Chapter Forty Five

Arnav stared up at the ceiling as Khushi ran her fingers through his hair. He laid in his wife's lap, both relaxing in bed after a nice lunch with the family.

Arnav turned to face Khushi and caressed her tummy. "How's my little princess doing?"

"Since you last asked two minutes ago? Absolutely fine," Khushi smirked lightly.

Arnav frowned. "What, I can't help it. It's not like I get to know what my little- what fruit did you say? Kumquat?"

Khushi nodded.

"It's not my fault I don't know what my little kumquat is doing; I'm not her mother."

Khushi chuckled. "No, you're not. And why do you keep calling our son a kumquat?"

"Because you said she's about the size of one."

"Well I think he is. It's either that or bigger."

"It only has been two weeks since we found out."

"True... kumquat it is."

Arnav grinned and kissed her stomach. "Get used to the nicknames," he said to her stomach. "It'll be like that for a while, and then once you get here, we'll get you your official nickname, of course after we figure out what to name you."

"So it's fruits for now," Khushi teased lightly.

Arnav chuckled. "Whatever she can be compared to in size."

"So you'll call him a lime when he's the size of that?"

"Yes I will, and she can yell at me all she wants when she's older, but I'll already have gotten away with it," he grinned.

Khushi laughed as Arnav nuzzled her stomach. "Well if we do have a girl, you better get ready because daddy's little princess will always have you on your toes."

Arnav covered her stomach with his hands. "Ssh, don't teach her that!"

Khushi rolled her eyes. "It'll happen naturally."

Arnav scowled. "Will not."

Khushi cocked her eyebrow. "Lavanya," she simply said, and that was all she needed to prove her point.

Arnav's eyes widened. "Oh no," he whispered.

"Oh yes," Khushi said mischievously.

Arnav blinked up at her and then down at her stomach. "Please don't be another Lavanya," he begged.

Khushi laughed. "We'll just have to wait and see."

Arnav laid back down in her lap. "At least you now agree we'll have a little girl."

Khushi sighed, leaning back into her pillow. "I don't know... no matter what we have, be it a boy or a girl, I will be extremely happy. But something inside me tells me that it'll be a boy."

Arnav frowned. "Inside you?"

Khushi shrugged. "Intuition?"

Arnav snickered lightly and Khushi frowned.

"It's not funny, It's a mother's intuition. And besides it's like everyone else says; mother knows best," she sang, like Gothel from Tangled.

Arnav looked at her. "Does she now," he smiled lightly, his eyes filled with love and humor.

"Yes she does, daddy," Khushi smiled softly.

With a grin, Arnav got up and kissed her passionately, both of their hands over Khushi's abdomen, passing on their love to their child.

*~*

Aryan sat at his desk, engrossing himself with work in his study. He didn't want to be here, but his wife had forced him to, annoyed with him hovering over her. Aryan didn't think that he was 'hovering', but his wife's scowl stopped him from his explanation. Instead, he listened to her order to go to the study and did just that, with a pout of course. He had expected his pout to work, as it used to many times before, but it seemed that pregnancy had changed the effect of his pout on her.

Aryan let out a heavy sigh, when the door to the secret passageway opened up. Aryan frowned at it. He hadn't activated it, so how did it open? Was there an issue with the switch?

Aryan got up and went through it. He walked down the quiet narrow hall and arrived to a fork. One path lead to their room. The other however....

I wonder....

Aryan decided to take the other path, a path he hadn't gone down in so many years. Back in his younger days, when he had first discovered the hidden path, he would use this room as his hangout. No one else knew about it, not even his parents. As he got older, he continued to use it, but never told anyone about it, not even his siblings nor friends. It was after he had married Shalini that he had finally shared the existence of this room to someone, to her. The two would escape to here sometimes, their little getaway from the world, even after the home was left to the two alone, as his parents had decided to move to the big city. It was just their sweet escape spot, and they loved using it. However, after having Arnav, it wasn't used much since Arnav was quite nosy and would follow them around a lot, especially Shalini. They would escape there during their very rare chances, but after Shalini had been kidnapped, Aryan had never gone back in there again. For a while, he had even forgotten it's existence, which in a way was good since it didn't add on to his pain when he didn't have his beloved wife.

Something clicked in Aryan's head. I wonder if Divya ever learned of this room.

Remembering her jealousy, it only made Aryan wonder what the wretched woman knew. For a moment, he wondered if he should seal some of the hidden passageways and change the passwords to several things for safety precautions.

Maybe... but then again she'd be a fool for ever turning up here again. If she's learned anything from living here for so long, then it's that Aryan Singh Raizada does not tolerate those who go against his words.

Aryan got to the end of the hall and saw that the secret door was open. Curious, he entered the room and stared in shock. The room was absolutely clean, as if it hadn't been abandoned for so many years. It was as if he had been in here yesterday, not an inch of dust covering the place.

But it wasn't that, that had shocked him. It was the sight of her, naked and wanting, spread along the lounger with her hair flowing, that had shocked him.

"What are you...?"

She stood up and made her way to him, her hips swaying with each step.

"Waiting for you," she said seductively.

Aryan looked over her shoulder, refusing to look at her. "What is the meaning of this?"

She pouted. "Don't do that, don't look away from me," she said, caressing his face, trying to get him to look at her.

"No," he simply replied, still looking away.

"You know you want to. How could you ever look away from your Jaanemaan?"

Aryan frowned at her. "I can when she's been yelling at me and pushing me away."

"I did not yell nor push you away," Shalini defended.

Aryan continued to frown.

Shalini took his hand. "I did not. I simply asked you to do some work..."

Shalini ran his hand down her body, over her mound and down to her hip. Aryan glanced at it and then looked back at her.

"... to stop you from hovering but..."

Shalini moved his hand lower, over her femininity.

"...that was a mistake," she nearly whispered.

Aryan cocked his eyebrow. 

"As soon as you left, I wanted you. I needed you."

"Is that so?"

Shalini nodded. "Pregnancy seems to be messing with me. One minute I'm hot, the other I'm not."

Aryan snickered lightly. "So it seems. Question is, when during the two are you wet?"

Aryan ran his finger through her wet cleft, causing Shalini to gasp with a silent 'ah'.

"I'm not sure," she breathed. "But what I am sure of is that I want you to fuck me."

Aryan mocked his distaste. "Jaanemaan, you have a dirty mouth."

Instead of responding, Shalini kissed along his jaw and down his neck. She caressed him over his pants and kissed and teethed his neck, feeling him ready to explode out of his pants. She let go of his neck and saw her work ready for display.

She looked up at him. "You know you love my mouth," Shalini whispered as she pulled down his pajamas.

"That I do," he whispered, stepping out of them.

Shalini smirked as she got down on her knees, never taking her eyes off of his. Aryan watched with anticipation, watching his little temptress. Shalini stuck her tongue out and slowly ran it up his shafts, causing Aryan to moan and shut his eyes. He felt her lips wrap around the head and he watched as she sucked and licked him.

"Jaanemaan," he moaned quietly.

Shalini took his length in her mouth and Aryan groaned. He watched his wife as she took him in his mouth, her eyes still on him. He felt his body heat, so he pulled off his t-shirt and tossed it aside. He placed one hand through her hair and felt Shalini moan against him, causing him to groan.

It was just like old times, the two once being very naughty and intimate. This room played as a good getaway for the two to be naughty, since his family always seemed to be needing one of them at every hour of the day. He was grateful, however, after three months of their marriage when his brothers had moved out and his parents had decided to live in the city for the rest of their days. Even though this left the house to the two, they still would come to this room and be naughty.

Aryan caressed Shalini's head with both hands. Shalini slightly bared her teeth along his shaft, causing Aryan to grip her hair as it sent him over the edge. Not once did his wife pull back, taking all of him until the last drop.

Aryan's chest heaved as he came down from his high. He needed his wife now more than ever, so he tugged on her hair to get her on her feet and covered her lips with his. Shalini moaned and stepped back as Aryan led her back to the lounger. Both laid down without breaking the kiss.

Aryan pulled back. "You're such a minx Jaanemaan," he murmured on her lips

Shalini smiled as she ran her fingers through his hair. "I know. Do you like what I've done to the room?"

Aryan glanced around the room, taking note of the many flowers and candles, as well as how clean it was. "Did you clean it all today," he asked.

She shook her head. "I lived here."

Aryan's eyes widened and shot to hers. "You did?"

"I hid in this room most of the time, moving around a lot to the other secret rooms."

Aryan gaped at her. "If I hadn't let my emotions get the best of me..."

"You would have discovered the truth earlier," she completed, smiling sadly.

Aryan looked away, lost in thought. He definitely would have discovered Shalini was alive years before, had he not let their memories hurt him.

Shalini caressed his cheek and had him face her. "You didn't know."

"I could have-"

"No, you couldn't. I've seen you grieve and I've seen how painful it was. Just looking at the secret entrance would even paid you. You wouldn't have known."

"But-"

"But nothing. Besides, you shouldn't just blame yourself. I am to blame as well."

Aryan's eyebrows scrunched. "How?"

"I was so close to you, yet so far away. I had the ability to open the entrance from my side and lead you in like today. I could have easily closed that distance, but I couldn't."

Aryan sighed and laid his head on her chest. "We both were scared from our memories and emotions."

Shalini nodded, running her fingers through her husband's hair.

"But things have changed."

Shalini looked down at Aryan as he looked up at her.

"We're starting a new beginning," he said, caressing her abdomen. "And we can do better from here on out."

Shalini nodded, placing her hand over his. Aryan reached up and kissed her, and the two flowed away, taking themselves to t heir own little world.