Golden Robe - Part 1

The room was solid dark with an exception of table lamp illuminating a circle of one metre diameter, on a bed side table. The room exhibited Victorian style even in its minimal visibility. Closer to the side table, at the corner of the bed, was a girl, sitting still, staring at the lamp shade. She was wearing a golden satin robe. Her hair was open and her face shone as bright as her robe. A hand stretched out and touched her from behind. Her eyes widened and she smiled. The hand pulled her robe down. Her face turned pink and her hands went across her chest. The hand slowly caressed up her spine and clenched the hair just above her neck. When she turned to her right, she saw the hand moving gently over the right shoulder. The hand was horrible with oozing tumours, scaly skin, darkened nails and looked ghosty. She was frightened to death and screamed out of fear. When she opened her eyes, Mythili realised it was just a dream, a very bad dream indeed. She was sweating profusely and her throat dried up. It was 12.30 am. She drank some water and managed to get some sleep.

Golden Robe - Part 2

The next day morning, Mythili felt restless as she got ready to work. It's the hangover from the nightmare. Though she felt it was a silly dream, the thought kept lingering. She was reluctant to go to work as she was moved out of her project a week ago and yet to be allocated to a new one. She hastily checked her emails, as she knew it's gonna be full of good mornings and forwarded mails from her friends. But, today she has  received an official mail, regarding her new project. 'Finally' she thought. She noted down the details listed in the mail and went to meet her new Project Manager, briskly.

Name board outside the cubicle read 'Varun Rajendran'.

"Good morning Varun, I am Mythili", she said.

'Wow!!! So handsome he is', she thought.

"Good morning Mythili, please take your seat", said Varun.

'Oh my God, what a manly voice',  she thought.

She had a discussion with him roughly for 20 minutes. Out of that 20 minutes, she spent most of her time in admiring his gelled hair, clean shaven face, his rimless specs, pressed shirt without a crease, his perfume, a gold ring on right hand, his watch and at times tried listening to his discourse on the project too.

'Awww, he is so picture perfect. He looks so young. PM at this age??? Should be way too smart at work. Will he be taller than me? Should be...' and she chuckled to herself as she walked back to her seat.

She had the same terrific dream and woke up at 12.30 am. She was scared and perplexed. She wanted to call for her mom, but she knew that her mom would be definitely upset. So she decided not to tell her mom. Instead, she decided to go to the temple before she left to work.

Next day, Mythili had one more reason to rejoice other than Varun. She was allocated a cubicle diagonally opposite to Varun's. She can very clearly observe him from her seat and of course he can also notice that this lady is drooling at him.

'Oh dear me!!! I should be cautious not to stare at him as he notices me now and then. It would look silly for a girl to be like that. But he doesn't seem to bother me at all. Well that's why he is already a Project Manager. Still, thank you God for this. Hmmm....he is gorgeous'.

Golden Robe - Part 3

In the following weeks, Varun helped Mythili to settle down with the project, her role, scope and smooth transition into his team. She was overwhelmed by his attitude and humbleness. Also, she was highly impressed by his intelligence and shrewdness. 'A perfect guy, dream boy just like my favourite Shahrukh', she thought. She kept looking at him more often, and when Varun notices it, she would pretend to look at the cubicles next to Varun's or caress her hair or look at the ceiling or any such gesture, which absolutely made her look like a stupid.

Everyday, Mythili's affinity towards him grew more. She did not wanted to call it as infatuation, crush or any other 'escape'ism term. She is very clear that she is in love with him. But, she did not had the slightest hope that Varun would also be interested in her. She did not had the guts to open her heart to him either. 'I don't want to look silly. A girl proposing a guy is not my style. What if he laughs at my face? What if he makes fun of my feelings? What if he looks down on me? No he won't do that. He has an awesome attitude and I have never ever seen him like that. Inspite of making biggest blunders at work, his attitude towards me never changed. But its obvious that he is less interested on me. So no point in opening up myself to him', she thought. All the excitements are nothing much than a burden in her heart.

To top up with her agony, the dream recurred everyday and she started to feel sick mentally. The dream did not haunt her anymore as she was overflowing with thoughts of Varun. She stayed awake at nights for a longer time these days, just to stare at Varun's profile picture on FB. She tried to ping him many times when she saw him online. But he hardly responded. As her sleep went down, so does the recurring dream.

Golden Robe - Part 4

Mythili started to feel so awkward at work these days. Varun wasn't smiling back at her whenever she smiled at him. He avoided eye contact in the meetings. He would talk lesser and lesser everyday. She felt that he is avoiding her. She is all upset, down and tired.

One Friday night, as she was looking at FB, as always, she received a message from Varun, asking to take her out for a coffee next day. Mythili was dumbstruck. She least expected this. She immediately replied yes and was over the top of the moon. She was immensely happy that soon she went to sleep after so many sleepless nights. But the dreadful dream woke her up at 12.30 am. She did not scream this time. The very thought of Varun calmed her down instantly.

She was rejoicing the next day about the coffee retreat. She was busy sorting out her attire for the evening. She was all super excited. In the evening, she arrived at the shop punctually and looked stunning. Her heart pounded when she saw him in jeans and black T-shirt. 'Just like Shahrukh', she thought.

"Hi Mythili", greeted Varun with a big smile.

'Is he alright? Totally a different he', she thought.

"Hi Varun. How are you?"

"Wonderful"

'Awww the mesmerising smile!!!'

"So, why is this meeting for Varun?"

'Looks like he had a haircut today. Cutie.'

He didn't say a word, but kept smiling.

'Oh! my doll looks happy and nervous.'

"What would you like to have Mythili? I love cold coffee in this shop"

"I too love cold coffee"

"Really?"

'Yes baby. I like whatever YOU like.'

As the coffee is being served, Mythili broke the silence, "What is the matter Varun? You look very happy"

'Yes he is happy, excited, nervous and fishing for words. What is this?? I feel butterflies inside?!! Oh goosebumps, my legs gone numb, hands are trembling and couldn't breathe. I think... I think he is going to propose me.'

"I am getting married Mythili"

"What?"

"Ya I am getting married soon. I am marrying my lady love. My most beautiful treasure, meaning of my life and my sweet little baby"

'To hell with you and your girl'

"Mythili I never knew my parents would immediately accept and acknowledge my love for her. Everything fell into places with ease" and he continued to praise his girl. Non-stop.

'God this is the worst thing that could happen to me. I have been in love with this idiot and suffered so much pain just to find out that he likes someone else. Why is he doing this? Is he really dumb, not to understand me and my love? No he is not. He is smart enough. That's why he called me over to give a lecture about his girl friend. Did I ask him all this? How could he be so mean? If he is not interested, he should have told a 'no' to me or walked away from me. Is he trying to be oversmart? I have been going crazy about him day in and day out. But, he is now teasing me and my feelings. How could he do this to me?'

"How could you do this to me?", she shouted with tears rolling down her cheeks, interrupting him.

Varun sat still and stared at her.

'Oh my God. To hell with my mind voice'

"Sorry Varun I didn't mean to say that. My mistake. I am sorry. Congratulations to you and your girl", she said and stood up to walk away.

"Sit down Mythili", said Varun sternly.

She stood still.

"Sit down", he said with a tint of anger in his voice.

They stayed silent for a couple of minutes. Mythili kept looking down at the table.

Varun placed a small box on the table and gently pushed it towards her.

"Open it for me please, Mythili", he said.

She was reluctant to touch it.

"Will you please open it?", he said in a sharp tone.

Mythili was fuming with anger and tension. She opened the box with utmost hatred. She unwrapped the 'thing'. It was a heart made of glass with 'I love you', engraved on it, in golden colour.

She looked puzzled. Her hands were trembling. She looked at him with tears.

"Mythili, I love you. I knew you least expected this. I knew you were in love with me. But, I didn't know that I too was in love with you. I have noticed many times that you go restless whenever you sit closer to me, that you smile at me a million times a day, that your face go pink whenever I smile back, that you fill your writing pad with my name, that you come up to me with stupid doubts just to talk to me and that you like me more every day. I wasn't sure initially and thought it was a joke. So I stayed away from you and avoided you. But then, you looked  miserable. You stopped smiling, you stopped concentrating on your work, always you stayed low and the

Iife that I saw in you was fading away. And that gave me more and more pain in my heart. I then realised it wasn't a joke and you were serious. I also knew that you will never open your mouth and thought I would propose you, without wasting any more time", he said and smiled at her gracefully.

He continued,"You were looking extraordinarily beautiful today and well prepared for a proposal. So just for fun I told you that my marriage is fixed and blah blah blah. Goodness me! You were so furious that I expected you to shout at me or probably even hit me. But I am glad, you didn't."

She looked at him with zero emotions. "Hey Mythili, I love  you", he said. He waited to see her smile. But instead, she started crying.

Golden Robe - Part 5 (Final)

Mythili, now had a happy reason to stay awake longer at nights. She spent most of her time talking and messaging Varun. She was more than happy to marry her love, with consent and blessings from her parents. And can't wait to be married. Still, she was getting that scary dream whenever she sleeps early.

She shared about the recurring dream with Varun. But he laughed out hard and teased her. Even though she felt bad, she was happy to see him laugh hard. After all, that is all she wanted - to see him happy.

Long awaited wedding day arrived and both Mythili and Varun looked their best on their day. Mythili couldn't get enough of it and was overwhelming with tear and joy. The two lovely hearts were united in the holy harmony of marriage.

Two days later, they flew to Swiss for honeymoon. The hotel is a refurbished old Victorian palace, which still preserved its antiquity. They both were drop dead tired with series of rituals, ceremonies and wedding nights. They slept through the day and went out for dinner in the evening. Mythili loved the place, especially the room they stayed. This was her first international trip and coincidentally her honeymoon too. So she was double excited and happy.

On that night, Varun gave her a box. She eagerly opened it and found a golden Robe in it. But she couldn't find any night gown to go with it.

"Where is the gown Varun?"

"Do we really need the gown on our honeymoon night?"

She smiled and turned all pink.

She decked up herself and wore the Robe. She was too shy to go near him and sat on the corner of the bed. Varun felt more love, urging through his heart. He switched off the lights one by one, admiring her smile and shyness. The room turned solid dark with an exception of table lamp illuminating a circle of one metre diameter, on the bed side table next to her. The room exhibited its Victorian style, even in the minimal visibility. Her face shone as bright as her robe. But, she felt an acquainted fear racing through her mind. She felt a touch from behind. Her eyes widened and she smiled. Her robe was pulled down. Her face turned pink and her hands went across her chest. She was mesmerised by the gentle strokes up her spine and the tight clench of the hair, just above her neck. When she turned to her right, she saw,a hand.

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