1965, Sikdar Vacation House, Coochbehar district, 6 months later

No one knows how marriage came to be called matrimonial alliances. To think that love can cross into political peace, is a concept as ridiculous as love itself.

Nandan closed the door behind him. Deciding on the nature of the trajectory of this night was a tough thing to do. Nandan jumped onto the bed beside Shefali, who was sitting veiled pulled, and curled up, draped in a red saree. They were rather friendly on the face of all awkwardness that existed. The peer pressure in the room alone could power a steam locomotive. Then again being born with a silver spoon and raised with a golden whip makes a person sophisticated, more concerned with the person before you than yourself. But Nandan and Shefali tried their best. However, neither felt that 6 months of being married brought them any closer as people than they were as childhood friends.

"You know I have no problem if you want to do it," said Shefali unveiling herself and looking at Nandan, "I never fantasised about this night. I have no bars set."

Nandan sat up, placing a pillow behind his back, "being honest, are we?"

"We are cattle yoked to the same plough, can be there be any punishment for our honesty to each other?" Shefali scooted closer to Nandan.

Nandan put a shaking arm around his newlywed wife, "I like that you sound so free. I thought that much jewellery is weighing you down, to see that you are not burdened by them, makes you look like a true princess!"

Shefali smiled slightly and pulled back a strand of her hair, jingling an earring in the process. Nandu suddenly felt enthusiastic. He grabbed Shefali by the waist and heaved her onto his lap. Shefali slowly parted her legs and embraced her husband with her abdomen.

"So, how should we start?" Shefali whispered in Nandan's ear.

"Should I ask if you're sure?" Nandan twitched his face.

"I think I lack the intricacy to know what to think before giving consent. But consent is sexy," Shefali smiled flirtatiously, "so are you sure?"

Nandan looked deep into his wife's eyes and removed his hands from her waist. He then put his eyes down and in a swift motion pulled the sherwani dress off his body. He looked back into Shefali's eyes and touched the pin on her left shoulder holding the upper fold of her saree, "can we start from here?" he unpinned the fold.

Shefali clenched her jaw breathing in deeply, keeping her hand over her husband's bare chest as he slowly shed her cover away. Considering her origins, her bare torso had aesthetically nothing wrong with it. Nandan on the other hand was not a stoutly built man. He was a few layers short of a bulge. Yet it did not matter, not here not now. Neither Nandan nor Shefali sought to define their differences from friends to a couple, their imaginations from hot to beautiful. They clashed their lips together.

No one knew the things that disappoints or the things that feels amazing. Both of them went on by instinct. They suddenly knew themselves too deeply to engage with one another. Tonight under the sheets, Nandan and Shefali knew what they had, the expectations their fathers had from this matrimony. Virgil Maryswan and Talukdar Sikdar. So they didn't care, the joy of this moment was too great, or so Shefali thought.

Nandan suddenly pulled back and in the heat, Shefali bit his lip drawing blood. Nandan swiftly put his right index finger on it, wiping the blood. Shefali suddenly held his right hand and looked at him, "please don't tell me you're thinking about about the dealings with my father?"

"It's hard not to", Nandan seemed like he was going to cry, "even with your inheritance, the estate will suffer huge losses. Labours are migrating to Kolkata for jobs. It's...."

"Hey hey, shh," Shefali slowly licked the blood off his finger, desperately trying to make him forget his problems at the moment.

"This moment, no matter how erogenous and divine, I can't stop thinking that all this was an arrangement. We dealt with livelihoods and our love was the price."

Shefali pulled her petticoat up to the hips, adjusting her legs, "just because you know the reason you're here doesn't make this moment a lie! You can define our love, so what? We are here, you're okay and with me...," Shefali ran her hand over her blouse.

"I wish a heavy storm came down," Nandan said suddenly, "just washed everything away. Tea is a high stake business. At least a heavy enough rain will bring down fresh loam. I can start a different plantation, you know...," Nandan said exasperated touching her hand, making circles over the blouse.

"It will Nandu," Shefali coaxed him, suddenly she had a lot of bars set. A lot to expect from this night, "A huge storm will come. I will bring it from across the ocean if I have to," Shefali desired too much at the moment, to consider fathoming her own words.

And at that moment, Nandan knew he loved this woman. He felt very guilty as his thoughts drifted to Shreema. The moment when he revealed to his father what he saw. Shreema was somewhere out there with his father's illegitimate child. She has to come back, no way Shreema is taking away this moments from him, for years to come.