Khushi languidly stretched, feeling each and every bone of hers ache but she smiled despite it all. Arnav was sprawled on his side of the bed, on his stomach, snoring slightly. Deciding to give him some more time to sleep, she slowly got up and made her way towards the bathroom.

After spending about an hour under the shower, her muscles finally loosened and her thoughts drifted back to the whole week. She couldn't remember much of what they had done except for the obvious- make love all day and night. For the first two days, Arnav didn't even let her leave the place and held her captive in their villa- torturing her till she begged for mercy each time around. How in hell had he controlled himself over these past few months? She had no idea because he didn't seem to be able to keep his hands to himself anymore. He touched her gently, passionately, and sometimes with such raw desire, that she thought she would shatter in his arms.

He was slowly helping her overcome her shyness and feel like a woman; showing her the power she held over him. Sweet words, gestures, words of encouragement- he used everything to show her what she could do to him and how to respond to her own body and his. And now, it was their last day there and she couldn't help but feel a little sad. Not that they wouldn't be spending time together when they got back. In that case, they were a truly blessed couple who got to spend their whole day and night together.

Since, it was their last day, she had finally convinced him last night to take her around the island, which wasn't a task as easy as it sounded. He had tried to talk her out of it, kiss her out of it but she didn't budge. What was she going to tell everybody when they went back? Screw telling things- what the hell were they gonna say once everyone asked them to see some pictures of them? Unfortunately, they hadn't taken a single one. While she had ranted, raved and complained to him last night that it was all due to his laziness, he had just stared at her with a smiling tugging the corner of his lips and she knew exactly how to wipe that off- she slapped him across his arm but that hadn't turned out to be such a good idea.

He had picked her up and thrown her on their bed and tickled her till she said that they didn't have to go anywhere and that they would spend their last night locked up in their villa again- just like every other day but she didn't budge. If he was stubborn, so was she. Finally, he had told her that if anybody questions as to why they hadn't taken any pictures at all, he would deal with that person and when she had exactly asked him what he was going to say just so that his story matched hers, his response dropped her jaw: "Our hands were too preoccupied with other things to deal with a camera in there- plus if we did end up taking a picture, it wasn't going to be a pretty site for anybody except us".

That had got him a slap across his other arm this time.

Now, she walked around the bed and picked up her cell phone to see if she had any calls and noticed another text message- from Karan again, received about five minutes ago.

'Khushi your life is in danger. This is serious. Call me back'

She stared at the message for a bit and realized she had forgot about Karan's original message and everything about Shyam Jha or should she call him Manohar Jha- she wasn't too sure. Maybe I should message him back, she thought but before she could reply, Arnav stirred. She was about to delete the message as she didn't want Arnav seeing it; knowing fully well that her husband would turn Karan's world upside down but instead of opening his eyes, he turned on his side and went back to sleep. Knowing that he probably wasn't going to get up right away, she got back to her phone to message Karan.

'Hello Karan. How can I help you'she messaged back and waited with a bated breath, praying that he wouldn't call her back as she was in no mood to talk to that man but she breathed in relief when her phone beeped back.

'How can you help me???!!! You're the one that needs help! We need to talk. Call me'and she almost laughed out loud at the message. Not that all of this was funny, but something about him telling her that she needed help amused her.

'I am busy Karan. I can't call but if you would like to tell me what's going on, that would be great, otherwise it's ok.'Khushi texted back and stared at her phone for a minute, then two but no reply came back. Wondering if Karan was just bluffing, she was about to put her phone away, when it beeped again.

'I knew you were always stubborn. Meet me Thursday at 10 am at Starbucks- you know which one.'

She stared at the message long and hard for a minute expecting something else to appear, but nothing did. She saved the message under a different folder and deleted it from her regular messages and sat on the couch to put her thoughts together.

She was aware of Shyam's dislike for her- why he disliked her, she wasn't too sure until she had seen him in the back alley and she knew starting that day, things were going to go downhill but how come he didn't like her much before? He somehow knew that she had followed him to the hospital so was he waiting for her there? How did he know she was going to show up? Did he set her up on purpose? She had a strong feeling that Shyam Jha was Manohar Jha- the man who was trafficking drugs in India a few years back but how could he have moved to Canada and marry Anjali di? Did Arnav guys have any idea who this man was? It didn't seem like it. But the icing on the cake was that Karan knew something about this because she otherwise had no reason to believe that there was somebody other than Shyam who disliked her and/or would want to harm her- unless she had a secret anti-admirer. Karan and Shyam were together, which only meant one thing- Karan was involved in something not legal as well.

After pondering for a few minutes, she turned her phone off and got up. She would tell Arnav everything once they were back- it was their last day and there was no way she was going to ruin his mood but she knew she had to talk to him. She had definitely done something unintentionally that had pissed Shyam off or maybe even someone else and this was not something she should take lightly.

She walked up to Arnav and sat on the bed beside him, playing with the few lazy strands that were falling on his forehead. He scrunched his nose at the feel of her soft fingers against his skin but instead of waking up, he just mumbled something and went back to sleep. Knowing that he wasn't going to get up like this, she stood up on the bed and putting both her legs around him, sat down on his stomach. She waited for a few minutes for him to wake up because of her weight but he didn't even budge. What the! she mumbled under her breath and grabbed the glass of water from the night stand and within a second, she dumped the full contents on his face.

What the! he repeated after her and before she could even notice him opening his eyes, she found herself flat on the bed and her breath being knocked out from Arnav's full weight on top of her.

"You think that was funny?" he asked fully awake now, grinning down at her shocked face which was now getting covered with water drops from his hair. She struggled underneath him, trying to free her hands to wipe her face but he was rock solid against her and he only gave her lungs enough room to breathe. Moving her face side to side, she hoped for the water drops to slide off her face but that didn't happen and she glared at him angrily, hoping it would work and he would move off her.

"Ok, the water is kind of tickling my face now, so can you please move off" she asked seriously.

"Actually.... No" he answered back while he shook his head and sprayed some more water on her while she closed her eyes feeling the cool water, but the coolness didn't last long. His warm breath now fanned over her face, his lips ever so lightly touching her skin like a whisper. His lips traced the frown on her forehead till it disappeared and moved to the middle of her eyebrows to make that crinkle go away and he looked down at her face satisfied when he noticed the all so familiar blush creeping up her neck and up to her face. He couldn't believe that even after being together for this long, she could manage to blush infront of him like a newlywed bride, but nonetheless it was satisfying for him.

"Breathe..." he whispered against the hollow of her neck when he felt her go still for more than a few seconds. His face moved up to hers again and she sighed in relief when he finally opened his lips and drank the water droplets off her face; one by one, he tortured her slowly and his grip on her finally loosened enough to let her arms out from under him and creep up his neck and bury in his hair.

"We should stop..." she somehow had managed to mumble in there but when he didn't stop, she dazedly wondered if she had just actually said the words out loud or if they had died in her mouth. He didn't stop and even if she begged him to, he knew he wouldn't be able to.

"You're wearing too many clothes" he rasped when his hands moved down her body to feel the t-shirt, along with a tank top on. His hands played with the seam of her shirt before he lifted himself off her and got rid of both items in one swift motion and threw them across the room somewhere.

"You promised to take me out today..." she moaned, even though her actions showed no signs of stopping him and she wished he wouldn't stop either but her wish didn't get granted. Pressing an open mouth kiss on her forehead, he stopped and waited for her to open her eyes. Grinning at her, he moved off her and before she could ask what he was doing, he was already off the bed, standing beside her.

"Let's go" he tugged on her hand and she lay on the bed, shocked out of her wits at the sudden change in his mind. For the past five days she had begged him to let her go so that they could go somewhere but he didn't pay any heed to her pleas. Well if he could turn off like that, so could she and getting up in one swift motion, she pulled her t-shirt back on and was beside him, pushing him into the bathroom to go take a shower for two reasons- first to wash off all that sweat and second to cool down the other part of his body that was visibly straining within its confines.

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

They spent their last day walking around the island, trying the local foods, watching the local festivals and how the day flew by, she had no idea. She tried not to think about going back home and dealing with life but from time to time, she wished they could just stay there and not go anywhere or deal with anybody but she knew that wasn't possible. Was Arnav going to stay this way when they went back? Would he tease her, touch her and be just as smitten like he was now or would things change once they got back to real life? What about when she would talk to Arnav about her doubts on Shyam and the whole drug thing? Would he believe her like he did now? Would he listen to her and understand?

From the corner of his eyes, he noticed her being unusually quiet and knew with the way her eyebrows kept creasing that she was thinking about something not too pleasant. His hold on her hand tightened but it seemed like she didn't notice that either. Without her noticing, he walked them over to a secluded beach and picking her up, he sat down on the sand, with her in his lap.

"What are you...." Her question trailed off when he silenced her with a finger on her lips. She looked around and realized that they were by themselves. When she looked back at him, he raised his eyebrows at her, questioning what was on her mind but instead she just stared at him stupidly. Sighing, he asked her what she was thinking about but she just shook her head in a no, not wanting to take about her insecurities that somehow seemed quite ridiculous at this moment from the way he was looking at her.

"Batao Khushi...." He asked again and noticed her face starting to soften. The smile faded and he noticed her almost looking scared for some reason and he wondered what in hell had happened in the past hour.

"Will you love me like this when we go back?" she whispered and he barely caught her words. Wondering if he had heard it right, he looked at her again and the look in her eyes told him that he indeed had heard it correctly. Eyebrows raised, he asked her what kind of question that was but instead she just repeated herself as if he hadn't heard her the first time.

"Of course I will sweetie... what's wrong?" he asked noticing that something about her had just changed.

"Will you always listen to what I have to say?" and he nodded in agreement, waiting patiently to see where this was going.

"Will you always trust me?" and he replied with a yes.

"Will you always be my friend?" and he nodded again, waiting for the next question but it never came. Instead, she tightened his arms around her while gazing at the sunset and letting her gather her thoughts, he dropped his chin on her shoulder and enjoyed the view- the cool breeze, the palm trees, the white sand, turquoise waters and above all the fading sun. Gathering her thoughts, she looked back at him and noticed him looking at her with a smile on his face and smiling back at him, she buried her face in his neck and breathed in his essence.

"I promise to always love you, trust you, cherish you, understand you. You are my best friend and best friends don't let go of each other. We both know that we will have our share of ups and downs in life, just like any other married couple but what makes us different than other couples is our desire to talk to each other about everything. Communication is the biggest factor in having a happy marriage and that is something we both do. Nothing's going to change ever. I love you. I love you so much that it consumes me and now that I think back, I have no idea how I ever lived without you. Just no secrets from each other hmm?" he asked her and she nodded her head in response.

"Well lets seal this promise with a kiss" he whispered as he pulled her chin up and cupping her face, he kissed her deeply. As much as he loved talking to her, right now was not the time as the feel of her body flush against his was doing too much to his senses. How had he survived the past few months without having her? He didn't know but he mentally patted himself on the back for his own patience.

"Do you have any idea how beautiful you are?" and when she unconsciously shook her head in a no, he reached out and cupped her softness, running his thumb over the ridged peak. He heard her soft moan as he plundered her mouth while his hands moved down to her shorts, unbuttoning them but before he could lower them, her hand grasped his and she looked up at him, shock evident in her eyes.

"We cant... not here" she mumbled as she straightened her clothing but he paid no attention to what she said and when he didn't stop, she held onto both his wrists stopping him, almost giggling.

"You know we can get charged for doing this in a public place right?" she laughed at his dazed expressions, his hair an absolute from her assault on it.

"Like hell I care" he mumbled before his hand dipped inside her shorts and she gasped out loud as he stroked her boldly. Before losing herself, she looked around once more but there was nobody plus it was pitch dark.

"You have no idea how long I've waited to do this" he murmured before he bit her earlobe and started stroking her softly. Her fingers grasped the back of his neck while he caressed her, setting her body on fire with each touch and stroke.

Taking his t-shirt off, he laid it down on the sand behind her before he pushed her down on it and followed himself. Hands intertwined, breaths faltered, their moans filled the air as they moved in sync with each other. Each stroke taking them higher, into a world where nothing existed but just the two of them and their love for each other.

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

Shyam Manohar Jha looked around the airport, taking in the different faces; some he recognized, some he didn't but that didn't matter- he was a nobody. He looked just like any other East Indian guy out there, a regular guy who probably worked a 9 to 5 job. Standing around, he looked over at the TV screens and noticed Obama saying something about the recession and he smirked at the power of the politician who was going on and off on the world economy. Shyam Manohar Jha might not be a significant name in this world, but there was a world that was run by him- a world very very different than this one.

Sighing, he looked at the other screen which displayed the arrivals and departures and after a few torturous minutes, he noticed the passengers starting to flood through the gates. His eyes scanned each person, looking for the face that unknowingly held a power over him and he controlled the smile that crept up his face when the object of his desire walked through the gates towards the carousels.

Turning around, he was about to quietly walk out of the doors when his sixth sense ticked and his head flipped back around, only to be locked with a pair of soft brown eyes that were now looking at him confusedly. However, the next second he disappeared within the crowd like he was never there.

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

Khushi looked up at Arnav when he slightly moved her forward in front of him, his hand resting on her lower back and when she turned around to look towards the doors again, nobody was there. She scanned the whole area and almost wondered if she was hallucinating but was distracted by a high pitched voice that screamed her name, only to find her best friend Priya running from across the other side of the airport, waving her arms frantically in the air and Khushi forgot everything when she looked up and saw her parents, brother and best friend walking towards her with huge grins on their faces.

Dropping everything, she ran towards the faces she had grown up seeing, crying.

Three hours later, they all sat gathered in the living room of the Raizada mansion, talking about anything and everything. This was her whole family and she knew that instant that she couldn't have been more blessed to have such understanding and caring people in her life. She wouldn't have even noticed that one person was missing till her dad asked for the missing face.

"Where's Shyam, Anjali? We were hoping to see him before we left" Khushi's dad asked. Think of the devil, Khushi almost muttered under her breath, when she saw a very happy Shyam walking through the doors. Coming up to her parents, he touched their feet in respect before giving Arnav and her a side hug and asking them how their trip was.

Dinner was a loud affair as Khushi caught up with her parents and Priya while Arnav and her brother shoved their pizza down so that they could go play video games for a bit before her parents decided to leave. As much as her brother and Arnav pleaded them to sleep over, Priya's work held them back so they decided to stay later than usual.