Published on 31st March 2022.

___________________________

♡ Baby, I'm dancing in the dark with you between my arms

Barefoot on the grass, listening to our favourite song

When you said you looked a mess, I whispered underneath my breath

But you heard it, darling, you look perfect tonight ♡

– S H R U T I –

"How's everything there?" Akriti asked and I smiled.

"Great! Everyone's fine."

"What about you and Rishabh? There are no problems right? If there is something, you can always share it with us." Ma said and Akriti shook her head in support.

"I won't say there are no issues. But they come and go. We've decided to talk and solve them before it could lead further." I picked a freshly fried hot pakoda from the plate and put it in my mouth. It tasted heaven. I can cook but I could never beat mumma's cooking skills of years.

"It's good. When is Rishabh going to be here?" Papa asked and I dialled Rishabh's number to ask when he was going to be with us. Today, I finished early than usual and decided to spend some time with mumma, papa and Akriti. Rishabh had some work and told me he'd be a little late. We had planned to stay the night here and I couldn't be happier.

"Rishi." I mumbled and saw Akriti mouthing the same to tease me. I glared at her and her smirk raised higher. "Papa is asking for you. When will you be here?"

"Papa or you? Don't lie to me. I know it's you who wants me to be there. Just tell me once and I'll be beside you in a few seconds."

"Rishabh, shut up!"

I would've loved to hear him flirt with me but my phone was on speaker. Everyone easily heard what Rishabh said and the only thing I wished was to be swallowed by the ground.

It was embarrassing!

My hands weren't helping me either. Seeing Akriti's teasing expressions and my parents looking away everywhere but me, the anxiety hit me and I couldn't switch the speaker off. Before I could tell him that I was sitting in front of everyone and the volume of phone was high for show, Rishabh started speaking again.

"Why? Is this another plot change of yours to seduce me? Trust me, you don't have to do this. I'm already whipped for you. I can't wait to see you already."

"Rishabh, the phone is on speaker."

"You're joking, aren't you?"

"No, she isn't lying. By the way, you didn't have to stop. We were enjoying the show." Akriti joked and I elbowed her side. She turned to me and pinched my arm, "Shruti!" I glared at her and pulled strands of her hairs, causing her to scream.

"Enough! Stop it you both!" Papa shouted at us and took the phone from me. "Rishabh, how long would it take you there?"

"Just five minutes papa. I'm on the way."

"Oh. Okay. Come soon and drive safely."

"Of course papa. I'll be there soon."

Papa cut the call and gave the phone to me. All the while before Rishi arrived, entire house was in silence. No-one said anything. All the things Rishi spoke made it too difficult for me to not feel embarrassed. But, he gave Akriti a chance to tease me.

When the doorbell rang, I rushed to the door and opened it. Rishabh winked at me as he stepped inside but his confidence slowly crumbled down when he faced everyone inside. His ears turned red and he rushed to Adit to avoid Akriti's teases.

Adit, who just woke up from a sleep of four hours stood on the doorway of his room. He dodged Rishabh and ran to Akriti. His priorities were clear— he needed his mother first; every other human came later. He crawled up the couch and sat on Akriti's lap.

Rishabh sighed at Adit's denial for him and walked to us. As he sat beside me, Akriti cleared her throat, turning us redder if it was possible.

"Dinner is ready. Let's have it." Mumma called us to the dining table and saved me from Akriti's slow torture. I mentally thanked her and washed my hands before hitting the table.

"It's okay. You don't have to act so awkward. It's normal." Papa said as we ate our food, attracting everyone's attention to him. "I and Reena were same during the initial stage of our marriage. It's common and perfectly normal. Don't act so strange." Mumma looked at papa questioningly, who in turn shrugged his shoulders.

Strange!

They never act so open in front of us.

Time slipped by and we reached my room to rest. As I walked in the room after changing my clothes, my gaze went to Rishabh who was lying on the bed with his left arm beneath his head. His eyes were wide open and were staring the ceiling until I walked in.

I smiled and he reciprocated the same. As I slipped inside the sheets, he switched the lights off and shifted close to me. My former bed wasn't as big as we had at our place and it could only accommodate one person. The size was not a problem for us in winters as we barely occupy the entire bed.

When his lips grazed my skin and his breath fell beneath my ears, I took a sharp breath and rolled my eyes to him. "Tired?"

"Hmm..." He sighed and wrapped his arm around my waist. "Why didn't you tell me that the call was on speaker? I would've refrained myself from speaking all the things I said over call. God knows what they would be thinking about me."

"They love you. Whatever they think about you will be positive."

"I hope."

I closed my eyes and threw my leg over him to get a kickstart to good sleep. My leg crawled down and rested over his groin. I knew this was irritating him but I couldn't do anything. It was just because of him Akriti got a chance to tease me and to make my life a hell.

"Shruti..." He groaned as I grinded my calf against his crotch. When I felt his shaft growing beneath me, I immediately pulled myself back and turned my back to him.

I just wanted to tease him.

I had no plans to make him suffer. I didn't want him to use the bathroom at this ungodly hour, just to jerk off, all because of me and my mischief.

He cuddled me from back and settled his chin in the crook of my neck. His low voice echoed in my ears as he spoke, "What's the matter? Why did you stop?"

"Sorry."

"What for?"

"I. Am. Sorry." My hand travelled back to the negligible space between us and cupped his crotch over his clothes. I patted him two times before withdrawing my hands from him.

I was extremely sorry for what I caused to him.

"And why do you think you need to be sorry for it?" He asked as his hand slipped beneath my shirt.

"You're tired and I made it difficult for you."

"Who told you I'm tired? I mean, I do feel fatigue but never for you." He peppered soft kisses on my jaw while his hand crawled upwards to palm my bosoms. "You can't escape me so easily. Now help me and my junior to get out of this condition." He placed his lips on mine and a gasp escaped my mouth when he kneaded my left bosom with utmost care.

The night witnessed our cravings for each other as he made slow and sweet love to me. He handled my biggest issue of making a lot of noise during our workout by palming my mouth with his hand. We were tired from our respective works, but as he said, we could never get tired of each other!

✨

I yawned as I felt the itchiness of my hairs leaving my face. I rubbed my eyes and opened them slowly, only to find Rishabh lying beside me. He was wide awake unlike me and his hand was roaming on my bare waist.

"Good morning."

He pecked my cheek and then my forehead. I smiled when his fingers escaped in my locks to caress my head. "Morning." My gaze crossed behind him and I saw the walls of my room where I had spent my entire childhood.

No.

No!

No!!

Did we actually do it in my room? My room was the only innocent memory I carried with me and now, it too had grown up after seeing me mating with Rishabh.

My poor innocent room!

"What happened?"

"Nothing." I sighed and closed my eyes. We had our first time in the room which held his innocent memories. There was nothing wrong if we did the same in my room. But..... my childhood!

"I know something's troubling you."

"My room. It held all my childhood memories. And now...."

"You're so cute." He chuckled as his teeth nibbled my earlobe. "Your room is still the same. Nothing has changed. We did nothing wrong. You wanted it, I wanted it. Trust me, everything was so pure last night. Shall we do it again?"

"No. I'm tired."

"Tired? We didn't even do anything."

I understood all the things he wanted to say. We were too tired last night to continue after one round. But that one round was enough to satisfy all our physical and emotional needs.

"Rishi, you're shameless!" I slapped his chest and felt his fingers tickling my sides. "Rishi! God, no. Stop now." He stopped in an instant and pulled my legs over him, causing most of my weight to lie over him.

"A morning session won't do any harm."

"You stink." I lied.

"Thank you." He smiled and rubbed his stubble on my cheeks. "Shall we go to sleep then?" I was about to nod but my eyes went towards the clock on the opposite wall.

Shit.

"It's nine. Get up!"

"Calm down." He pulled me back on the bed, causing me to fall over him.

"Rishi, everyone would've got up by now. Even Adit would be wide awake. Let's quickly get fresh before it's too late." I said and he nodded. Picking me up in his arms, he walked to the bathroom and my eyes widened. "Are we gonna bath together?"

"We're not doing it for the first time."

"But..."

"We won't be late." He spoke with seriousness in his voice while applying toothpaste on my brush. I took the brush from him and put it in my mouth.

"No funny business!"

"I promise."

True to his promise we took just a bath and rushed out to the hall for breakfast. As soon as I crossed Akriti, a smirk appeared on her face and I knew what she wanted to say.

"I'm proud of you. Thankfully, no voice reached out and we had a good sleep. Thank you once again for taking my advice seriously and not disturbing my son's sleep." She whispered in my ears and I closed my eyes with shyness. I hope I wasn't blushing.

"Have it." Rishabh spoke and placed a piece of sweet in my plate. My eyes met him and I saw a glint of love and mischievousness in his eyes. He knew I loved to eat sweets together with my meal.

Akriti cleared her throat and made us look away from each other.

Pyaar ki dushman!

✨

I leaned back on my chair and closed my eyes.

Aditi was pregnant with Parth's child but she still didn't inform him about it. I wished she would tell him sooner and clear all the misunderstandings. He deserved to know the truth.

My phone vibrated as a sound of notification emitted from it. I tapped on the screen and saw a message from my one and only husband.

Rishabh

Something to show!

Meet me down in five minutes.

Yours,

With Love.

I smiled at his choice of words and packed my stuff before walking out. On the way my gaze went towards Aditi who was discussing things over a file with Parth. God knows when they'd actually solve everything and move on in their life.

I went down to the parking and waited for him to pick me up. Two minutes were still left for him to arrive but my curiosity was eating me alive.

What was he going to show to me?

My eyes were fixed on the movements on street. Cars occupied the road, driving people to the way to their homes under the retiring sun. I too wanted to go home.

I too wanted to go to our home.

As soon as Rishabh's car came in my view, I sighed in relief and rushed to him. I opened the door of passenger's seat and saw his smiling self. "What's the suprise?"

"It's..... a surprise."

"Rishu!"

"Pardon."

"Rishabh. Now tell me where are we going?"

"I won't."

"Please..."

"To our haven."

Where were we actually going to?

"You're messing up with my brain."

"I'm glad to do that!" He smiled, showcasing all his teeth and I narrowed my eyes. Closing my eyes, I leaned back on my seat and waited till we reached the unknown destination. "Get up." Hearing his voice, my eyelids crawled upwards and came through an all dark area.

"Where are we?"

"Let's head out." I nodded and stepped out of the car. He held my hands tightly as we walked ahead. A deep breath left my nostrils as he left my hands and walked inside the building to God-knows-where, leaving me all alone. "Stay here. Don't get lost." I rubbed my palms to calm the urgency and get rid of excessive evening cold.

"Rishi!"

"Relax, I'm here." I heard his voice as the lights went on. I eyed the building in front of me and saw him walking out. This was the new branch he was worried about all this time and it was finally completed. I had visited the site four days back with him but I hadn't seen the complete furnished version. "How's it?"

"Great."

It was his dream project and I was glad for the accomplishment!

He walked past me and held my shoulders. "Let's go in." As we stepped in, the strange but satisfying smell of paint filled my nostrils. Gone was my grumpy and sleepy mood. All I felt now was happiness and excitement, for this was the same he felt, and our happiness lies together.

"When was the furnishing completed?"

"Yesterday."

"And, you thought about showing this to me now?"

"It isn't the showroom but something else." He spoke and my eyebrows raised high up. "Look there." My eyes followed his direction but I couldn't find anything. "Still couldn't see it?" He stood behind me while speaking and I shook my head.

"Rishi, what is it?"

"I'm pregnant." He whispered in my ears. My eyes widened and I stepped away from him before turning to him.

He was joking, wasn't he?

We were not doing role reversal.

"Just joking. Relax." I took a breath of relief and slapped his arm. He hissed at my hit and shot daggers at me. I rolled and my eyes and a smile appeared on his face. "Do you remember the new sub-brand I was talking about?"

"I do." I said and his smile grew bigger. I still reminisce how he was struggling in deciding the name. "Did you decide the name?"

"I did. Look back." I immediately turned around and searched for the name he had stumbled upon after many trials. Although I couldn't find the name again, his arms which were wrapped around me gave enough heat to eliminate all the coldness and insecurities. "Shree. How's it?"

"Shree? It's auspicious."

And beautiful.

"Of course. It's a part of me, a part of you. A part of us." My lips tugged up in a full blown smile as I heard his voice close to my ears. My eyes were about to tear up but the feeling of his lips against my neck made me chuckle.

I cupped his face while looking at the board of ‘Shree’ and laughed as I felt his fingers tickling my sides. Quickly turning around to face him, I pressed my lips against his' and felt his body slowly warming up to my sudden surprise.

His arms wrapped around me as our mouth sealed against each other without moving. His hand palmed my bosoms while his other arm slipped down to my butt. Just when he was about to pick me up, I placed my hand on his chest and pushed him away.

"Not here."

"Oh! Shall we leave to home then?"

"You're growing insatiable." I shook my head in disbelief and he shrugged his shoulders.

"Can't help, I love my wife too much."

"But I don't love you, Rishu."

"Ri... Pardon." He spoke as he grew impatient and I smiled at him sarcastically.

I loved teasing him.