RECAP

Troubled by her feelings of guilt, Sneha stays awake and walks down the memory lane. Her guilt is compounded as she remembers her slight digression in the past before she married Raj. She also remembers her past love life with Raj, their struggles as they tried to maintain a long distance relationship and their ultimate triumph i.e. marriage. Sleep embraces her as she’s lost in the past

CHAPTER 6

Sneha opened her drowsy eyes gradually. The sharp darts of sunshine quickly attacked her unprepared eyes. Annoyed with the Sun God, she covered herself with the sheets.

The sounds of honking horns and twittering birds mingled to create the unique morning harmony. On normal days, Sneha loved the strange yet delightful combination of sounds. She was thankful to the big tree outside her house, which tempted few birds to come and sit there despite the heavy traffic.

But today the same sound disturbed her. She was still not ready to get up and begin her day. She shut her eyes tighter forcing herself to sleep for some more time, but the sleep refused to visit her again. After tossing and turning for some time, she finally got up to face the piercing brightness of the day.

The memories of previous night still made her heart heavy. The only thing that gave solace to her was the last thing that she remembered about the previous night – the comforting hug.

“Raj… where is he?”

She looked around to answer her own question. The house was silent, no clanking of utensils in the kitchen – that means he could not be there making tea or trying to fix a decent sandwich for himself. She reached for her cellphone to see the time.

“11:55… oh my god!!!” The shock energized her body. She quickly pushed away the sheets and jumped out of the bed. Along with her feet, another thing touched the floor – an A4 sized paper laid silently beside her left foot. She picked it up to find the neatly written words by Raj: 

Dear Princess J

You look so beautiful in the morning! Oh it’s so difficult to leave such a pristine beauty on such a wonderful morning. I wish I were a real prince, then I wouldn’t have to leave my princess ever! But sadly that’s not the case my dear love. I’ve to go to office and I don’t want to disturb my princess.  I hope the devil migraine is not haunting you anymore J Please take good care of yourself. Stay away from chocolates, cheese and oranges today!

Love you forever

Yours

Raj  

PS: Have a very very nice day. Relax and enjoy! Love you! 

The romantic words draped in Raj’s beautiful calligraphy was a feast for her eyes as well as her soul. It rejuvenated her tired body and mind, providing it with a new strength.

She let out a deep long sigh, as if exhaling all negativity from her mind along with the guilty thoughts.

“A new day… a new beginning” her mind sang to her. Humming a tune of new harmony in her life, she picked up the towel to enjoy her bath. Standing below the shower, she felt like a child getting drenched in the first monsoon rain. The drops of water had a cleansing effect. With no one to disturb her, she enjoyed her bathroom luxury for another hour or so. Almost half of the new Pears soap sacrificed itself to make her fresh.

As she came out dripping from the bathroom, she heard her mobile singing the latest bollywood tune that Raj had chosen as her ringtone. “Mom.R” was flashing on the screen. It was Raj’s mom, but Sneha was in no mood to talk to anyone, least of all her condescending mother-in-law. For today, she just wanted to be alone and free and in thoughts of her dear husband. If by chance her eyes did stray to the laptop, she quickly and deliberately started thinking about the “good old times” with her romantic Raj. And now it was upto her to bring those old times back to their lives. “Isn’t this letter a beginning towards the same…. It was the first letter that Raj had written to her after marriage….How romantic of him to leave a morning note!” Thinking about Raj’s romantic initiation, she gets busy planning an appropriate response to the same. Cooking her brunch, comprising of boiled eggs and Maggi (a strange combination devised by her equally strange mind), she found the idea. “A romantic candle night dinner!”

The thought sent a romantic chill down her spine. She gets lost in the memories of her honeymoon where she had her first candlenight dinner. How heavenly those days were! The beautiful glow of candles, the aromatic ambience, the closely-set tables providing them the opportunity to play “below the table” romantic games…. Indeed Raj had given her a honeymoon to remember! And now it was her turn to give him the evening of his life.

Quickly gulping the snaky noodles down her throat, she prepared a mental list of things to be bought. First of all the scented candles of course! And then all the raw ingredients for the “exotic” recipes that she had thought about.  Considering her newly-acquired culinary skills, even a simple pasta was “exotic” as per Sneha’s standards. But however limited her range was, she was a perfectionist in whatever little she cooked. So with full confidence, she decided the menu for the romantic night:

·         Cream of Tomato Soup (Thanks to the range of readymade soups!)

·         Peanut Pasta Salad with loads of vegetables to make it healthy and nutritious

·         Veg Fried Rice and Manchurian Gravy (The dish was very special for the couple, because this was the first thing they had together on their first real date)

·         Sinful Chocolate with Vanilla Ice Cream, topped with chopped strawberries (One of the few things in which Sneha was truly a master! Her chocolate recipe was simply delicious – finger licking delicious!)  

The next hours of noon and early evening simply flew away. Sneha was extremely busy shopping and then preparing for her special surprise dinner. She began with Chocolate and ended with Tomato Soup. When all was done at 7 o’clock, she looked around the messy kitchen – the chopping board seemed to be crying with overuse, the shelves were  burdened with all the dirty utensils, and the whole kitchen seemed to be exhausted. But Sneha felt energetic, thinking about the night that was to follow. What a surprise! 

…to be continued 

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