Sauda:
“Fateh, give me my papers back,” Tejo sternly warned Fateh while reaching for the pile of papers he had snatched from her desk. A teasing smile was plastered on his face, and she wanted nothing more than to swipe it off his face with one deliberate swing. The mocking glint in his eyes was invitation enough and she lunged towards him while putting a monumental amount of force behind her leap.
Her mimicry of tarzan sent the both of them tumbling onto the bed and Fateh encircled his unoccupied hand around her waist. The tips of his fingers rested on her bare skin, and she momentarily gave up on her mission, feeling the warmth from his fingers seeping into her own skin. It was when his fingers inched towards the doris of her blouse that she snapped out of her reverie and gritted out in annoyance, “Fateh, mere papers vapas do.”
He shook his head and extended his arm out farther, keeping the papers just out of her grasp. “Tejo Ji if you want your papers back, you have to do a favor for me,” he teased while winking at his livid yet insanely hot wife. Her eye twitched in irritation, and he gulped back the slight fear that had crept up in the back of his throat.
“What favor?” Menace dripped from each syllable she annunciated, and his fingertips stilled from curling around her doris. He pouted his lips, his eyes widening while he tilted his face downwards. She narrowed her eyes at his devious pout, a hint of a smile tracing her lips. His eyes trained on her luscious, rosebud lips and she cleared her throat to focus his attention.
“One kiss in return for these papers,” he replied while trailing his hand up her back and cupping her cheek with his palm. She turned her cheek into his hand while letting out a small sigh, the smile on her face widening in content. She leaned in and his breath hitched, his gaze moving to her lips, once again.
She blew into his ears before whispering, “Absolutely not.” She pulled away while crossing her arms, her glare warning him to give up the papers. He flinched away from her glare, looking at the papers in his hand before looking back at her. He sighed in defeat and handed them over to her expectant hands. She ruffled his hair while chuckling at his angry pout and got up from the bed to place the papers back on her desk.
Tejo arranged the papers neatly and began to grade them with little to no concentration as her mind was preoccupied by indecent thoughts about her pouting husband that she had left on their bed. She bit the cap of her pen before grinding the tip of the pen into the paper she was currently grading, willing herself to pull her attention back to her students’ work. Yet, no amount of self-persuasion was proving to be successful, and she swiveled around in her chair, facing her husband.
There he was, sitting with his arms crossed over a pillow and his long face resting in his hands. She laughed at the adorable sight and walked towards him while shaking her head. He huffed in annoyance and turned his face the other way while she bent down in front of him. She turned his face towards her and smiled before pressing her lips into his. He smiled into the kiss and pulled her closer while darting his tongue out to open her mouth. They pulled away once they were out of breath and Tejo placed her forehead against his. She placed a small peck on his lips before getting up to go back to her work.
He held her hand and asked, “Ye kya tha? If you were going to eventually kiss me, why not before?” She turned back towards him before answering, “Because our love and my expression of it should be unbound and without conditions. Nahi toh pyaar nahi, ek sauda hai.”
She sat back down at her desk, her words lingering in the air and silencing his usually chatter mouth. Just like many times before, Tejo Ji had explained the difference between love and comprise to him in just a few simple words. More importantly, this was just another stark contrast between what Jasmine had demanded from him and what Tejo Ji had given him.
This is what love feels like.
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Ishaani
