and shrugs me off.
“You’re breaking yet another condition of our marriage, Cub. Hope you know what the consequences could be.”
She stares at me, bewildered by my threats. We have a long night left to fight, so I don’t intimidate her more for now and relax on the recliner instead. The next minute, she reaches me again and sits down at my feet, totally disheartened and lost. Her eyes sting and then flood with tears. Not a presentable sight for me. I married this woman, wanted to give her the world, and here she is at my feet. I lean towards her and pull her up, giving her a place on the recliner to sit, and then I go on my knees. Yes, on my knees. Only for this woman! I grab her hands in mine. She is equally surprised by my actions. We stare at each other for another minute, and then I tell her where she went wrong.
“You defied me, Maahi. I didn’t marry to stay away from you. I was giving up everything, even Devki Estate. For whom? For you. And you hid the fact that you wouldn’t come along with me to the US this time, because you knew I wouldn’t have married you otherwise. You want to stay here, please do. You want to stick to Daadi and never convince her to move to the USA with us, please do. You want to have a long-distance marriage, I will give you one. But...”
She chokes, staring at me nervously.
“Devki Estate is mine now as much as it's yours. I’m not giving you the sole rights to that property.”
Maahi fumes.
“This is between us, Vikram. Why do you want to play with Daadi’s feelings? You know how much Devki Estate means to her.”
“You forced me to take this decision. I didn’t do anything. You made me do this. If you think you can break the basic terms of our marriage and I will keep accepting and forgiving those, then you are highly mistaken.”
“Fine,” she wipes her tears. “Then I am no longer begging you, but I am not letting you win either. Do whatever you like, put hurdles in my path of fulfilling Daadi’s wishes, I don’t mind. I will cross them all and succeed. I don’t need your help or support. I am happy on my own.”
What a confidence! She is happy on her own? Maahi shrugs my hands from hers and gets up. She strides to the dressing table and starts unpinning the veil from her head. She is so pissed off that she doesn’t realize she is pulling her own hair in the process and hurting herself. Before she can hurt herself more, I reach her and turn her around. She wriggles to set free, but I hold her tight.
“This is my right,” I declare. She glares at me as I unpin her veil and take it off her head. Her heavy earrings are next. I had imagined this scene a million times in my head—me undressing my wife on our marriage night—and here I am, though I know she will not let me finish this. But I am desperate to see how far she will let me go tonight only to disappoint me later.
Maahi watches me, stunned, as I reach the hook of her heavy necklace and it goes off her neck in no time. None of us break our gazes, and my gestures turn bold. My fingers inch towards the back dori of her choli to untie it. After the first two strings open with ease and I move for the last one, she pushes me away.
“I am not giving these rights to a man who doesn’t want to understand my feelings.”
Feelings? She has those only for Daadi, not me.
“You can’t deny me, Maahi,” I mock, igniting her even more.
“Maybe I can’t because I don’t want you to do any more harm to Daadi and her dreams. So, if you still want to go ahead, please do, but don’t expect me to give up. This can never be mutual.”
She is challenging me, and I love it. I curl my arm around her nape and draw her closer. She makes a low sound of reluctant amusement, which turns me on instantly, but I keep a grip on my hormones. Tonight is not that night.
“You will give me your consent soon enough,” I declare.
Her head falls back as she meets my eyes.
“You’ll beg for it,” I tease.
Hot color rises on her cheeks. I don’t think any man has talked to her like this, and it turns me on somehow. Her face softens as I take my own time to admire her changing expressions. I don’t think it's lust anymore. What I feel for Maahi is more than any lust or obsession. I will name it one day. I just need to figure out the rest of the problems between us before that.
“You are mad,” she scowls, pushing me away and pressing her palms to the front of her loose choli to hold it in place.
“You turned me into one.”
Tossing a glare at me over her shoulder, she strides to the bathroom. Maahi is the toughest woman I have met so far, and our ride from here on will be fun. I know a long-distance marriage is not going to work in my case, so I better start preparing for alternatives. But before that, I have to get the legal property transfer papers for Devki Estate from Dad, which he has stolen. Until those papers come into my hands, I won’t be relieved.
