Chapter 75 (Epilogue)

"Sometimes tears of happiness are more powerful than a soulful smile."

Wandering among the lonely mystic clouds for over so many months, the room of the Bundela mansion next to the main road had finally earned the rights to become the sole witness to a passionate and wild love making of a true relationship.

Though Sanchi was badly craving for Vihaan's touch, she loved to tease him as many times as she would like. She would indulge into her own need of fondling him, stroking at his fair unshaved chin and biting him sensuously on his lips. Lying next to him on the bed daily and resting her head over his chest, she could draw enormous pleasure from just sleeping beside him.

A deep groan came from the innermost corner of his chest when she bit his chin, and he rolled over to her, scooping her up in his arms. Slipping her loose t-shirt over her head, he freed either of them from the clothes they were wearing for that night.

Having unfastened the wraps from their bodies, he didn't waste time sucking on her hard nipples before flicking his tongue round her bare skin. Her breath hitched within her and heartbeat sped up, and she let her fingers grip his hair into tight fists. He journeyed lower onto her body, wetting every nook of her fair skin with his tongue before parting her thighs for an amorous gesture.

Despite the urgency she was sensing in him, he was usually gentle while thrusting inside her. As he made love to her, he was trying to hold back himself softer as if he feared of hurting her. His calm composure during their copulation yet managed to carry her to her rupture, intense pleasure spreading within her.

Vihaan gradually deepened, following her comfortable admission with her pull at his hair, concealing her lips with lascivious bites. She rolled over before switching positions with him, straddling his naked thighs as if getting him inside her was her sexual desire for him.

Sanchi wrapped one of her arms round his neck and grabbed his shoulder with the other for support, knowing that she was safe in the strength of his love. As she pushed him inside her with the control in her hands, she bit her lower lip in saturation of how heavenly the passionate foreplay felt inside her skin.

Vihaan was also equally enchanted with the way she was responding to him, his hard erection crashing against her walls in to-and-fro motion before they both reached their climax. Panting hard and entangling into each other's arms, both came undone together.

"I can't get over you anytime soon, love." Vihaan murmured huskily, brushing his lips against hers. "You just happen to lose your own self when we make love, hickory."

"It's beca-use I get to see my face engra-ved on your che-st. It com-pels me to ma-ke you feel as plea-surable as you...you do to me." Sanchi was breathing hard from the sensuous ride before resting her head over his chest. "I love you so much."

"Do I have to repeat that I love you too?" Vihaan chuckled before turning off the lampshade. "This room doesn't feel the same where we used to fight before going to sleep weeks ago. We still go to sleep here but together, fighting with mind blowing sex instead of arguments. Love is so powerful, hickory."

*****

The creamy layers of red silk saree adorned her skin, draping her body with the soft feather-like garment. Staring into the full length mirror and humming a romantic Bollywood song to herself, Sanchi jingled her glass bangles with the tune of the music. The reflection of the sparkling glass rings from the mirror shone on her virtuous face, creating a hue as colorful as the sunlight itself.

"It was on-ly a year ago when Vih-aan and I had met un-der odd circum-stances, argued with each oth-er due to fuelled ego-istic situations and were alw-ays at logger-heads with each oth-er. Now when I fast for-ward the time by a mere twel-ve months, I'm here in our room aga-in and sta-ring at my own image, wear-ing his favorite red colour-ed saree." Sanchi murmured to herself before lifting the gold earring to her ear and fixing it.

"How ti-me flew by and I did-n't get a he-ck of it. I was his wife th-en, I'm his wife now and wo-uld be for the re-st of my life." She fixed the other earring and glanced at the calendar for once.

"Four days!" She gasped, pressing her hands together. "It has be-en only four days sin-ce he's out of to-wn for a case and I'm alre-ady miss-ing him. Staying aw-ay from him ev-en for a day feels li-ke years and I kn-ow I'll have to bear this dist-ance being a respon-sible cop's wife."

She moved to the calendar and crossed an another new day with the red marker. "To-day is twenty fifth of June, our first marr-iage anniversary, and here I am dy-ing without be-ing able to talk to him or em-brace him. I know he's gone some-where where there's pau-city of network, espe-cially the villages at Burhan-pur. He yet tries his best to con-tact me. I'm sure he remem-bers this spe-cial day too."

Dabbing her semi-wet eyes with the ends of her saree, she filled her hairline with a pinch of shining vermilion. "It's Teej and I'm fast-ing for the long life of my hus-band this year as well. But the-re's just a sin-gle and litt-le ray of hope that he will ret-urn home safely to-night, to even-tually break my fast. I wish he do-es it for the pull of our lo-ve and the tele-pathy we share."

Gazing at Vihaan and her picture together in the photo frame kept on top of their nightstand, she brushed her palm across it. "I lo-ve you so much that some-times it's very diffi-cult to bear the dist-ance, Vihaan."

Slick sheets of rain drizzled against the window pane as Sanchi sat watching the haze of the cloudy evening sky. The moon wasn't yet up on the vast dark firmament and her heart started throbbing inside her chest. Keeping a waterless fast for the longevity of her husband was becoming tougher for her, weakness pulling down her energy level to the bottom.

She dialed Vihaan's number again, but the warning of 'out of reach' threatened her inner conscience. Impatiently waiting for over an hour, she realised that the rain had subsided a mere ten minutes ago. An excruciating pain constricted her heart when she saw the translucent moon peeking out from the clouds, but the absence of her husband still prevailed.

...

...

History repeated itself when she blinked her eyes twice, things blurring in front of her. She could vaguely hear some quiet sauntering of feet before falling down unconscious in some cushion-like arms.

When she opened her eyes, she found her head leaning against Vihaan's chest, his fragrance enchanting her to him, pronouncing words of his presence aloud. Randomly easing out of his grip, she sat crossing her feet on the bed and her face aligned towards him.

Pulling Vihaan into a tight embrace, she almost squealed in joy and utter surprise, slamming her palms against his tattered shirt. "Vih-aan! I.. My fast-ing... I need to bre-ak it..."

"I've already fed you the water from the pious pot, Sanchi." He rubbed the sides of her back before pointing at the brass plate for worship placed on top of the table. "You were completely fine after the surgery. I didn't expect you to faint while fasting today. Were you getting extremely worried for me?"

"I did-n't get a call from you, espe-cially on such a spe-cial day... I was so sca-red..." Hiccups interrupted her sobbing voice and he poured more water into her mouth. "Vih-aan.. I miss-ed you... I.."

"Shhh... Calm down. I'm right here with you, love..totally fine." Vihaan grabbed her chin for a delicate and sober kiss before mumbling, "I've missed you a million times more, hickory. I missed our comfy coziness, our little fights, our love making.. Above all, I missed your touch and your care for me.. I missed all of you, Sanchi."

"This bed-room used to feel like a pri-son to me, Vihaan... It seem-ed like a four walled seclu-ded room with-out you, as if I was liv-ing in a dark and haunt-ed house in a forest... I could-n't sleep at night..." She continued weeping before he lifted her in his arms and settled her in front of the mirror.

"Look at our image, Sanchi. What do you see? Aren't we together again?" Vihaan rested his chin on top of her shoulder. "Though my duty can be hectic or dangerous at times and threaten to pull us apart, I'll always be back to you and we'll be together like this, forever."

Wiping the salty tears off her cheeks, she rotated her head to kiss him on his forehead. "I lo-ve you so mu-ch."

"I'm all yours, Sanchi, and you'll always find me beside you whenever you need me." Vihaan kissed her cheek before blindfolding her with a red velvet ribbon.

"Wh-at are you do-ing?" She attempted to touch the piece of cloth covering her eyes.

"Don't tamper with it for my sake, hickory." Vihaan warned loudly before unfurling the knot of the ribbon again. "You may open your pretty eyes now."

Urgently snapping her kohl marked eyes open, she was enthralled to see a neatly wrapped package on top of the makeup dresser. "Vih-aan?"

"For you." He smiled when her hands swiftly worked on unwrapping the package before her. Gleeful pangs of ecstasy clinched her joyous heart when she discovered the beautiful surprise that Vihaan had already presented before her.

A pair of shimmering gold beaded stilettos were adorning her palms and she couldn't control the overflowing jocund emotions within her. Vihaan buying heels to gift her was something very indifferent and unimaginable, a happening that couldn't be possible.

"The-se heels!" Words refused to escape her mouth. "Am I dream-ing? They are so beau-tiful... And these?"

Sanchi was pointing her forefinger at the two images embroidered in gold on top of the toe boxes of both stilettos. The shoe for the left foot contained the beaded image of a mini cupcake and a mini clock embroidered on the right shoe. Both were glimmering against the streaks of tubelight falling on them, imparting a glow of sparkles to the pair of footwear.

"Don't you call me as your 'favourite cupcake'?" Vihaan hugged her closer. "And you're my hickory... So there's the cupcake and the clock decorated on them."

Upon realising the significance of the gift, she sealed her lips with his for a thanksgiving kiss, wrapping her arms around his waist for the lifetime. "Th-is is the best gift ever, Vih-aan. You could have just impre-ssed me with only heels, but bring-ing out the essence of our relation-ship through the symbols is some-thing that has awa-ken my soul."

"Happy first anniversary my beloved wife and I'll see to it that we keep celebrating our anniversary year after year without getting too outdated for each other." He wished her delightfully and she smacked his arm.

"You'll ne-ver get out-dated for me. Happy anni-versary to you too, my dear hus-band." She reciprocated before keeping her heels away. "I'll lo-ve to wear the-se more often."

"I'm not permitting you." Vihaan raised his eyebrows. "You can't wear heels anytime you want unless you are going out with me. I can't allow you to wear heels in my absence and fall flat anywhere."

Bulging her eyes and protruding her head forward, she hollered in a loud voice, "You are a cop I kn-ow but it does-n't mean you...you can put me on a curfew or some-thing. If you have the mean auda-city to gift me heels, you sho-uld also have the eti-quette decency not to in-trude in my freedom of wear-ing them."

Vihaan began laughing so hard that his face almost reddened out of the action, his cheeks aching as he clutched his stomach to control his laughter. "You and your damned metaphors... How much I've missed them!"

"I'm not just using meta-phors.. I'm being seri-ous..." She frowned, not being able to anger Vihaan with anything.

He pushed himself forward, wrapped his hand around her waist and sensuously bit the side of her neck. "These heels are meant to be preserved and supposed to be worn on special occasions. I always try to restrict you from wearing them because I care for you. I want to be with you whenever you wear them."

Tears welled up in her eyes and she moved away, pushing him lightly. Facing the dark balcony, she stood crossing her arms. He frowned in anguish before striding towards her and standing near her with his arms hugging her from behind. "What's wrong, Sanchi? I'm sorry if I've hurt you. I really care for you, that's it."

She closed her eyes for a split second before opening them again. Turning towards him and sliding her hands up his shirt, she tidied his collar. "I sho-uld apologize, Vih-aan. My love for heels alw-ays throws me into trou-ble and I end up fight-ing with you. I know you have witne-ssed me falling do-wn many a times, break-ing my heels and hurt-ing my ankles. I kn-ow you care for me and I pro-mise I'll only wear heels when-ever you tell me or we are go-ing out toge-ther."

He planted a soft kiss on top of her forehead. "I hope you are promising with your heart and not just to please me."

"I am genui-nely promi-sing you." Sanchi reached for the drawer and fished out a packet of cupcake. Thrusting a little of it inside his mouth, she mumbled, "My grand-ma used to tell me th-at one day I wou-ld find the per-fect person in my life with wh-om I would share my favor-ite cupcake, some-one who would sho-wer his love for me. There wo-uld be some-one who would feed me the cup-cake as if it was his own and I remem-ber you doing th-at to me once long ago."

"I do also remember that you hadn't reciprocated to my actions back then," He said chewing on the cupcake.

She agreed. "I was sca-red then, fear-ing to fall in love wi-th you. But it was just on the ne-xt day I reali-zed that I was alre-ady head over heels in lo-ve with you."

"Now you can't even deny the fact."

"I won't... I acc-ept that you are my favor-ite cupcake who orie-nts around the ma-jor part of my life." She slowly muttered, inhaling the warm breeze around them.

"Why do you sound as if you are still unhappy?" He asked seeing the gloomy expressions over her face.

"I did-n't get any-thing for you today, Vih-aan." She lowered her head, staring at the floor blankly. "I could-n't find a pro-per gift for you."

Vihaan gave out a wide smile. "Your love is my best gift, hickory. I don't need anything from you. I am the happiest husband in the world if I'm able to gift you things which you like."

Sanchi bent her head backwards, clutched his wrists and raised her toes to stare him in the eyes. "I will get so-me gift for you tomor-row, and believe me it'll be the be-st gift of your li-fe too."

*****

Sanchi was sitting on the sofa and reading a magazine when Vihaan entered their room the next evening, a pleasant smile adorning his lips. It was generally unusual for him to return home from the bureau with an utmost delightful mood after encountering a lot many criminals and hectic workload.

She quietly watched him move to the wardrobe without saying anything to her, and then to the washroom with his night clothes. She could clearly hear him whistling and humming into the shower from outside the door of the loo, his strange actions which she was unable to digest. A while later, she heard the door click open and he reappeared, freshly showered and perfumed in mint.

He gently took a seat beside her on the sofa before aligning his head to take a look of what she was reading. "What are you so keenly concentrating upon, hickory?"

She perceived him from the corner of her eyes before delving her eyeballs into the page she was reading. "I fi-nd thee in jolly mo-od. Is every-thing well and good, cup-cake?"

"Are you sarcastically telling these things to me or are you being genuine?" He said, flakes of happiness wouldn't leave his lips that evening. "I was just casually asking you as to what you are reading."

"I'm also cas-ually asking you. I've nev-er seen you in su-ch a good mood when-ever you return ho-me from the bur-eau." She stated folding her arms. "Okay, I was just read-ing an article on some heal-thy food hab-its, that's it. Now you tell me."

"Why do you need dieting, hickory? Your curves are perfect at the moment. If you get fatter some day, I might myself recommend you the best balanced diet I follow," Vihaan said playfully, curling her temple locks with his fingers.

"Keep that to your-self... your less spicy diet-ary recommen-dations. Those won't wo-rk for me at all," She counter replied, putting the magazine away.

"I'm trying to be nice to you, but you seem to be stepping into your fighting shoes to argue with me."

"Beca-use you aren't tell-ing me the rea-son of your cheer-fulness."

Vihaan nodded before exclaiming in excitement, "I've received the best news of my life today, Sanchi, something I was waiting and dreaming for so many years."

"What is it, Vih-aan?"

"Do you remember that I was working hard for a dangerous case at Burhanpur and it was also where I had gone last week too? We had to live separately for a few days but my efforts turned out to be fruitful, Sanchi."

"It me-ans you have success-fully sol-ved the case?"

"Not only did I solve the case successfully but also got the news of getting a promotion." He embraced her with all his might. "My department has recommended to promote me to the post of the Additional Commissioner of Police, and my joy knows no bounds."

Sanchi slowly pulled away from his embrace before shrugging her shoulders. "So what's the-re to be so delight-ed about? We alre-ady know that you are a hon-est, brave and dili-gent cop, and so you were bou-nd to get a promo-tion."

"So you aren't happy for my success!" Vihaan felt annoyed this time, extremely vexed with her behavior. "I was so ecstatic to share the great news with you but..."

"Come on, I'm hap-py for you, Vih-aan. It's just th-at I don't want to exp-ress it and make you over-ly proud of it. Work hard and get promo-ted as a commi-ssioner too." Sanchi concluded before walking over to their wardrobe. Taking out a neatly wrapped gift package from the cabinet, she stretched out her palm to him. "I fina-lly found a gi-ft for you."

Vihaan turned his face away, staring elsewhere but her. "I don't want anything from you. You are someone who can't appreciate or share her husband's happiest emotions."

Placing the gift wrap on the center table, she cupped his cheeks, forcing him to turn towards her. "Look at me Vih-aan... Is this promo-tion the happi-est thing for you?"

"Of course, Sanchi. I've worked my blood,