वो शरमाते,
छुपते छुपाते,
मेरे होठों का,
तुम्हारे गाल से टकराना,
फिर फ़िसल कर,
तुम्हारे होठों से.-
“Dude, there is an address written on the last page of your journal?” Ujjwal directed the question to me.
Before I could answer, Archie snatched the journal out of his hand, and looking in it, he said, “Oh! It’s some address of a book store in Bangalore. Interesting.”
“But why I mean?” Ujjwal asked. His face filled with an intent curiosity.
“Leave it. You guys won’t understand.” I replied in a flat tone, uninterested in answering the question.
“We will dude.” Devil’s smile on Archie's face.
“Fuck you,” I murmured.
“Tell us, no?” Ujjwal requested.-
We were sitting across the table from each other, sipping wine before dinner, admiring the cafe’s ambience. Exploring a new bistro every Saturday night in Bangalore has become our new interest. Oh, by the way, it’s mostly her doing all the admiration. I cannot adore any damn thing, but her, when we are together.
“There is something flying close to your right cheek,” I interrupted her.
“Shit.” She tried to shoo away the invisible creature with her hand. “Is it gone? I can’t see it.”
“No. Still there. Lemme help.” I leaned forward and planted a gentle kiss on her cheek. “Now, it’s gone.” I whispered in her ear.
“So much build up for a kiss?” She shook her head in amazement.
“Flying kiss,” I corrected her and smiled.-
"Happy Valentine's Day, Mumma and Daddy," Pihu came running on the bed and hugged us.
"Thank you, Pihu," we said as one.
"By the way, do you know why do we celebrate Valentine's Day?" I asked her.
"Yes, daddy! To express, umm, love to the people we love the most," she answered with a smile.
"Aww," we couldn't stop smiling at her response.
"Tell me, what did you two used to do on valentine's day before I was born?" Another question was in the plate.
"We would usually go out on a date. By date i mean we would go out, eat, have good time." My wife answered, trying to keep it simple for the little kid.
"Yay! Then today I will take you on a date." She jumped with excitement.
"Date? My god! Such a darling you are." I cupped her face in my hands.
"She is going to have her first date at the age of 5. Unbelievable." My wife hugged Pihu.
"Yeah! Only our daughter could do that," I joined them in the hug.— % &-
We were in the kitchen, where my wife was cooking lunch, and I was doing dishes from the breakfast.
"You know you are an artist," she said.
"Me? Why? Like in what way? Because i am a writer?" Her statement surprised me.
"I mean look at the stuff you do with your lips whenever they touch any inch of my body. Only an artist can do that, no?. It's like i am the canvas and your lips are the brushes and they just know their way."
"Awww! That's..mm...ya...like why all of a sudden?" I managed to ask. I suck at responding to praises.
"Just got reminded today is you know Kiss Day. So..." Her words faded away.
I stopped doing the dishes, and turned around only to find her intense, naughty gaze focused on me like a laser. A surge of desire poured through me, which kicked me to walk up to her. I lifted her up, where she stood while she spoke, and set her on the kitchen slab, right next to her, where she was cooking.
"This artist here wants to make a new art right now," I whispered in her ear, and kissed on her neck. The fire had been lit.
Later in the day we realised that the fire was strong enough to burn our desires as well as the lunch.— % &-
It was almost midnight until we realised how engrossed we were in our hug. Breaking that beautiful silence, I gently asked her, “Had a bad day again?”
“Yes. Work was stressful. Periods made it worse.” She sighed.
“It’s fine. The day has ended.” I kissed her forehead, twice.
“You know, our hugs they are like an entrance to a different world for me. No, no! Not just entrance but a complete different world. I forget all the office stuff, shit I am going through, basically pain of every sort. I feel numb and lost, numbness that is beautiful, and lost in a good way, like you know I don’t wanna come back.”
“I know. It has been like this between us since the beginning.”
“Yeah! Remember how I made a vow to you before we got married? That whenever I'll have a bad day in future, the first thing I'm gonna do once I come back home is, land into your arms and stay there until the day ends. I just hope it stays like that forever.”
“It will love. It will.” I kissed on her cheek.
“By the way, happy hug day husband.” She reached up from my chest and landed a peck on my chin.
“Haha! As if we don’t celebrate that every day.” I hugged her a little tighter.— % &-
“On this promise day, I vow to - ” before i could finish my sentence, my wife interrupted me. She put her hand over my mouth and said, “Wait! Wait! Don’t make a new promise. Do you remember what was the promise you made last year?”
“Vaguely,” I smiled, an embarrassing one.
“No, you don’t dumbo. You promised that it will always be you who will make the morning tea.”
“Oh! But I did, no?” I quickly responded. “For few days,” I whispered.
“Ya! For few days sweetheart. Specifically 3 days. And what was the other promise? About doing the dishes on alternate days?”
“I am sorry.” My puppy eyes coming to the rescue.
“Fine. So, what’s the promise you are going to make this time?”
“Ummm,” I paused for a while and then continued, “that i will fulfil the ones i made earlier.”
“Ah! Lazy ass. Okay, i believe you." She smiled. "But you know it’s fine. Like really. What matters is you make efforts and that matters a lot,” she cupped her hands around my face and kissed my forehead.
“Aw! You the best,” I said and hugged her tight.— % &-
We were sitting in the hall when I asked Pihu, “Before you question us what day is it today, we have already got something for you. Can you guess?”
“No, daddy! Please tell me already,” giving her puppy eyes, she requested.
“Just like her dad. Restless,” my wife whispered, a lopsided smile on her face.
“Okay, fine! So, it’s Teddy Day today, and here is your present.” My wife brought the teddy bear from the bedroom. Pihu stood there with her hands upto her face, smiling as wide as she could.
“Yay! I have 5 now in my Teddy team.” She was beaming with joy. “But, Mumma, why don’t you have one?” That question came out of nowhere.
“Me? I have, no? Your daddy.”
“Oh, is it? And that's because he looks like one?” she giggled.
“Probably.” My wife smiled sheepishly at me.
“Okay. Then daddy is the leader of my teddy team.” Pihu shouted with joy. On hearing this, her mother started laughing as if she was gonna die laughing. Pihu joined her too, while I stood there trying to find a comeback.— % &-
We were having dinner when Pihu asked me, “Daddy! Just like the day before yesterday was rose day, is there anything significant today as well?” Her eyes widened a bit.
“Yes, love. It’s Chocolate Day today.”
“Chocolate? Wow. Talking about them, which is your favourite one daddy?”
“Your mother,” I murmured, loud enough for only my wife to hear, and passed a naughty look and smile at her. But it turned out that wasn’t the case.
“Mumma?” Pihu quickly retorted. My wife’s face had gone expressionless by then.
I stammered, “Yes, yes! Your mumma makes amazing chocolates. Those are my favourite ones.”
“Really? Why has she never made a single one for me?” she said, surprised by the sudden revelation.
“Oh is it? Don’t worry, your mumma will make a few for you tonight.” My wife shook her head in disapproval.
“Or rather we will.” I ate up my words.
For the next few hours, we kept Pihu busy with the tv, while we tried our best to follow the Youtube tutorials on how to make chocolate at home. That day was indeed a perfect chocolate day for us.— % &-
“Hey babe! Why have you been glowering at me? Did i do something wrong?” My wife asked me.
“You forgot something.”
“Me? What? What date is today? or day?”
“Huh? You forgot to propose me.” I grumbled.
“Oh! You and your Valentine’s week." She sighed. "By the way, you don't need to ask me to propose you. Although I found it cute. ” She suddenly started laughing. I said nothing, but looked away, pretending to be more angry than before. You must be wondering if i was really furious about her not proposing me on that specific day, well, no, it was just me being me.
Few seconds later,
“Look up honey,” she said in a soft voice, gentle enough to not let me ignore it. I looked up.
“How is this for a proposal?” She had taken off her wrappings.
“Best in the world.” I bolted out of the bed, only to pull her down on top of me, back on the bed.— % &-