CHAPTER 38
Prakram is sitting among everyone and drinking alcohol because he cannot tolerate Vishwajeet and his son at all, but due to all the relatives being here, he has to tolerate all this. He starts pouring more wine into his glass when Armaan holds his hand.
"Sir, you should not drink too much alcohol.”
"Where is Aashi?"
"Aashi was sleepy, so Sandhya maam took her to her room. You should go to your room because no one comes on the third floor; hence, your sister-in-law will be alone at this time.”
Prakram had already picked up the glass, but Armaan stopped him. Upon hearing this, Prakram suddenly stopped his hand, placed the glass back on the table, and left. Avishka is getting very upset because no one is allowed to come on the third floor; hence, no one is around her, and she is not able to open the strings of her blouse at all, which has now started tightening her a lot. She knows that Prakram will come there after some time, and she does not want to be in front of him like this at all. She has untied her long hair, placing it on one side of her shoulder, and is attempting to open her blouse, a task that has become increasingly challenging for her. She tied two knots tightly before adding the flower knot to prevent the blouse from opening.
Sandhya had told her that she would come, but she has not come yet, due to which she is getting very worried. The continuous sitting has left her extremely tired, and the weight of the heavy attire is causing her significant distress. A sudden noise at the door prompts her to tightly wrap her chunari around herself and attempt to untangle the string from within. Prakram tries to find Avishka, who is not there, in the room, but he keeps hearing the tinkling of bangles, so he comes towards the closet.
When Prakram enters the closet, he finds her still struggling to open her blouse. He turns and starts leaving from there, but suddenly he notices that she is not able to open the strings at all. Suddenly, Avishka realizes that Prakram is staring at her, and as a result, she turns to face him. When Prakram starts coming towards her, she bows her head.
The strong smell of alcohol scares her enough that she starts to walk away, but Prakram stops her by holding her arm, then turns her to face the mirror. She has closed her eyes tightly. He removes her dupatta, places her hair on one shoulder, and carefully examines the strings. Without delay, he starts untying those strings. Avishka holds her blouse tightly. All the strings have opened up, and her entire waist is in front of Prakram without any barrier. He keeps looking at her flawless back carefully for a few moments, then looks in the mirror and tells her.
"It's too late; go to sleep.”
He turns and comes into the room. Avishka keeps watching him go from there through the mirror, and after he completely disappears from her sight, suddenly tears well up in her eyes, but a small smile appears on her lips. She quickly changes her clothes and comes into the room. Prakram is lying on the bed, and probably he has fallen asleep. She looks here and there, goes to the front, and lies down quietly. Prakram realizes very well that she has gone and laid down on the sofa. He often falls asleep after drinking alcohol, but today he is not able to sleep. He is attempting to fall asleep, but the presence of another person in the room is preventing him from doing so. Avishka is also in a similar situation; she is lying quietly, but despite being tired, sleep is far away from her eyes.
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Armaan is helping Prakram, as it is the reception today. Inside the room, Avishka, Aashi, and Sandhya are with the beautician, which is why he is constantly glancing towards them. They are currently present in a hotel where some very important people, along with all their relatives, are staying. Armaan finds him repeatedly staring at the door with a soft smile, which Prakram immediately notices and relays to him.
"What is the problem?"
"There is no problem, sir."
"Then why are you showing your teeth?"
"Sir, I actually brushed well today, so it is coming out again and again to show himself."
"There is absolutely no need to talk nonsense; take maximum care of Aashi, and you should not take your eyes off Avishka too. Although I will be with her all the time, so I can keep everyone in mind, there is some kind of security for both of them. There should not be any problem with anything; apart from this, you know very well what you have to do and what not to do."
"Sure sir…”
Just then, the door opens, and Sandhya and Aashi come out. Aashi immediately approaches her father and informs him, ensuring her dress is properly draped.
"Papa, how am I looking?"
"Like always, princess... Papa's princess..."
"Then Mumma should be Papa’s queen."
Prakram stares at Aashi in astonishment as she speaks suddenly. Armaan effectively conceals his face by placing his hand over his mouth, preventing Prakram from witnessing his laughter. Meanwhile, Sandhya lets out a loud laugh, looks at Digvijay towards the door, and speaks.
"We should leave; these two will be called after a while."
"Absolutely…"
Digvijay's response reveals a strange kind of happiness, causing him to start looking at his father. Digvijay smiles, takes Aashi in his arm, kisses her cheek, places his hand on Sandhya's shoulder, and leads them away from the room. Prakram sees Aashi going from there and then looks at Armaan, who completely stops laughing and stands in front of him and tells.
"Everything will be as per your orders. I will take excellent care of my sister-in-law, but I know very well that you are the one who will take the best care of her.”
After saying his words, Armaan runs away from the scene like a small child, causing Prakram to grumble about the unpleasant things happening around him.
"Everyone is having too much fun."
When he knocks on the inner room door, the beautician opens it, revealing Avishka standing before him, her eyes bent as always. He enters the room, gazes at Avishka, and gestures for the beautician to leave. The beautician promptly leaves, nodding her head.
Avishka is wearing a gown today and has very light makeup on her face, but her slanted eyes and trembling lips after feeling Prakram's eyes on her make her even more beautiful. Prakram is watching her very carefully. After putting his hand in his pocket, Prakram stepped in front of her, closely examined her, and scrutinized every detail.
Prakram had already examined Avishka's reception gown after seeing her lehenga yesterday and realizing her issue. He believed that Sandhya had had this outfit custom-made by a well-known designer, so it was in keeping with today's fashion. It was off-shoulder, and he did not like that gown at all, so he himself selected a golden-colored gown for her, in which she is currently looking very beautiful. He says.
"Let's go…"
Avishka is busy with a lot of things, and she is also very confused after seeing his very understanding behavior last night, which is forcing her to constantly think about Prakram, which she didn't expect. Despite her desire to avoid thinking about Prakram, she finds herself unable to do so; instead, she simply closes her eyes and informs him.
"I want to meet Ma-Baba."
Prakram is standing right in front of her, so she is standing with her eyes down and not looking at him at all. He tells her that he sees her nervousness.
"Why are you shivering?"
"That, ma Baba..."
"After these guests leave, we will go and meet your maa and baba before going to Australia."
Upon hearing this, Avishka experiences a sense of happiness and briefly closes her eyes. Observing her in this state, Prakram gazes at her briefly before holding her hand and leaving the room. She tries to free her hand because, for some unknown reason, she feels a strange inclination towards Prakram. Which she does not want to let dominate her heart at all, because the fear that already dominates her is stopping her somewhere.
"What is the problem?"
"Nothing; I will go on my own."
He releases her hand, and instead of walking alongside her, he begins to walk slightly ahead of her. This sudden anger stems from her words, and he doesn't want anyone else to fall victim to his anger at this moment. Avishka starts walking, looking at his feet with her eyes down; she just wants to stop herself from looking at Prakram at any cost because it has been with her since yesterday that whenever she looks at Prakram, her heart starts beating fast, and she does not notice at all that a waiter is coming from the front.
Prakram notices the waiter walking straight after he sees a very attractive girl approaching from the front. He immediately puts his hand in front of the waiter to prevent him from colliding with Avishka, ensuring that all his guests witness the incident.
"Be careful… Always keep your eyes where you need them."
The waiter spits out fear and quickly goes away from there. Prakram turns and looks at Avishka, who realizes her mistake, looks up, and starts walking with him, but he comes close to her and places his hand on her waist. She is very close to him, so he tells her softly while smiling in front of everyone.
"In front of the world, we are that husband and wife who got married after liking each other, so we act in the same way.”
Due to him speaking in a slightly angry manner, Avishka suddenly looks into his eyes, in which fear is clear. Seeing her fear, Prakram turns his gaze away and then walks away from among the people, holding her waist. Goes and stands in front.
Everyone extends a warm welcome to both of them; they are currently meeting with everyone. Sandhya introduced everyone to her. After some time, when they get free from the interview session, Avishka's eyes look at Aashi. She is comfortably eating ice cream while sitting on the sofa, which prompts her to immediately reach out to Aashi. When Prakram sees her in this state, he becomes slightly upset, but as soon as he witnesses Aashi's actions, he understands why she did it.
"Aashi…"
Aashi, who was eating ice cream, sees her mother coming there and starts looking at the ice cream, then makes a small pout and tells her.
“Only one…”
Avishka starts looking at her, and Prakram also follows her, smiling, and then he says to Aashi while holding her waist.
"Okay, only one."
The doctor had clearly said that it would be better for Aashi to avoid ice cream altogether as the weather is changing. Avishka immediately looks at Prakram, filled with disbelief and a slight anger, as he has always complied with all of her demands. He suddenly laughs, due to which she also feels some unexpected situation because somewhere she was showing him anger with her eyes, which she herself was not aware of, and when Prakram suddenly laughs, she looks away while pressing her painted lips between her teeth tightly.
Digvijay and Sandhya also smile slightly upon witnessing Prakram's laughter, a sight that Vishwajeet and Ranjeet find intolerable. Ranjeet immediately approaches Avishka, extends his hand, and shows his desires with a smile.
"Can I dance with you?"
Avishka doesn't like this man at all, and she doesn't feel comfortable here either, which is why she immediately rejects him by shaking her head.
"Come on, my dear sister in law, I am your only brother-in-law; I have this much right.”
He starts holding her hand, saying this, but Prakram immediately stops and tells him.
"The reception is mine; my wife is mine, so the dance will also be mine and only my wife's."
He places his hand nicely on Avishka's waist and gestures to Armaan to take care of Aashi. He draws her closer to him and takes her other hand in his, at which point Avishka immediately looks into his eyes and responds.
"I don't know how to dance.”
"But I know..."
"Please, it will be very embarrassing."
"Let's see…."
The music begins to play slowly, prompting Prakram to protectively hold her in his arms and move at a slow pace. Avishka begins to look around, sensing that everyone's attention is solely on her. In response, he immediately turns her face towards him, gazes into her eyes, and tells her softly.
"Keep your attention solely on me, and closely monitor my actions, as you must do the same. Dancing is not a difficult task. If you do it as I am doing, then everything will happen automatically, and it won't be embarrassing, either."
Avishka starts dancing with him very attentively. Prakram holds her hand and gently pulls her away from him, and then, looking into her eyes, he just tells her softly.
"Roll…"
As Avishka rolls, she clings to his hands and approaches him closely. As a result, he grabs her waist tightly and begins to pull her downward. Avishka is scared, so she holds him tightly; her fist quickly grabs his shirt from his chest, and Prakram holds her in this way for a few seconds. The fear of falling is clearly visible on her face. Seeing this, he smiles very softly and lifts her up again. Digvijay is closely observing both of them, and he is filled with joy as he watches all this unfold. As the dance concludes, the applause begins, and Aashi, upon witnessing their dance, begins to jump with joy, causing both of them to smile broadly.
Everyone is observing the newlywed couple with immense joy, but Prakram's gaze is fixed on those who cannot bear his happiness. He completely ignores them and just waits for the reception party to end.