Chapter 77: chapter 77

GOWRII exit the hospital with a huge grin on my face. But my grin is wiped off when someone suddenly puts their hand on my eyes and another hand over my mouth and pulls me away somewhere. I fight the person but go still when the familiar smell hits me.“Shiva,” I say grinning even though my eyes are closed.I hear his familiar groan, “How did you find out?”“Your smell,” I say.He releases me and spins me around to face him. He has me standing against a wall in a dark corner.“What are you doing here? I thought you are coming here tomorrow?” I ask raising my eyebrow.“My work got done early. I wanted to surprise you.”I try not to melt at that but damn my heart that goes all mushy and soft.“What exactly did you mean to do by closing my eyes and pulling me away like a kidnapper?”“Nothing. Just take you to a corner and kiss the breath out of you,” he says with a grin.My heart races and I try to keep my breathing normal. “So, we are in a dark sp-” he doesn't let me finish as he backs me against the wall and presses his lips to mine. His lips move over mine gently yet at the same time intensely. His kiss says how much he missed me. When we pull away, sure enough, I am breathing heavily.“I missed you terribly,” he says placing a soft kiss on my cheek. He is about to kiss me again but we hear footsteps somewhere near and he pulls away putting a good distance between us. “Not a great fan of PDA.”When the footsteps fade away, he leans in closer and whispers, “Don't worry. We will have a lot of alone time together when we get back to Chennai.”That thought heats my body and my cheeks burn. God! Now, he puts ideas in my mind about things I have no idea about. 🍀🍀🍀🍀SHIVA“So, how is uncle doing?” I ask Gowri when we both exit the dark corner. I didn't mean to pull her away and kiss her like that. I am a gentleman. Okay, most of the days I am. But today is a cheat day. Seeing her after four days, I kind of lost my rational sense for the first ten minutes. “He is fine. Today he apologized for being a terrible dad...,” she goes on to explain what happened in the hospital room. She looks happy and that makes my heart swell. Hopefully, my parents-in-law will become a sweet couple after this.“Can we visit your father now or in the evening?”“We can visit now but he would be resting now. How about in the evening?”“Okay, we will come again in the evening.”🍀🍀🍀🍀“Hello, Shiva,” my FIL greets me with a genuine smile when I enter the room. It is evening and I have come here to meet him. Gowri is outside the room speaking with a nurse about my FIL's diet.“Hello, uncle. Get well soon. Remember we have to watch that world cup together,” I say sitting on the visitor's chair.He chuckles, “Of course. How can I miss that?”His voice changes to a grateful one as he says, “Thank you for being there for Gowri. Take good care of her Shiva. She is like me. She will try to hide her emotions.”I give him a knowing smile, “Don't worry uncle. I am good at finding her emotions.”“Glad to hear that,” he says with a relieved smile.The door suddenly opens and my MIL comes inside squealing followed by my wife and her sister and her husband. The look on my MIL can only be described as pure joy. “KADAVULAE! I am not sure how much happy news I can bear,” my MIL squeals. Gowri has a knowing smile on her face as comes to stand near me. Ajay and my SIL are grinning at each other. The only people who have no idea what is happening in the room are me and my FIL. “You are going to be a grandfather,” my MIL shouts.My FIL looks shocked for a moment, “When did it happen?”Both my SIL and her husband are blushing hard. My MIL gives him a look.“What?” my FIL asks totally clueless. “They were fighting just a week ago and now you are telling me this. I meant to ask how many months she is pregnant?”“Sixteen weeks,” my SIL answers.WHOA!“Congratulations,” I say to them with a grin. Ah! Now I understand why my SIL ate homemade food. “You know already, right?” I whisper in Gowri's ear. Her body goes still and she tries to breathe slowly. “Yes,” she replies in a low tone. For a few minutes her family forgets us and we both are in our own world until a question is directed at us.“When will you both give us the good news?” Ajay asks looking at me. My SIL shoves him.“If Gowri is okay with it, soon,” I say trying to contain the grin at the fact my wife's cheeks turn red. God! This woman's blush is enough to drive me crazy and wild. She shoves me lightly and mutters, “God! Shiva.”Since her family has moved on to other topics and their focus is not on us, I lean in even closer and my lips brush her ear lightly as I whisper, “Don't worry. We have a whole lifetime to think about it.”Goosebumps spread through her body and she tries to give me a hard look but fails terribly at it. Her blush is making it difficult for her to hold my gaze. I am trying hard not to think about thoughts about giving good news. 🍀🍀🍀🍀GOWRII can't contain my excitement at being back at our house in Chennai when the car comes to a stop, I get out at jet speed and run to the house. There is nothing like being at your home. Shiva's footsteps sound behind me as I hurriedly take the keys and open the door. When the door swings open and I switch on the light-WHOA!I blink in surprise at the walls of the hall. The empty walls are somehow now filled with pictures. Of me and Shiva. I stare at it starstruck. Photos from our marriage day. Our reception photos align the wall neatly. I turn to look at Shiva who is watching me with a nervous expression, “Do you like it?”You have no idea.I run to him and throw my hands around him in a tight hug and shower his face with kisses, “I love this.”“Yeah, don't get too excited. Surprises are still left,” he says with a smile.God! This is man is extreme. No matter what he does. “What next?” I ask him. He puts his hand on my shoulder and turn me around and pushes me before my room. “Get changed and come up to the terrace. Though I did make changes in the whole house, I never entered your room.”I open the room door and sure enough, my room looks the same. I frown at his words. My room?We confessed our feelings. Shouldn't that mean we should sleep in the same room? Sleeping in his arms is something I looked forward to. But is he hesitating to it because I wiggle in my sleep? Why am I overthinking?Shaking my head, I quickly change. We had dinner at a hotel on our way to Chennai. So, sleep is what remains. 🍀🍀🍀🍀When I go up the terrace, Shiva is standing and gazing at the stars. I let myself a moment to watch my husband in silence before clearing my throat.He turns around with a smile. He opens his arms and I don't need any invitation. I go to him and he wraps his arms around me. His body heat keeps me warm on the chilly night. We don't speak anything. We just stare at the sky in silence. The silence that envelopes us is comfortable.Then suddenly without any warning, Shiva unwraps his hands from me and before I could blink or realize what he is doing, he is on his knees. My eyes go wide and I pinch myself as he takes a small square box from his pocket.THIS IS REAL!I AM NOT DREAMING!Shiva has a nervous smile on his lips that makes him look boyish. He takes a deep breath and says, “I didn't prepare a proposal speech. So, I am going to say whatever comes to my mind. I know we started our relationship on a bad foot. Honestly, I never thought I would fall in love again after what happened with my ex. But you coming into my life changed it. The emotions I started feeling for you were so strong and intense. I have never felt it with anyone else. You amazed me with your lack of interest and the determination to prove me wrong about my accusations of you being a gold digger. When I first saw the apology bouquet, I felt hot jealousy because I thought someone proposed to you and that thought disturbed me. Then, we Jay harassed you, I very badly wanted to take you in my arms and comfort you. At the same time, I wanted to murder that idiot. Something about you kept attracting me. Before I know I am falling hard in love with you and yes, I have no doubt about my feelings. I love you Gowri.”My breath hitch and I try to blink away the tears of joy. But Shiva is not yet done with his speech.“I know we are married. But still, I want to know, if you are willing to spend the rest of your life with me as my better half. I am not promising a happily ever after because I know that is a delusion. There will arguments between us and fights. Ego clashes. No matter what it is we will settle it with an honest talk. Do you want to be my wife?”I nod my head vigorously, “Though I don't have a ring, I would confess as well. When we got married, I never thought for a minute that I will fall for you. I loathed relationships. But you changed that. At first, I hated you because you accused me of things that I was not. You were always cold to me. But then, I read your diary and I developed a huge crush on the pre-breakup Shiva. You were very understanding and gentle with me. You treated me like I am your equal. You never made any decisions for me but let me take my own decisions and supported me. Deep down I know I was falling for you hard. When I realized it, I was afraid of confessing it to you.  But after giving it a lot of thought, I wanted to give this relationship a shot. I too love you, Shiva.”His eyes glaze and he is trying not to tear up. God! This is definitely a sweet memories moment for us.“I know fairy endings never happen in real life. I am okay with the messed up way you are. In fact, that is something I love about you. You don't fake confidence and you aren't ashamed of showing your emotions. Yes, there will be fights and arguments but I hope the love we have will help us overcome those. I am willing to be your better half. Yes, I want to be your wife. ”He gets up and takes my right hand and slips the ring on my finger. The ring is of the correct size. How did he know my ring size? I never wore any rings.I gasp aloud as the realization sinks in, “Nithya. She told you my ring size?”“I promised her a big scoop of ice cream with two movies to get your ring size,” he says with a chuckle.I pull him closer and press my lips to him. He wraps his hand around me pulling me closer as the kiss deepens. We pull back but stay in each other's embrace looking at the sky and the future that lays ahead of us. A future that we will face together. 🍀🍀🍀🍀I wake up in a different room. Unlike my room, this room has walls in blue colour with ocean waves. Hands are wrapped around my waist and I glance at my side to see Shiva sleeping. I slowly swipe the hair that falls on his forehead. He stirs but doesn't wake up. I am not sure how I ended up in his room. The last thing I remember was falling asleep on Shiva's shoulder when we were star gazing on the terrace. I place a soft kiss on his temple and snuggle closer to him. He looks peaceful and vulnerable in sleep. I play with his eyelashes slowly careful not to wake him up. His grip on my waist tightens and he pulls me closer. His lips brush my temple and he slowly mutters, “Good Morning Love.”“Morning!” I say when his eyes flutter open. He smiles at me with adoration and fondness.“Did you sleep well?”“Yeah, but how did I end up in your room? Did I sleepwalk?”He grins, “Nope. After you fell asleep on the terrace, I carried you down in my arms.”“You carried me? Was I heavy?”“Honestly, I think you should start a diet,” he says grinning.Speak of spoiling a good mood in the morning.I hit him lightly on his chest but he catches my hand and pulls me upon him. He flips me down on the bed so that he is on top of me. My heart flutters as he gently nuzzles my neck and whisper in a deep voice, “I was kidding. You are perfect to me in every way.”🍀🍀🍀🍀