21. Sona
SONA
T he Haldi ceremony was an intimate affair, with just the immediate family and close friends in attendance. Sameer’s cousins and I helped Tara don her floral necklace, earrings, and bracelets. The bright pink and yellow flowers complimented the yellow lehenga Tara had chosen in keeping with the occasion.
When Sameer emerged in a yellow kurta and white leggings, the couple was seated under the pergola. Gone were the colorful flowers from last night. The space now glowed with yellow and white ones, with shades of green and pink thrown in for contrast.
The ceremony began with Tara’s mother blessing her with a ghee diya. Then, with the fragrant turmeric-sandalwood paste on mango leaves, she placed it on Tara’s feet, knees, elbows, and shoulders, ending at the head, a ritual that would be performed in reverse after the wedding. Sameer’s mother went next, going through the same motions with her son, with some changes added in per their customs. Aunties and cousins followed. On Tara’s insistence, her mother started a Marathi song traditionally sung during Haldi. The act gained quick popularity, and Sameer’s family broke into traditional Haldi songs in Hindi and Punjabi.
The aunties then encouraged the couple to smear some of the magical paste on their unmarried cousins and friends in the hopes that they’d get hitched soon. I was the first one Tara grabbed.
“Here’s hoping you find true love and the happily ever after you deserve,” she whispered as she smeared my cheeks with the yellow paste. Mihir’s mother, who was right beside us, patted my back and placed a loving hand on my head in blessing.
“Don’t spare him,” she said to Sameer as Mihir tried to escape the scene.
“I thought he wasn’t the marrying type,” Sameer jeered as he caught Mihir’s wrist and smeared a splash across his cheek and forehead.
“What can I say? A mother can always hope,” Sneha aunty said, pulling out a naughty smile. “I have a feeling things are about to change.”
Mihir and I, of course, kept our eyes off each other and stayed as far away as we could manage. No use fueling the fire when we wanted no one to detect the smoke.
After helping Tara out of the floral jewelry and escorting her to her room to shower and change, I helped Riya in her room. When I finally retreated to mine, I found Mihir standing shirtless near the bed.
“Are you out of your mind? What are you doing here?” I whispered, shutting the door behind me with haste.
He grinned. “Waiting for you.”
“Topless in the room of a respectable, unmarried woman?” I teased. “You’re a very bad man, aren’t you?”
“Oh, you have no idea.”
He wrapped his large arms around me. “You look like a bride with henna on your hands and that haldi on your cheeks.”
My heart tumbled but I giggled.
“What?”
“It’s the way you say haldi in your American accent. Haldi ,” I imitated him.
“You know you’ll be paying for every little infraction, babe.”
“Infraction?”
“Indeed, my wayward lover who likes to slip out of my arms.”
I smiled impishly and brushed my lips against his. “Well, the last punishment wasn’t all that bad.”
He pulled me closer. “Tell me what you want, Sona.” Goose bumps rippled across my body when he kissed my ear, but I pushed him away.
“Right now, I want you to put on your kurta and go downstairs. I’m going for a shower.”
“Not alone for sure,” he declared. “I’m coming with you.”
“Hey, I’m serious. We’re behind schedule. You’ll be called downstairs any minute now. They better not catch you coming out of my room.”
He grumbled but said, “Alright, but a kiss before I leave.” He grabbed me at the waist and fell back on the bed with me.
“Hey!”
He flipped me over, pinning me to the bed, and under his weight, my body erupted in unexpected arousal. He grazed his pelvis against me as he brought his mouth down on mine. My thighs parted on to allow for the thick denim to do its work, and my eyes closed at the touch of his lips. My arms tightened around him, and I found myself getting wetter…
Just then, a gentle knock. I gasped, but before we could move, the door flew open. Tara stepped in and let out a horrified scream.
Mihir jumped off me with a legerity that defied his size while I scrambled up inelegantly.
“Get away from her,” she yelled, shooing Mihir. “What the fuck are you doing?”
Mihir, being Mihir, retained his wits about him. “Well, that ,” he said.
“Tara…Tara, it’s alright,” I said in a tone one uses to calm a child or a pet.
Meanwhile, Sameer’s urgent voice came booming up the stairs. “Tara, what’s wrong?”
I peeked my head around Tara to smile at Sameer in reassurance, but he was already charging toward us. “Everything is fine,” I managed feebly as Sameer entered, his frown steady on Mihir, who was still shirtless.
“I caught them at it!” Tara cried, managing to find the perfect sweet spot between worry and elation.
“What the hell, Mihir!” Sameer said.
I quickly shut the door behind him and locked it this time.
“I told you not to toy with her,” Sameer continued.
“He isn’t toying,” I said, my voice still a hush.
“You gave me your word,” Sameer said to Mihir.
“And I didn’t break it,” Mihir replied in a confident voice.
Sameer turned to me, and I responded with a guilty nod. He narrowed his eyes at me and shook his head. “I expected this from him, but you , Sona!”
“She’s an independent woman. Can’t she decide who she wants to be with?” Mihir stared back at Sameer.
“That’s my problem. She chose you ?” Sameer said with a deep frown of anger and disdain between his brows.
“What’s wrong with me?” Mihir cried in indignation.
“Nothing is wrong with you, Mr. Hop-skip-jump to the next one. I warned you, but you just couldn’t help yourself, could you?” Sameer replied, ready to charge toward him, but Tara put her hand out and thwarted him.
“Stop it, Sameer. Mihir is right. Sona is a grown woman capable of making her own decisions,” she said with a decided displeasure in her voice. “And can you put a shirt on, Mihir?” she said. “It’s horrible enough that I’ll have one naked man in my bed tonight. I don’t want the image of another one haunting me.”
An ill-timed chuckle escaped my lips, and she threw me a glare. Mihir grabbed his kurta from the chair and pulled it over his head while Tara crossed her arms, walked to the bed, and sat on the edge.
“And you, missy!” She jabbed her finger at me and demanded, “Explain.”
“We didn’t mean to,” I said. “We just connected.”
“Yes, I saw what parts connected,” Tara said with a frown.
I tittered again at her words, and she glared me down again.
“She’s right,” Mihir said. “One moment, we were talking at the lake house, and the next…well, you get the drift.”
“The lake house?” Tara jumped from her seat. “This has been going on since October?”
I nodded with a sheepish look.
“And you went to Montréal to see her?” Tara said to Mihir, the truth suddenly dawning on her.
This time, he nodded.
She turned to me, visibly offended. “And you both hid it from me?”
“Because you’ve been over-protective about me since Ajay,” I said, and Tara’s eyes darted instantly to Mihir.
A tiny smile began emerging at the corners of Tara’s lips. “He knows about Ajay?”
I ran a quick tongue over my dry lips. Darn, I had given it away, and I now had no choice but to confirm it. I returned a slight nod.
“Oh my god!” she squealed, wrapping me in her arm and rushing to grab Mihir into an embrace. I threw Sameer a save me look, but he stood with hands on his hips, feet apart, a frown on his forehead.
“What am I missing?” he asked with both hands in the air, and Tara turned to smile at him. She patted Mihir’s cheek, then mine.
“I’m so happy for you, love,” she whispered in my ear.
“No, it’s not like that,” I tried to object with a vehement shake of my head, but I knew she was already planning our life together.
She took Sameer’s hand and led him to the door. “I want you both downstairs now,” she called over her shoulder. “So whatever you were planning on doing, don’t.”
“What was that about?” Sameer asked her.
“I’ll tell you later,” she said as she threw a last loving glance in our direction before shutting the door behind her.
“I have the same question. What did I miss?” Mihir asked me.
I walked to the bed and lowered myself to it with a deep sigh. “There are precisely five people, excluding my parents, who are privy to the details of what happened with Ajay. You are now one of them, and she thinks this means we are…I don’t know what she’s thinking, but it’s her version of a fairy tale.”
“So, what are we?” Mihir asked with a cheeky grin. “Hum aapke hain kaun?” he added in the American-Hindi accent that I was starting to adore on his lips.
I responded in the only fitting way—by rolling my eyes and throwing him out of the room.