Flaming Sun Collection 1: Happily Ever Afters from India Box Set (The Malhotra Bride; Meghna; The Runaway Bridegroom)

by Sundari Venkatraman

  Silence reigned in the hall as Ranveer and Chanda explored each other, their lips clinging together while their hands moved freely over one another. They were wearing too many layers of clothing. Not that it stopped Chanda from feeling Ranveer’s touches searing through to her skin.

  Ranveer was slowly losing control over himself. He was sure that Chanda wasn’t the type who was into a casual affair. He dragged his lips away from hers with great reluctance while Chanda protested loudly. Ranveer grinned as he pressed her head to his shoulder and hugged her tight.

  It took a few minutes for their breathing to return to normal. Ranveer gently lifted Chanda off his lap and sat her beside him on the sofa. He held her close to his side when she objected, a protective arm around her waist. He looked at her. She looked so lovely, innocent and thoroughly kissed. Her big black eyes were shining bright as she looked at him with a wide smile. Her luscious lips were swollen from the attention he had given them. She looked excited.

  Chanda felt as if it was celebration time. While she had imagined Ranveer kissing her in many different ways over the past few days, the reality far exceeded the thoughts. In reality, her body thrummed with excitement and her blood zinged as he kissed her. She looked at his lips, all her shyness forgotten. She raised a hand to trace them. God, he was delicious!

  “Chanda,” said Ranveer, his lips moving against her seeking fingers, intent on calling a halt to her enthusiasm, but not having the heart to do so. Her exploring touch was not helping either.

  “Hmm,” responded Chanda, not interested in talking. She reached up to place her mouth on his, her tongue tracing his lips. Ranveer groaned in surrender as her tongue slid into his mouth, continuing her quest.

  The next time they came up for air, Ranveer removed Chanda’s arms from around his neck and got up from the sofa, having decided to put some distance between them. He went to switch on the heater. They hadn’t even been aware of the chill in the entrance hall.

  Chanda was startled to see Ranveer so far away from her. One minute, she was having the time of her life, discovering the delights of kissing him and the next, Ranveer left her on the sofa and moved away to stand at the window. Had she been too forward in kissing him like that? Maybe it was up to the man to approach the woman and not the other way round. Chanda felt rather stupid as she didn’t know the rules. A shadow crossed over her features and Ranveer turned around just in time to catch her expression.

  He walked back to her in a hurry and sat on the single sofa that was placed adjacent to the long one she was sitting in. He held her hands in his as he looked at her. Her gaze was lowered while her cheeks flamed with shameful colour. “Chanda,” said Ranveer, his voice soft. She refused to look up at him. Guessing the reason for the sad look on her face, Ranveer said, “I walked away because I am losing control. Not because I don’t want your kisses.”

  Chanda raised her eyes to look up at him, her gaze sharp as she checked his face. She wanted to know for sure that he was speaking the truth. His intense brown eyes were open and honest. He wasn’t lying to her. A small shy smile broke out on Chanda’s face as she nodded her head slightly.

  They spent the rest of the evening in complete harmony. They had dinner and later watched a Hollywood comedy on the DVD. All the time, while they spoke with each other, their hands and eyes were holding a dialogue at a different level altogether.

  It crossed Chanda’s mind that maybe she should tell him that she had been married as a kid. But then, that might be presuming too much. Their relationship was too new, time enough to talk about it at a later date. Chanda was quite confident that Ranveer was as much interested in her as she was in him and was quite thrilled with the thought.

  Ranveer looked at Chanda’s young face and was totally enamoured. He enjoyed being with her. She was beautiful, honest and loving. And more than all that was their physical chemistry - it was mind-blowing. It appeared that she was probably the one for him. He thought of the wedding ceremony that he had undergone with a child fourteen years ago and finally realised that it was time to bring closure to that chapter of his life before going ahead with a serious relationship. He decided not to talk to Chanda about it just then.

  RANVEER TOOK CHANDA back to her hostel. He stopped the car outside the gate and turned to her as she removed her seat belt. He lifted her right hand and placed a gentle kiss on her palm. “Goodnight, Sweetheart!”

  Chanda reached out to place a kiss on his cheek and said, “Goodnight!” before getting out of the car. She waved to him as he reversed the car and drove away.

  Chanda was thoroughly excited as she went up to her room, not able to stop smiling. She quickly turned her expression serious when she saw that a couple of her roommates were awake. They greeted her and Chanda’s reply was quite distracted. She quickly changed and went to bed, planning to dream of a wonderful future with Ranveer, not aware of what was awaiting her in the morning to come.

  Twenty-six

  Chanda’s mobile vibrated beside her at about 6.45 am. She woke up with a jerk to see that it was from home. She took the call to hear her father at the other end. “Hello Pappa, Good Morning!” she said, her voice slurred with sleep.

  “Hello Beta! I have some wonderful news for you. But I want it to be a surprise. I have booked you on the 9 o’clock flight to Jaipur. You come over here and we’ll talk.”

  That brought Chanda up on her bed with a jerk. What was happening? “Pappa, is something wrong? You or Mamma is not keeping well or something? Don’t keep me in suspense. I—”

  Mohan interrupted his daughter to say, “I told you it’s a surprise. Nothing to worry about.” There was a smile in his voice as he uttered that. “Lakshman has emailed you the tickets. You can get back to your hostel tomorrow night. Wake up my dear and just come over.” Chanda was surprised to hear the excitement in her father’s voice.

  As she got ready, Chanda was rather upset that she wouldn’t get to spend time with Ranveer. But maybe it was all for the best. Their relationship was getting too intense, too fast. She concluded that the break would do them good.

  Chanda’s mobile rang as she was waiting for the metro to arrive. It was Ranveer. She had planned to call him after checking in at the airport.

  “Hi Sweetheart, Good Morning,” cooed Ranveer’s voice in her ear, tickling her pink.

  “Hey!” said Chanda, her voice breathless with excitement as she climbed into the train that arrived just then.

  “You already out somewhere?” asked Ranveer, hearing the announcement in the background.

  “Yeah! Actually, I was going to call you after checking in at the airport. I’m going home to Jaipur for the weekend. Pappa called me today morning to tell me that.”

  “What?” Ranveer’s voice was startled. He had been hoping to spend a lot of time with her this weekend. This was a shock. “All okay at home, nah?” he asked, wondering at the sudden trip.

  Chanda laughed as she said, “Believe it or not, I asked my father the same thing. Everything’s fine, I believe. He has planned some kind of a surprise. He just refused to tell me. Nor would Mamma or any of my bros. I think I’ll need to get there before I find out.”

  “Alright! You carry on and we’ll be in touch,” said Ranveer, the disappointment obvious in his voice. He couldn’t stop himself from adding, “I’d been looking forward to getting to know you better this weekend.”

  “Oh Ranveer,” sighed Chanda. “Tell me about it. I was thinking the same. I’m so sorry I—”

  “Hey, no need to be sorry. You’ll be back at work on Monday, right? Cheer up!” ordered Ranveer.

  They spoke for a few more minutes about this and that before Chanda got off the yellow line at Rajiv Chowk to change into the blue one that would take her to Dwarka Sector 21, the closest metro station to the domestic airport. She just had a tote bag as she stepped on to the escalator that would take her to the correct platform.

  The flight was on time and the plane touched Jaipur airport forty-five minutes later. Chand
a looked forward to seeing her family now that the disappointment of leaving Ranveer was past.

  The twins had come to the airport to pick Chanda up. Both the guys spoke nineteen to a dozen while Chanda watched on, an amused expression on her face. She knew that she would have to wait to get a word in edgeways as they filled her up on what all had happened in the family over the past four months - since her last visit home.

  They were almost halfway home before Chanda got a chance to talk. “What’s happening guys? Why did Pappa want me to get home so urgently?”

  Shatru was driving with Chanda in the passenger seat. Bharat spoke from the back. “Actually Chanda, Veerendra’s father has come home to stay with us for a few days. He’s keen to meet you—”

  Chanda made a shocked noise when she heard what he had to say. Why would Veerendra’s father want to visit them now of all the time? Had her errant husband returned home to his village? Chanda blanched when she thought of Ranveer and her feelings for him. All these years, she had kept herself away from meeting any guy exactly for this reason. And now, just when she had finally opened up to someone, her past had decided to catch up with her. Tears of anger blurred Chanda’s eyes while she did her best to stop them from falling down.

  Shatru sensed that things were not quite what they should be and frowned at his twin in the rearview mirror. Bharat shrugged, not able to understand what the problem was. The brothers were too close to their sister to be tactful. Shatru asked outright, “Are you upset Chanda? Is Surendra uncle’s visit bothering you? Do you want to return to Delhi?” he asked. He didn’t like his only sister being upset.

  Chanda couldn’t help smiling through her tears as she looked at Shatru. “Oh Shatru, I missed you guys so much.” She took a tissue from the box on the dashboard to wipe her eyes in a hurry. “Sorry about that. Tell me, what’s up? Has Veerendra returned home finally?” she asked.

  Bharat shook his head as she turned to look at him. “No Chanda. Veerendra’s still missing,” he declared much to Chanda’s relief. She raised her eyebrows as if to ask what her father-in-law was doing in their house if that wasn’t the case.

  Shatru gestured to Bharat not to say anything as he said, “I think it’s best if you let Mamma and Pappa tell you everything.” Just then, the car entered the gates to their bungalow as if on cue.

  Chanda couldn’t stop the sigh of pleasure that broke out from her as she saw ‘home sweet home’. She felt so cherished by her family that she simply loved being back.

  Her parents and other brothers stepped out of the main door to greet her even before the car stopped.

  “Chanda, meri pyari bachchi,” said her mother as she gathered Chanda’s slender form to her ample one. “I’m so happy to see you,” she continued, her voice wobbly with unshed tears.

  Mohan, Ram and Lakshman hugged Chanda in turn before she finally entered the house. Luckily, Surendra was still in his room. He had deliberately stayed away from the family reunion as he wanted to give Chanda time to get used to the presence of her father-in-law in their house after all these years.

  Chanda went to sit on the dining table as her mother served breakfast. She was hungry as she ate the pyaaz ki kachori that her mother had the cook make that morning. It was Chanda’s favourite and she had so missed home food. After a few bites, Chanda looked up at her father as it was obvious that he was bursting to tell her something.

  “Chanda, you never asked me what the surprise is about,” said Mohan, sensing that all was not quite hunky dory.

  “Bharat told me Pappa,” said Chanda in a subdued voice.

  Mohan gave Meera a swift glance to catch her reassuring nod before saying, “Well Chanda, it’s like this. Your Mamma and I went to an astrologer who assured us that we’ll be able to find Veerendra quite easily. That’s when the two of us went to meet his family. Veerendra is not in touch with them either. But Surendraji has come here in the hope that we can trace Veerendra with the astrologer’s help.

  Chanda pretended an interest that she was far from feeling while she swallowed the hot tea with great difficulty. She pushed her plate away as she thought that even one more bite of the kachori would choke her. Meera couldn’t believe what she saw in front of her eyes. She had been sure that Chanda would be thrilled that finally something was being done about her single status. But it was obvious that Chanda wasn’t at all happy.

  Chanda felt hunted at the look of hope on her parents’ faces. What could she tell them? She looked at her brothers in turn. They also appeared quite happy with the idea of locating her errant husband, even as every man was looking at her intently, scowls of varying degrees on each one’s face.

  Into this scene walked in Surendra, confident about his daughter-in-law’s welcome. Why not? The rest of the family had been so nice to him over the past two days. And moreover, the astrologer had been very clear that Veera would be found and he would definitely get back together with his child bride.

  Chanda went pale as she tried hard to keep down the little bit of breakfast she had consumed.

  Twenty-seven

  Chanda got up in a hurry, her hands automatically coming together in a gesture of greeting as she said, “ Namaste!” her voice subdued. No force on earth could have made her touch her father-in-law’s feet. As it was, she felt such a fraud. For the first time in her young life, she couldn’t bring herself to share a truth with any of her family members. No wonder her nerves were frazzled.

  Surendra walked closer to the beautiful young woman who was his daughter-in-law. Tears shimmered in his eyes as he looked at her innocent face. He was glad that she obviously led a secure existence despite her husband abandoning her as a child. He touched her head in a blessing and Chanda shut her eyes as a strong emotion gripped her. She felt torn.

  It wasn’t this man’s fault that her husband - his son - had run away. And he had obviously suffered. She opened her eyes to give him a hesitant smile. Surendra put it down to shyness.

  Surendra held her small hands in his as he said, “I’m so sorry for what you had to undergo because of Veera, my child. I—”

  Chanda shook her head in protest just as Mohan cut short Surendra’s apology. “Surendraji, please let the past go and let’s look forward to a much better future.”

  Surendra felt overwhelmed by the affection bestowed on him by the Maheshwari family. He held his daughter-in-law’s hand gently as he led her to the sofa. He sat her beside him and quizzed her about her life in general.

  To begin with, Chanda felt quite choked with thoughts of Ranveer crowding her mind. But soon, she sat up straight and answered all the questions that Surendra had for her.

  Surendra couldn’t help but admire the way Mohan and his wife Meera had brought up their children. All were so well-mannered and obviously educated. He couldn’t help wondering about Veera. But then, the astrologer, Vidyasagar, had insisted that Veera must be very well educated and doing great financially too. A deep sigh shook up Surendra from within as he thought of his missing son. He wondered whether he would ever set eyes on him again. But then, Mohan and Vidyasagar had given him a lot of hope.

  The rest of the family came to sit around the father-in-law and daughter-in-law.

  “So,” said Mohan, “according to the astrologer, Veerendra must be living in or around Delhi.”

  Chanda looked at her father in surprise and asked, “How is that possible, Pappa? Can the astrologer find out the whereabouts of a person just by seeing his horoscope? I can’t understand.”

  Meera smiled widely as she said, “That’s the beauty of it all Chanda. You don’t know Vidyasagarji. He’s just amazing. You know something, he saw your horoscope and immediately said that you and your husband were in the same place.”

  Chanda went pale. What could they mean by that? She tried to recall the names and faces of all the men she had met since going to live in Delhi. She couldn’t imagine any one of them being her errant husband.

  “I don’t understand, Mamma. I never met Veerendra. I’m sure I w
ould’ve known if I had,” she said, a frown on her face.

  Mohan continued from there. “It’s like this my dear. Vidyasagarji could pin point where Veerendra must be positioned geographically. He said that it was very close to you. In fact, I was quite irritated with the astrologer in the beginning. I told him that you stayed in a ladies’ hostel and so it wasn’t possible for Veerendra to be close to you.”

  Chanda stared at her parents one by one. What were they saying? She couldn’t understand. She shook her head, obviously perturbed. How could they trust the words of an astrologer and drag her father-in-law into the picture? She couldn’t believe that her parents could have acted so foolishly.

  Mohan then explained their visit to the astrologer, the conversation, the astrologer insisting that Veerendra’s horoscope had been wrongly written, how he must be very intelligent, probably a professor or a computer whiz, how all he touched would be turning to gold and more.

  Chanda listened to her father without interrupting him, a dazed expression on her face. Could all this be possible for someone to predict by just seeing a janam kundali? She found it difficult to comprehend. But then, her parents sounded so sure. So much so, that they had contacted Veerendra’s family and convinced them too.

  Then what about her growing attraction for Ranveer? Chanda closed her eyes in sheer exhaustion. She didn’t think she could take any more. She recalled her latest meeting with Ranveer, how he had kissed her. Her throat closed up as tears stung her eyes. She heard her father’s voice in the background as her mind stopped registering his words.

  Chanda’s head buzzed with lack of sleep, the shock of meeting her father-in-law and the fear that she might never see Ranveer again. To everyone’s shock, Chanda dropped from the sofa down at her father-in-law’s feet in a dead faint.

  RANVEER SAT IN FRONT of his laptop, trying to get some work done. It was Sunday and he hadn’t heard from Chanda. He had been hesitant to call her as she must be quite busy with her family. She had gone for just two days and he didn’t want to interrupt their reunion. But he so missed her.