It was raining heavily and I somehow reached my apartment, drenched from head to toe. God! The climate in Mumbai I say, is unpredictable. It was good that Shivaay is not here or else he would have——

“Baby” My breath hitched seeing him walk out of bedroom.

“Shivaay? When did you come?” I asked surprised as he told he'll arrive next week only.

“Thought to give you a surprise but——” He trailed off as he walked towards me, his eyes on my face. I started feeling breathless at the way he was looking at me. Damn! What can I expect from my cheapda husband after maintaining abstinence for last one month and finally seeing his wife in such a drenched state.

“Did you eat anything?” I asked trying to avoid his gaze.

He shook his head slowly as he reached me.

“Shivaay I'll——” He raised my chin and now I was facing him. He had a small smile on his face making me smile as well.

“What did you expect me to do?” He asked and I looked away blushing. He knew exactly what I felt he was about to do, still he had to ask me and melt me into a puddle under his gaze.

He bent down and gave a soft kiss on my neck making me shiver. Holding my waist, he pulled me closer to him. Did I mention I'm wearing a crop top?

“Shivaay I'm shivering, please” I whispered and as if some switch had been turned off, the raw passion in his eyes disappeared somewhere replacing them with softness.

“Oh God! I'm so sorry” He told leaving my waist and I gave a quick kiss on his cheek before rushing to the washroom.

I quickly got changed into something warm and rushed out to see him setting the table.

“Baby come before the soup turns cold” He told without turning and I smiled as I walked towards him and hugged him from behind.

“How do you always know?”

“Just like that” He told as he held my hand and made me sit on the chair. Settling adjacent to me, he took the bowl and stirred it before extending the spoon towards me.

I shrugged and kept the soup away before settling in his lap.

“I missed you” I whispered near his lips and he closed his eyes.

“Didn't you miss me?” I asked as I kissed the corner of his lips.

“I did baby, a lot” He whispered back huskily as he raked his fingers through my hair.

“Show me Shivaay” I whispered as I closed my eyes with a faint smile on my lips.

I was in my personal hell for the last one month without him and nothing would help me free from that hell other than his love. There were times I cried all night on not feeling his warmth on our bed. There were times I felt depressed from head to toe on not seeing him every morning with my bed coffee which he never missed even once after our marriage. There were times I wanted to somehow run to him and hide in his arms and cry out loud.

The doorbell rang breaking our peaceful atmosphere. I opened my eyes startled only to see him looking at me startled as well. Blushing, I moved out of his lap as I looked everywhere but his face.

I heard his deep sigh making me blush more. It was more out of love seeing my blush than irritation of someone disturbing us.

I heard my bestie Sanaya's voice from the door and widened my eyes as I totally forgot about her in between the happiness of seeing Shivaay. Her flat had to be vacated for today night as there were minor repairs to be done and I very happily asked her to come here since Shivaay was anyway not going to be here for another week. God! What will I do now?

“My work ended early so I thought to give her a surprise and so here I'm” Shivaay told as he and Sanaya walked towards the dining table.

“It's okay! You both carry on with whatever you both were doing. I won't create any disturbance” She told winking at me and I glared at her while he chuckled.

“We were about to have soup. Want some?”

*

Sanaya's POV

“Soup? Who has fever?” I asked and Anika told about her getting drenched and he making soup for her. God! How much more adorable and sweet can this man be? There's no wonder Anika fell head over heels on him. Note it, Anika used to hate men in the past. Reason being, her father physically and mentally abusing her mother and her. She had grown up seeing that and naturally got an adversity towards men as her father was the only man she saw closely.

When the whole woman population of our college went fida over Shivaay, he had his eyes only for Anika. He even got slapped by her in front of everyone of our college for proposing her but never actually gave up. Considering all the abuses Anika called him and number of times she beat him with different items each day, he should have never looked back at her but he simply walked behind her like a hopeless person until the day she smiled at him for the first time. That was the first day that even I saw Anika smile whole heartedly. Even after that, it took a whole of one year for her to loosen up with him. I must say that Shivaay's patience and tolerance level should be given a diamond medal.

But when they were finally in love, we all fall in love with the way they both loved each other. When they were dating at the last year of his college which happened to be our third year, they both made sure that we all felt envious of the way they behaved with each other. No PDA, no openly declaring their love, and definitely no shona-babu kind of endearments but one look at them and any human with eyesight would understand how much they both love each other. It was as if there was a different kind of spark, a different kind of magic between them and I myself don't know how many times I used to do thu thu thu on a daily basis so that even my nazar don't fall on them. Even after he passed out from college, he used to come daily to pick her up from college, let whatever happen.

“Shivaay tell me one thing, how did you fall in love with Anika?” I asked the question that had been nagging me since forever but never really got the chance to ask him. I mean what might have he seen in the prim and proper simple Anika that he didn't see in the straight out of ramp kinda girls who did everything to get his attention.

He turned to look at Anika who was looking curiously at him. Seems like, even she didn't know.

“Just like that” He told with a playful smile and Anika frowned.

“Shivaay say it at least today! I'm asking you the same thing since last Seven years” She told and he chuckled.

“My answer is the same. I saw you, I fell in love with you” He told shrugging and she frowned more.

“How can you fall in love just like that? There should be a reason isn't it?” I asked and he thought for sometime.

“Is there a reason you love your mother? No right? We come in this world and just like that, we love our mother unconditionally, however good or bad she is” He told and I was left speechless.

“Shivaay but——”

“I saw her walk in through the gate of our college, clutching onto her books tightly as if someone would snatch that from her” There was a different kind of softness in his voice as he told that. “She tried to slip away without the notice of any seniors but bad luck! Someone caught her on the way and started asking her all sorts of questions. She was so scared that day and I thought she'll start crying but she managed to hold back her tears and ran away as soon as that guy got someone else” She smiled at him as he had a faint smile on his face, remembering about all those. “I followed her and reached the corner she ran off to. I thought she would be crying from there and just tried my luck to console her but guess what she was doing” He looked at me and I shook my head not knowing what to say.

“She was talking to a puppy there. There was this cute puppy and she was talking to that about how these people are so cruel” He told and she chuckled looking at his face.

“I mean I never saw anything as innocent as that till then. Seeing that, at first I thought this girl is mad but as time went by, I understood she was lonely. She had no one to listen to what her heart really wanted to say. That is why she talked to all these animals and things that doesn't judge her or ask questions back to her” He told and I turned to look at Anika who was shocked at what he said.

“I told you, I followed her almost everywhere after that day. I found this when she was talking to the same puppy some days later while she was giving food to this puppy” He told and I felt my heart break at the way his voice sounded. If I felt so much heart ache hearing his voice, I can't imagine Anika's condition now. She might be cursing herself in her mind for causing so much pain and misery to her Shivaay.

“Enough Shiv” She whispered softly holding his hand and he smiled.

“Listen to it! You won't get another chance may be” He told and she looked at him as if overlooking his soul.

“I wanted to take away that pain and loneliness from her life. From that day, all I prayed to God was to give me her pain and replace it with my happiness. That is why I walked behind her like that. I wanted her to feel that there's someone out there who's there for her, who won't leave her even if the world ends, even if she slaps him, even if she abuses him with her colorful words in front of everyone, even if she insults him in front of everyone” He told and she was crying by then. I slowly wiped the tears those were threatening to fall off my eyes.

“I wanted you to feel that Anika, feel that whatever you do, whether it is right or wrong, I won't give up on you. You know, each time you told my love was just a time pass and infatuation, I didn't know how to prove everything to you. I didn't know how to make you understand that I loved you sincerely, without any pretences. I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep, I couldn't even sit somewhere peacefully because all I thought was how to make you believe that I love you and it was not the problem of my age just like you always told” He told and I wanted to kill Anika that very moment for giving this man so much pain. But again, I won't blame her. It was her past that made her be like that.

“I—I'll go and sleep I guess” I told softly and rushed to the guest room where I kept my bag earlier. I was enough being a bone between their moments but they didn't seem to notice anything. They didn't hear what I said, they didn't even notice me coming to the guest room.

*

Anika's POV

Not being able to control my tears, I rushed to the bedroom and sat on the bed as I sobbed silently. He closed the door as he sat beside me and wrapped his arms around my shoulder. I knew he loved me right from the day he proposed me because I saw something different in his eyes that day. Something different that I never saw in my dad's eyes for me or mom but his mistress. But my instincts made me slap him that day. I hurt him saying that whatever he said was fake just so that he knows I'm not the one he think to be. But I never knew he was so hurt with everyone as I always saw his smiling. Even if I slapped him, he kept smiling like an idiot. It was now that I understood why he did that. That was the only time I was myself, that was the only time I took out my frustration, that was the only time I talked to him even if it was hurtful words.

I turned to him and looked at him for sometime before raising my hand and caressing his face with my palm.

“Shivaay I'm sorry” I whispered and he smiled.

“You shouldn't be. If you simply accepted my proposal, I wouldn't have loved you so much. I wouldn't have known how much valuable you're to me because anything we get quickly, we don't value it but anything we get by hard work and long time of desire, it turns the most valuable thing in the world for us” He told with a smile and I cried more.

He held my face between his palms and kissed my eyes slowly before moving down and kissing my tears away.

“I don't like your tears Anika, not even a drop is okay for me” He whispered as he kissed my forehead.

“I feel myself burning when I see your eyes brimmed up” He whispered as he kissed both my cheeks tenderly.

He looked into my eyes and I slowly placed my lips on his as I closed my eyes and let the feel on his lips linger on mine. Slowly and tenderly, he started kissing me and I followed him. One month since I missed this feel that only he can give me. I ran my fingers through his hair and he slowly pushed me to bed without breaking our kiss that was taking pace with need now.

We broke apart panting for breath as he pressed his forehead on mine.

“I love you” He whispered against my lips and that's when I lost it. I turned our positions and went on top of him making him visibly surprised.

“Let me love you to my heart's content today. Please?” I asked with a small smile and he smiled as he tucked my hair behind my ears from both sides as it was falling on his face.

“All yours to love and love more” He told and I smiled as I kissed his forehead. For not giving up on me seeing my tantrums. Without breaking the trail of my lips, I kissed his left eye followed by his right. For always looking at me with the same respect and love that you show towards me in your actions.

He kept his eyes closed as I kissed both his cheeks over his beard. For always giving upper hand to my wishes and keeping this beard though it brings rashes to your face every now and then. Giving a small kiss on the tip of his nose, I brushed my lips against his.

Moving down, I kissed on top of his Adam's apple that went above as soon as my lips brushed against it. I smiled as I moved down and kissed his chest, right above his heart, my favourite part. I know the whole of him belongs to me but it is his heart that is truly mine. It beats for me and it is his life force just like me. 

I looked up at him to see him looking at me, his eyes clouded with passion. He wanted to kiss me hard now but he's somehow controlling himself for me. Or may be he is just enjoying the tortures of love that his wife is giving him.

I took both my arms and kept it around my waist before slowly bending down to his ear and nibbling on his earlobes making him gasp.

“How does it feel?”

“You'll be the death of me jaan” He whispered breathlessly as I kissed down his neck moving the collars of his kurta.

“How can I be your death and jaan at the same time?” I asked as I unbuttoned the kurta and kissed all the way down till his mid chest.

“Just like how you're being a devil in disguise of an angel now” He told breathlessly as my palms moved down his waist towards the slit of his kurta and further inside to touch his abs.

“Tell me more about it” I whispered looking into his eyes as my fingers made way inside his kurta to touch where he would lose his sanity.

“St-stop Anika” He breathed out and I immediately took my hand back. Did I do anything wrong?

“God woman! I didn't literally mean it” He told frowning and I burst out laughing. Oh God! All the build up I did few seconds back was totally gone. I moved back to the bed as we both laughed our hearts out.

Once we composed ourselves, he was quick in taking his position on top of me as he removed his kurta in the speed of a lightning and buried his head in the crook of my head.

“You'll kill me today Anika” He whispered as he marked me with his expertise. I hissed at the temporary pain as I ran my fingers over his hard chest. He was neither like the highly gymnastics people with hard abs nor like uncles with a heavy paunch. He had abs but the way I like, not too hard, not too soft.

In a swift motion, he pulled out my night shirt and looked at me for quite sometime making me blush and shiver under his gaze.

*

Sanaya's POV

I was helping myself with a cup of coffee when Shivaay walked inside yawning.

“Sanaya? Why are you up so early?” He asked as he smiled at me. I returned the smile back.

“Headache so I thought to get a cup of coffee. Can I get a cup for you?” I asked and he smiled.

“Offer is tempting but then, Anika is going to wake up in sometime and she'll turn cranky if I say I had coffee without her” He told chuckling and I chuckled too.

“I'll call Anika. By that time, make two cups” He told and I rolled my eyes.

“There's something called Adhithi devo bhava, Shivaay. I'm your freaking guest and you should be doing all these for me” I told faking a frown and he burst out laughing.

“Oh God Sanaya! Who even put this misconception inside your brain that you're our guest? That stage passed long back. You're our family isn't it?” He asked all so sweetly and I couldn't help but smile.

“You're so good in talking like this and tricking people Shivaay” I told and he chuckled.

“There's a reason everyone was behind me” He told with a wink and I chuckled.

“And finally you fell for the one who didn't even look back at you once” I told and he burst out laughing this time around.

“True yaar! Don't remind me of all those torturous days! I can't even believe that my sweetheart Anika was once a lioness who called me all sorts of uncouth words” He told chuckling and I laughed hard remembering those days. He seriously had a tough time.

“What's the joke?” Anika asked smiling as she walked in and Shivaay chuckled as he put his arms around her neck casually.

“Was just recounting the GOOD old days” He told giving a stretch on Good and she raised her eyebrows at him.

“Did it include all the slaps and hits I gave you?” She asked with a smirk and he smiled sheepishly before leaning towards her but thanks to almighty, she pushed him and looked at me embarrassed.

“You naughty girl, all I wanted to was give a hit on your forehead with mine” He told chuckling and she gave a hit to him while I felt myself turn red in embarrassment. Did he actually lean in to give a hit or forgetting that I was here, was he actually about to kiss her? Better I don't ask and get more embarrassed.

My phone rang and I attended it seeing that it was from the security of my building. Thank God! The work was over.

“I'll leave then. It was the security. Now you can peacefully do whatever you both want to do. I'm not being a bone in a your heaven” I told in a teasing voice only to get two hits on either of my arms.

“Idiots!” I told frowning and they laughed looking at my face. Shaking my head, I went to take my things.

When I came back to the hall, Anika was sitting on the couch holding her head while Shivaay was sitting with her, holding her hand worried.

“What happened Anika?” I rushed to her and she shook her head.

“I felt like fainting” She told softly.

“Fainting? Let's go to hospital then. We can't trust any disease nowadays. Get a check up done” I told worried and she looked at me.

“I'm fine Sanaya! When did you start behaving like him?” She told chuckling and Shivaay glared at her.

“She's right! Let's go to hospital Anika” Shivaay told and I nodded.

“It's nothing guys! I told you I'm fine”

“She's not fine! Two days back, she vomitted while I had called her. Now this fainting. I'm not listening to anything. Let's go to hospital” Wait a second! Oh my god! Vomiting? Is she——? I looked at her surprised and she nodded with a smile looking at me.

Oh my goodness!! She's pregnant!!

“Shivaay look at her. She's fine. No need to go to hospital and all. She knows about her health” I told with a smile and she looked at me gratefully. She might be wanting to surprise him and being a good friend that I'm, shouldn't I help her? *Wink*

“You're in her side or my side Sanaya?”

“Her side obviously! I'm her bestie na” I told chuckling and Shivaay rolled his eyes.

“What about the long speech you gave me on Raksha Bandhan while tying Rakhi to me? Forgot everything idiot?” He asked and I showed tongue at him.

“Ah!! I'm leaving then. Bye” I told chuckling and rushed out of there without letting Shivaay complete all the curses he was giving me.

Such adorable couple they are! Can't imagine how their baby would look like. And I'm becoming bua! Awwww! I can't wait to hold the baby in my arms.

~The End~