The day went too lazy, she just lay above him and went into deep thought, she didn't know what was stopping her from opening up everything to him, maybe because she loved him too much, both in the past as well as in the present. She thought on the contrary, what would have happened if she told him everything to him that day when he came back home after 5 days of travel. 

More than her, nobody knew about him, it was not from the moment they got married, it was many years back that. She was present when his father humiliated him for choosing science over commerce, he didn't respond but there was a disappointment on his face, and his mother held his closed fist tight still in her memory, they were just present for his father. Over that time, when she discussed with her mom and dad his father's behaviour at the party, her father didn't take a moment to think before supporting his friend, he kept asking the same thing, what will he do other than take over his father's business? And that day, her thought didn't match with her father's. She mentally wished him to prove these people wrong. As he heard those, he was a topper in the school and get into IIT with a triple-digit rank. He did everything in his way. 

But when he decided to start a business, he required financial support from his father, he didn't ask but decided to take his shares from the family business and sell before consulting anything to his father, which made everyone furious except his mom who was stuck in the middle, she remembers her last conversation from his mom, she was emotional and held her palm tight when she said those words to her.

"My Son tolerated enough, but he always fought back and got what he wanted, but never got happiness from it, I know his happiness is incomplete because of the lack of support, ill-treatment, discouragement, and the under-estimation he gets from his father who wanted him to be nothing but a puppet. Till now, I felt confident about my son's decision, but this is huge, If he fails, he can't get up. I want my son to win, I don't know what to do, God! Please help my son, THIS IS MY ONLY WISH, PLEASE." 

After that, her sudden death collapsed his world apart. He didn't shed tears, he was shocked throughout her last rites, and her eyes didn't leave him for the entire time. Then too, he didn't give up, he took the risk and started his dream only depending on his hard work when there was zero support from his father.  

If she shared about her state that happened in his absence, it would have definitely shaken him up even though he wasn't that interested in kids. He would blame himself and may even leave everything for her, she wasn't just saying, she saw her priority in his life. And the break! It happened only because she insisted he stay away from her. She still remembers how he stayed out of her house for the entire two nights when she locked herself in the room knowing his arrival, she was in tears throughout, and she neither ate nor drank anything, which made him leave the place leaving her in her own state. She knew he can't afford his stay leaving his start-up. 

But looking back, she started to feel calm, she knew they needed the break. She made her career, started to earn, and most importantly started to divert herself. If she stayed with him, she would have never got an opportunity to think beyond it, she attended multiple interviews over there during the time she stayed but never got selected, and slowly she started to lose her self-confidence followed by that, she started to loose herself. 

"Baby!" He called her. She never told him but she loved how it sounds in his voice. She rose up her head and responded to him with a smile. He just smiled back and hugged her even tighter. There was no communication between them, but their hearts spoke a lot. 

****

Nothing is more important than the lady who lay above him right now and occupied his heart. He said to himself when he recalled her panic attack when he insisted on knowing the reason, but he can't stay like that. He has every right to know what happened, he was involved in it. During that time, apart from shivaay, she was close with Gauri, but he left with no way to contact her as om broke up with her 4 years ago after hearing her mom's words. Om never thought their casual fight and his random joke about her mother would cost that much. It was not only for shivaay, his friend Om was on the same page. But Om had confidence that she would come back to him until he saw her marriage picture in a random post tagged by his friends of friends, he was heartbroken, and couldn't cope up. Till now, he was sure that his lady is not happy and constantly tried to track her but his every try went in vain. He couldn't stop his friend from drowning his guilt for that night which cost their 8-year-long relationship. That's how they named their operating system name. RIKA, RI - the last two letters of Gauri, KA- the last two letters of Anika, while Rudy just supported his two friends, and the last letter changes with his current relationship letter, just like that, it will change according to their new version or update release and now it's RIKA S, S for Stefania, and it was the secret between these three, as people say, some complicated questions will have some lamest and funniest answers. 

"I am hungry!"  Shivaay heard her say looking at him with her wide big eyes. 

"Your husband at your service, make a wish, ma'am!" He said in a cheerful tone which made her smile when she got up on the bed, he got up and waited for her answer. 

"Take me to McDonald's."  She finally said, and he missed those words from her. He still couldn't believe out of all the places in Newyork, McDonald's have been their happiest place. And he stayed there for hours whenever he missed her during these 4 years. He stood up from the bed and gave her a hand. 

"Your wish, my command," He said, she chuckled and got up from the bed holding his hand. 

As usual, she didn't take much time to get ready, both got ready in the next half an hour and headed out. She just wore a blue sleeveless top along with the jeans, her hair set free, her ears wore just a stud, and her hand had the phone, and that's it, she was ready to blow off his mind. 

"What happened?" She asked him when he stayed stuck leaning on the door. 

"The time stopped for a while!" He said, as always, her cheek turned red but had a disgusting expression on her face. 

"I don't think my stomach felt the same, it's growling." She replied to him in a slightly irritated tone. He smiled because he knew she fell for his words but don't want to admit it. Holding their palms, they entered the lifts when all the memories inside the closed lift crossed his mind, but when the lift's door opened, he was stand-still. But he heard his wife's chuckle. They caught a young couple kissing inside the lift but both parted apart when they saw them. Both were flushed, embarrassed. And his phone popped up with a message, surprisingly it was from his wife. 

"Uff, I chuckled, It would be very embarrassing for them." 

He smiled at her message and typed a reply. 

"Can we ask them to continue their own business when we start our old pending business?" 

He saw her reading the message, her eyes widened but soon she turned off her phone and kept it in her front pocket. But he didn't want to leave it right there. 

"Baby, I asked you something. When are we going to restart our old pending business?" He asked her, she didn't turn towards him but hid her eyes and turned away from him. But they heard a chuckle from the girl who was standing beside them, it was clear that she must have read their text exchange. But soon the lift door opened. 

"Our floor, we will be continuing our business in our place, don't have to ask." The guy who was next to the chuckling girl told and ran away from the place before shivaay could say anything, but when he turned to his wife, her jaw dropped due to shock. He couldn't stop him from laughing. 

"What was that?" She asked him back. 

"Don't know. But I like it." He said decreasing the distance between them. 

"Woah... What are you doing?" She asked him while moving to the iron wall behind her. 

"As I told you before darling, let's not break our ritual, come on." He said with a pout which initiated a smile on her face. And he didn't want to leave the moment, he arrested her palms against the iron wall, planted a small peck on the tip of her nose, followed to her cheek and she lost her balance and fell into his embrace while chuckling. Before her chuckles break his control, they reached the parking. He placed her back on the floor, took her palm, and walked outside. These were the small things between them that never changes. Breaking their moments, her phone beeped. Her face fell. 

"What happened? Anything serious?" He asked her. 

"I got filed in a defamation lawsuit." She replied to him while looking at her phone. 

***