Sonakshi's eyes opened the next morning and she stretched, surprised that her alarm hadn't rung yet. She sat up and looked at the clock across the room. She squinted her eyes and then opened them widely. It was eight, she had slept over two hours. She jumped out of her bed and ran into the shower.

When she ran into the kitchen wrapped in her bathrobe, her hair wet and tied in an untidy bun at her nape, she stopped looking at the single yellow rose on the counter. She picked it up, knowing that it was picked from the solarium. She smiled knowing this was Dev doing, who else could? She placed the flower down and picked up the small white card. See me in the backyard. -Dev

She picked up the flower and went to the backyard. Under the sun deck she saw the glass table covered with a white lace table cloth. In the center were more roses, of each color but black. Around the flower vase she saw breakfast. She looked around, her eyes squinting due to the sun light. It was a nice cool August morning, but the sun was still blinding her. When she finished looking around the entire place she sighed. Where was he?

"Good morning." He whispered in her ear. Startled she turned around and looked at him confused. "Good morning." She still sounded confused, but patient. "I'm sorry I didn't wake up on time today." Her voice was low like always but there was a hint of surprise and delight that he'd never heard before.

"Absolutely not." He took her hand and escorted her to the table. When she sat down he turned the plate over for her.

"Eggs or pancakes?" He asked standing beside her still.

"Excuse me?" She looked up at him. Now that she could see properly with his back blocking the sun, she couldn't deny he looked absolutely handsome. His brown eyes looked tawny as a cats at the moment and his hair were wet making him look sexier than ever before. So he'd just had his bath, she concluded. For the first time she saw him dressed in sweats and a tight t-shirt with the words, Baja California across the chest in orange letters on top of the brown shirt, on a work day morning. Then she looked back at the table.

Charming, she thought instantly.

"So you can cook?" She finally asked.

"A little. Good or not you can decide." She looked back at him and found him smiling.

"I turned your alarm off after you went to sleep last night. You also need some rest. It's ok if I cook breakfast once and you sleep for an extra few hours. Do you like the flowers?"She looked at them, smiled. It looked like a rainbow of flowers. "I love them," she quietly answered.

"Good. Now, would you like eggs or pancakes?" He pulled out the chair beside her and sat down. "You also have an option between juice, coffee, and tea."

"Eggs will do fine, thank you." She was still confused why he was doing what he was.

"Are you okay?" She finally asked, absently resting her hand on his wrist.

"You've never cooked."

He shrugged as he served her the eggs that were still warm. "I think you need a break from all this for a day. You want juice with eggs, right?" She took her hand back and picked up the knife and fork.

"Yes." She nodded, surprised he knew.

"Dev, I'll serve myself." She took his hand again, dropping the utensils. "You need to get ready for office, you have a follow-up report you'll need to go over with Shanaya today. I'll take care of my breakfast."

"No." He held her hand back and surprised her by kissing it. "I meant it when I said I wasn't going to the office today."

"Dev the report-"

"Can wait." He completed, dropping her hand.

"I think my wife is a little more important than my office." He winked with both his eyes and smiled. "Come now start eating and tell me how it is."When he took his breakfast she looked down at hers and smiled. He was a crazy man, she thought picking up a bite of the egg with her fork.

"Did the launch go well?" she asked after a few minutes, resting her glass on the table again. "I watched most of it before the conference on T.V."

"Yes," he nodded after finishing the last of the small breakfast he was eating unlike everyday. "Everything was great. Most of the French fashion markets want parts of our collection. But we didn't much from Milan this time."

"Well your last launch got you two deals with the French and all the rest were mainly from around Italy. It evened out, I suppose."

"Yeah. We're launching the same collection in Florida before we take it opens in France. Since the races are starting next week most of the higher society will be there betting good deals of money on their horses."

She nodded, "I know. Jatin loved betting on horses. He never missed a race on T.V. And went to see them when he could." She smiled and started playing with the left over eggs.

Dev looked at her and the small smile that lifted the ends of her lips. "You miss him a lot, don't you?"

She nodded pressing her lips together. "I do. He was one man who I never regretted being with."

Dev bit his lip as he felt jealousy prick him. She loved him once, he reminded himself quickly, recognizing the jealousy. There was no need to be jealous, Jatin was never going to come back now, sadly. And, after all she was his wife.

"You cook well." She said running into his thoughts."Thank you. Do you still love him, Sonakshi?" He paused for a second. "Jatin I mean."

"Yes." She loved him very much as a friend. As the idol he was for her. But she loved her husband more than anyone else.

They both were quite then until Sonakshi spoke again. "Don't you guys own horses in Florida? A small ranch I believe."He nodded, "And like every year I'm betting for one again. Hopefully they've been well trained this year, last year was a complete disaster. I lost nearly ten thousand on my horse."

She laughed at his sulking look. He looked at her instantly, she laughed but very rarely. "It's only ten thousand for you Dev. Don't cry over it. I know I shouldn't be saying this but you're too rich to cry over ten thousand dollars."

"I'm sure we'll do better this year." He finished his juice and looked up at her again. "DMV office?"

"I don't want to learn, Dev. You drive me around. I have a chuffer who does when I need to go somewhere."

"I don't care." He stood up and so did she. "We are going to go and you will study that book."

"I don't need to." She said quietly. "I've done once and I've already passed the written test."

"Oh!" He grinned and picked up the plates, she helped. When they were in the kitchen he spoke again. "Then you can give the written again and we can start practicing to drive if you pass. Leave the dishes alone Sonakshi. I'll do them."

"But Dev-"

"No." He cut her off. "You know Mom still makes Dad do the dishes on the weekends." When she didn't say anything he wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

"Let's make something clear right now, Sonakshi. You need to treat me with some authority. You're my wife, not a maid for this house. I want you to behave that way. If you yell at me or make me do something it wouldn't hurt anyone. You have no idea how dependant I've become on you. I couldn't even choose my own cloths last week."

"Now that's a lie." She looked at him with a frown. "You do that quite well, all right. You own a fashion house."

"Ok fine. Then I've forgotten how to make my bed since you've been doing that every morning even when you haven't slept on it once. Why?"

"Because I don't know what else to do."

"Got you!" On impulse he pressed his lips to her temple. "That's why I need you to start doing something. I promise your dreams will stop if you start stressing yourself out over other matters." He waited for a reply but got nothing. "Sonakshi I'll leave you if you don't start listening to me on this matter."

"Don't say that." She said sadly, looking away. A strand of hair fell from the bun brushing her cheek. She then looked back at him, "Now if you want we can clear up the mess outside and then I'll go get changed so we can go give my test."He smiled finally. "Lovely, let's go."

********************************************************

"You passed!" Dev told her looking down at the corrected test. "Wow! I went four times before I passed my test." He had a look on his face as if someone had just punched him on his face really harshly. Sonakshi couldn't help but chuckle at the look. She'd never expected Dev Dixit to be the person he was since today morning.

"Now what?" She asked when they were back in their car.

"Nothing." He shifted the gear and backed the car out of the parking lot. "My office will finally come to know that I'm married today." When they were out of their parking spot Sonakshi watched him shift gears again and turn the car into the streets of Norco. When they stopped at a red light he looked at Sonakshi.

"So no one knows that you're married?" She asked trying to sound casual and carefree.

"No. But don't worry I haven't been cheating on you."

"No, I didn't mean that." They were moving again and she found herself embarrassed. "I was just-"

"Sonakshi relax, you don't have to explain to me. You have the right to be angry, if you are." He looked at the light and found it green, he pressed his foot on the pedal and the car moved again. "We had a quiet court marriage Sonakshi. There was no press coverage despite the fact Dev Dixit was the most handsome bachelor in town." He sighed and looked at Sonakshi who was looking out of the window in daze. He touched her arm, "Are you listening?"

"Hmm." She looked back at him. "Sorry."

"Stop bring sorry," he snapped. "I'm tired of you behaving like this with me. I need your undivided attention when I'm talking to you."

"Dev, I don't see why you are so upset with me?" She was still so calm despite the fact he was talking to her in such a rude manner.

He wanted to hit his head with the steering wheel and scream out of frustration. He turned his car onto the freeway in anger. Because the freeway was completely empty to his shock he took advantage and drove at ninety miles per hour, scaring Sonakshi.

"Dev slow down!" She shrieked turning towards him. When he slowed down to the normal freeway speed she could breath again. "Do you always drive this fast?"

"Sonakshi I'm not talking to you." He said between his teeth, gripping the steering wheel angry. He didn't understand why he was so maddened. He knew how Sonakshi was. But more than that, he knew she would take time to change. Anyone would.

"What do you want for dinner?" Still patient she turned and looked at him. His jaw was set, she placed her hand lightly on his upper arm. "Please don't be angry Dev. I'm trying and you know that." She wanted him to reply, but he was quiet. "Okay..why don't we dine out tonight? Would you like that?"

"Yes," he replied in a still angry tone.

"Good, now smile."

He looked at her and smiled. This was the first time she had suggested something out of the regular routine and he was going to take advantage of it. "Where do you want to eat?"

"Wherever you want." She watched him roll his eyes at that. "Ok, do you like Mexican food?"

"No, how about Italian or Chinese?" They curved off the freeway and Sonakshi saw huge building everywhere. Men and Women walked on the steers in fancy suits, talking on their phones, carrying briefcases, and looking like they don't have a minute to breath. The atmosphere reminded her of New York streets. "Sonakshi." "Italian will be perfect. Where are we?"

She looked at the tall building that their car was parked in front of now. It was a building built with glass all around, dark brown structure. Almost fifty storeys high."This is my office Sonakshi." He stepped out and went to open her door. When she didn't step out he placed his hand out.

"Come on Sonakshi, lets take a look from the inside."

She looked at his hand and then at him. After another second she gave him her hand and got out. He closed the door for her. "This is a huge office Dev."

"It sure is." Unconsciously he wrapped his arm around her waist. "Now would you like to look at it from the inside as well or are we standing out here all day?"

"We can go inside." She looked at him and found him close, too close. "Why are you doing all this Dev?""Because I want to treat you the way a wife should be treated. Because I want you to come out of who you are pretending to be and be who you were before the accidents. Are those reasons enough?"

"I don't know, are they?" It was a whisper again, a breathless one because she'd never found herself this close to him before.

He moved even closer and kissed her forehead. "I care for you even though I was really rude before we got married. I was just upset with you and Jatin when I heard you guys talking about me."

"We were just messing around Dev. I never meant it, but then you can't deny you were really short until your sophomore year. When you came back as a junior you were suddenly gigantic. "A small smile tugged at the corners of her lips. "And I think you did excellent in football that year as well as in soccer. I just always thought you were a better soccer player than a football player." His finger were tight on her waist and his eyes intense. "Now are we going inside or are you going to stare at me all day?"

"I prefer the second option at the moment." He said cheekily as she lowered her eyes in a blush. He smiled, "Let's go."

😘😘

❤️❤️

😉😂😂

😉