She smiled hard as her cheeks turned redder. She looked deep into his eyes and got lost. Suddenly she was scooped in the arms of her man and he carried her to the terrace. He made her stand on her feet and took out a red blindfold and tied it around her eyes.
She kept looking in awe at him until her eyes were hidden behind the silky red cloth. He took her hand in his and opened the terrace door. He made her walk along with him.
It was a full moon night. The stars were glittering in the sky and cool breeze were blowing from across the sea which faced their house. He made her face her and admired her hair blowing in the wind. She could smell the fragrance of lavender surrounding her. He smiled looking at her face which were giving different expressions every passing second, anticipating what next.
He stepped closer to her and placed his hand around her waist. He combed her flying hair with his fingers and removed the strands of hair falling on her face, tucking them behind her ear. He bent forward and hugged her.
He placed a peck on her shoulder, holding her waist firmly and whispered in her ear,
"What do you expect next baby?"
She hugged him tightly.
"No, no Swayam! What are you going to do? We've become old Swayam, kuch to sharam karo"
Swayam giggled and nodded his head thinking how cute his Sharon is.
He held her other hand in his and twirled her around. He ran his finger from her forehead down to her temple to her cheek and placed it on her chin. He pushed her chin up slightly with a jerk.
"Old? Who is old?" and hummed " Abhi to main jawan hoon"
Sharon was getting restless having to stay blindfolded for so long.
She held his hand which was on her chin and placed it at the back of her head.
"Please baby, ab to isse khol do"
Swayam ran his hand around the back of her head and teased her a bit.
He pulled her towards himself, making her hit his chest.
"itni bhi kya jaldi hai sweetheart"
" Its been fifteen whole minutes that I haven't seen you, so will you please do me the honors of letting me see my Swayams face"
Swayam blushed at her words and quickly pulled her, making her walk a little ahead. He quickly unfolded the blindfold and stood in front of her with a grinning smile.
"Sorry sweetheart, I am so so sorry to keep you away from admiring your Swayams face"
Sharon blushed again and quickly dug her face in his arms.
"So?"
Swayam held her by her shoulder and moved sideways revealing a beautiful sight in front of Sharon.
There was a table with an arm chair for two, facing the moon, lavender candles lit with glass around them all over the floor under their terrace shack.
Sharon looked at Swayam with question in her eyes.
"It's beautiful Swayam, but this is predictable! This isn't you!"
Swayam smiled at his loving wife and walked her slowly to the arm chair. He made her sit on the chair comfortable. He then slowly tilted the chair converting it into a relax chair. Sharon lay on the relax chair looking at Swayam with complete awe.
Swayam cupped her face.
"I know you've been struggling with arthritis and cant enjoy our terrace sessions anymore and I know how much you miss them"
"Swayam'."
"You don't need to tell me baby, I knew it the first time you refused to come up to the terrace"
A tear rolled down Sharons cheek and Swayam quickly placed his lips over it and sucked it.
"You know I still cant see tears in your eyes baby"
Sharon gave him a weak smile and asked him to come next to her.
"I will sweety, but after a while, pehle apna surprise to dekhlo"
He moved into the glasshouse and came with a trolley after a few minutes.
He placed a tub near Sharons feet and filled it with warm water from a jug. He then put a few drops of oil into the tub.
Sharon kept looking at him and admiring him for doing whatever he was doing. She just couldn't believe, even after so many years of being married to him, that how can she be so lucky.
Swayam placed the oil bottle back in the trolley and placed a dish on the table. It was covered and Sharon kept wondering what would be inside it.
Swayam looked at her with a smile.
"Just two more minutes baby"
Sharon nodded. She was enjoying seeing Swayam move to and fro, taking out small things from the trolley and placing them around.
She had been blessed with a lot of surprises but has never seen Swayam do any arrangements in front of her in twenty years of their marriage.
They could not have a child as Sharon developed some complications during her pregnancy and Swayam chose Sharon over taking any risk with her life. Sharon always complained to Swayam as to why he did that and that they could had easily taken the risk and nothing would had happened to her. To this Swayam always told her that he did not want any child in the first place and that they were enough for each other. Sharon knew that he was lying but there was really nothing she could do about it. He did not even let her adopt, so that Sharon can easily believe that he really did not want a child.
He took out an envelope from the trolley and finally went and sat next to her. She slowly shifted towards him and signaled him to lie back. Swayam put his arm around her and lay next to her. She placed her head on his shoulder and suddenly giggled.
Swayam held her hand tightly.
"kya hua baby?"
"kuch nahi jaan, suddenly recalled RDX sir's party. Waha bhi main aise hi leti thi na tumhare arms mein"
"tumhein abhi tak yaad hai? Aur uss samay kya kaha tha tumne ke you don't remember anything, anyways main to tab se hi jaanta tha that you remember everything and sirf drama kar rahi ho, dramebaaz!"
Sharon looked up towards his face gave him a naughty smile.
"ab Sharon Raiprakash ko pane ke liye tumhein kuch to mehnat karni hi thi na"
Swayam pulled her cheek hard.
"kuch mehnat? Pata hai kitne papad bilwaye hai tumne"
"what? Padad kaha se aa gaya?"
Swayam facepalmed himself.
"oh my angrezi siren, I mean tumne mujhse kuch mehnat nahi , bahut zyada mehnat karwai"
Sharon giggled hard and hugged him tight enveloping his chest.
"acha yeh batao, paani mein kya daala? Aur iss dish ke neeche kya hai?"
"It's a special oil jaan, it helps to soothe the pain around the joints"
Sharon tilted her face upwards and gave him a big smile. She ran her hand on his chest, held his hand and placed a kiss on his palm.
"you are so thoughtful Swayam, I always feel guilty ke main tumhare liye itna kyun nahi soch paati ya karr pati jitna tum mere liye sochte ho"
"aisa kuch nahi hai baby'you do a lot for me. You've learned how to cook for me and aaj bhi you make sure you cook at least one meal a day for me even though you stay so busy with your work. Itne saalon se you've been taking care of me, mujhe jhel rahi ho, mere stupid stupid harkat jhel rahi ho, roz mujhe goodmorning kiss deti ho, aur goodnight kiss bhi, yeh kya kamm hai?"
"no Swayam, mazak mat karo, main kuch special nahi kar paati tumhare liye, mujhe kyu aise ideas nahi aate?"
Swayam cuddled her hard.
"O my sweet siren Sharon, tum mere liye jo bhi karti ho mujhe bahut acha lagta hai aur sach mein mere liye wo bahut hai."
"Sharon?"
"You've let go off your desire to have a child because of me. Main apne aap ko maaf nahi kar paaya Sharon cause I couldn't fulfill this wish of yours. I know we've always avoided this topic and I don't want to spoil your mood over this. But baby, I have a gift for you."
He handed her the envelope.
Sharon made herself sit up and took the letter out.
"We've adopted children from an orphanage Sharon, and this is all I could do to fulfill your wish. I came across them though one of our clients and immediately decided to take this step. I couldn't let you adopt years back because tum phirse guilty feel karti. You would have thought I wanted a child and you couldn't give me one. But aisa nahi hai baby, ofcourse I wanted our small sa family but that wasn't a priority for me. I hope tum mujhe maaf kar pao iske liye baby. Meri priority hamesha sirf aur sirf tum rahi ho and I couldn't do anything at the risk of your life. You know you are my life. I cant live a second without you. Agar tumhe kuch ho jaata to main bhi marr jaata. I know I have always avoided talking on this topic all these years but aaj main apni is galati ko sudharna chahta hoon. I don't know what got into me baby but when I saw the children there all I could think of was doing something to make a difference in their lives. We are going to take care of all their needs from food to education and you can go there whenever you want and take care of them. They are our children from today baby. I've met them Sharon and they are such sweethearts. I have told them about you, I told them that you are a siren and unhe tumse bacch ke rehna hoga and they cant wait to meet you. They were so excited. I told them they can call us ma and pa"
Tears rolled down Sharon's cheeks and she bursted out crying. She hugged Swayam tightly and howled her heart out. This could be the best thing she could have ever got. She had only one complaint from Swayam ever since she lost their child and this was her only wish which Swayam hadn't fulfilled.
Swayam wrapped his arms around Sharon tightly hugged her. He made her lie next to him and stroked her hair to soothe her down as she had broken into fits of cry. He kept placing pecks of kisses on the head while stroking her head and back to calm her down.
He knew he had to let her cry out. These were suppressed emotions of years and he had to allow them to flow out. He knew Sharon used to hide from him and cry all these years. He couldn't forgive himself for giving her pain for so many years. Though they shared a beautiful life together, he knew Sharon always missed showering her motherly love. He could see that whenever she would interact with others children. Though late but he finally decided to fulfill this desire of hers.
Once Sharon calmed down, he made her face him.
"I am really sorry Sharon, really really sorry to have kept you away from this emotion since so many years. I couldn't tolerate you in pain and couldn't risk anything happening to you. I am really really sorry baby. I don't know what got into me when I met these kids. All I could see in front of my eyes was your face and you yearning to shower your motherly love. I am sorry for all the times I shouted at you when you spoke about adoption."
"Swayam'thank you so much baby, thank you so much!"
"No sharon, don't say thankyou, after all your wish is my command baby, but kabhi kabhi wishes puri karne mein thoda time lag jaata hai."
The clock struck twelve and the alarm on Swayams phone went off. He switched it off. Picked up the dish and uncovered it.
It had a heart shaped cake, slightly burnt with "love you forever" written with shaky handwriting.
Sharon looked at the cake with awe. She turned her face towards Swayam. Her teary eyes were now glittering and she had a shocked expression on her face. She looked at the cake again and looked back at Swayam. She pointed towards the cake looking into Swayams eyes.
"You made?"
"Yes! I baked for the first time na, thoda jal gaya"
Swayam made a puppy face.
"Sorry"
"Sorry? Pagal ho kya? Wow I still cant believe you baked!"
"Happy anniversary love"
It was the 11thof July. The day his love walked into his house and finally agreed to give their relationship a chance, the day which was the most special day for him, even more special than their wedding anniversary. This was the day his love opened her arms and let him in her life.
"Happy anniversary jaan"
Sharon cut a small piece of cake and ate it.
"I am not giving you a single bite! Its delicious!" and showed her tongue to him.
Swayam looked at her in awe. She was still a kid, a forty five year old kid. She was still his Sharon, his old Sharon, his siren.
He watched her in awe as she finished the entire cake by herself. He cupped her face as she put the last bite in and pulled her into a kiss. He sucked the last bit of cake out her mouth into his, grinning and finished the cake.
Sharon looked at him flabbergasted. He pulled her again after finishing the cake and lay on top of her. He took her into another deep kiss.
They spent the entire night on the terrace, making love and enjoying their own sweet terrace session.
"Love isn't all about doing big things; it is seen in the small actions you do every day, every moment"
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