Luv (Un)Arranged (Luv Shuv #3)

Chapter 35

35

Song: Tujh Mein Rab Dikhta Ha

- Roop Kumar Rathod

Kriti

I stared at the blades of the fan above, spinning round and round and round, just like my own mind. When I asked Aakar to take me to his ancestral home yesterday, I didn’t think he would take up residence with me there.

After finding out that he had read my romance books, to my utter surprise, we actually spent the entire afternoon reading the books. Aakar even prepared coffee, and we discussed the books he’d read. When I told him one of my favorite phrases by a book boyfriend was Who the fuck did this to you? , Aakar, to my utter surprise, was shocked.

He’d glared at me and, for the first time since he came to take me back, shouted, “Are you insane? How could you deliberately want to get hurt enough for me to have to say those fucking words? Nope. You take that back. Pick another favorite line.”

And just to rile him up further, I said, “How about Touch her and you die ?”

He was downright glaring when he said, “Oh they will die. Now pick something else.”

We’d talked back and forth about this for the entire evening while we had dinner at a restaurant, and even when he took me to the same ice cream shop that we went to the day we officially decided to say yes to marriage.

And when we’d returned home, he’d given me a bone-melting kiss that had left me wet and wanting. He made my heart flutter and pound and melt and shiver. I never wanted our conversations to end. He made me want to burrow myself in his arms and forgive him and go back to our home and resume our life.

But I needed some time to collect myself. I need time to think. I needed time to forgive and forget. It was difficult for me to let go, no matter how badly I wanted to.

So, here I was, sleeping alone in the bedroom while Aakar took up the bedroom right next to mine. He’d shouted, “Good night, baby, I love you , ” a while ago, and here I was, I love you too still on the tip of my tongue after what felt like hours but unable to let it out.

Yes, I knew he would apologize because that was Aakar. Even when he asked me to leave his house, I knew he would regret it and come to take me back. I knew he panicked and was out of his mind. I just didn’t expect to feel so damn angry and hurt when he asked me to leave.

Seeing my parents worried about us, returning home and not hearing from him for more than a week, I started to wonder day after day whether he would return. All of it just kept building up my anger. I couldn’t comprehend how he could stay away from me for so long when my stupid little heart was dying to hear from him despite being furious at him.

So when he stayed here in his house with me, I couldn’t tell him to leave me alone. I missed him. I missed seeing his stupid face. I missed seeing his eyes. I missed feeling his arms around me at night. I missed his hard, warm body. I missed the way he looked when he fucked me, like he would die if he had to stay away from me. Like I was the most precious thing he held in his arms.

I loved my husband. I loved being his wife. I loved the life we had. I loved how he stayed. I loved that he literally got down on his knees. Fuck, seeing him on his knees broke me. My strong, beautiful husband cried for me. His tears were like a thousand stabs to my chest.

But he was the one who had hurt me . He had shown me over and over again that he didn’t trust me with his family. Yes, he’d promised that he would trust me. That he trusted me. But all the evidence pointed otherwise. How do I put my trust back in him? I trusted him to always care for me. I trusted him to always give his everything in trying to make me happy. I trusted him with my life. I just wished he trusted me .

I didn’t even realize when sleep took over, and the next time I opened my eyes, it was to the sound of the birds chirping and the smell of chai.

I quickly freshened up, changed into decent pajamas—because dealing with Aakar in sexy clothes just made me hotter, and I did not need that—and went downstairs to find him at the stove. His hair was in disarray, and his gray fucking sweatpants hugged his ass in a way that always left me drooling. I knew he owned other colored sweatpants, but the asshole knew what he was doing.

I stood beside him near the stove as we watched the chai.

“Good morning, jaan,” he said, turning to me and placing the softest kiss on my cheek.

My hands ached to pull him closer and ask him to kiss me harder.

But I stopped myself. “Good morning.”

“I have some khaman for breakfast,” he said, pointing at the polyethylene bag on the kitchen countertop behind us.

I grabbed the bag, unwrapped everything, served the khaman on a plate, and poured the chutney into a big bowl. By the time I got everything served at the dining table, Aakar got us the chai.

We silently ate the breakfast as Aakar wrapped his legs around mine under the table.

I let him, needing his touch, his presence, to ground me.

I was almost done cleaning up the kitchen when the doorbell rang.

I frowned. No one in the village knew that we were here. I turned to Aakar, and he had a nervous yet hopeful smile. He came to me and held my neck, his thumb caressing my cheek, and gave me a deep kiss. “Get ready for the grand gesture, baby.”

He moved toward the door but stopped midway and quickly turned around and said, “If you don’t like the gesture, you gotta forget this ever happened and give me another chance. Okay?”

He looked so fucking adorable, I couldn’t help but smile. “Okay.”

I let out a breath and went to the door. I slowly followed him, too curious. The moment I reached the living room, Aakar opened the door.

And utter chaos flooded into the house.

“What took you so long?” Maa’s voice washed over me.

My heart started to beat faster as one after the other, every single member of Aakar’s—also my—family started to pour into the house.

“Were you sleeping?”

“Who takes so long to open a door?”

“That too when we told you we were almost here.”

The moment they saw me standing in the living room, my mouth wide open, I was pulled into Maa’s arms. Maa held me tightly to her and said in my ear, “Don’t worry, beta. We’re here now. Everything’s going to be just fine.”

And I broke down. I clutched her back and cried in her arms, fat teardrops sliding down my cheeks. “I’m sorry I lied to you.”

She patted me on the back and swayed me lightly in her arms. “You have nothing to be sorry about, beta. I am sorry for the stupidity of my son. But we’re going to set him straight, aren’t we?”

We pulled out of the hug, and I nodded at her, tears streaming down my face.

She wiped my tears, clutched my hand, and seated us on the couch. The entire family found a seat on the couches, armchairs, and some on the floor. Abhi sat on the armrest of the couch we sat on, his arm across the back of the couch, very clearly picking a side.

Everyone gave me an understanding smile as Maa turned around to glare at Aakar. “Did you apologize?”

Aakar stood alone across from us as if facing an execution. He looked down at his feet and answered, “Yes, Maa.”

“Properly?” That was from Pappa.

Aakar looked at Pappa and then at me, raising his eyebrows in question. “Did I apologize properly, Kriti?”

I looked at Pappa and nodded. “He did.”

“Good,” Pappa said, his arms folded across his chest.

Nobody asked me if I was ready to return home. Nobody asked me if I forgave Aakar.

I looked at Aakar in confusion. He said to be prepared for the grand gesture. I didn’t understand what was happening.

Aakar gave me a small smile and cleared his throat. “Kriti, I hurt you. I know I broke your trust. And I know that no amount of me asking you to trust me will make you trust me from the bottom of your heart. I know gaining your trust will take some time, and I’ll be working hard every day to get you to trust me again, but I hope this is a small start.”

I looked around to find pleased smiles on everyone’s faces.

When I looked at Aakar in confusion, he continued, “I have asked every person to share a secret with you, something that I have no clue about and something that would…uh…that would drive me to the brink of my sanity.”

My mind froze with utter shock. Abhi nudged my shoulder, and I quickly came to my senses. I shook my head in denial and looked at everyone. “Oh my god, please no. I don’t want any of you to share something personal that you don’t want to share. Aakar can’t ask you to do that. It’s a huge invasion of your privacy, and you deserve to keep your secrets.”

Maa clutched my hand in hers. “Beta, stop worrying. We’re going to share what we feel comfortable with. The secret would just stay between you and the person sharing the secret. None of us know what we’re all going to share. We all trust you, beta. And Aakar will watch us sharing our secret with you. And it is up to you whether you want to share the secret with him in the future. Isn’t that right, Aakar?”

Aakar got a chair from the dining room, placed it in the farthest corner of the living room, and took a seat.

Maa looked around the room. Everyone got up and moved out of the living room and into the kitchen, leaving Maa and me on the couch and Aakar sitting across from us.

“Keep looking at me, Kriti,” Aakar said.

Aakar was bent forward on his seat, his elbows on his lap, hands folded between his spread legs. We looked at each other as Maa came closer to me, put a hand at my ear, and whispered, “I lost my driving license three years ago and have been driving without one ever since.”

A gasp escaped me as my mouth hung open.

Aakar’s hands tightened, his forehead creasing at my face. I didn’t hide the shock on my face.

“Maa,” I uttered in shock as she gave me a saucy wink, making me chuckle. How was she not caught? I looked at her and clutched her hand. “We’ve got to remedy that.”

“I trust Kriti,” Aakar gritted out from between his wide smile, his foot tapping on the floor.

Maa laughed at him. “Beta, you alright?”

Aakar stretched his legs out, feigning nonchalance. “Of course. Kriti said she’d remedy whatever you’re sharing.”

Poor guy looked miserable. And the vindictive part inside me rejoiced.

Maa squeezed my hand and walked out of the room.

In walked Pappa. He took a seat beside me and gave me a smile. “You ready, beta?”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Not even a little bit,” I said, but moved my ear closer to him.

He bent closer and whispered, “I’m addicted to online gambling.”

My brain literally glitched. “Ohmigod, ohmigod.”

Aakar’s eyes were round with anxiety. I tried hard to school my face, but I must’ve failed miserably because Pappa said aloud, “You think you could keep this between the two of us, beta?”

Aakar had started to sweat. He clenched his teeth and said, “Yes, Pappa. She won’t share it with me.”

I looked at Pappa, my eyes wide as saucers, and shook my head. “We’ll see, Pappa. I make no promises. We’re gonna have to talk about this later.”

Pappa looked delighted and simply shrugged his shoulders. I was sure I looked anxious as fuck.

“You alright, baby?” Aakar asked me the moment we were alone.

“Are you okay?”

“Splendid.”

He didn’t look splendid.

Abhi entered next.

Aakar immediately grumbled, “You can’t have any more secrets that could shock me more.”

Abhi winked at him. “I’m a man of many secrets, bhai. None of which you will be privy to from now onwards.”

“I am sorry how I reacted, Abhi. I love you, and I’ll protect you to death. You know that, right?”

Abhi’s eyes shone with tears, but he quickly shook his head and squared his shoulders. “We’ll talk once we get bhabhi back.”

He took a seat beside me and came closer to my ear. “Bhabhi, I have no new secret but just gasp and make a shocked face. Need to keep Aakar Bhai on his toes.”

He was so devious I almost felt bad for Aakar. But I readily obeyed and gasped, “Abhi. Oh my god.”

Abhi made an extremely guilty face and ran out the door.

Aakar shook his head and said, “He’s never going to forgive me.”

“Of course he will. You’re his brother, and he loves you.”

Aakar was nodding when Radhika Kaki entered. Oh god. I was starting to feel increasingly burdened with every person who came to share a secret with me. The moment kaki took a seat beside me, she asked, “You alright, beta?”

I smiled at her and nodded.

She came closer to me and whispered in my ear, “I occasionally smoke a cigarette with your kaka. Nobody else knows.”

And my jaw dropped. “Oh. Uh. Okay.”

I so badly wanted to control my reaction so as not to make it worse for Aakar. But our entire family seemed to have decided to drop one truth bomb after another on me, and I felt like I was getting blasted in the face.

Aakar had a hand covering his mouth, pressing his hand tightly on his cheeks.

Next came Ekta Kaki. “I might have become obsessed with your romance book collection. And I might’ve read through over half of them. I might’ve come across some man and man books. And I might’ve enjoyed them.”

This time around, my smile was so big, Aakar also had a big-ass smile on his face. Only kaki was blushing bright red.

So I clutched her hand and gave her a big, excited smile. “We’re going to discuss.”

Then came Navin Kaka. “I invested ten lakh rupees in a start-up business. I’m too afraid to tell Aakar.”

Why were these men’s secrets so fucking terrifying? God, this one I’d have to share with Aakar. And it did sound like he was just afraid to share it with Aakar, not that he didn’t want me to share it with him.

So I simply nodded at him as he left.

When we were left alone, I quickly met Aakar’s eyes and said, “You’re going to hate me if I keep some of these secrets.”

“Never. You can keep them all to yourself, or you can do something about them on your own, and I wouldn’t mind it one bit.”

“It must be killing you, though.”

He simply chuckled. “Honestly, yes. It is killing me. But I’d take this a thousand times over spending another night without you. If hell existed, it would be a life without you in it.”

Fuck. Tears pooled in my eyes, but I quickly wiped them away as I heard footsteps.

Sunil Kaka was next. He didn’t have anything to share with me, but he must’ve talked to Abhi because he too asked me to just act surprised to mess with Aakar. Like the obedient daughter-in-law that I was, I gasped with a hand to my chest.

Then came Ria. “You know how much I hate Zayan. Um. I also find him extremely attractive.”

I couldn’t help but smile. I’d seen it coming but had kept my mouth shut. I patted her hand and said, “That’s okay. We can discuss it more later.”

She sighed and rolled her eyes at her situation. With a quick wink at Aakar, making him glower at her, she ran out of the room.

I was left shaking my head at her.

“What if I really don’t tell you any of these secrets?” I asked him.

“Baby, you really don’t have to tell me a single one of them. They’re yours.”

“And you’re okay with it?”

“Yes. I trust you, Kriti. I truly do not care about any of these secrets.”

“You would if you knew a single one of them. Our family is a critical case.”

He laughed at that. “I know, baby. Join the Mishra Family Monitoring Club.”

I laughed at that. “Are you the founder of the club?”

“Yep. And I appoint you the CEO.”

I was laughing when Soham, Ria’s little brother, walked in. He put his hand to my ear and whispered, “Bhabhi, I failed in two subjects on the last exam. I haven’t told Mummy and Pappa.”

“Soham,” I groaned; the teacher in me was wailing.

He looked at Aakar, who sat there in his full big-brother mode, and ran away.

Grandma entered next. “I was not totally innocent when I married your grandfather, if you know what I mean. Even he doesn’t know. Men are stupid like that.”

That had me holding my head in my hands, groaning. “Dadi…”

Dadi simply laughed and walked away, leaving me groaning and Aakar laughing.

“What are you laughing at?” I grumbled.

“Your face. You’re starting to look increasingly frustrated.”

“It’s all your fault.”

He laughed. “This is the grand gesture, baby. Savor it.”

“Savor it, my ass,” I mumbled.

I was savoring it, though. The entire family was here for me. Every single one of them was showing their trust in me. They all willingly gave their darkest and deepest parts of themselves to me for safekeeping. Because they trusted me. They believed in my ability to care for them. Love them. They showed me that they would stand by the truth, and no matter what, I was a part of the family.

It was as grand a gesture as it could get.

Next walked in Samar, Ekta Kaki’s older son, who still was only ten years old. He sat beside me and said, “I burned Mummy’s saree by mistake. I’ve hid it back in the cupboard. But I don’t remember which saree is burnt.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at that. Poor guy. And poor kaki. She was going to be so mad when she found out.

“Your secret’s safe with me, Samar,” I said and enacted zipping my mouth shut.

He laughed and ran away.

Then came grandfather. “I don’t have a secret, beta. I just wanted to ask you to forgive Aakar and come back home. Sometimes boys are stupid. You should just scold them and move on. Don’t put yourself through this agony. We miss you.”

“I miss you all too, Dada,” I said, my voice shaking as a tear rolled down my cheeks.

He patted my head and walked away.

Last came Dhruv, the youngest of the family at eight years old. “Bhabhi, I peed in my pants in my sleep last night. I changed my clothes myself and didn’t tell Mummy. I hid the clothes in Aakar Bhai’s cupboard because Mummy said he gave you a time-out and made you cry.”

“Really?” I shrieked with laughter.

He nodded, and I pulled him into a hug. My little warrior.

“Give me a kissy,” I asked him, offering him my cheek.

He placed an adorable kiss on my cheek and ran off, all the while booing Aakar.

“Seemed like a good secret,” Aakar said from his seat, his eyes twinkling with laughter.

“The best one of them all,” I said, getting up from my spot and walking to where Aakar sat on the chair since all of the secrets were done.

He stayed rooted to his spot as I took a seat on his lap. He held me by the waist and pulled me closer.

I grazed my hands along his cheek, feeling his beard on my fingers. I brought my lips closer to his so they were almost touching and said, “I love you.”

His head bowed at that as he rested his forehead on my shoulder. The sheer relief in his eyes had him closing the distance between us and taking my mouth in a heated kiss. I held his face and pushed my tongue in his mouth, tasting his need, his love for me. “I forgive you.”

I kissed his cheeks. I kissed his eyes and licked the lone tear that rolled out of them. “Take me home.”

“Tomorrow,” he said against my lips. “I need you alone for a little longer.”

“Sounds good.”

I held his face and gave him a warning glare. “And you promise to never ever send me home like this ever again.”

He pulled me closer to him and looked me in the eyes. “Never. I can’t promise not to get into a fight with you. But I promise to never ask you to get away from me. Not even to go to another room.”

“And if you do?”

“You have my permission to tell my mom about it. Her slaps still terrify me.”

I kissed his cheek. “Poor baby.”

He snuggled against my neck and said, “You’re never allowed to leave me. I won’t let you.”

I clutched him tight to me. “Sounds good.”

“Good.”

“Great.”

“Awesome.”

“Did you guys make up or not? We’re dying to come in,” Ria’s shout came from the other side of the door.

I quickly jumped off his lap and shouted, “C’mon in, everyone.”

The entire Mishra family came rushing into the room. “What happened? Are you coming back home, bhabhi?” Abhi asked.

I looked at Aakar, who looked with utmost longing at me. I kept my eyes on him and answered to the entire room, “Yes. Yes, I’m coming back home.”

Aakar had me in his arms the next second and twirled me around in front of the entire family. “Yes. Yes. I love you, baby,” he whispered in my ear.

I hid my face in his neck at the woots of the whole family and said, “I love you too.”

He kept hugging me and very quickly, one after the other, every person formed a huddle around us.

The moment every one of us got our emotions under control, Aakar cleared his throat and announced, “Everyone, you guys are leaving after lunch. Kriti and I will return tomorrow. Or maybe the day after tomorrow.”

While Ria and Abhi started to laugh, Maa and the kakis slyly smiled at each other as Maa announced, “Get up, everyone. We can grab lunch on our way home. Our job here is done.”

The moment we were alone, Aakar dragged me upstairs, only pausing to kiss me against the wall, on the stairs, against the hallway, against the bedroom door. We were panting by the time we crashed through the bedroom door, and he had me sprawled on the floor itself.