Author's note: All the adult/mature disclaimers hold. I understand that I haven't flipped the Mature indicator for this story, but I'm still not convinced that it's needed over one chapter. If you are easily put off by intimate scenes which, in my opinion, is organic to romantic fiction, then kindly refrain.
*****
Once outside the breakfast place, his phone chimed. Upon checking it, he sighed. There was always something coming up when they were together and she was getting used to waiting even when they were hardly a few feet away.
"The sprinklers didn't turn on. We'll have to stop by the greenhouse before heading home."
She shrugged. "I took the day off. I'm all yours." At once, she cringed catching the slip.
"You better mean it," he said, throwing his brows up, a flicker of mischief in his eyes.
The sun was playing hide and seek from behind the clouds and with a full belly, she fought sleep while the car wound through hairpin bends.
"Are we telling others?" she said, hoping for a conversation, if not a debate. "About us now being married."
She was still getting used to the thought they were now newlyweds, her cheeks heating up from an inexplicable thrill she felt then.
"I'll leave that to you." He smiled catching her eyes and gazed at her a moment longer before turning to the road.
"Not yet," she said, shaking her head. "I don't think everyone will understand."
With that, the outside scenery drew her in...
She woke nearly an hour later with the car parked outside an idyllic greenhouse. Craning her neck she attempted to spot him inside, but the stacked rows of plants obscured her view. She limped her way in and found him examining the irrigation pipes. However, the tiers of tomato plants along the sides and in the middle of the greenhouse caught her attention.
"You have really taken it to another level." She remarked with a laugh. "At least we'll never run out of tomatoes for a lifetime."
Picking up a water hose, he got to his feet and walked towards her. "I didn't know how to even keep a cactus alive and you had gone and brought me a fussy, sickly tomato plant." He sighed. "It took me quite a bit of books to find a way to propagate it and make it last through the winter."
Her brows furrowed. "Are you saying all these are —"
"Not all," he pointed to a section in the back. "Those rows are all from the plant you gifted me. I managed to preserve the seeds and put them as part of the cargo that we shipped out beforehand."
He gazed at her with a distant pain in his eyes. "It's foolish, I know," he said, his ears turning red.
She then saw the single-mindedness with anything to do her. There was a quiet obsession in how he held onto her and the same obstinate part of him had brought about his green thumb.
The man didn't proclaim his love with words. He had only told that he loved her twice at most, and she'd never demanded it of him, out of ego. But that second, she decided she would never ask that of him in the future either. To do so would be an insult.
Love was not a noun to him, but a verb. To be in love, was to do in love.
And she thought she would collapse from the weight of his affections.
Closing her eyes, she leaned back against the metal beam. Will her love ever measure up to his?
He rushed to her side. "Hey, I didn't mean to —" And just like that the water burst through the pipe. "Dammit," he cried shuffling the pipe end from one hand to another, to keep the exploding showers away from them, but the pressure was too high. He dropped it to the floor and the hose wiggled violently like a dying snake, spraying them wet. He ran towards the back and after a second, the pipe was defunct, the last of the water ebbing out in spurts like a gurgling child.
It was too late by then and she chortled, dripping wet. "Now there's something you can't fix." She called out.
When he got back, he was drenched as well and joined her in the laughter. "Just get a plumber in here, will you luv?" She said, reaching for him and he gathered her in his arms.
"You can give anyone a complex," she said wedging her nose into the crook of his neck. "Somehow I never thought, how you care for a mere tomato plant will make me question everything."
He was quiet for a while. "What do you mean?"
She didn't answer him. Her chest cinched from the bustle of emotions and she simply hugged him tighter.
He was quiet for a bit. "I don't think there is a competition," he said and gently swayed her back and forth in his hold. "You love me just the way I want."
"Promise, you'll always be this man, Ri Jeong Hyuk'sshi." She partly turned and kissed him in the cheek.
But he held her chin and kissed her back, his lips affording the same understanding she wanted of him. "Don't go change a thing about you," she said.
Smiling, her wrist swiped at the wetness on his forehead, arranging his hair back, while he wrung his sweater. She pivoted about, taking off her coat and sweater and bent sideways to loosen the wet mass of her hair.
And she felt his finger stroking the skin exposed by the gap between her top and skirt, rousing something inexplicable there.
"I thought you were wearing a dress." She heard him close behind her, his voice heavy with a familiar fight that soon filled her.
"It's a dress and it's not too," she said entertaining his curiosity, and straightened, only to be flipped about against his chest. With their foreheads touching, the temptation of a kiss lingered in the air, his eyes darkening by the moment, and yet, he didn't act on it.
His inaction wasn't lost on her. Her own words were tying him down and she was done teasing him with her little games of push and pull.
She kissed the line of his jaw and then tipped his face down to catch his lips, while her other hand traced up the taut muscle of his abdomen under his sweater.
But that was all he could resist on his part. Grabbing her by the waist, he raised her onto him, all the while kissing her with an urgency that was in measure for the times he'd held back. Instinctively, she wrapped her legs around him, only to be let down by the cast on her left leg. However, his firm hand gripped her thigh, giving her support. Taking a few steps to the left, he lowered her onto an old corner table. His sweater was off and in no time they were kissing again, just as his fingers made quick work of the buttons lining her top.
Her attack of nerves was back again. Goodness! Out in the open? With no blanket? On a table!
Trembling and self-conscious, her hands coiled close to her chest. Noticing her wariness, the roll of his lips, slowed.
Catching the break, she collected her breath. "Take me home..." she mumbled against his lips. "I can't let my first time be on a rickety table."
And at once, she winced more so over the slip than the excuse that it truly was. "Pretend that you didn't hear that," she said, burying her face into his chest and placed a kiss where she felt the thump of his heart.
"There is no judgment if it matters," he whispered, pulling her face level to his and kissed her again offering the only solace her embarrassed self would take. "But don't let that stop you from trying —"
"Stop it, will you?" Her hand covered his mouth. "I'm not making excuses." She shook her head and he raised a brow at her.
"I may not be experimental to start with," she said smiling shyly, and then looked up at him with defiance in her eyes. "But I'm no prude either and someone said I'm a fast learner too."
"Ah," he held her face, "now that's the woman I know."
And the look in her eyes melted to one of gratitude. He didn't call her out or tease her on the subject of her inexperience.
And there's the man I know.
*****
They were at the garage and that's as far he could go without touching her. And she stumbled to face him, shrugging off her wet jacket, while he whisked off the sweater again.
On his part, it was trickery, if anything. He'd noted that she was far more open to his kisses when she ran her hands over his bare chest more so than otherwise. And he pulled her close to him, by the waist and she landed on him smiling, her hands reaching to circle his neck.
Her head tipped to one side. "I know your schemes." She whispered and they laughed together.
"I should perhaps think of new ones then," he said with his nose slowly gliding down her jaw. She smelled like a garden and then a whiff that was all her.
"You don't need to." He raised herself on her toes forgetfully and then let out a small cry. But her words had been enough and he lowered to slip off the cast from her left leg. Picking her up, he approached the door and she pushed it open for him.
Inside, he took her lips with an urgency that made her head loll back a bit, but she caught him by the neck and reciprocated his fervency in kind.
And then the sound of something metal-like hitting the floor. He jolted and swiftly broke their kiss to look straight ahead. His mother was frozen in place, her ladle at her feet. His father on the couch looked everywhere but at them.
There was no unseeing them like that. That chaste image of him would be all awash now
She tapped at his chest. "Let me down" She was horrified and her breath quickened to the point, he thought she would faint if he did and instead, he held onto her despite what the situation demanded.
"Jeong Hyuk'a," His mother's voice was faint and he closed his eyes.
"One moment, Omeoni!" He hurried out of the foyer and took a sharp right turn entering the bedroom and let her down. They both braced against the walls, breathing out loud.
"Where is a shovel when you need one?" she said and slid down the wall. "Forget it," she said animatedly shaking her head. "I'm never going to win them over."
He sighed and held his forehead. There was so much explaining to do. Least of it being the scandalous sight that had greeted them.
Checking his phone, he took in a deep breath. "If only I had bothered..." he said and showed her the notification from the home security system.
"Seriously?" she cried. "Are you saying we could have totally avoided that?"
"No!" He ambled to the closet. "I fully planned this to let them know we are seeing each other again."
His sarcasm didn't upset her, but it certainly made him mad that he'd taken the tone with her.
"You mean they don't know that you got in touch..." She was sniveling then.
He quickly changed out of his wet clothes. Stepping out of the closet, he found her sulking on the floor. "I'll talk to them Yoon Se Ri," he said, all the while buttoning his shirt. "Get some dry clothes on and come out when you are ready to meet them."
He walked to her and squatted down to meet her eyes. "We are not teenagers. Don't be profusely apologizing to them."
She nodded, but the next instant she threw her head back and stomped her good leg once. "Ottuke!"
"Remember, this is your home too." He touched her cheek.
"The only good that came of it," she gave him a small smile. "I got to see your cheeks stained red again." Her forehead furrowed. "The last time you went all pink was when you kissed me in the lobby of Sariwon hospital."
"Firstly, I'm never going to be comfortable with PDA. Period. The nurse didn't make it easy on me. Today, well, it's one for the books. Secondly, it wasn't about kissing you that brought color to my cheeks."
He leaned to kiss her forehead. "You forget that acknowledging the kiss also meant affirming my affections for you. And I wasn't ready to do so, only to break your heart later. It was having to make up reasons that did it."
He smiled at her, striving to hide the mischief in his voice. "Thirdly, I always kissed you when I wanted to." He shrugged. "I was not the one holding back."
"Omo!" She closed her mouth with both her hands. "It's not without truth when they say that the silent innocent types are the ones to watch out for!"
She pursed her lips for a moment, showing mock anger in her eyes, but ended up bursting into a laugh. "I can never look back at those kisses the same way again."
"Well, now you know," he said and stood up. "See you in a bit." He extended his arm to help her get to her feet and left to face the storm.
*****
In the living room, she caught him in a rare moment, delivering a diatribe against his father.
"If I cannot have her in my life then I want nothing else, aboji. And if you cannot tell that by now, then I wonder when you'll spare time to think what your son really wants."
And she understood that being caught in a compromising situation was nothing compared to being seen together.
His mother noticed her presence and placed a hand on his shoulder. "You can discuss this later."
His mother faced her and smiled, her arms open to receive her in a hug. "Is it ok for you to be walking without a cast, Yoon Se Ri?"
She looked to him worried. He was livid. "It's in the garage. I'll get it." He left them and his mother took her in an embrace with the same welcome in her eyes.
"Have you been well, abonim?" She inquired after his father, to which he nodded, nearly indifferent.
"Let's finish up the soup." His mother took her arm and supported her, while she slowly ambled towards the kitchen.
When they were beyond his father's earshot, his mother leaned in. "Don't worry," she said patting her shoulder. "The father-son quarrels are their only way of saying they love each other."
Quarrel? Him?
His mother sighed. "Well, Jeong Hyuk has never been the one to use words anyway."
Her brows went up. "For every four words of mine, he uses one." They laughed and the tension in her shoulders partly melted.
"As a boy, he would come running at night to give me a hug. But that little one has been lost to us for long." His mother breathed out loud. "And then you came along and I saw the warmth in him again."
"Would I be crossing the line," she hesitated, "if I asked why abonim is angry?"
"Abonim is worried about him." His mother said, her eyes softening.
"Oh" her mouth rounded. "I'm sure Ri Jeong Hyuk'sshi —"
"He wasn't the same after he came back from the south," his mother's eyes were distant. "And he just started a life, after the hell he'd lived through for nearly a year. His abonim is concerned he'll end up having his heart broken again."
Not the guns or the ghosts from his past. I was the problem.
His mother held up well and yet, she couldn't bear to stand that she was the issue. With a hand against the wall, she stood closing her eyes.
"Jeong Hyuk has never pursued anything in his life except you." His mother's voice cracked. "He even gave up the piano without a protest, when we had to commit him for military service after his brother died."
She wanted to persist until his mother could finish her thoughts, but the tears were beyond her. His mother got near and wiped her cheek. "You are someone who lives in the limelight Yoon Se Ri, but he cannot. I hope he won't lose you again." His mother took her hand, her voice lowering to a plea. "We cannot wish for you to stay together, nor stay apart. All I ask is think it over, before its too late."
It was clear that his parents weren't going to give them their blessings.
She wanted to laugh. She wanted to cry. Just when I thought life was on my side...
However, everything will have to wait. His parents were here for his birthday and she too wanted to make it about him.
With that resolve, she made every attempt to lighten the mood since then, to the extent she even risked to spur his father into a conversation about South Korean politics. It turned out he had a well-informed opinion about the rival's policies and she couldn't resist egging him.
Despite her efforts, their moods always returned to a dour state whenever he joined them. After a quiet lunch, she talked them all into watching a South Korean movie. With his parents fully engrossed in the plot, she saw him pick up his phone and type something. Her phone went off and she checked to find it was indeed him messaging her.
Ri Jeong Hyuk: I know what you are doing.
Yoon Se Ri: Then let it be. It's between me and my in-laws.
Yoon Se Ri: BTW, your Omoni misses your hugs.
Ri Jeong Hyuk: Next are you going to ask me to hug aboji too?
Yoon Se Ri: Why not?
Ri Jeong Hyuk: You always take their side.
Yoon Se Ri: I won't have to if you do.
He didn't respond to that and instead placed the phone screen-side down. Folding his arms, he appeared to engross himself in the movie, with the same look as a petulant child refused his favorite toy. She smiled at him, and he refused to meet her gaze.
Heavens! I love that man to bits.
After an early dinner and cake, his parents were ready to leave. Gathered outside the front door, she took his mother into a hug and then nearly shocked his father by giving him one too. Eventually, the elder settled with her fond gesture and tapped her arm affectionately.
When she let him go, the elder managed a smile. "You stay safe," he said and shifted his gaze to his son.
"I'm leaving for a trip in a few weeks," he said stepping close to his parents, his voice strained. "I'll come visit you before that."
"But I'll come visit you the next weekend, Omoni." She said smiling and turned to him with narrowed eyes.
"Yea, we could do that too." He said and turned to his mother, his eyes wavering. After a long moment, he bent down and embraced her, the awkwardness showing in his gingerly movements. "I'll call and confirm the time."
She saw the surrender in his mother's eyes and without calling attention to the act, his mother rubbed his arm. "Yes, you do that."
And there's the man his mother always wanted too.
*****
Returning to the cake she'd left on the coffee table, she sat back on the couch. He slid down next to her and she offered him a piece. He took in the mouthful and eyed her.
"I'm sorry," he said, shifting to fully face her. "I know it wasn't easy for you. That too on the day —"
"Well, isn't that what being married is?" And she turned moving closer to him, lifting her fork to his mouth. "I choose you and all that's part of your world too."
He accepted her offering and smiled, circling his arms around her waist. "I was going to say, that too on the day you got back. But it appears you have really taken the role of playing wife to heart."
Her eyes grew wide. "You better not have meant that!" She was utterly miffed and beat his shoulder with a fisted hand. Leaving the plate on the table, she held the fork to his neck. "Do I have to drag you to court and get you to sign some papers?"
Laughing hard, he disarmed her in a swift move and threw the fork down. "I was kidding," he said and yet, she swatted him with a pillow. When she wouldn't calm down, he grabbed a big piece of the cake. "If you are not going to stop, then this is what's coming your way next," he issued and she held back.
His phone rang then. It was her mother.
"Happy Birthday, Jeong Hyuk." Her mother answered. "I hope you are having fun."
"Thank you Omma," he said and got up, keeping his cake smeared fingers a good distance away. She caught his arm and, gestured at him to take the call on speaker. He obliged.
"I have a gift for you." Her mother was silent for a beat. "Although, I'm sure that it will come across as me imposing it on you."
"I'm bad at guesses," he smiled and took a few steps away from where she was attentively listening to them. "And really, there is no need for a gift —"
"Exactly," her mother said with some emphasis. "In life, there is really no need for us to do anything. But, we all strive to try and do our part. I suppose this is my selfish way of guaranteeing my daughter's happiness."
He pivoted to catch her forehead knotted and he placed a finger on his lips, asking her silence.
"I'm transferring my 8% stake in Queens group to you —"
Wait, what?
"Omma! What on earth were you thinking..." she yelled and he rushed to leave the living room. Entering his study, he locked the door behind him.
"Omma," he said catching his breath. "Let's think this through."
"I have considered the matter enough, Jeong hyuk," she said in a firm tone. "I can't bear to see her lose you again. And this is my way of ensuring you stay put in her life."
"Omma," he closed his eyes briefly collecting himself. "I'm thankful you think I'm worthy of being a part of your family. But I cannot accept the shares."
"You will decline the gift itself, but won't give me your word that you'll hold onto her?" Her mother's voice showed desperation.
Her mother's anxiety was fair, but he was already doing everything he could. "I'm going to as long as I can," he said and after some consideration, added, "I always have."
"What about the two years you disappeared from her life?"
He couldn't tell how much she had shared about the two years with her mother. "I suppose in my own way I did. But I understand that you wouldn't want that repeating in your daughter's life."
"You have always been practical Jeong Hyuk," her mother spoke breathlessly. "Being part of Se Ri's life means opening up your life to the public's scrutiny. Are you prepared for that?"
After a second of silence, her mother began in a pained, low voice. "8% stake is nothing. It won't even make the news. But the day she'll be announced as the heir to Queen's group, will you be able to stand by her side?"
Her mother was now urging. "If you haven't made up your mind, then please! you have to think before you begin this." And her voice was laden with emotion. "I want you to know that I don't doubt you or your love for Se Ri. She needs you. I want you for a son too. But there is no place for uncertainties."
She sounded determined and he had nothing to offer in consolation or promise her.
"And once you make a decision there is no going back either, Jeong Hyuk."
"Let's wait for now, Omma." He was tense but felt relieved when she didn't have a counter. "Se Ri needs to be part of this decision. I'm sorry but I don't have an answer for you today."
*****
Upon his presence in the room, she closed the laptop. "Seriously?"
She noticed he looked beaten, his weariness deepening since his parent's leaving.
"Just as you said." He sat down on the other side of the bed. "It's between her and me. Stay out of it Yoon Se Ri."
"It's not the same." She folded her hands across her chest. "Your parents are just worried —"
"And so is your Omma," he said raising his brows. "The shares are nothing but a means to convey the message is all."
"Fine!" she shook her head and took hold of her phone. "I'm going to do this my way," she mumbled much to herself and pressed #3 on her speed dial.
Her father greeted her after a few rings. "Appa, do you know what Omma —"
Leaning over at once, he swiped at the phone and cut the call. "I said, leave it be." He shot to his feet, his eyes holding reproach. "That's not doing it your way. That's creating conflict between a husband and wife."
"It's been a while since they have been that to each other," she said in a low voice and lowered her gaze to her fidgeting hands.
"Perhaps, all the more reason not to make it more bitter," he said, with a note of firmness in his voice.
He was right. There was no need to triangulate the issue and bring her father into it, over her mother's concern for her, reasonable or not. After all, isn't that what I've always wanted? Someone fussing over me.
"I need some fresh air," he said tossing the phone back to her. "Will you be ok by your self?"
She slowly nodded, wanting the space just as much. It wasn't a fight, but somehow it felt crowded between them.
Once he left, she prepared to wash away the weariness of the day. Or even her thoughts. The excitement from the morning was nowhere to be seen on either of their faces. Goodness! It didn't feel like his birthday anymore.
She tried to dim the lights in the room and gave up on the remote. Eventually, she brought in a few candles from the kitchen and lighted them placing it at random, around the bedroom. The flicker of the lamps announced the dance of light and shadows. The orange glow somehow always made it feel like she'd turned back time. If only they could go back to the hour after sunrise. That smile of his, like nothing or no one existed in this world, besides her.
It didn't matter what their parents wished for them, she wanted him to want her.
Nothing more. Nothing less.
*****
With the shower on, he took the couch and started a book on his reading app.
It was a while before she walked out toweling her hair. "When did you get back?" she asked about to enter the closet.
"Not too long ago," he said, closing the app.
She paused at the door and turned about, her hands perched on her waist. "You better tell me now, if you have made any decisions that will make me want to reach for the knife this time."
She was far from menacing in her half-white robe. "There is nothing to decide," he said with a small smile.
His arm shot out towards her and he gestured her to step closer. With a sigh, she limped her way to him. She was about to slump down next to him when he tugged at her arm and she gently landed on his lap. "Ri Jeong Hyuk'sshi..." she protested, flailing her hand at him.
It felt a crime to let her be anywhere but on him and he tightly wrapped his arms around her, containing the weak fight she mustered.
"The only decision that holds is not to let either of our parents enter our marriage," he said and her movements calmed. Smiling, he settled her against him. "You didn't think that was obvious?"
"This is not about choosing between me and the rest of the world," she said, suddenly looking withdrawn, and threaded her fingers behind his neck. "This is about choosing between me and the other people who make your world."
"There are no choices here..." He cupped her cheek. "You all have a part to play. Choices cannot come down to the point where it questions the co-existence of you with others."
"So this morning at the bridge was not meaningless, right?"
Hearing the desperation in her voice, his chest tightened. "Never! With or without the thread or the rings or the papers." He caught her eyes and smiled at her. "If it makes you happy to hear me say it out loud, then here it goes: You are my wife."
Something about his assurance broke the last of the distance she'd been holding between them. Her shoulders bunched up and she buried her face into the crook of his shoulder.
"I don't want to talk about this," he said smoothing her back. "That too on the day —"
"The day I got back," she said and he felt her smile against his skin. "I know!"
"I was going to say our wedding day, for all intents and purposes." She raised her head and he conked a brow at her. "Or should I say wedding night?"
And she stilled in his arms. Her wet hair still dripping at the ends, left a drop here and there below her collar bone. Tilting forward, he placed a kiss there, taking in the water drop and the scent of something floral. She shivered and her breath caught in her throat.
"Speak now," he said in a whisper. "If you don't want me to take it further."
"Ok, I'm going to come out and say it," she said, bunching his sweater, her forehead creased with a frown. "I don't know what to do."
He didn't smile then and instead bent over to pull her feet up. "Trust your body and me," he said tipping her chin up. "In that order."
She blinked and then gave him a nod, inching closer. His arms tightened and she shifted stretching her feet on the couch, fully facing him.
The dim candlelight made her skin glow from the inside, putting him in a daze. He caught her lips gently reveling in their softness and kissed her in that familiar way that eased her against him. When he released her lips, eager to taste the salt of her skin around the nape, she untied her robe, slinging it off her shoulders and launched to take off his shirt.
He went still now, catching the silver threads of her nightwear that held them in place over her shoulders. For the first time, he understood the sensuality of silk, in the manner in which it framed itself around her body, teasing him of the curves beneath it.
And that knotted bowstring in the center which was an excuse in itself to be tugged at, and so he did. She was self-conscious then and her hands deposited itself above her chest. He caught a hand by the wrist and gently pulled her back to him, the movement delicately displacing the thread down her shoulder.
She shyly smiled, possibly fighting his admiring gaze and involuntarily drew her shoulders in. But that had been a mistake when the garment slithered down further, revealing the pearly, almost luminescent skin of her breast.
Letting her hand go, his fingers raked down reaching for that lush, translucent skin there and her body arched towards him. "Kiss me, please!" She hissed.
He willingly complied. "I told you," he said, his lips smiling against the slope of her neck. "You should believe in your body than in your faint heart, luv."
She smiled too, drawing his lips to her mouth. For all that initial apprehension she was far more relaxed and he sought to pluck the other thread down her arm, and with it the garment altogether. Wanting to cover herself and yet, unable to break away from the kiss, she pressed her body to his chest. The feel of her soft, plush breasts against his torso, incited a raw desire in him to cup them. The nub of his fingers toyed with the most sensitive parts of her, making her gasp against his lips. Reveling at the sight of her face caught in the throes of pleasure, his ego swelled that he could do that to her. Instinctively, her head fell back and he darted to taste all of her nakedness.
"Take me to the bed... please!" she managed in a mumble and he carried her, holding their kiss.
Reaching the bed, he lowered her to the ground. She was scandalously beautiful, with her garment disassembled to her waist. Unable to resist the pocket of air between them, he drew her close, and her eyes slightly widened feeling his need, rigid against her waist.
He then divested them of the rest of their clothes and lowered her to the bed. She didn't reach for the blanket and he smiled. "You amaze me, you know that?"
"Why?" she smiled kissing his jaw.
He gathered her in his arms. "For not wanting to hide under a blanket and make it hotter than I can bear."
"Well, I guess we are past that stage." Looking up, she kissed his chest and the smolder in her eyes, quickened his breath.
"And give me some credit, will you?" Her laugh warmly rolled off his stomach. "I have read enough to know that there is no such thing as being decent when in bed with a man."
"And what else have you read?" He pulled her mouth back to him for a quick kiss and held her chin.
"Oh! it doesn't matter." She had that shy smile again. "They all ended up seeing stars and galaxies. The authors never dared to write beyond that."
His fingers on her waist dug into her skin and he rolled onto her. With her small body under him, he tenderly caged her arms on either side of her head and his mouth covered her nipple. Just like that, she arched, in all probability, fighting the same ripple of pleasure washing through him. Unawares, she stirred beneath him, sparking a myriad of sensations all over. Her eyes closed with a small moan at her lips, telling him she had fallen victim to her own moves.
"And they didn't tell me that everything that came after would feel like this." She spoke mindlessly against his lips.
He continued to tease her lower... in those secret places that evoked deep moans from her, which in-turn oddly delighted him.
"Like what?" He asked and raised his head to take in her state of dishevel.
"That it would rouse an ache all over if you were to stop mid-way," she said, nearly crying in anguish and he returned to quell her complaint.
With a restraint that demanded all of him, he hushed to cease her inexperienced urgency from taking over, all the while equally appeasing her fervor for him. And eventually, he ceded to his own too with abandon, entangled in a tempest of need, his eager lips and fingers learning her feverish body. A dark mole here, and the smooth curve of her breast and he was back onto the delicate and balmy skin by her neck. His lips tasting the sheen of sweat there and glided down to the dip between her collar bones. And for all the times he held back without giving in to his wanting to taste her, he suckled on the soft skin of her nape.
He'd never doubted that their bodies possessed the ancient knowledge of touch, the art of reciprocation innate to them. And yet, the manner in which her flesh pebbled from a simple graze of his fingers, the hardening of her nipple under his wet mouth felt exclusive, as if he was the only one who could do that to her. And her to him with her tentative hand drifting all over, bringing a keen awareness to the parts she touched.
The intimacy unbeknownst to words, one that wouldn't reveal to them in a thousand conversations, fluttered into her eyes, which he was certain, mirrored his own.
And he savored the knowledge of her, the little things that made her gasp and moan, alongside a mumbling plea to halt and advance his explorations of her.
He then knew he would remember the approaching moments forever.
The shiver in her parted lips that morphed into an entreaty.
Her loud gasp from recognizing him deep insider her
And the dainty ways in which her body convulsed beneath him, lit by their shared frenzy to discover the other.
Their bodies moving unguided, but synchronous and consumed by the heat emanating from the physics or the chemistry of it all.
Finally, their surrender that revealed the promise of an infinite nirvana that faintly burned on their skin.
That they could live in eternity and in the span between their heartbeats, all at once.
*****
It was as if a wall had come off between them, the intimacy thick in the air, over their sweat-stained bodies enveloped in each other's arms.
"It's going to be harder to stay away from you." She spoke softly and gazed up.
Bending down, he kissed her, his fingers drawing lines over her back, never stopping in their endeavor to know her.
"I'm going to miss this more." She said placing a hand over his, where his thumb absently stroked her waist.
"I know." She heard the laugh in his voice and she playfully slapped his shoulder.
"Are you ok?" He asked, tipping her chin to face him.
She pursed her lips, her eyes fighting to tell him the truth. "A little sore," she said.
I wish you wouldn't apologize. And he didn't. It was as if, he knew this was a rite of passage that they would have to get through until she would no longer feel the discomfort.
"Come with me," he said, his voice laced with concern. Taking her into his arms, he seated her by the tub and drew her a salt bath. Encasing her bandaged feet in plastic, he helped her get in. She was touched then but didn't dare to use words to disrupt the quiet acceptance they had spun around her inexperience.
Leaning against his chest, with his arms encircled around her waist, she soaked herself in the surrounding warmth, from both his naked skin and the tepid waters.
"What are you thinking?" he asked.
Oh no! you didn't. She didn't know how to evade him, nor did she want to lie.
She turned in his hold and threw her arms around him. Resting her chin atop his chest, she fought the hesitation to ask him the one thing that had remained on her mind for long. "I suppose it could have been better?"
He gave her a knowing smile. "It never is to start with. But it does get better with time."
He titled his head to one side. "It's more enjoyable when I let go. I can only do that when you let go too."
She considered his words for a moment. "I suppose it's going to take time for me to even understand that."
He laughed and held her chin in place to kiss her lips. "I thought you were a fast learner."
*****
Wrapping a towel around her, she limped into the closet. He was seated on the ottoman, in his towel too, engrossed with his phone.
"What are you looking at?"
"What about this one?" He handed her his phone. It was a silver lattice charm. "It's called forever entwined," he added.
"A very fitting one to mark a wedding." she smiled, but a second later, her brows drew together. "You have to first tell about this obsession with charms."
He pulled her down onto his lap, his chest warm as before. "You don't have to choose wearing one over the other," he said while he playing with the bracelet to invoke a jangle. "It fits compactly around your wrist. And you can wear it in public." He lifted her arm and kissed the hollow inside her wrist.
"Hmm," she adjusted and held his face with both her hands. "I never thought of it like that."
She kissed him, with all the attention that he also spared for her. "You have to slow down, luv. This is filling up fast."
And he winked at her. "The next one will have to wait." He nibbled the tip of her earlobe and she gasped reeling from the mix of pain and pleasure that flooded her. "I want you for myself for a few years."
She knew perfectly well what he'd hinted at, but she instead dwelled on the part that he wanted to hold on, despite his parent's wishes. Throwing herself deep into his embrace, she held back the tears and remained in his hold until she could collect herself.
He placed a hand on her shoulder and she got off him. Grabbing a pant from the shelf, he left her in the closet according the privacy she truly needed then. Taking off one's clothes driven by desire was one thing, but dressing up was another. They weren't there yet.
Yanking the towel off her, she reached for a pair of shorts and a top, with satin lace ties around the collar, quite like the one that had held his fascination a while ago. She smiled remembering how taken he was with her form. The reverence in his initial touches had surprised her to an extent. The exigent need that had come later to covet and be coveted had been from that unacknowledged, but elemental part of him.
It was then she caught her body in the mirror, the marks beginning to show now that her skin had cooled. The latent burn around her mouth and jaw, courtesy of his five o'clock shadow brought a smile to her cut and swollen lip, all the telltale signs of a long night of passion.
Her fingers traced the curve of her neck, one she now recognized made him lose control often. She shook, even as her body remembered him nibbling there, the pressure from his lips and teeth that had pooled warmth in her belly. For the next few days, she'd have to hide the light purple marks, behind a high-neck sweater.
And the mark over the swell of her breast and the remnants of his tight grip along the side of her waist would be her secrets alone.
I want you for myself for a few years.
Some of that wanting was plainly etched on her skin and yet, she needed him then. Again.
Tying her hair into a bun, she donned her nightwear and went in search of him. He was seated on his side of the bed with his feet stretched and reading a booke. She joined him and he turned away briefly to put it back on the table.
But the thin red marks she spotted over his back, made her shudder then. I am a beast!
"I scratched you!" she said, her cheeks hot from the flush she felt all over. And yet she somehow felt no guilt over her mindless act.
"I did worse." He said smiling and threw an arm over her shoulder, drawing her close to him.
He'd been only too glad to be marked by her and she was too. That he'd unapologetically been himself with her.
She then noticed the red tinge of his lips. Breathing out loud, she took a moment accepting their ardor with which they had painted their bodies so.
In the unrefined, primitive act, she saw the utter and pure surrender to each other.
And he gently kissed the mark on her neck, affirming her thought. She reached for his lips to place a soothing kiss. But it lasted all for a second when he was already past her tending.
Then it started all over again with him tugging at the knotted lace. His hands explored her with a new and earnest curiosity as if he'd already forgotten the dips and curves of her body. And soon his lips replaced where his fingers had been, while her body blazed from the novelty of sensations accessible to her once more.
*****
Sometime past midnight, she turned in his arms, to the dying light of candles that had burned all along.
Just as they had and she smiled, taking in their entwined bodies, limp now, weighed down by the fatigue.
With her back to his chest, she lay there with the knowledge that everything that had happened to them... every word and action, even their indecisions and dilemmas had brought them to this instant.
To the bliss of having him softly breathe against her ears, with his hand slack over her breast, not cupping them possessively like before, but belonging there in the stillness, while his body molded to her curved form, and sheathing her with the quiet warmth of his bare skin...
She took his other arm over which her head rested and wrapped it around her. Closing her eyes, her fingers curled in the middle of his palm, indulging in the infinite tenderness she felt in his hold.
They had finally come home to each other.
*****
Author's note: Dearies, thank you for patiently waiting. This update is more like two and half chapters in one. So I hope it makes up for the delay. Now that you have read it, I'm sure you also understand why it had taken time to post this update. I had to write and re-write a lot of scenes until it felt right for this couple and tell their journey as it played in my head. I don't know how you will classify the level of details included, but in my opinion, it felt somewhat necessary to explore their intimacy. As always, I will take your votes, feedback and comments.