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secret-fungi · 23 hours

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Under the orchid tree

ram x devi

1900 words

rated t

warnings: slightly sad ram

a/n we out here posting our homies fav fics so they don’t murder us in our sleep

tags: @agattthaa @liviusofpella

The pair sat in the grass, shaded by the orchid tree and though they had started both upright as He read outloud to her as the pages turned Ram’s head found its way to rest on her lap and her hand found its way to his hair, horribly fond expressions on both their faces and a smile that never fully slipped from his lips.

Many people fell in love, and many of those people rested with their beloved. This sight was not unusual but he knew many would think it was, they’d come up with a ridiculous joke like Ram Doobay smiling? The world had to have ended.

Maybe it was not the sums that made it so, but the whole- One could be in love, and one could smile at their loved one, and one could love Deviya, but for Ram to be laying in the dirt it must be strange, The acts itself weren’t strange but rather who made them, and this fact Ram knew very well, because He and the woman that played with his hair were very different, if he was the night she was the day, and if she was fire he was stone, and if she was Deviya he could only be Ram.

Ram was not stupid, he was under no illusions of who he was and what people thought of him, he knew that he was not someone who anyone would ever call a particularly doting or affectionate person, if you asked many would say he would be a good husband simply out of duty and nothing more. He had a sharp tongue and abrasive personality that ruined any good opinions his appearance granted him. He was not a sociable person, you couldn’t even stretch the truth and call him friendly, that even when given the chance he had never been particularly interested in other people, he kept to himself and wished to be left alone, any attempts to get close to him were met with said sharp tongue.

He had never been an uninhibited person, never selfish and rarely truly stepped out of line, he was quiet and well-mannered and very reserved. And as much as this was true for him, such could never be said for Deviya, in fact the only thing that has been said about both of them was

“May mercy be upon whoever marries the devil.”

He was prideful, arrogant, and most often stubborn and if his younger self could see him now he knew what he would say, and it would not be all that different from what everyone else said.

What could the ocean say to make the mountain bow? What language could be found between the night and the day?

They would bring up their differences, as would he if it was anyone else but Him and her.

Deviya had always been wild; her antics were always a topic of discussion even at the Doobays dinner table. to her any and every rule was simply a suggestion there was no limit, at least not for her, and more than once she had said that if she wanted something, nothing could stop her from getting it, and that she was a woman of many wants and there was nothing to say she couldn’t have them all.

He had once scoffed at her natural ability to seek what he was too afraid to, watching from a distance as she made her friends laugh, and maybe that is what caused him to scoff at her, to distract from the question she forced his mind to ask, despite himself he couldn’t help but wonder if he couldn’t also be loved like her, if he couldn’t also do as she did.

Maybe he heard the teens' thoughts and that's what amused the man as much as it appeared, as Mahadeva smiled and arched a brow at him. “Do you truly dislike her actions?” he asked in response to Ram’s condemnation of the girl waving around a dagger, something a bit knowing in the way he smiled at the teen and that was that, the end of Ram pretending to scold Ms. Sharma’s rather odd personality.

She was bright and vibrant and with every room she entered eyes landed on her. People always gravitated to her, to see what mischief she had pulled off, to see what show she had put on, because despite her nature, or maybe because of it she was loved, and as she passed him by he would wonder a question that would follow him for a very long time: he wondered if he couldn’t also be loved despite his nature. Her list was no shorter than his.

But maybe it was that the list of reasons to love her was longer, be it her smile, and the way her eyes looked in the sun, her laugh and her readiness to be who she was– No she was not like him at all. He thought once before, so he knew what people thought now.

He knew that it seemed strange that She would want him and he her. He was not stupid, he knew what people thought, how could he not when many asked what did he even have in common with the heiress. But after they had finished their work recounting the miles long list of their differences he would smile and reply that they both preferred the night over the morning and a bitter truth over a sweet lie. He could live with being more sociable and She wasn’t always so excitable, and at times she could even be calm, he would say how He'd find her in her study reading and they would simply be together, she was more than happy to sit with him in silence, and he was not so rigid that he could not at least pretend for a while to enjoy himself at a social gathering.

No one ever believed him, of course, because who was Ram Doobay if not the quiet man that stayed in the background, with an unfortunate disposition and a frown?

But then, who was Ram Doobay if not the man that chased after Deviya sharma, Fingers playing with her hair and a besotted expression on his face. Who was he but a man in love? And he had proclaimed that that was who he wished to be, whoever it was he was before can be forgotten.

If his younger self could see him now–

“What are you thinking about so deeply?” Deviya asked from above him, her fingers working small circles into his scalp, and when he opened his eyes he couldn’t help but smile. “How you liked me before we even met,” he said. At this she raised her brows high. “Oh, yes, definitely.” she agreed “did her words bother you that much?” she asked, calling back to the day’s excitement, where they walked into a shop arm in arm, and looked at the fabrics and embellishments and despite them ordering a matching set the tailor grinned and joked a light hearted joke that shouldn’t have bothered him, he hadn’t been so liberal with his affections, hidden between the walls of fabric they were shielded enough for him to kiss her, and he didn’t mind if they weren’t. His wife laughed softly and told him to behave and that it.

until they met the owner once again.

“You two are such an odd match, I never thought I’d live to see the day where you would have to be reminded to behave, if your younger self could see you now.” she joked, of course she meant it as a simple jest, a playful warning to stop teasing his wife so much, but it stuck with him then as it did now.

“it didn’t bother me, it just made me think.” he admitted “about what?” she asked, playing with a particularly nice curl. But he only smiled at her, one so soft that it made her pause.

Surely, if his younger self could see what he saw now, Deviya above him, a halo of orchids and the sunlight that peaked through the tree’s leaves. If he could see her smile, hear how she said his name- if only he knew then he too would fall.

He would realize just as Ram did now, that the love between two people needn’t be justified. He would know that he wasn’t alone, and that despite his nature he could be loved, and as strange as it seemed, love came as an answer to each of their worries in one way or another.

He had a place, a love, a dream and each of those things rested in her, at the end of the day she curled beside him, and in the morning before even the sun rose he had her love.

What would he be if he had known before? This Ram did not know and though he briefly wondered he didn’t wish to find out.

“If my younger self could see me now, He would be very jealous,” he said, his hand reaching to tug on a loose curl and grin on his lips. “I’ve got a rather nice view,” he joked. “Is that so, Rakshasa?” She asked in return.

“I don’t think he would be surprised.” She said “no?” he asked “no, you’d intellectualize it, and if that didn't stop your worries you would seek the answers in texts.“ she fixed her posture and put on a rather snobbish expression before she mimicked his voice a touch too well. “Of course, Ms Sharma is a suitable match, Being connected to my family would only benefit the sharmas.” she said, immediately breaking into a laugh at the last word, unable to keep in her amusement over the sour expression on his face.

“That's not how I sound.” he denied “it is.” she affirmed with a mischievous grin. “Then after you said that you would pull out a book and say that men go crazy for love all the time, love rules over gods and man all the same, No matter how long it holds on, a leaf cannot stay on the branch forever.” she said with a hand gesture that he hadn’t noticed he did so often as he must have for her to get it down so well.

“Maybe that’s why Mr Vaish teased you.” She said “He must see it before any of us.” “He must.” he agreed, rolling the pair over so that she now sat on him, he picked out a leaf that had landed into her hair, and for a moment he just looked at her.

She was right, he wouldn’t believe it, if you had painted a portrait of what he saw now and presented it to his younger self he would mock you.

“Would you be surprised?” he asked and without even a moment of thought she replied “no of course not, i don’t understand why people say we’re odd, when I’ve always sought you and you’ve always sought me, even when we didn’t know the names to call out for we looked for the other.”

Ram nodded, placing a kiss to her lips. And once again he thought to himself, that He was not like Deviya.

But still, her words gave him understanding, as they often did.

Maybe the change happened then, or maybe that was only when he understood it, as it was not as if overnight he had changed. No, he was still a reserved man but sometime before he had learned to smile, and laugh and lighten up. He still preferred to be left alone, but alone didn’t include Deviya sharma, as you could find him more often than not wherever she was.

Ram Doobay was still an arrogant man, but he was an arrogant man in love.

#my fic #romance club #ram doobay #deviya sharma

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