Luv (Un)Arranged (Luv Shuv #3)

Chapter 15

15

Song: Te Amo

- Shankar Sunidhi Chauhan, Ash King

Aakar

W eeks passed without meeting Kriti at all. Five weeks to be precise. Our wedding was in six weeks, and I hadn’t even seen my fiancée after our first kiss. I sat in the meeting, hearing Abhi describe our account reports to Dad and my uncles. And my mind couldn’t comprehend a word out of his mouth.

All I heard was a humming noise, all I saw were nodding heads, and all I felt was this deep, gnawing ache inside me that simply wanted to—simply needed to—see Kriti. Hold her hand. Touch her skin. Feel her soft lips against mine.

But each one of the thirty-five excruciating days that we hadn’t met had passed in mind-numbing tasks like shopping for endless days of functions, deciding on a menu that would please children, adults, and old relatives, preparing guest invites, and constant fighting on who to exclude and who to include.

Akira was coming home in two weeks, and all my hopes of spending some time with Kriti alone were going to pieces.

Every night, I slept with her messages in my hand and, occasionally, her voice in my ear. For the first time, I felt the coldness on the other side of my bed. And my patience was hanging by a thread.

All I wanted was to get married to Kriti and spend my days living with her, knowing every little thing about her, and making her blush the way she did when I kissed her.

Was that too much to ask for?

Someone shook my shoulder, and I almost jumped out of my seat.

“What?” I turned to find my dad staring at me, the uncles giving me quizzical expressions, and Abhi outright grinning like a fool.

“What do you think?” Dad asked.

About what? “Sounds good,” I said and nodded at Abhi.

Dad’s frown deepened. “So a ten percent drop in our sales in the past month sounds good to you?”

My gaze met Abhi’s, who seemed to be bursting with laughter but was trying very hard to hold it in.

“Of course not.” I had nothing else to say, and clearly, Dad knew I hadn’t heard a word.

He sighed. “Are you okay, beta ? You seem to be distracted these days.”

I rubbed my forehead. “I’m fine, Pappa. Just a bit tired. The wedding preparations are frustrating. There’s just no end.”

Navin Kaka, my father’s older brother, nodded. “Oh, it’s not going to end until you’re married. Wait till Akira comes.”

Sunil Kaka laughed at that and piped in, “Your mom and dad will have a house full of relatives for the entire month. You know, so Akira can catch up with all the relatives. And everyone can get in the wedding mood as well.”

Dad flushed. “It will be fun to have all the family together. When else do we all get to gather?”

Now, I loved my family. I would do anything to make them happy. But I was not keen on gathering all the relatives at our place and having to sit and make small talk every fucking night of the month.

Right then, Mom called. Not again…

“It’s Maa,” I said to everyone and picked up the call.

“Aakar Beta , how long will you be in the office?”

I looked at my watch. “Maa, it’s three o’clock. I still have a few hours of work here.”

“Can’t you leave early?”

“Why?”

Please don’t let it be clothing fittings.

“Beta, we need to go to the jewelers. We need to buy some jewelry for us, for you, and for Kriti. We already got a few things for Kriti when she was here, but I think it would be a nice little surprise if you could get her something for the wedding night. What do you say?”

A gift for Kriti sounded wonderful, but I really didn’t want to get it with Maa and the aunties.

I sighed. “Maa, you really don’t need me for your shopping. I’ll go and get something for Kriti on my own.”

“You wouldn’t even know what to buy.”

I looked at Dad, silently begging for his help. He sighed in helplessness, most likely afraid of the marriage-crazed avatar that Maa had turned into.

“Maa, not today.”

Before she could start arguing, I cut the call. I looked at my dad, my uncles, and Abhi. “I need a break.”

“Break?” Dad’s voice cracked in worry. Whether it was for me or Maa, I didn’t know. I didn’t care.

I clenched my teeth and nodded. “For the past five weeks, I’ve been running around everywhere Maa wanted, checking off one list after another. We even spent a whole day meeting different makeup people. She wants me involved in everything . I’m going to be married in six weeks, and I haven’t even seen my fiancée in five weeks.”

“He’s missing bhabhi,” I heard Abhi whisper to Sunil Kaka, Dad’s younger brother.

Sunil Kaka snorted while I glared at Abhi.

“You’re so cute when you miss bhabhi, bhai,” he teased, causing Dad and Navin Kaka to blush and Sunil Kaka to laugh.

At this point, I didn’t even care. I caved. “Yes. I do. And that’s why I’m going to Laxminagar for the weekend. And I’m taking tomorrow off so I can have a long weekend there. I’m leaving as soon as we’re done with this meeting.”

Dad sighed in defeat. He knew I was done. He pinched his brow. “What am I going to say to your mother?”

“I don’t know. I don’t care. And none of you are following me to Laxminagar. I’m going away to get a break. This is my only chance to spend some time with Kriti. Once Akira arrives in two weeks, it will just be one thing after another.”

Dad nodded and waved his hand, dismissing the meeting.

I did not wait around.

I went to my office, closed out my files, grabbed my laptop, phone, chargers, and was out of the office before even Abhi could leave the meeting room.

After getting in my car, I put on my favorite playlist and left the parking lot. For the next four hours, I didn’t pick up any calls. I simply drove, watching the trees and the people and the buildings pass by. I only had one thing in my sight. In my mind. Kriti. Only Kriti.

I had nothing else on my mind—no thoughts, no wishes, no words, just this drive to get to Kriti. And I did not stop driving until I parked my car outside her house. I opened the metal gate of their house, climbed the three steps, and rang the bell.

And waited.

In the next minute, I heard footsteps approaching on the other side, and then the door opened.

And there she was.

She’d opened the door with an absent smile, but the moment she saw me, her eyes widened, and her mouth hung open.

She didn’t move. She didn’t gasp. Just stared at me.

“Kriti Beta, who’s at the door?” her mother shouted from inside the house.

That had her moving again.

“Aakar,” she gasped, then smiled and took a step toward me.

I so badly wanted to hug her, clutch her tightly, and just breathe her in. I put my hand in my pocket to stop myself from pulling her into my arms out in the open and ran my other hand in my hair. “I just had to get out of there. I…uh…I missed you.”

A wide smile came over her face, red dotted her cheeks, and she gave a soft chuckle, not meeting my eyes. Like she couldn’t believe I said those words out loud. Neither could I. But I had never needed to see anyone more than I needed to see her.

It had been too long.

She shook her head for a second and then looked at me in horror. And then looked down at her clothes. And then back at me again. She whirled back to go in and immediately turned back to me in exasperation. “You…Couldn’t you have called and told me that you were coming?”

I looked at her clothes. She wore a T-shirt and soft cotton pajamas. And my knees nearly gave out. I’d never seen her so casual before. All the traditional clothes hid or accentuated her curves. But this, a simple T-shirt and pajama bottoms, showed her curves. Her T-shirt clung to her generous breasts and her shapely waist.

“Sorry?” I asked.

She gave me a flat smile, clearly aware that I wasn’t sorry at all.

“Beta, who is it?” her mom shouted again.

“It’s Aakar,” she shouted loud enough for even the neighbors to hear.

Her mother’s shriek had me almost stepping back.

Kriti gave me a wide smile, and before I could say anything, she clutched my hand and pulled me inside.

The relief I felt at her soft, innocent touch staggered my mind. I just wanted her to keep holding my hand when I heard a rush of footsteps coming our way.

She quickly let go of my hand, and I felt the sharp sting of emptiness. I shook it off and removed my shoes at the entrance.

In the next moment, Kriti’s mother and father rushed to greet me. “Aakar Beta , what a wonderful surprise,” her mother gushed.

“Please, come in, beta,” her dad said.

I bowed and touched their feet in greeting. “Namaste.”

They gave me their blessings, and we walked in. Rati and Kartik sat at the dining table eating. Three more plates were at the table.

I quickly turned to all of them in embarrassment. “I'm sorry to intrude on your dinner.”

Her mother shook off my apology. “Oh no. Join us, beta. I’m sure you haven’t had any dinner if you drove right now.”

I hadn’t, and my stomach gave a loud rumble that had Kriti bursting into laughter.

“Kriti,” her mother chided her as if I wasn’t there.

She rolled her eyes at me in exasperation, and I couldn’t help but chuckle at her. “C’mon, let’s eat,” Kriti said, and I obeyed.

Kriti went into the kitchen, got me a plate, and handed it to me. She was about to get back on her seat right beside me when her mother cleared her throat. Both of us turned to look at her, and her mother smiled and looked at Kriti. “Kriti Beta, serve Aakarji food, won’t you?”

Kriti gave a quick but scary death stare to her mother. Who, in turn, gave her an equally terrifying mom stare.

“No worries, Auntie. I’ll help myself.”

I felt Kriti soften slightly. She looked at her mom and said, “He said he’ll help himself.”

Her mother gave me the biggest fake angry smile and said, “I insist, Aakar Beta.”

Well, I tried. And I had no interest in jumping between mother and daughter when my stomach caved in on itself in hunger.

Kriti sighed and took my plate. She served me the theplas , potato bhaji , sweet pickle, and some buttermilk on the side. The moment she sat beside me, I squeezed her hand under the table lightly. Quickly. Enough for her to smile again.

I continued to graze my hand along hers every now and then while we all ate.

I looked at the twins. They looked nothing like each other. Kartik sat quite taller while Rati was shorter and slightly chubby. I could imagine Kriti at Rati’s age, all cute with a soft teenage face. I smiled at Kartik when our eyes met. “So, Kartik, Rati, how’s school?”

Rati flushed while Kartik met my eyes. “It’s okay. Normal.” And he got back to eating. I looked at Kriti, and she gave me a teasing smile as if she could see I was trying.

Right then, Kriti’s father cleared his throat. “So, Aakar Beta, what brought you this way?”

Well, I missed your daughter to distraction, and I couldn’t stand a moment without her. So I dropped everything I was doing and drove here, hoping to kiss her again.

Since I couldn’t say all that to him, I said, “Well, Uncle, since Akira is coming in two weeks, I thought I’d come meet Kriti this weekend before I get even busier with the wedding preparations. This way Kriti and I could spend some time together and get a bit of a break from all the wedding preparations.”

He smiled softly in approval. “Good idea. Kriti Beta, I don’t think Aakar has seen our entire house. Do give him a tour after dinner.”

“So, are you here for the next three days?” Kriti’s mom asked.

“Yes, Auntie. If it isn’t a problem.”

I didn’t even hear her response because, right then, Kriti tightly squeezed my hand under the table. And before she could let it go, I entwined our fingers together.

I didn’t let it go when Rati dropped her spoon on the floor.

Not even when she bent down to pick it up.

Not even when she had a big smile on her face when she came up.

And when our eyes met, I simply winked at her, making her giggle.

I liked my sister-in-law.

Kriti

“So this is my room.” I opened the door to my bedroom with a flourish. And instantly regretted it.

Rati hadn’t made her bed. Her books, lap desk, laptop, and headphones were all strewn across her bed. My bed wasn’t any better either. Piles of my students’ books were stacked in the order of the roll numbers and subjects. I had my system. But together, it all looked like a mess.

But before I could even do anything, Aakar had closed my bedroom door behind us and pushed me against the door. He stood so close I could feel his clothes brush against mine. He didn’t touch me. No. He placed both of his hands on the door behind me, caging me in.

Heat radiated from his body, and I desperately wanted to pull him closer.

I looked up and met his eyes.

They looked at me with such intensity, such longing that I couldn’t help but touch the button of his shirt. He took a step even closer and clutched my hand at his chest. “Five weeks. I haven’t seen you in five weeks.”

My heart pounded as he traced small patterns over my hand. “Missed me?”

He stepped even closer. So close, his jaw grazed my cheeks. And then, he nodded, rubbing his beard along my cheek. Heat raced through my spine all the way down to my toes. “Aakar.”

“Did you miss me?”

This time, I pulled him closer by the button of his shirt. So close, his leg stepped between mine, our bodies flush together.

He groaned, barely stopping his voice.

I gasped as I felt the very hard evidence of how much our closeness, how much I affected him. His hold on the door behind me tightened. “Kriti,” he moaned in my ear, rolling his hips against mine.

My eyes rolled back in my head at the new, intense pleasure between my legs as his thigh rubbed me just at the right spot.

“Fuck,” he muttered.

Common sense returned to me at the sharp, peaking arousal. “We really need to stop.”

He nodded. “Just a minute.”

At my nod of approval, he pulled his hips away from mine but pressed a soft kiss on my neck, my cheeks, and my neck again. I couldn’t help but arch my neck further, begging for more.

And he gave it to me. Deep, dizzying pulls of his lips on my neck.

With another sharp curse, he was off me.

I looked at my messy bed, my heart still beating like a racehorse.

And now I had to make space for us to sit. I quickly turned to him. “Just a sec.”

I quickly went about moving the piles of books in a neat stack on the floor near my cupboard. In the meantime, Aakar was silent as he looked at the several pictures tacked on the softboard, all thanks to Rati.

I went and stood beside him. “If I’d known you were coming and were going to see my room, I’d have been prepared.”

He chuckled, and his voice was still a little heavy from earlier when he said, “And miss young, cute Kriti? Or your messy bed?”

He was now looking at a ridiculous picture of the three of us—Rati, Kartik, and me, playing Holi. The photo was taken at least seven years ago. I was covered from top to bottom in magenta, blue, yellow, and green colors, and I was holding back the two water guns that young Rati and Kartik had aimed at me. And I was chubby.

It had taken me a while to start working out and gain a positive outlook on my body. And it had taken even longer to start loving my body.

Color rose to my cheeks. “It’s not messy. It’s organized.”

“Sure.” His teasing smile infuriated me and made me want to mess up his already messed-up hair.

His eyes moved across my room and stopped at my bookshelf.

He walked toward it and stood staring at the hundreds of colorful paper-covered books. Aakar’s eyebrows were bunched in confusion. “What is this?”

Just to mess with him, I said. “Uh…they’re called books?”

His dead, flat stare had me laughing. “Fine. I like to read. And I don’t want my parents to know exactly what I like to read.”

A teasing smile came over his face. And before I could warn him off saying the dreaded words, he asked, “Is it Fifty Shades ?”

Oh dear. With a very confident tone, I cleared my throat and said, “Yes, I have read those.”

He smiled wider and stood closer to me so our shoulders brushed. “Really? So all of these books are like that?”

I took a step away from him that he very well noticed. “Well, most of them, yes. And not exactly like that. But yes, most of them are romance books.”

He turned to me. “Are you ashamed of reading these romance books?”

“Not at all.”

“Then why are they covered like that?”

I folded my hands, glaring at him. “Well, I’m not ashamed of reading them. But I’m afraid of my mother. I already deal with her constant commentary on my life on a regular basis. Imagine how she would react if she saw the cover of the books I read. She’d burn them. And I really have a lot of love for my books.”

He chuckled. “I also like to read every once in a while.”

“Really? What do you enjoy reading?”

“More crime, thrillers. Not romance.” His tone was instantly defensive.

I didn’t even stop myself from rolling my eyes at him. “Have you even read a romance book?”

He ran his hand through his hair. His eyes were a little more serious, probably catching up on my souring mood at his inquisition. “Well, no. I have no interest in it.”

“How do you know you have no interest in them if you haven’t read it?”

He shrugged. “I just know it. I don’t care about the emotional drama or cheesy dialogue. They all sound the same to me.”

My jaw dropped. “You do know that it’s still not too late for me to say no to marriage, right? We’re not married yet.”

This time, his jaw dropped. “What?”

I crossed my arms. “Well, I have no interest in marrying someone who is so condescending to my interest.”

This time, he showed true nervousness. “Umm…I didn’t mean to offend you.”

“Yes, you did.”

He gulped. “Well, I kinda did. But it was all in fun.”

“No, it wasn’t.”

“Well, okay. Fair point. But in my defense, I just don’t see what one could gain by reading these books.”

I looked at him. “Well, you’d have to read a few of these to know that, wouldn’t you?”

He stepped back and sat at the edge of my bed, a guilty smile playing across his lips. “You want me to read your romance books?”

I shrugged my shoulder. “Clearly, you know nothing about them yet passed judgments. It’s only fair you read one.”

“Fair enough. Give me one.”

My heart soared at that. “You’re not kidding, are you? You’ll really read it?”

This time, he smiled wide at me. “I’ll read it. Tonight itself. It’s not like I’ve anything to do at my village house. It’ll pass my time.”

I quickly went through my color-coded bookshelf. And it took me ten whole minutes to give him one book.

He took it from my hands, and the first thing he did was pull off the red-color cover. A big, teasing smile came over his face. “Eight-pack abs, huh?”

I poked his ribs with my elbow. “Shut up. Just read it.”

He put the cover back on, and we made our way downstairs. He held my hand until we reached the living room.

He left for his house with a promise to my parents to have dinner at our place the next day.

Hardly two hours had passed since he left when I got his message.

Aakar: This hero is such an asshole.

I couldn’t stop my loud laughter even if I tried.

Me: I know, right?

Aakar: Do I need to act like an asshole to seduce you?

Like he needed to seduce me anymore.

Me: He’ll change. You just wait.

I didn’t get anything for a while. I was almost asleep when my phone beeped.

Aakar: NINE INCHES???????

And I died laughing.

Before I could even respond, another message popped up.

Aakar: FOUR TIMES IN A NIGHT????!!!

His messages kept popping up.

Aakar: Are you awake?

Aakar: Already asleep?

Aakar: This won’t do at all. How will we fuck (as the book quite eloquently put it) four times if you can’t stay awake?

Me:

I slept with the biggest and the most ridiculous smile on my face.