"I love you Khushi"

Her eyes snapped open and she stared at him wordlessly through the mirror. Love? He was in love with her? Arnav looked up and stared into her confused eyes through the mirror. His hands stilled where they were whereas hers slightly tightened on his wrists. Khushi looked genuinely shocked and he wondered why that was. He had given her enough hints; she couldn't have been unaware of all the signs. Did she think he was just physically attracted to her?

"No..." she whispered and tried to move away from him but his grip tightened and she could tell from the flaring of his nose that she had annoyed him.

"What do you mean by no?"

His question threw her off guard and she realized she didn't have an answer to that. On top of that, she had managed to annoy him and she knew she was better off not saying anything.

"Bolo Khushi... why not?" He was not going to drop this discussion; she realized which made her all more flustered. His proximity was making her nervous and she suddenly felt tongue tied.

"I...because...ummm... it's just...I don't know...don't you think... uhhh..." he waited for her to complete her sentence but she didn't.

"I love you Khushi... I love everything about you..." his voice suddenly became huskier and his left hand moved up her chest, towards her neck. He raised his index finger and slowly traced each feature on her flushed face.

"I love the way your eyes light up when you see me"

His finger trailed down and traced the bridge of her nose "I love the way your nose flares when you're annoyed at me"

His thumb traced her lower lip all the while keeping her eyes locked through the mirror in front of them "I love the way your lips tremble when you're close to me... I love the way this pulse beats..."

He swooped down and traced the slight pulse at the base of her neck with his tongue. "I love the way your breathing goes uneven when I touch you" His left hand now moved down and traced the outline of her breasts.

"I have no idea when this happened, how it happened, but it did. I love you sweetheart... I love you so much..." he whispered against her ear and looked up at her to find her eyes closed, her hands tightly holding his wrists and her head arched back against his shoulder while she breathed unevenly from the sweet torture that her husband was putting her through. The image she created was so damn seductive and he wondered if she had any idea what she was doing to him. Whatever control he had snapped, as his right hand moved dangerously lower.

His hand moved dangerously lower and before she could stop him, his hand was inside her pajama's over her panties. He rubbed her lightly and moved even lower till he felt the wetness and heat seeping through the flimsy garment. Her eyes flew open and she stared at him through the mirror. His eyes focused on her face, determined, whereas hers held confusion and nervousness. His fingers brushed against the sensitive nub through the barrier and she tensed in his arms. He held her gaze through the mirror, stilling his actions, while his left hand moved up inside her shirt and he cupped one swell.

"It's ok sweetheart... just relax... let me do this..." he whispered against her neck and when he felt her starting to breathe again, her body relaxing, his hand moved inside her bra to cup her, while his other hand pushed aside that flimsy garment. His fingers grazed the wet folds, slowly stroking her while his thumb found the tiny nub that was begging to be stroked. She stiffened in his arms and without a warning; he dipped a finger inside of her causing her to moan loudly at the sudden invasion. His thumb rubbed against the nub whereas his other thumb stroked around her nipple, causing it to painfully tighten. His lips nipped on her neck, her ear, the side of her cheek. Another finger dipped inside of her and her eyes flew open. His hot gaze locked with her desire filled eyes through the mirror.

"How could I not be in love with you? Look at us..." he groaned looking at the image in front of him.

"Look at me Khushi... Stay with me..." he whispered when he noticed her eyes starting to roll back and her face twisting with pleasure. He sped up his actions; curling his fingers inside of her. His palm now rubbed against that perfect spot; creating that perfect friction that made her feel lightheaded. He felt her tightening around his fingers and her moans becoming louder.

She was fighting the feeling, not sure where this was going. Whatever she had heard, read or seen did no justice to the feelings her husband was evoking in her. The feeling of his fingers inside of her, touching her core, his lips on that sensitive spot on her neck, his thumb grazing her tightened nipple ever so slowly drove her to the edge and she shattered in his arms, breathing his name hoarsely till all she saw was stars behind her eyes. Finally when her body stopped trembling from the aftermath of his sweet torture and he felt her knees give away; he picked her up in one swift motion and carried her to the bed. Lying down beside her, he stroked her cheeks and her glazed eyes looked into his smiling ones.

"Do you know what just happened?" When she shyly nodded her head in a yes, he smiled down at her and kissed her forehead while tucking her under the blanket as she dozed off within seconds. He stared at her flushed face for a few minutes and walked into the bathroom to take a much needed cold shower.

The next morning, Khushi woke up before Arnav. As her eyes adjusted to his face, she remembered last night and she felt her face flush furiously. How was she going to face him today? she wondered. Absolutely embarrassed at her body's response from last night, she turned around to get up when she felt him take hold of her arm and the next second she was sprawled over him.

"yeh aap kyaa..." her sentence was caught midway when he placed a wet kiss on her mouth.

"Good morning gorgeous..." he whispered hoarsely and she tried again to move away but his hold around her waist tightened.

"What's the rush? It's only 6 o'clock... There is a lot of time still, before everyone wakes up... "

He shifted slightly and laid her down beside him, his hold around her waist still tight incase she was to run off on him, which Arnav was sure she would. She looked everywhere but at him and he smiled. If this was her reaction now, he wondered how she would be after they made love for the first time? The thought of her sprawled in bed, beside him, wrapped just in sheets, caused his groin to tighten.

"Look at me Khushi... kya hua?" he asked while using his finger to raise her chin up, so that her eyes would be leveled with his. She just shook her head in a no.

"Are you embarrassed?"

"Nahi toh!" she replied a little too fast and when she looked up at him, his laughing eyes met hers, making her all flustered again.

"So you're not embarrassed?" he asked, his voice amused and she wished the ground would open and suck her in. This was a hell lot harder than she had imagined. How did people react the morning after they did it for the first time? She would definitely die of mortification. Arnav noticed the different emotions cross her face and when he noticed the redness spreading across her face and down her neck, he realized she was thinking what he was thinking a few minutes ago.

"Don't worry, I promise you, you won't feel anything close to embarrassment then..." he whispered and winked at her. Her jaw almost dropped to the ground hearing his flirting tone and as he leaned back to laugh at her expressions, she took advantage of his loosened hold. Before he could say anything else, he felt her roll away in a flash and run to the bathroom, locking herself in there for awhile.

Knowing it was ridiculous to sit in the bathroom the whole day, she slowly opened the door and peeked outside to see her husband lightly snoring. She tiptoed out of the bathroom and walked towards the dressing table to get ready but as she looked up at the mirror, images from last night flashed infront of her: Arnav kissing her, his fingers stroking her' All of a sudden it felt like the temperature in the room had went up and she hurriedly put her jewellery on and dashed out of the bedroom to go make breakfast. She was never going to be able to look at herself through that mirror properly again and she swore at that devil husband of hers who was sleeping unaware of the storm he had awakened in her.

While showering she realized that she left her wedding ring on the counter last night and as she sprinted towards the kitchen to get it, she stopped dead in her tracks at the entrance of the kitchen. Standing infront of her was Shyam Manohar Jha, twirling her ring with his index finger on the kitchen counter with a devilish smile on his face. What the! Angrily, she stepped inside the kitchen but before she could say anything, he looked up at her, as if he knew she was coming there.

"Good Morning Khushi" he smiled sweetly at her and she wondered if he was bipolar.

"Good Morning Jeejaji. Can I have my ring back?" she replied instantly and without a word, he picked up the ring and looked at her, waiting for her to put her palm out to take it.

"You should be a little more careful with your things Khushi' you shouldn't leave valuables lying around like this" he smirked as he walked closer to her and she subconsciously started moving backwards, frightened by his tone and the cold look in his eyes. Before she could move away, his arm came out and he trapped her against the wall.

"One more thing Khushi, don't go around snooping areas that you don't know about." The seriousness in his voice made her skin crawl and she moved further into the wall when his face inched closer to hers.

"It's a cruel world out there and a delicate thing like you shouldn't be prying in other people's business" saying that he moved his arms away from hers and stood in front of her, his eyes holding her fearful gaze, sending the deadly message across.

"What's going on?"

Both Khushi and Shyam's face whipped towards the door, to see a confused Arnav standing there, his gaze bouncing from one face to another, wondering why they were standing so close to each other. The way Shyam was staring at his wife made him uncomfortable and the look in Khushi's eyes confirmed that something wasn't right.

"Oh nothing saale sahib, Khushi just left her ring by the sink yesterday and I was telling her she shouldn't leave things like that around, in case it would have got thrown in the garbage or down the sink" Shyam smiled sweetly at Arnav and walked out of the kitchen. He stopped at the kitchen entrance and turned around to look at Khushi, who was looking at him with a confused expression. Her heart almost stopped beating when he mouthed the words and walked out.

Arnav lightly touched her shoulder and when she looked up at him, the fearful look in her eyes made his heart crumble. Without a word, he pulled her into a hug and asked her what happened but she just nodded her head in a no. When he insisted again, she realized that he wasn't going to let the topic drop.

"Oh nothing. I am sorry, I just got a bit scared. Jeejaji seemed kind of mad that I left my ring here and it just threw me off guard. Nothing to worry" she smiled up at him and moved away to get breakfast ready, while her hands still slightly trembled remembering the coldness in those eyes. Even though she didn't know what the reason behind his hostility was, she realized that it was him that she had seen that day walking into the hospital and he was lying to everyone about his whereabouts since that was the only place she had dared to snoop around on.

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

Karan stood in the line at Starbucks, his bones aching now after a 12 hour long shift. It had been 8 days in a row now and he hadn't gotten a day off. Thank god for caffeine otherwise he wasn't sure how he was going to be able to make it through the days. Even though he knew it was better for him to just go home and sleep for a few hours, he decided against it and waited in the long line up. As he grabbed his coffee and walked out of the caf, he noticed a man walking towards him and the next second, he felt something being shoved in his coat pocket while the man just walked away without a second glance. He stopped on the side of the road and read the little typed up piece of paper:

She comes here at 10:30 every day. You know what you need to do .

F***! He swore out loud and if he could, he would have thrown the hot coffee cup at the guy who walked away without any care in the world, but that would have created a scene. He looked around the area and knowing he didn't have any more of an option, he walked back into the Starbucks and sat on one of the little chairs, waiting for the clock to strike 10:30.

Two coffees later, he yawned again and looked towards the clock- 10:45am. What if she wasn't going to come today? She didn't have to come here every day and swearing under his breath he got up to walk out when he noticed Khushi walking across the street, a smile on her face. His heart pounded madly in his chest as she neared him and he wondered if she would give him a chance to explain or talk.

He walked back to where he was sitting and waited for her to enter. She stood in line, impatiently tapping her foot, her eyes glued to her phone but all of a sudden she turned around. He looked up wondering if she had seen him, but instead she looked behind her and kneeled down infront of the little baby that was pulling on her pants while sitting in his stroller. She smiled at the baby and said something which he couldn't hear. Her smile was as bright as the sunshine outside and as he looked at the change of emotions on her face, he felt a lump in his throat, realizing this was the girl he wanted but could never have.

Khushi's actions stilled when she felt a pair of eyes on hers and when she looked up, she noticed a drained Karan sitting in the corner of the caf, looking at her intently. She shifted her eyes back to the baby and smiling up at the mom; she turned around and waited for her turn. When she finally got her and Arnav's order, she was about to walk out when she heard Karan's voice behind her.

"I knew you loved coffee but I never thought you'd get two at a time" he teased and she stared blankly at him.

"It's for me and my husband. Now excuse me" she replied coldly and was about to walk out, when he came to stand infront of her, blocking her path.

"Can I have two minutes of your time? That's all I want. Please?" Sighing, she shifted on her feet and looked up at him to speak up.

"Can we sit? We are blocking the way" he told her and when she shifted slightly away from the door but remained standing, Karan knew that was all he was going to get.

"How are you? How's Arnav?" he asked and she raised an eyebrow at him, almost laughing.

"Cut the pleasantries Karan. What do you want?"

"I am sorry for what happened that day. I want to apologize to Arnav too. I was just drunk and I didn't realize how things got so out of hand. You know I would never force myself on you. I just' I don't know how to explain this. My life is a mess and I am responsible for it, however you deserve to know why I did what I did that day. Please read this when your alone" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper.

With that, he walked away leaving a confused Khushi behind. For a second, she felt like throwing the paper in the garbage can next to her but instead, she stuffed it into her purse and walked back into the office.

"Long lineup?" Arnav muttered while typing away on his laptop, preparing the presentation that he had this afternoon. When Khushi didn't respond, he looked up at her and noticed her dazed expression.

"What's wrong?" he was up in a second and seated her down on one of the chairs. Something was definitely not right. Even though he kept asking her what Shyam had said to her, she didn't reveal anything but the look in her eyes gave it away. He needed to dig deeper into Shyam's life. Something wasn't right with him. The coldness in Shyam's eyes didn't go unnoticed by Arnav and he wondered why Shyam was behaving that way with Khushi. Not like she had done anything to piss him off, as far as he knew. His sister and his brother in law were his world and till today he had given Shyam just as much respect as he had given his sister but once Khushi had mentioned Shyam snooping around and he had pulled Shyam's credit card statements, he realized something was off. How come he didn't notice anything before? Maybe because his sister was absolutely smitten by her husband and seeing her happy made him happy?

Khushi snapped out of her world and noticed Arnav looking at her intently. Knowing he was bothered since this morning after the whole kitchen fiasco, she didn't want to trouble him anymore for now and she decided that she would read what was in the letter first before showing it to Arnav.

She leaned her face closer to his and smiled brightly at him, while patting his cheeks.

"Nothing is wrong. You're being paranoid. Go drink your coffee before it gets cold" she told him laughingly. Giving him a kiss on the cheek, she walked into her office to read the contents in that letter but before she sat down, she turned around and winked at her husband through the glass parting making him chuckle.

Pinki