***Ramya's POV.***

"Hey!" I say as soon as Reyansh enters our room.

"Hey!" He says and bends to give me a peck, then looks at the little girl in my lap, "How is she doing?"

"She is fine and faring well." I say with a smile.

"Can I take her?" He asks.

"Not before you get cleaned up. So shoo, get away, you dirty‌ boy." I say.

"Haha! That was not funny. Give me five minutes, then she is all mine." He says and rushes into the bathroom.

"You are quite a cute sleeping beauty. That's nice. You are just like me. I, too, can sleep through any loud noises." I say and she smiles a little, "Aww! I love you."

"It's my turn to love her now." Reyansh says and takes her gently from my arms.

"No fair." I say with a pout.

"How? You come home early every day and I had to stay back late to look after the company and its construction. You get to spend more time with her than me." He says.

"Well, you are wrong there. I am helping Dad if you are forgetting. He needs me, as Jiju is busy right now." I say, and a sudden sadness falls over us.

Siya fussing gets our attention back to the new princess of Malhotra's house. Reyansh walks with her around the room and I look at them lovingly. She is just two weeks old but has already wrapped us around her little finger.

Mayra had gone into labor one night and we had to rush her to the hospital. I stayed at home with Veer and waited for the good news. I was happy when I got to know that I became Masi again or chachi of two cuties. But then I got some tough news too.

It was hard when Shravan came home and I took him in my arms. I was so scared and not just me. Everyone was scared because no one knew how to handle this situation. Not that we found him difficult. In fact, he is the sweetest little thing ever with Mayra's exotic eyes.

But the fact that we will hurt him accidentally and could not know as he can't make any voice is terrifying most of all to Mayra. She was a mess the first week, but somehow Shaurya Jiju was able to bring her back to her own self and now they are strongly facing this problem.

"Is Mayra going to be okay?" Reyansh asks.

"Well, she is feeling sad that she isn't with Veer a lot, she feels confused and frustrated because she cannot understand Shravan, she is also feeling guilty for not giving Siya the attention she needs and on top of that she has baby blues. We can't even imagine what she is going through right now, and the same can be said for Jiju. That is why I stay home and help Mom to look after Veer and Siya. Sometimes I literally have to snatch her away from Mayra like today, saying that I want to be with her, which I do." I say as I rub my head.

"I understand what you are saying. But not only them, everyone here is going through a tough time." He says.

"That's true. How was your day?" I ask.

"Productive. By the way, where is Veer?" He asks.

"Arya had a day off, so she and Bhai took him out for some fun." I say.

"Have you eaten anything?" He asks.

"Yes." I say as I take out a file to check while he is looking after Siya.

"You should rest for sometime." He says with a frown.

"I am fine." I say and get back to work.

Something has changed about Reyansh. I don't know what it is, but he has become more attentive towards me. It wasn't like he wasn't before, but now it is more visible. He still teases me a lot, argues with me sometimes and even frowns at my silly stunts, but he has become more... gentler.

And about love, I didn't approach that subject after that night. It was too much for me to even ask that when I myself have never confessed my true feelings for him. When I can't even figure out if it is love or not. Because love is nothing without trust and trust is built if you respect that person.

I do respect Reyansh, but do I trust him enough to love him that he will never hurt me? He hasn't yet and I know he will never physically hurt me, but I know one thing for sure: if he cannot fall for me. I would always have this fear that he will go back to Jagvi someday.

So I am holding my feelings back until I know for sure he is mine, then only he will get my love confession. I know it is selfish of me, but it is what it is. I am not investing my heart only to face loss.

Mayra and Jiju come back later on and we have dinner together. By the time the kids are asleep, I am tired too. Parth actually has made it his mission to study all night, and that is why he keeps watch on Shravan at night to let others rest in case he wakes up. He then sleeps in the morning or sometimes in the afternoon.

Next day, I go to the office to wind up a meeting and after that I am waiting in Reyansh and our shared cabin to have lunch together. Few people come to the office and whoever comes leaves before lunch time as then it is construction time.

Reyansh enters the cabin and I turn around to smile at him but get ambushed by his lips instead. Smiling into the kiss, I respond and hold him close. When it starts to get out of hand, I stop him.

"What has gotten into my husband?" I ask, putting my arms around his shoulder.

"It's just I rarely get you all to myself these days, so I couldn't resist when I found you alone in a room." He says with a wink.

"Oh my! Is my husband feeling deprived of his passionate wife?" I ask, wiggling in his arms.

"Maybe. You know what? Why don't we go out tonight and have fun? It has been a while since we have gone anywhere on a date. What do you say?" He asks.

"Well, I wouldn't mind a break, but we can't. You know our family needs us right now." I say.

"I know. But Dad actually gave me this pass." He says, taking a pass out of his pocket.

"What is it?" I ask.

"It is actually a pass to party and Dad said as he and Mom can't go and neither can Mayra and Bhai as they are going for a date tomorrow, so Dad said I should take you there. He also said that it would be okay if we got a little late." He says.

"But-" I say.

"Hey! Don't feel guilty for enjoying one night away from home. We need our space and rest too so we can get relaxed enough to give our best again. And you deserve it. Come on, Ramya. It would be fun and I want you." He says and kisses my neck.

"Okay, I understand. But control yourself. We are in the office." I say.

"There are no cameras here." He says.

"I am turned on." I say seriously, then giggle and kiss him.

We have lunch, then go home. As it is a ball, I wear a dusty pink halter neck satin dress in the evening. It is full length with a bowtie on the back of the neck. It is modest and pretty and definitely a sexy number of date nights.

"Well, I have bodyguard duty tonight, too." He says as soon as he sees me, "I hope you do that make-up you did that night in Japan. It would be much easier to keep other men away."

"You are so mean." I say and punch his shoulder.

"Sorry. Now let's go." He says and picks up a bag.

"What is that for?" I ask.

"We are staying in the hotel tonight." He says with a wink.

"You know you are quite aggressive when you want something." I say with a smile.

"Well, passionate is the correct word for it." He says, and I shake my head.

Obviously I meet up with Siya and Shravan before leaving and also my Veer who definitely approves of my dress and me to be gorgeous. After bidding byes, we leave for the event.

First, we put our bag in the booked room, then went down to the hall for the party. When we reach there, they give us masks and tell us to wear them.

"I didn't know it was a masquerade party." I say as Reyansh helps me tie the ribbon of my mask.

"Maybe I kept it a secret." He says.

"Meany." I say, and he chuckles.

"All done." He says.

"Hey! Our masks don't match. Why is that so?" I ask with a frown.

"It is some kind of mixup I think. They want to partner us up with different people." He says.

"That's not fair. I want to dance with you." I say.

"Same here, dear. Why don't we roam around and exchange masks with someone if we can find one matching to one of ours?" He asks.

"You mean mask hunt?" I ask.

"With that gleam in your eyes, I feel we already won." He says.

We get into the party arm in arm and walk around, finding masks and also to look around. I was eating paneer tikka when I found a woman wearing a mask matching to Reyansh. Maybe I can ask her to exchange it with me.

I excuse myself from Reyansh, who found someone familiar in the party to talk and go towards that woman only to stop short. Because when she turns around and removes the mask, I see it is Jagvi. Of all the people in the world, she is the only one who got a mask matching Reyansh.

Why? Is this some sign from you, Maa Kaali? If it is, I don't like it.

"What happened, Ramya?" Reyansh asks me.

"Let's ditch the party and get to the main event." I say.

"What?" He asks with a chuckle.

"I don't want to waste my time to find a stupid mask. Instead, I just want to spend some quality time with you and for that we don't need this party. The hotel room would suffice." I say.

"But I thought you were enjoying the party. What changed your mood?" He asks and looks up only to freeze.

I sigh and ask, "Can we just go, please?"

"Fine. I don't want to dance with anyone but you. And we can dance in our room." He says, and his quick agreement makes me feel better.

"Maybe I will show you some of my good moves." I say with a teasing smile.

"I would love that way too much." He says with the same smile.

"Let's go." I say and we leave the party and go straight to our room.

The night was fun and much more satisfying than I expected. But as I lay in Reyansh's arm later that night, he looked a little disturbed. I don't want to ask, as I know what it might be about. But I can't see him like this, so I break the silence.

"What is it?" I ask.

"I have been thinking about something for a long time and I wanted to talk to you about it." He says.

"Yes." I say to tell him to go on.

"I want your permission to meet Jagvi." He says.

I blink for a few seconds in astonishment, then take a deep breath and ask, "Why would you need my permission for it?"

"Because you are my wife and you have the right to know and give me permission to meet a person, you don't want me to meet." He says.

"Then why do you want to meet her?" I ask and sit up in bed and wrap the sheet around me.

"Because I want to close Jagvi's chapter in my life." He says.

"You want to murder her? When?" I ask and he looks at me like I have gone crazy.

Maybe I have.