Calix exclaimed keeping a plate of chocolate cake that he baked on the table.

"Looks good." He had covered it with chocolate frosting and decorated it simply by surrounding its edges with strawberries.

He cut a generous piece of it and served it to me on a plate and I dug in. It seriously melted in my mouth. "This is so good, Calix! You can open your own bakery with it."

And I watched in awe as his cheeks turned the prettiest shade of pink. "Thanks. I will remember that when my company goes bankrupt in the future."

I shook my head and chuckled and devoured the whole piece as he watched me amusingly sitting beside me.

As I stuffed my mouth with the last bite, I asked, "Won't you eat it too?"

His eyes dropped to my mouth and leaning forward, his thumb swiped the corner of my mouth where there was some frosting and he sucked his thumb. "Hmm... it's good."

I gulped, a blush crawling up my neck. Damn. Why does he have to do such things?

So, I cut a smaller piece of the cake and scooping some on the spoon, I held it to his mouth.

He slowly opened his mouth and ate it, his eyes not leaving mine.

"Oh..." I said, suddenly remembering about something very important. "I am actually leaving for England next week."

His eyes narrowed. "England? World Cup doesn't start for another four weeks."

I placed the spoon down and sighed. "I know, we just need to reach there before, get used to the England conditions, get over our jet lag and we even have some warm up matches before the World Cup starts so..."

"That means you will be gone for two months?"

I nodded. "Yes...if we make it to the final. If in case we don't then I might come back early--"

"You will, Al. I know you will. Don't worry."

I did have some confidence and a positive feeling about it but...I won't see this idiot for two months. That's a lot.

We both stared at each other, the main question of how we are going to be away from each other after having lived together for weeks.

His jaw ticked and he lifted his hand to gently brush away the hair from my forehead and then he cradled my cheek in his palm. "I am coming with you to England."

"What?"

"You heard me. I am not staying away from you for two months. That's too long."

"Calix...you can't leave your company and everything else for two months."

"Yes, I can."

"But who will manage it?"

"Austin is the COO, he can and dad and mom can too. I can't stay away from you, Althea, please." His hand slowly slipped down from my face and I held it firmly.

"You can't leave everything for me, Calix. What will the others say?"

"The others know that they will lose their fucking jobs if they say anything. You are my wife, what we do is none of their damn business."

"But still..."

His expressions hardened. "Don't you want me to come with you? Am I going to distract you from your game there?"

I shook my head. "Of course not! I am just trying to be rational here."

"Is there any policy that the players husbands can't accompany them? I see WAGs of the Men Cricket Team accompany them. Then why is it so different for the Women Team?"

I squeezed his hand firmly. "No, there's no such rule. You can accompany me but you will seriously get bored."

He pulled me forward and made me climb over his lap and straddle him and I blushed at the intimate position. "Baby, I can never be bored with you." He looked gloomy that I told him not to come with me.

It's not that I don't want his presence, it's just I am thinking about everything else too.

I am not a very touchy person yet I cupped his cheek and he leaned into my touch. "How about you fly over to England once the World Cup starts?"

He scowled. "That's still three weeks without you."

I sighed and my thumb caressed his cheek and I said nothing else. I mean he is a stubborn man and if he wants to leave everything behind just to go with me to England then there's nothing I can do to stop him.

I would love to have him there because after every game I know I will have him waiting for me at the hotel. And even if we lose a game or two, I know he will be there to comfort me.

He seemed to be ruminating and then spoke after a couple of seconds, "Since you seem to have a thing for British accent, are you going to flirt with the men there?"

I gasped and pulled back my hand and smacked his shoulder. "Is that why you want to come with me, huh?"

"That's third on my list of reasons why I want to go there with you."

"And what are the first two?"

He flicked my nose. "You don't need to know them, baby."

"No, tell me now."

"Nope." And he stood up and I got up too.

"Are they that bad?"

"Bad? No." The way he gazed at me, with so much intensity that it sizzled through my soul. "But you aren't ready to hear them yet."

Whatever I was about to say, he didn't let me and said instead, "I'll be there as soon as the World Cup starts and I don't care if anyone has a problem with it. I'm staying with you till the end, baby. You ain't getting rid of me."

And his lips brushed against my forehead sealing his words.

.

.

.

Assuring Calix that I will be okay staying alone at home while he goes to work was another big task. He insisted on staying since it's my second day of my periods but I told him I would be fine.

Dad called later and asked how I was doing and he was quite surprised when I didn't complain about Calix or our marriage. I told him that I'm okay with it now and omitted the part of me falling for him.

Later, I decided to make steak for dinner and after marinating it, I left it and decided to cook it once Calix comes back since I had already told him to come back early.

So, I waited for him and kept glancing at the time on my phone. He was supposed to be here half an hour ago...worried, I messaged him asking where he was.

I know I shouldn't be troubling him, he is a very busy man but he promised. Everytime, he says he will come back early, something or the other happens.

I sighed when he didn't even see the message even after ten minutes. Must be in a meeting.

It's his mistake, he spoiled me with so much of his attention and care that now I miss him so much.

When the clock struck nine and I had already called him once but he didn't pick up, I got up, determined to call Adrian and ask him to go find that idiot but then I heard the distant roar of his car's engine making me sigh in relief.

A minute later, he stumbled in and I gasped when I took in the condition of him.

Several blotches of red on his white shirt over his chest and whole torso. Blood. His blood.

He was breathing heavily, his hair messy, he had already discarded his suit jacket. "Baby?"

"What the hell happened to you?!" I walked towards him and stared in horror at the red stains on his shirt which seemed to be getting bigger by every second.

"Carsten happened." He breathed.

"Oh God, we need to go to the hospital." I grabbed his arm and was about to drag him out when he stopped me.

"No hospitals. It's nothing big."

"Nothing big?! Calix, your whole shirt is stained with blood!"

"I'm okay, baby. Come with me." He grabbed my hand gently and took me upstairs to our room and he sat down on the edge of the bed.

I started to immediately unbotton his shirt, I needed to see how badly he was hurt.

Once the shirt was unbottoned, I took it off his body and discarded it on the floor. His whole torso was covered with several horizontal and vertical slashes that thankfully didn't look much deep.

I retrieved the first aid kit which was in one of the drawers in the nightstand. "What exactly happened?" I asked him.

I gently started to wipe away the blood with a cotton ball making him wince. "I had an encounter with Carsten..."

Before continuing, he leaned back and laid on his back and I got on the bed and kneeling beside him, started to clean his wounds. "...he was slightly drunk. We had an argument and when I had enough of his nuisance, I punched him. What I didn't know that the fucker had a knife with him."

"But you always carry a gun, don't you?"

"I didn't take it out because...if I did, I was afraid I would end up doing something I would regret. Like killing him."

"What exactly did he say that triggered you?"

His jaw clenched and he looked away. "He was... saying shit about you. And no one fucking says anything against my wife."

My heart warmed for him. "You didn't have to, Calix. Look at your condition now." Tears welled up in my eyes when more blood seeped out of the wounds as I tried my best to clean it.

"We should go to the hospital... it's..." I whispered, my voice cracking.

"Hey..." He cupped my cheek. "Why are you crying, baby?"

"Why? You are hurt, Calix! You are losing blood! You must be in so much pain." And a sob escaped my mouth as tears trickled down my eyes.

He subtly frowned in confusion and wiped away my tears with his fingers. "I'm okay, Althea. I am not hurt that badly, you should have seen Carsten. I gave that fucker the beating of his life."

"But what if... someone saw it? You will be in trouble..."

He shook his head. "Lucian will take care of that. Now..." He gestured to his chest and I realised that I had paused so I quickly started to clean and bandage his wounds.

I sniffled back my tears but another set of fresh tears escaped my eyes and Calix groaned on seeing that. "Baby, no. Don't cry, please. I am okay."

"You didn't have to pick a fight with him, Calix, you are an idiot. Why did you do that?"

"Althea, did you expect me to stand there and listen to all the bullshit he was saying about you?"

"You could have left! Atleast you wouldn't have been hurt."

"You should consider him lucky that he is alive right now for whatever he said against you." He growled lowly.

"What did he say exactly?"

"You don't wanna know."

"No, tell me."

He looked pained to even think about it but when he saw the determined expression on my face, he said, "He...called...you a...whore...among other things."

Okay, ouch. But to be honest, I don't fucking care. In any case, Calix shouldn't have initiated a fight with him.

I became silent and focused on patching him up instead. It took me ten minutes to bandage him up and after I was done, I cleaned away the excess blood and felt relieved when it was all done.

He was watching me with hooded eyes and I felt trapped under his gaze.

I kept all the other things back inside the first aid kit and got up and went to the bathroom to wash my hands.

When I came back, Calix was sitting on the edge of the bed. "Are you serious? Lay down!"

He gave me an assuring smile. "I'm okay, baby."

I came closer and stood in between his legs. "No, you are not. You already lost so much blood."

He grabbed my hand and lifting it up, he kissed both my palms. "Baby, I am fine."

Anger flared inside me. "I still can't believe you picked up a fight with him just because he called me a whore. Don't fucking do that ever again!"

He...he risked his safety for me. He freaking got hurt for me.

Multiple emotions bubbled inside me for him. And one thought was loud and clear among them that it's worth risking my heart on him. He is worth everything.

I wasn't afraid of what the future would bring anymore, my heart was soaring, telling me to be close to this man, to be forever bound to this man.

And I did. I risked everything and erasing the distance between us, I brought our mouths closer and gave him my first, proper kiss.