Let's Stay Together

Chapter 13

Devyani perked up at the birds singing. Devyani was mesmerized by the sight before. She was standing at the foot of a beautiful waterfall surrounded by lush greenery. The trees all around her were adorned with white and purple flowers.
The water gushed over her feet, tickling the soles of her feet. She leaned forward to get a better look at her reflection. She looked prettier and more radiant than she ever did in her entire life.

From afar, she saw Indrajith walking towards her, a smile decorating his face. He stopped before her and gently ran his fingers along her cheekbones, slowly resting them underneath her chin. She lifted her face to look into his eyes and he slowly brought his mouth towards her lips and started slowly kissing her. His left hand found its way to the nape of his neck, bending her backwards to get better access to her mouth and his right hand paused at the base of her left breast.

A sudden jerk caused Devyani to break from her reverie and open her eyes and she found herself inside the ornate carriage along with Indrajith who was reading some formal palm manuscripts, paying no attention to her. Embarrassed, thinking about her dream, Devyani turned away to look at the scenery outside.

Soon the carriage came to a halt. And Indrajith clambered down the carriage and Devyani followed suit. The Moopen and his wife along with their aides were waiting outside their palatial hall to welcome their guests. After the welcome rituals were completed they were soon directed to their sleeping quarters. The rooms assigned to them were quite large but both of them were quick to notice that there was only one bed available within the room. Devyani sighed knowing she will most likely be relegated to sleeping on the floor.

The wedding festivities began soon and Devyani was whisked away by the ladies to be part of the grooming and bridal rituals whereas Indrajith attended the informal discussions held by other leaders and important guests in attending.  Two days sped by fast and Devyani barely came across Indrajith. She mostly spent time with her newfound friends and even spent the nights talking to them and falling asleep in the garden. Her friends were wives of the Dewans of neighbouring towns and they were quite older than her but they welcomed her into their little gang, nevertheless. 

There were four ladies apart from Devyani who were part of her nightly meetups. Savitri Devi, Rajalakshmi, Mallika and Hemavathi had all taken an instant liking to Devyani but initially, they only decided to take her under their wings out of pity for her. They knew about her condition and they also had heard stories from several gossipmongers about her horrible treatment by her mother-in-law which came as no surprise to them as they all knew how harsh Lakshmi's tongue could be, from the brief meetings they had during formal events.

They kept her busy and gave her advice on how to carry herself as the wife of Dewan, all of which Devyani noted down at the back of her mind but a small voice in her mind kept telling her that all this information was useless to her as Indrajith doesn't even consider her as his wife.

On the day of the wedding, the beautiful tribal village saw an influx of both noble people and commoners and Devyani had never in her life seen such grand festivities. Indrajith too was mildly surprised by the scale at which the event is being conducted. But what surprised him more was the way Devyani was reacting to this. For the first time, ever since she came into his life, he saw her smiling and laughing wholeheartedly. And for Indrajith, that was the most mesmerising sight in the eve of grandeur.