Tenu lya vekh hor vekhna main ki
Kinni sohni vibe aa te pereya aa meeh
Aaja nerhe-nerhe tere mere vich na koi hor
Teri hi awaaz suna baki lagge shor

Author's POV

The eyes of both the women turned to the man standing behind Sanvi. Sanvi's breath caught in her throat seeing him standing so close to her as she breathed in his comforting scent. His warmth was addictive. She couldn't help the sigh escaping her lips. He kept moving closer until his back was touching hers, making her body come alive at the direct contact between their bodies. Sanvi's pupils danced as her mind ran wild looking at her husband, whose eyes were coldly glaring at Vipda. He looked like a beast marking his territory as he shoved away every soul who dared to disrupt her path.

Vipda looked starstruck seeing the tall, handsome man standing in front of her, growling like an alpha male as her brain gave her warning signals to run away before he could open his mouth again. She couldn't believe Sanvi was married to THE ISHAAN MALHOTRA, the CEO of the Malhotra empire. Her eyes refused to believe that someone like Sanvi could bag a man like him who had the world on his knees.

"Anyway Anvi, darling, why are you wasting time talking to a cleaner?" Ishaan's question directed towards his wife brought Vipda back to her senses as she realized he had mistaken her for a cleaner. What? A cleaner?

"Excuse me! I am–" Vipda started when she was brutally cut in the middle as Ishaan said, "Excused! I have no interest in knowing insignificant people who lack the basic skills to hold a conversation with someone as important as Dr. Sanvi Ishaan Malhotra"

The undertone of immense pride in his voice as he said Sanvi's name sent chills down Vipda's spine. If humiliation ever existed, this was the worst form of it for her. A man who didn't know the public figure, Vipda Mehta? No way. She couldn't believe that.

"Shaan, she is Dr. Vipda Mehta. She's a senior doctor over here," Sanvi introduced, but Ishaan's gaze never moved towards the woman in the picture as he slowly raised his hand to tuck the tendrils away from her face as they disturbed his view.

Sanvi's eyes met his as he asked, "Why did you never tell me about the gala?"

Vipda still stood there seeing the couple too lost to acknowledge her as she had been silently dismissed by Ishaan as if she didn't even exist for him. As if his eyes could see nothing except his wife. Moreover, Vipda felt like the way he spoke she felt as if her voice was hurting his ears. He had his ears only for his wife. As if every word Sanvi said was music to Ishaan's ears. 

"I thought you might be busy," Sanvi said, looking away. Instead of answering, he leaned down and tenderly brushed his lips over her forehead as he murmured, "If I am not lost in admiring you, I am not busy"

His words brought the butterflies alive in her belly while Vipda looked like her legs would give up any second.

Ishaan welcomed his wife in his arms as he continued, "We are all busy in our lives, Sanvi but our hassle becomes meaningless the moment we cannot take out times for our loved ones. Your every demand comes before my own self to me. Next time you think of me being too busy for you. You must think of you taking away my right to be there for my wife and hurting me in the worst way possible. Understand?"

She nodded, tightening her arms around his frame as her throat felt clogged with emotions. Where was this man for the past 1 year?

Sanvi looked around to see Vipda briskly walking away and frowned. What had got the witch's tale on fire? She wondered. Seeing her expression Ishaan twirled her around as he whispered in her ears, "Everyone loves their job, Anvi"

Vipda didn't think that Ishaan and Sanvi might be this deep in love to show affection like she wasn't even around which made her understand that if she kept standing there and attracted Ishaan's attention (especially his wrath) for trying to insult his wife she would have to lose her job and reputation so she sneaked away to ensure her survival.

Ishaan lifted Anvi in his arms making her squeal. She immediately kept a hand on her mouth realizing they were in the hospital while Ishaan laughed. Like gave her his real laugh that made his dimples pop out and brows relax amusingly.

Sanvi looked at him and kept looking without blinking as she saw him laugh after one entire year. After his father's death, Ishaan's smiles were rarely genuine as he was either faking happiness for his mother or cracking the codes of formal introductions. She was a gone case as she captured his laugh in the deepest corners of her heart. Another memory to cherish. Another emotion she held all to herself. His laughter was like a humm of blooming flowers in her barren heart.

Noticing the intensity of her gaze, Ishaan looked down at her with a smile and pecked her nose. She rubbed it cutely, making him smile wider.

"Laughter suits you," Sanvi said, looking at him with depth in her eyes as she dreamed of him staying happy always. Whether with her or without her. The thought of someone else being the recipient of his laughter pinched her heart, but she couldn't be that selfish to keep the masterpiece of a man to herself.

"Stay with me always and this laughter will be guaranteed forever," he said seriously, making her avert her gaze. She couldn't promise him that. She knew whatever this was, it was temporary. He always ended things on a good note, whether it was a life or business deal. Negotiation with a bottle of wine, a negative conversation with a smile, and now maybe he was going to end their marriage by giving her happy memories. Maybe this was all it was. She didn't know what to make out of his behavior. She would simply enjoy it till it lasts.

"Ask me, Anvi. Ask me the questions you kept at the tip of your tongue for a year. Ask me why. Don't take away the chance of explaining from me," he pleaded. He saw the change of her expression and he knew she had thought the worse of the situation. She had to spell it out.

"Why now? Are you trying to end this on a good note?" she asked softly. A tormented expression grew on his face as he realized she had misunderstood him, but he knew he hadn't given her enough reasons to believe otherwise.

"I am emotionally lost, Anvi, and would be dead if I let you walk out of my life. If what we have ended, it would end whatever is left of me so I am a simple man trying to hold his wife back to himself. A man who has difficulty breathing just at the thought of losing his wife" he said gravely, making tears gather at the corner of her eyes.

"Why are you letting this divorce proceed then?" she asked him.

"My wife married me for love. I didn't. Can't afford to let her move forward with those crushed shards of starting at the wrong footing. I didn't look into her eyes on her big day and tell her that I was blessed to have her. I missed every second of telling her how much she meant to me. Maybe if I am lucky she would give me this chance again because a relationship that starts at a business contract is useless until it transforms into a love contract. I don't want a chance to stop this divorce. Those bits of paper don't matter to me. I want a chance to be your choice. I want a chance to show you that I would rectify my faults and be worthy of earning your vows of togetherness," he told her while she looked at him as if he was a miracle of fate bestowed upon her.

"Why did you not realize this in this entire year?" she asked in a strained voice. He understood her pain but kept walking as he spoke.

"The day you went to Kapoor mansion for one day was when I lost it. I knew I wouldn't be able to survive without you. I realized long back Anvi but by then you had given up hope on us. You stayed away, I juggled between expressing my feelings and the weight of my father's responsibilities. His dream project.  You didn't even look into my eyes scared of heartbreak and I couldn't look away from you scared of losing you. I know what I lost due to my silence but I am willing to give anything and everything to win it back" he said.

"But the project isn't complete yet. I mean you are spending the day here. It was your important meeting today right--"

"There's nothing more important than you to me. I don't want to live for anything except you. I just spelled it out very late" he said joining his forehead with hers. 

"I love y—" she was going to say the words she didn't dare repeat after the day of their marriage under the fuzzy influence of his utterances when he stopped her and said, "We'll do it the right way this time. Having said it once, you'll say it again after an unforgettable confession echoes in your ears from my side."

"Now let's go have our food," he said raising her a little higher in his arms while she just blinked at him.

"Hey! The cafeteria is that way. We are—" Sanvi was saying when he took her lips in his. Parting he said, "I have never let my wife have stale food for a fact and I don't plan on starting now"

Too lost in the way his lips felt she didn't even ask a thing as he brought her to the private area of the terrace and as he opened the door for the little patio she gasped. Ishaan made her stand on her feet as she carefully stepped around as if not wanting to hurt the petals of roses laid on the ground as if bowing down like devoted servers to invite her towards the shining dining table. The lanterns and fairy lights all around twinkled, red and white balloons waved and the little bubbles of soap enveloped the air. She looked back at Ishaan and did not waste a minute before jumping in his arms.

He stumbled a little before balancing them as he blew a kiss on her head.

"I love it. All of it. Omg! Balloons and bubbles. How did you even get the idea?" she asked, overwhelmed.

"Had to make the opening statement of our fresh start straight out of your dreams. I am glad you loved it. No! Don't say anything else before I feed you your favorite biryani because you look so close to fainting out of fatigue right now. You'll waste your energy if you keep jumping like this" he said sincerely and made her sit on the chair. He opened the properly covered casserole of biryani and filled her plate to the brink. She looked at him wide-eyed and said, "I can't eat this much"

Glaring at her he spoke, "And let your blood pressure drop like last time? You came home and kept taking support of furniture pieces to reach the table. I'd never want a repeat telecast"

She looked at him shocked as she asked, "You noticed?"

"There's nothing that can keep my eyes away from you when you are in the room" he shrugged.

"But I have never seen you looking at me?" she asked.

"Careful of your discreet admirer missus. Maybe he's going to stealthily steal you from the world someday" he winked making her blush. Keeping his hands under his chin he sighed loudly as he kept openly staring at her.

"Stop being so cute or else I'll have you for dessert" Ishaan warned only to see her blush deepen. He smiled to himself as he kept going all awe over her.

"I toh have been waiting since a year to be devoured by you," she said while his hand slipped making him straighten up all of a sudden. He didn't expect that from his shy wifey. Looking at his baffled face she kept her spoon down and laughed. If her husband thought he had married an innocent lamb he was in for a surprise. She was the most mischievous kid in her family.

"Is the food getting to your head?" he asked checking her temperature while she innocently shook her head and said, "The moment you entered my head, everything else was off limits."

And she saw his ears turning pink. She had made her man blush.

God! He was so cute. She gushed making a dreamy face. She giggled seeing him pouring the water into a glass for himself and gulping it in a go. He leaned forward and swiped her lower lip with his thumb making her go numb for a second. He smirked at her state and was going to teach her a lesson for teasing him when his phone rang.

He picked it up while his finger still kept tracing her petals making her have difficulty breathing. She heard as his mother's loud command reached her ears, "Ishaan, I want you home right now. How dare you forget that you are supposed to reach home before 1 at any cost? Maya hasn't had her dinner waiting for you. Sanvi bore it quietly when you came home late at night, Maya won't. She isn't a murderer's daughter to be treated this way"

Having said that, his mother hung up the phone, leaving Sanvi and Ishaan quietly staring at one another. It was difficult to conceal the storm that had accompanied her words behind their eyes.

His father's murderer's daughter. How dare I think I would be anything more than that? She sadly smiled at her fate seeing Ishaan's expressions growing colder with every passing moment. She had taken his momentary dissuasion a little too far in her heart. She had once again hoped for the love she didn't deserve and the man better off without her shadow. Every beginning comes to an end, happy is for the lucky ones, and miserable is for girls like her. The ones who dreamt with open eyes. The ones who stubbornly refused to give up on their delusional yearning for men like Ishaan. She averted her eyes from his as she stood up and walked away. 

Ham toh unhe door se nihaar kar ishq kar baithe the

Socha nahi tha paas aane par apni haisiyat gava baithenge 

Ham toh bin maange unhe apna sab de chuke the

Socha nahi tha unhe paakar apna vajood gava baithenge

(●'◡'●)(●'◡'●)(●'◡'●)(●'◡'●)(●'◡'●)(●'◡'●)(●'◡'●)(●'◡'●)(●'◡'●)

I wrote this when I was doing everything except focusing on writing. Before I go into the nervous zone just tell me how it was. 

Worth the wait? Liking their story so far?

Ain't their relationship somewhat complicated?

What was the best part of the update?

The best dialogue?

The cutest scene?

What do you think will happen next?

Something you hated? 

Did I mess something up?

Did it work for you...okayish jitna tha ya usse bhi gaye *hehe*

Something that made you smile?

I am going through a busy schedule so I will start writing the next chapter of this one the moment we cross 100+ comments. Works? 

Rate the update for me please (Also the last one was in Punjabi in the previous chappy):

1. It just touched my eyes (3 stars)

2. It touched my heart (4 stars)

3. I touched my eyes, heart, mind, and soul  (5 stars)

Thank you for reading and making my day. The moment you click on the notification and start reading you are adding to my list of happy moments of life. You guys mean that much to me. Wherever I am, whatever I am, or however far I have come it's all because of your love and I will stay grateful forever for that. Your update ends here and mine starts the moment your comments start dropping by. Kindly don't leave without voting and leaving your feedback. I love inline comments. It feels like you guys are talking straight to me and my imagination. Love you people!

Random question: Is Sanvi's father the murderer of Ishaan's father?

or

Who do you love more and why? Ishaan or sanvi

or

Abhijay vs Rudra vs Ishaan ( Tough choice I know *hehe*)

Keep smiling!

Signing off

Ms. Bhatia