Nidhra & Pradha: The Second Act

...And then, the penny dropped: he knew this woman well enough to know the way her mind worked; she had dressed up that way especially for him! She had taken extra care of her appearance because she had wanted him to notice – and of course his starving soul had noticed. Now she had been completely subtle about it all; like he could always trust his wife to be, but her hair was definitely fuller, glossier than normal. Now she definitely put a lot of effort into her hair at all times, so to get it looking even better than normal was quite a feat, even for her. How he missed that hair! He remembered how he used to love running his hands through it, how soft it had been between his fingers…Once again he dragged himself back to the present. The subtle sandalwood undertones of that scent that she knew he loved on her lingered gently in the air between them. Her outfit was quietly, unobtrusively expensive, new, he thought, flattering. But the absolute clincher was her shoes. Seriously?! Who wears open-toed, stiletto sandals, of glittering gold, flashing freshly and prettily painted toes, purely for the purpose of handing the kids over to the ex-husband for the weekend?! Unless of course she actually was going on a date! Of course, that was it, that was the only thing that made sense! But then he thought about it and dismissed it. No, she really liked to take her time when getting ready for a date, and she would never have fixed a date for the night when he was coming to get the kids; sometimes the traffic was terrible and he would be a couple of hours late in getting there. No, that whole…appearance…act was purely for his benefit, no-one else’s! A tiny spark of hope surged in his heart.

And yet he felt as if he had to make sure.
“My Mum…wants to know…whether you are dating again?” Now he was the one almost blushing at the gauche words that had tumbled out of his lips.
Pradha ostentatiously threw back her beautiful head of hair and gave him a pointedly inquisitive look.
“Your Mum?!”
“…And I’m kinda curious too!”
Pradha looked him full in the face and then slowly, sadly looked away.
And that was when Nidhra finally made up his mind. This beautiful goddess was his woman. They had mutually pledged an oath to one another in front of hundreds of people. He was going to get her back, he was going to restore their family, he was going to run his hands through that beautiful, fragrant hair once again – actually more than once; many many many times – and this time he was never going to let her go...