xxvi | colour

Ishita could definitely get used to having Jai's strong arm wrapped around her body, keeping her pressed to his side, cocooned in the warmth of his body. She opened her eyes, shifted to her side only to feel Jai reflexively move his arm to accommodate her better. Placing a palm on his sturdy jaw, she traced the slopes of his cheek with her thumb.

"Are you studying me?" he murmured, placing his palm over hers and pinning it to his cheek, his eyes still closed.

"Yes," she whispered.

A hint of a smirk claimed his lips. "Last night wasn't enough?"

"Are you denying me of my favourite hobby?" she said, tracing the ridges of his arm.

"As if you listen to me," he mumbled, holding the hand that she was pulling out of his hold. "Hmm, let's sleep in."

"No."

"Why not?" he whined. It would have been odd to hear Jai whine half a year ago but to Ishita, it was odd if Jai didn't whine. He was a chronic whiner.

"This is the time you get your morning reading done. If you don't do this now, then you'll do it in the afternoon and afternoon's plans will move to evening and when evening comes, I'll be watching Netflix all alone while you work. You promised me your after work hours are entirely mine. That's the whole point you of you shifting your night reading to mornings," Ishita said, reluctantly removing herself from his warmth and sitting up. She patted his arm thrice, urging him to wake up.

"No reading today. I promise," Jai said, his eyes begging her to come back to his arms, her rightful home.

"Welcome to another episode of Tragic Throwbacks — remember that morning when you were feeling greedy like you are today and said the same thing to me? Remember how that beautifully turned out?" Ishita said, sitting on her heels on the bed with her black bra and using her hands to make a grand point.

"We fought. You slept in the guest-room that night and I cried in the shower," he groaned, almost shuddering at the memory. "We said some very hurtful things to each other. That day was a nightmare."

"Very," she said, pursing her lips for a moment. "Do you want that to repeat?"

"Will you give me a chance if I promise you I won't let it repeat?" When Ishita paused to think, Jai caught her by her hips and pulled her close so that he could lay his head on her lap. He twisted his head and pressed a kiss on her thigh.

"Stop playing dirty," she said but she didn't push him away. More kisses. Warm lips with a little bit of teeth as he sucked the skin.

"Jai."

"Ishita."

She sighed. "You promise?"

"Come here, stubborn woman," Jai said, tucking a hand beneath her body and scooping her off the bed to pull her on top of him. He rolled her to the side and caged her with his arm again, his nose nuzzling into her neck where there were marks — some fading, some freshly bestowed.

"God, since when do I care about these damned schedules more than you?" she mumbled.

"Since you fell in love with me."

"I guess all good things come with a price," she sighed, her back melting against his chest. Jai pressed slow lazy kisses on the curve of her shoulder, tangling his ankle with hers.

"One more hour, okay? We'll do brunch today," he whispered.

"Make me chicken rice and we have a deal," she said.

"You got it. Let's go back to sleep, astronaut."

"Wait, do you think I'm the one being a bad influence on you?" Ishita weaved her fingers into his hair and he hummed with satisfaction, the vibration travelling across her skin and triggering goosebumps all over.

"I think I'm being too much of a good influence on you," he said. "But, who the fuck cares? We are us, no matter what."

Ishita smiled into his arms. "Fair point."

When Jai came back from his meeting and entered his cabin, he popped open the first button on his shirt and loosened his tie, eventually removing it. He hated ties. The only reason he wasn't entirely aversive was because Ishita fastened it for him in the mornings which almost always led to them devouring each other against the wall. He sat in his ergonomic chair with a huff and took a sip of water from the bottle that Ishita had gifted him. It was a glass bottle with a Van Gogh themed painting that she had done herself.

A year back, all that were on Jai's desk in his office were a pencil holder, memo pads, stacks of sticky notes alongside his PC. It was plain, 'lacked life' as Ishita used to call it. Now, there was a picture of Ishita kissing Jai on the cheek that they had taken at Sahana's pre-wedding party, a paperweight that Ishita made with resin and dandelions, handmade paper in different colours that Ishita had gotten obsessed with making a month back and a fancy pencil holder. He hadn't noticed when Ishita had started adding colour to his desk until one day, he looked at it and felt like an imposter. Shockingly, he'd only laughed at the improvement and shook his head before continuing with his work.

It was as if Ishita had grabbed a paintbrush and added careful strokes of colour to his life. Or encased him like a sheet of cellophane, letting his usual light split into a million beautiful colours. Ishita was magic.

Kayal came in, carrying binders. "That meeting turned out favourable," she noted.

"Yes, it was. I saw you talking to Mr Vijay after the meeting. Did he comment on anything?"

"No, Sir. He was just clarifying the percentage drop. He said he didn't catch the number right, she said. "Why, is there—"

The door burst open. "Jai!" Ishita marched in, her orange tote-bag flying slapping against her hip. When she realised Kayal was there, her urgency dissolved. "Hey, Kayal. How are you?"

"I'm good, Ishita," she said, standing up with a smile barely hidden. "I'll leave you to it."

"Coffee later?" Ishita asked her as she neared the door.

"You got it," Kayal whispered back before she disappeared. The smile lingered on Ishita's face only until the door was locked. When her gaze met Jai's, her smile dropped. She padded towards him and Jai pushed himself away from the desk to accommodate his girlfriend as she dropped on his lap.

"I need you," she whispered, wrapping her arms around his neck and resting her cheek against the pad of his shoulder.

"I'm right here," he said, growing concerned. He ran her hands through her hair that had grown more than her shoulders, the ends dyed maroon. "Talk to me, astronaut."

"I told you about the appointment I had with the Gynec, right?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"My cycle is extremely irregular. The doctor said it threatens my ability to get pregnant. What if--- what if I can't--"

"Birth a child?"

Ishita nodded, tears lining her waterline. She was crumbling at the seams. Jai pulled her away enough to look at her and sighed. "You've been a bad girl, astronaut. I said, no overthinking. And this is the definition of overthinking."

"I can't help it. We always talk about children. One boy and one girl. We'll spoil them to bits and let them explore. We will never pressure them to study or get into a good school and instead we'll let them pursue whatever they want----"

"Hey astronaut," Jai said, bringing her face closer to his and kissing her nose, "can you shut up and listen to what I have to say?"

Ishita bit her wobbling lip.

"First of all, the doctor said it threatens your ability to get pregnant. It's not ruled out completely. Second of all, we are not getting pregnant anytime soon. We aren't married yet, we haven't gone to the places you want to go to for our honeymoon, we haven't spent one more year spoiling each other before we bring a new one into our family to spoil together. We aren't there yet, astronaut. We have lots of time and I'll find the best doctors in this country to help you regularise your cycle and increase our chances for a baby.

"And worst case, if it doesn't happen, we have other ways to have a child. If that doesn't work, we'll adopt. If you change your mind about kids, we'll love each other enough to never let us ache for a child. Got it?"

Ishita nodded.

"Good," he said, pressing a kiss on her nose again. "I won't allow you to overthink about this again. Okay?"

"Okay," she whispered. Even the idea of not being able to have a child had shattered her to a million pieces. Jai's heart broke for her. He knew she wanted kids. There was a rare gleam in her eyes whenever she talked about the future with him. And that future always included kids.

"I love you, astronaut. I'll always do."

Ishita let her head fall onto Jai's shoulder again and hid her face into the crook of his shoulder. "No matter what?"

"No matter what."

"Thank you," she murmured, letting silence fill the air. Jai rubbed her back soothingly.

"I have another problem," she said.

"What is it?"

"The instructor in my Italian cooking class told me I will be known for making the worst pizza on earth. My pizza is an utter fail apparently," she pouted.

Jai laughed.

Ishita glared at him and Jai stopped midway, raising his arms in surrender. "That's what I tried to tell you last night. It cracked, astronaut. Like a chip," he said, barely getting out the words. He was trying very hard not to laugh.

"No, it didn't!"

"Am I supposed to think in delusions like you do?" he asked.

"It was---  Okay, maybe it was not upto the mark. But it wasn't that bad, right? He called me a failure in front of everyone. Like, who the fuck hired this insensitive idiot? I mean, that's not what teachers do!" she said.

Jai interlaced their fingers and brought it in between them, pressing a kiss to her knuckles. "We'll practice together tonight. How about that?"

"No, I don't want to disturb you."

"It's Friday, I have nothing to do. Let's try it today. Once more tomorrow. If we get it right, we'll have pizza and wine for dinner. Even if we can't get it right, we'll order in. Sound good?"

"The whole point of me learning these things is to not order out!" Ishita said, crossing her arms.

"I know. But you like pizza. Obsessively. If you don't have me, I think you'll probably marry pizza and be content with your life."

"That's true," she said as if stating a serious fact. Ishita pursed her lips and looked away, as if deep in thought.

"Fine," she said at last. "But I'm going to master it. I'm going to make the best pizza ever and shove it in the guy's face the next day."

Jai grinned. "Now, that's my girl."

"You really want to make heart-shaped pizzas?"

"Why the fuck not?" Jai asked. "It's you and me. Of course, we are making heart-shaped ones."

"It's you and me," Ishita said, in a whiny voice. "Okay, you sappy asshole."

"I thought you like it when I talk sappy," he said, smearing flour on her nose.

"I do. It makes me special," she whispered, looping her arms around his neck. With a sultry smile, she continued, "Only I know the Jai who talks sappy, who stuffs a whole piece of chess-cake in his mouth whenever he crosses the snack bar, who sniffles into my neck when a fictional character dies in a movie, who leaves marks on my inner thigh and hums into my skin there like he's accomplished the greatest. Only I know what sounds he makes when he comes undone. Only me."

"Only you," he rasped, pulling Ishita closer to him by her hips.His voice was dangerously low. He had the look of a hungry wolf. "Now, about the marks... how about I give you some more of that now?"

Without giving her a chance to respond, he guided her by the chin, leaving flour on her skin wherever he touched, and brought her lips to his. Ishita made a sound but Jai swallowed it before he could figure what it meant. With one sharp tug at her thighs, Ishita was up on the counter, Jai nestled in the V of her legs. Jai printed flour-dusted kisses on her cheek, her jaws, trailing towards the throat, feeling her pulse thrum against his lips. He bit into the skin lightly, making Ishita tighten her grip on his shoulders and her legs around him.

"You taste sweet. A little bit of salt too," he said, licking the mark he left.

"Stop teasing. Either let me go or take me to bed," Ishita said urgently, her hands slipping under his t-shirt, her body restless unless she got more of him.

Jai re-traced his path with kisses back to her lips, pressing one hard lingering kiss on her mouth. "I would love to but I don't want to hear you go on and on about me being a distraction and blame me for your pizza disaster in class tomorrow."

Ishita whined when he pulled back. He squished her cheeks together and kissed her nose once more. "You look hot. With flour all over you," he said, moving before Ishita's hands kept him hostage once more.

Ishita hopped from the counter and went back to the dough with a grumble. She glanced side-ways at him, focused on the pizza sauce. "I don't like cooking classes with you."

"Oh?"

"You are too tempting. Too delicious to keep my hands off," she mumbled, shaping the dough reluctantly. Damn the pizza. She just wanted Jai. And he was being a fucking tease, with his stupid hands and his stupid gaze and stupid words. But she hated that he was also right about the pizza disaster waiting for her in class the next day.

Jai smirked. "Oh?"

"Shut up. Don't you dare smile at me like that."

"Like what?" he asked.

"Like you love that I love you."

"I love that you love me." Jai's eyes softened ten times more and his gaze alone left her heart in a puddle.

"I love that you love me, too," she whispered, heat crawling up her neck.

She cleared her throat, refusing to look at Jai. He always made her feel like she was feeling butterflies for the first time. Like she was on her first date with him. She didn't know how he did that. She just... loved him so much. He was nothing like the man she dreamed of falling in love with but he was everything she needed to fall in love with herself. He made her love life. He was perfect and she was so so so in love with him. Head over heels. A fool in love.

And she didn't mind it one bit. Because with Jai, love was easy and validating. It was the most precious thing she's found.

And she'd never let it go.

Ishita glanced at Jai and he gave her a soft smile as if he knew what she was thinking. "Let's make those heart-shaped pizzas."

THE END

a/n: thank you for being patient with me and supporting me throughout the story. a lot of silent readers are here and i love that you always were, especially the ones who'd vote instantly. the active commenters, i'm grateful for your verbal validation. it really kept me going!

finally, jai and ishita's story has come to an end. there will be an epilogue but please don't expect it to come anytime soon. i'm planning to also do a deleted scenes collection because there were lot of scenes that didn't make it. a few of them will be posted on my instagram now and then, so keep an eye out!

with cellophane, i conclude this universe — the one housing veer, sahana, keerthy, vikrant, jai and ishita. it's been the sweetest journey.

much love,

cara x