198
"You don't love me," she finally responded, struggling from under him, but he refused to let go of her. "You're just messing with me! I know you don't love me!"
"You're right, I don't," he told her, pushing her arms down on the bed even further causing her to wince with pain.
"You don't?" she asked, sounding heartbroken, and Randhir felt his heart hurt, hearing the defeat in her voice.
He loosened his grip on her arms and lay back down on his side of the bed, before reaching under her body and pulling her into his arms.
"What are you doing?" she gasped, but he just held her to him with one hand, and caressed her cheek with his other hand.
"Sleep," he murmured.
"No," she refused. "I am confused."
"Then don't think about it and confuse yourself more," he said to her, "Flowers take time to bloom... so do feelings. Now just sleep."
She cuddled up against him and closed her eyes, somehow enjoying this position on the bed. As Randhir stroked her hair lovingly, she fell asleep against him and he looked down at her sleeping figure with a small smile on his face.
"One day you too will see how much you love me," he whispered. "Until then I will give you both our shares of love."
He pressed his lips against her forehead and closed his eyes too, falling asleep as well.
199
The next day, as Sanyukta was cleaning the house and Randhir was having a video meeting in the guest room with one of his clients from abroad, the doorbell rang.
Sanyukta went to open the door, curious as to who had arrived. She wasn't expecting a guest. As soon as she opened the door and looked up at the entrance, her mouth dried up.
"Sanyukta?" he said, sounding guilty.
"Parth?" she asked, her eyes wide.
Parth had been Randhir's close friend back in their college days, but Randhir hadn't spoken of Parth once. Parth used to be nice to Sanyukta, but was not very close to her.
"I know you must be shocked to see me... but I just wanted to come here to apologize to you. I came all the way from Canada because the guilt isn't letting me live," he explained.
Guilt? What was Parth talking about?
"What the hell?" she heard Randhir's voice boom from behind.
Turning around, she saw an angry Randhir charge at Parth and grab the collar of his shirt. Parth just looked down, guilty.
Why was Randhir being so rude towards Parth? What was happening? The last she remembered, they had been very close.
"You have the guts to come here after all you've done?" Randhir spat angrily.
"Sorry Randhir... I know I crossed my limits last time, and trust me, I was wrong... very wrong, but I swear I realized my mistake," he pleaded. "I didn't mean to hurt Sanyukta like that."
"What's happening?" Sanyukta then asked, sounding shocked. "How did Parth hurt me?"
"She doesn't remember," Randhir pointed out to Parth, ignoring Sanyukta's query. "So it's best you keep your mouth shut."
"What's happening?" Sanyukta repeated, getting frustrated now.
"I - I'll go then," Parth replied. "But once again, I am very sorry, from the bottom of my heart."
"Come see me at my office tomorrow," Randhir then told Parth, and he nodded.
As soon as Parth left, Randhir turned to Sanyukta, who was looking confused.
"I want to know what happened," she demanded.
"Why do you care?" he asked her.
"It clearly involves me!" she repeated, rolling her eyes.
He leaned in closer to her and whispered in her ear, "Don't worry about it."
Then he kissed her cheek softly, causing her to blush and forget about the interaction that just happened with Parth.
"W - what was that for?" she stammered.
"I have to go back to my meeting now. I'll see you after," Randhir then said, and then went upstairs for the meeting, leaving Sanyukta there with a blush on her cheeks.200
That night, as soon as Randhir went to his room, he saw that Sanyukta was breastfeeding Raghav, and had the blanket pulled over her chest.
"I'll go out," Randhir said, "Raghav will get really hot in there."
"No you can stay," she told him. "Just make sure to not look."
"Now that will be hard if I'm in the room," he teased. "Don't blame me if I take a peak."
She picked up a pillow with her free hand and threw it at him. He dodged it and it fell to the ground. Picking it up, he threw it back on the bed before he grabbed his clothes from the wardrobe and went into the bathroom to change.
As Sanyukta watched him go, her heart fluttered. For some reason, she wanted him to change there in front of her... for some reason, she wanted them to act as a proper husband and wife. She didn't know why... but she knew she wanted it.
She let the blanket fall beside her and she lovingly caressed Raghav's forehead.
He had fallen asleep while she was breastfeeding him. Gently pulling him off her, she put him down on his crib, still not wearing her shirt, and with her bra half off.
Randhir had just went into the bathroom, so she hadn't been expecting him to come out so soon.
She was wrong though because Randhir came out of the bathroom and as soon as he saw what she wasn't wearing, his mouth fell open.
Turning red, she turned her back to him immediately, but was frozen on the spot unable to move.
Holding back the desire he was feeling, he went to the wardrobe and took out a shawl before going up to Sanyukta and wrapping her in it from behind.
"As sexy as you look, I want you to know that I am still not in the mood," he teased, and her eyes widened.
"You - you are such an MCP!" she screamed, turning around to face him, in the process, her shawl loosening up to show her exposed breast.
She didn't know what to do, so she just hugged him tightly, trying to hide herself from him. She buried her face in his chest and closed her eyes, her heart beating incredibly fast. It was almost like this was embarrassing for her... yet wildly exciting.
201
It took a lot of self-control for Randhir to not take her to the bed and make love to her right now. He had to control his desires for her. Now was still not the right time.
"Close your eyes," she said into his chest, her words muffled.
"Done," he replied, closing his eyes.
"Promise?" she asked nervously.
"I swear," he replied, and she slowly removed her face from his chest and looked up at him before turning around quickly and adjusting her bra.
Then she ran to her shirt and slid it back on.
"You can open your eyes now," she told him, lying down on the bed and pulling the covers up.
Randhir opened his eyes and saw that she had already laid down in bed, and he smiled. He turned off the lights and got in bed next to her.
"So what was Parth saying earlier?" Sanyukta said - she couldn't figure out what Parth had meant when he said he hurt her.
"Nothing... forget about what he said," Randhir replied, facing her.
"No I want to know," she replied curiously.
"Do you want to stop asking or do you want me to make you stop?" he threatened and her mouth fell open.
"What do you mean?" she gasped.
Randhir slid closer to her and wrapped his arm around her waist.
"You want me to show you what I mean?" he asked, dropping his voice to a whisper.
She couldn't reply. The words were stuck in her throat. She knew she should push him back, but she didn't have the strength to do that.
He moved even closer to her... he was just a few inches away now, and she could hear the rapid beating of her own heart.
Shit. Why was this MCP doing this to her heart?
She closed her eyes, and he closed the gap between them by kissing her forehead.
"Good night love," he whispered to her and her eyes opened quickly.
"Good night love?" she repeated incredulously.
"It sounds nice to hear you call me love," he said with a smirk.
"What?" she snapped, "I did not! I was just confused by why you would call me that."
"Yeah right," he teased.
"I know you don't love me!" she replied stubbornly. "And I will never love you!"
"My dear, you can't even control your heart around me," he told her, playfully mocking her. "I can hear it beat right now."
She turned red.
"That - I - I'm scared of you!" she responded, searching for an excuse.
Randhir chuckled and used his fingers to tuck some of her hair behind her ear. As he did that, she shivered involuntarily.
"I think you like your scary husband then," Randhir said with a smirk, "You don't even stop me."
"You won't stop!" she argued.
"Okay, I will stop," he replied, and then let go of her and turned around, facing away from her.
Oh no... she didn't want this. She bit down on her lip, trying to come up with a strategy to at least have him hold her while she slept like last night. She had such a nice sleep last night in his arms, and she just wanted to snuggle up next to him again... but the only problem was that she couldn't admit she wanted it.
202
Sanyukta glanced at his back... for some reason she wanted to feel his muscles there. Why was it that he had to be an MCP? If he wasn't, she might have even given him a chance.
She coughed loudly.
He ignored her and didn't even flinch.
Pursing her lips together tightly with irritation, she coughed loudly again, trying to get his attention.
He still ignored her.
"Randhir!" she yelled, and he finally turned around to face her.
"What?" he asked, sounding like she had disturbed him.
She leaned closer to him and pressed her head against the side of his arm nervously. He didn't move his arm to hold her like she expected him to do. Instead he gave her a look, like he found her weird.
"You're an MCP," she said, frustrated. "Can't you see what a woman wants?"
Randhir was trying his hardest not to smile right now - who would know his woman better than him? He knew exactly what she wanted and what she was trying to do, but of course, he loved to tease her. He wanted her to say herself that she wanted to rest with him.
"I don't know what you're talking about," he told her.
"Um... you know how earlier you heard my heart?" she asked him, and he nodded. "Well, that was because you're scary... but I think your heart must have been beating loudly too... so I want to hear it beat."
Randhir nearly laughed at her lame excuse.
"Well Sanyukta, I have already told you I love you, so even if you hear my heart beating, it won't do anything, will it?" he teased.
"I want to hear it beat means I want to hear it beat," she replied stubbornly.
Randhir then sighed and lifted his arm so she could snuggle in. She picked up her head and rested it on his chest. When she heard his heartbeats, she thought she could lay on him forever... it was like a beautiful melody. It wasn't very fast, it was calm... but she felt so much, just by listening to it.
She closed her eyes and let her hand rest on his stomach. He wrapped both of his arms around her and kissed the top of her head.
"Hey why do you keep kissing me?" she complained.
"You want me to stop?" he asked her, pretending like it didn't make a difference to him.
"No... I didn't say that..." she mumbled, but he held her more tightly and kissed her head again.
She closed her eyes and blushed when he did that.
"I will keep kissing you then," he whispered to her.
"Are you trying to get close to me?" she whispered back, feeling her insides go weak.
He reached up and caressed her cheek lovingly.
"What will you do if I am?" he teased.
How was he making her feel like this? She never felt like this for anyone before. It was like she was actually liking him... maybe it was a small crush... no way. It couldn't even be that. She would never crush on an MCP.
"Will you kiss me if I ask you to? I mean on the lips?" she asked him innocently, for some reason, unable to stop herself from asking that question.
203
Randhir looked down at her, and took a deep breath. Of course, he'd want to kiss her. He had been waiting months to kiss her, but only once the right time came.
"I told you Sanyukta, I'm not in the mood," he told her playfully.
She frowned - how could he never be in the mood to do anything with her? Was he not a boy? She was getting suspicious now.
"What if I seduced you?" she whispered, sliding her fingers up his chest.
"The question is what if I become seduced," he told her, rolling his eyes. "You would never be able to seduce me."
She sat up on the bed angrily - how could he even say that about her? Did he not find her pretty? Surely she could seduce him.
"I don't believe you," she told him.
"What are you going to do?" he replied, raising his eyebrows.
He knew what she was going to do - she climbed on top of him with her knees on either side of him and leaned forward, brushing her lips against his ear.
"I am going to make you want me," she whispered seductively.
He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her down on top of him, so she was resting on him.
"This is nice," he murmured. "Sleep now."
She tried to get off him, but he was holding her too tightly, so she surrendered and let herself relax on top of him.
"Good night MCP," she said.
"You're such a farzi," he said, chuckling.
"Hey!" she replied angrily and tried to struggle against him again, but he wasn't letting her go.
"Good night," he told her, and kissed the top of her head once more, and Sanyukta felt herself melt.
This proximity felt so nice. She didn't even want to pretend to want to get off anymore.
As she fell asleep listening to the beating of his heart, she dreamed about something strange.
--
"It was all because of a stupid bet?" she was crying, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Randhir you made a bet with Parth that you would make me fall in love with you, and that's why you were pretending?"
Randhir tried to grab her arms and pull her to him but she escaped his grasp.
"Yes, it was because of a stupid bet. Actually no it wasn't," he screamed over her cries, "It was because of stupid me! I was immature, I wanted to prove something. Sanyukta I don't know how to prove that I am crazy in love with you now. You are the best thing that happened to me!"
"Lies!" she was screaming back. "Stop lying!"
"I'm not!" he yelled back, and finally got a hold of her shoulders, engulfing her in a bone crushing hug.
She struggled in his embrace but he refused to let go, until she gave up and allowed him to hug her.
"I love you so much," he whispered into her ear. "Trust me. I'll give you my life if you want me to. I swear Sanyukta, I will never ever stop loving you."
Her tears were wetting his shirt.
"I want to believe you," she hiccuped through her tears. "Randhir I love you... I can't believe you got close to me... because of a stupid bet! It makes all this feel so fake."
"Who cares if it started off fake?" he whispered. "I'm sorry for all I did, but I'm not sorry for falling in love with you. It's more than real now Sanyukta. I love you, and that's all I know."
He broke their embrace and cupped her cheeks softly.
"I love you," she confessed, looking into his eyes and seeing only love for her.
"I love you too," he said, his thumb stroking her cheek ever so softly.
Then she took a step forward and closed her eyes, before closing the gap between their lips and kissing him softly, causing her heart to beat wildly.
Their first kiss.
"Please don't leave me Randhir," she whispered against his lips.
"I'll never leave you," he whispered right back, stroking her hair.
She then pressed her lips more forcefully against his, clutching his shirt tightly, wanting to feel him more and more.
--
Sanyukta's eyes opened immediately, and she was sweating.
"Randhir!" she screamed, and Randhir's eyes opened, rubbing her back soothingly.
"Are you okay?" he asked her lovingly.
"I... I love you?" she asked him, tears filling her eyes.