All's Fair in Love and War Part 28

 PART 28

Ram snapped out of his shock when he felt someone tugging on his arm. He leaned down to see that it was Ritzi (vikram's daughter).

Ritzi: happy Birthday Ram Uncle. (She hugs him. The other kids also run to him and wish him Happy Birthday.

Neha walks towards them: Okay bacha party, go and play! (The kids run and go to play with the balloons) Happy Birthdayyy Fatty! (She hugs him and then Vikram hugs and wishes him as well)

Ram realizes that Vikram was part of the plan. One by one everyone comes and wishes him including Priya. 

KK: (wishes him n gives him a hug n wipes his tears) what happened beta?

Ram: ma, after the news that dad died when u left I never celebrated my birthday. And today this surprise, I'm just so happy. (He wipes his tears)

KK: (with tears in her eyes) now no more tears. All the people that truly love u are in your life.  Aur yeh saab Priya ne organize kia. (Ram looks at Priya who also has tears in her eyes)

AK: saach mein beta. No tears anymore. A lot was taken from us in the past years but god put Priya in our life who fixed everything in our absense. We are truly blessed and son u r so lucky to have someone in ur life who loves u soo much. I don't know Priya well but I personally met her when you were in the hospital,  she stayed with us by ur side until she was sure u were okay. And today she organized this surprise party just to see u happy.. (Ram continues looking at Priya, who is smiling with teary eyes. A tear dropped from her eye, she quickly wiped it. He knows that she didn't like to hear her praises, everything she did was from the goodness of her heart.)

Neha: okay guys let's stop this rona dhona. Otherwise I will start crying too. (She pouts and everyone laughs wiping their tears)

Vikram: oh no Ram please once Neha starts crying than mujhe manana paaraiga. Yaar its too tough!

Neha: (punches him on the arm) how mean!! Okay Bacha Party time for CAKE!

KIDS: YAY!!

Ram cuts the cake and feeds it to everyone starting with Priya! She takes the same piece and feeds him. (They stare deep into each other's eyes with a smile on their faces. Completely forgetting where they were Ram hugs Priya, she hugs him back and closes her eyes. He whispers Thank you in her ear.)

Neha: (clears her throat) we are still here!

Priya opens her eyes and breaks the hug quickly, she turns away. She was blushing profusely.  

Priya: um no neha woh mein.. Um.

Everyone laughing and Priya blushing.

KK: stop making fun of my bahu.. (she takes a piece of the cake and feeds Ram)

The party moves forward as Ram walks to all his friends and colleagues and they wish him and he thanks them for coming out. All the while he continues to look around for Priya who was talking to the caterers about setting out the food for the guests. Ram wanted to talk to her, to be alone with her but everytime he tried someone pulls her away and starts conversing with her.

Suddenly he gets a great idea, he walks to the dj and tells him to play a slow song and open the dance floor.  The DJ makes the annoncement, the lights are turned down and all the couples head to the dance floor. Ram walks towards Priya and is about to ask her to dance when Rishab comes in between.

Rishab: woh bhabhi do u want to dance. Actually I have no one to dance with so if u don't mind. (He makes a sad face and Priya looks at Ram and than back at Rishab and she nods a yes. Ram stops rishab and tells him that he has a partner)

Ram: umm rishab see dadi is standing there all by herself. She must be feeling bored and lonely so u should...(Before he could finish his sentence Rishab interupts him)

Rishab: bhai u are so smart and so sweet no wonder bhabhi loves u (priya blushes). Dadi does look lonely u r so right. That gives me an idea (ram smiles thinking his plan would be successful and rishab would go dance with dadi) bhai u should ask her to dance she will love to dance with her golu. (Ram's smile disappears and he looks shocked. Priya laughs at his innoncent reaction. Rishab takes Priya to the dance floor, he looks back at Ram and winks. Ram gets mad as he knows that Rishab did this on purpose.)

Rishab: actually bhabhi I wanted to take this chance to thank you so much for stopping my bhai from leaving. I have always seen bhai being used and taken advantage of by his own family. Thank u for fighting for his happiness. He is just like a child, always living for other people and making everyone happy. Please promise me that u will always keep him smiling. Only u can do this and no one else.

Priya: rishab iss mein thanks is not necessary. I will never let any darkness come upon ram or this family. I am very happy to see my daiwar is soo big now, soon we have to get u married. (Rishab shys away, priya pulls his ear) now stop teasing ur bhai. (They both look to see ram dancing with dadi with a big frown on his face, pouting like a child. Rishab goes to save the day. He asks dadi to dance with him and Ram pairs up with Priya)

Rishab: um bhai zyada romance maat karna, everyone is watching.

Ram: I can't promise that (priya looks at him in shock. Ram realizes what he said and bites his tongue and quickly moves from there with Priya. Dadi and Rishab laughing at them)

Ram signals the DJ to play another slow song once this one is finished. He than holds priya's hand with his one hand. Priya rests her other hand on Ram's chest while Ram places his other hand on Priya's back right above her waist. He doesn't like the distance between them, he yanks her closer she almost lost her balance. He holds her upright. She looks up and is about to yell at him when she feels his fingers caressing his way up her back. She stops what she is about to say by the tingling sensation that his touch had on her body. She looks around, everyone is lost in their own world and dancing but she still feels shy.

Priya: Ram plzz koi...

Once again he moves his hands slowly up her back making her go quiet, he sees her shut her eyes tight, her lips parted and trembled as she began to breathe heavily.

He proceeded further seeing that she was lost and continuing to caress her back, he began to walk slowly away from the dancefloor to an isolated corner in the room. He stopped caressing her back and she opened her eyes looking around.

Priya: Ram why did u bring me in this corner.

Ram: (with one hand unhooks her blouse) Apki blouse ka hook khul gaya tha so I thought I would help u out.

Priya blushes remembering the first time they danced and Priya asked him to take her in a corner because her hook had opened. She breaks loose from Ram's grip and stretches both her arms to her back to close the hook. Ram grabs both her hands and brings them back down to her sides. She is staring intently in his eyes, a bit nervous about what he is up too.

He let's go of her hand and slides his fingers gently up her arm until he reaches her shoulder, he could feel her getting goosebumps. He holds her shoulders firmly and turns her around. Her body is rotating but her eyes are fixated on his. Eventually she has to give in and break the eyelock. She stands there with her back to him. He holds both ends of the blouse, her eyes close with his touch she arches her neck. He smiles seeing her condition and moves closer to her. Still with the two ends of the blouse in his hand he brings his face down skimming her with the slightest touch of his lips and fanning of his hot breath starting behind her ear, down the crook of her neck.

She moves her head to the side stopping him from what he was doing. But he continued, kissing her on the cheeks as he closed the hook. Priya felt him close it and ran, he held her hand yanking her back, she fell back first on his broad chest looking up at him. He made her stand upright and turned her towards him. He kissed her on the forhead, eyes, than stopped inches away from her lips.

Priya: Ram please we have to go. What if someone sees us.

Ram: (cups her face and lift it up examining her in this helpless state) okay we'll go but first.. (He pecks her gently on the lips in between his words still cupping her face) I (kiss) want to (kiss) say Thank (kiss) You.

He stops his kissing after he said "you" and this makes Priya open her eyes. She sees that Ram has tears in his eyes.

Priya: Ram what happened?

Ram: I am so happy to have u in my life. Thank you for everything.

Priya: Ram please don't say thank you, by saying that u are making me feel like a stranger. I LOVE YOU and for me to do all this is not a task. (She cups his face and wipes his tears with her thumbs) I just want to see u smile... (She pulls his head down and kisses him on the forhead and stares in his eyes as she whispers) always…  

He pulls her into a hug. Their heads rested on the crook of each others neck. Ram breaks the hug and takes her by the hand to the dance floor. Everybody is still dancing. They join in, dancing the night away...

ONE WEEK LATER!

A week passes by as Ram and Priya resume their married life. Every night they cuddled, sharing jokes, nok jhoks and planning their life together. One day when he was in the office Ram got a call from Priya. She wanted to remind him that he had a doctors appointment today. Ram said he was busy and that he is feeling absolutely fine, his head did not hurt anymore. Priya gets angry and tells him that he never listens to her. She hangs up telling him that she doesn't want to bug him.

He calls her and she doesn't answer.  He texts her, "priya stop this, answer the phone". He calls again and she still doesn't answer. He texts again, "Please Priya answer ur phone. Okay fine I will go to my appointment even though I am completely fine." She texts him back, "I love u Ram ;)"

When Ram returned home in the evening his mood was completely off. He seemed sad and helpless. When Ram refused to eat Priya brought his food to the room but he had already fallen asleep. She knew something was wrong and she feared if something bad had come up on the reports! She began to worry...