Shivaay woke up, completely startled, when he felt a hard smack on his thighs. It was, of course, his darling wife, who now had both her legs on him. Every so often, he wondered how she was capable of having a sound sleep in the wackiest ways possible. His lips quirked up involuntarily. He reached for his phone and checked the time. There were seven more minutes for midnight, but he had no plans of waking Annika up. She wouldn't sleep if woken up, and he wanted her to rest well for tomorrow. She must have felt him move because she immediately stirred in her sleep, mumbling something. She was drooling a little, and Shivaay took up tissue to wipe it off. He heard her mutter his name, and it sure did something to his insides.

Almost a year ago, around the same time, he remembered how he wasn't able to sleep. He had too much in his mind that night. He was wondering if he was making a mistake marrying Annika after all she was only 19. He was young as well, and he'd never even imagined he'd be married by now. However, as he looked at sleeping Annika, he couldn't help but feel happy. He missed his grandfather every day, but he acknowledged how his grandfather gave him Annika before he left as if he knew.

He gently caressed her hair. She looked like an innocent baby who has never faced the brutal world outside, who was never hurt, and who never knew what pain was. She was precious, and he vowed to himself that he would stand by her no matter what. His phone vibrated, and he shut it. He placed a gentle kiss on her forehead,

"Happy Anniversary, sweetheart."

*

In a trice, glaring light hit Shivaay's face, and he pulled up the duvet. He felt someone shake him.

"Shivaay, WAKE UP. Rise and shine. The morning's here," Annika yelled into his ear, and he sat up.

He struggled to open his eyes, and when he did, he glowered at her. But she took him into surprise when she placed a sloppy kiss on his cheeks.

"Happy Anniversary, Shivaay! Time to have some breakfast in bed." Annika pushed the service cart near the bed. She was wearing a black apron, and Shivaay thought if she'd added a chef's hat, she would have qualified for a five-star butler. The sun probably had risen in the west because Annika was very chirpy early in the morning. Seeing her happy made his heart swell twice its size. He stood up, and Annika immediately pushed him. He looked at her, puzzled. He did not know what was on her mind-

"Breakfast IN bed, Shivaay. Where are you going?" Annika made a face at him, and he muttered an 'Oh.' He straightened himself, concealing any kind of expression that may present itself on his face. His brain wasn't functioning properly without a cup of coffee- he thought to himself.

"I need to brush, Annika, and there is no way I'm brushing in bed." He tried not to smile when Annika scowled at him.

When he returned, he saw Annika plating the food and struggling to give it a professional look. She was trying to arrange the salad in what Shivaay could make out as a smiley face. He took the plate from her and motioned her to sit. She shook her head and made him sit on the bed.

"I'm surprised you didn't go- NO FOOD ON THE BED. I have to agree with Rudra on this. You do behave like you are 50 sometimes," Annika said as she handed him the plate. Shivaay rolled his eyes,

"I went from 40 to 50 now? And I'm not saying anything because I don't get pampered like this every day." Shivaay gave her a toothy grin and looked at his plate. It had a scrumptious-looking Spanish omelet, hash browns, sourdough bread, freshly squeezed orange juice, and some coffee. Omelet was a little browner than it should be, which made Shivaay raise his eyebrows. True to his assumptions, at that very moment, Annika declared she had made everything from scratch, and slowly, the color drained from his face.

"I promise you it is not like that poha I made the other day," Annika said, and Shivaay continued to look at her skeptically.

"I'll take a leap of faith and eat this. But if something happens to me, then you are eating this, and we are getting hospitalized together. Okay?" Shivaay said in a threatening tone, and Annika glared at him. He then took out some omelet and looked up. God, save me. I promise I'll be good from now on. He took a bite, and his eyes flung open. He looked at Annika in disbelief.

"See, it is good. Now, taste the bread. I baked it yesterday." She tore a piece and fed it to him. He nodded at her,

"It is good. Are you sure you cooked it?"

Annika smacked his shoulders lightly, "All my hours of labor for this? I even woke up early to cook for you. You are ungrateful, I say." She pouted and looked away from him. He placed the plate on the side table and pulled her close to him.

"It was delicious. I loved it, baby." He kissed her cheek and saw her blush furiously. Liking the effect he had on her, he proceeded to place a kiss on her other cheek. She looked at him with bated breath. Shivaay caressed her cheek tenderly. He was a little surprised when she kept her hand on his cheek. The two of them looked at each other intently as they took irregular breaths.

Tring Tring...

The two of them jerked away as they heard Annika's phone ring. Annika picked up the call reluctantly.

"Haan, Gauri. Wait..." Annika put the phone on speaker.

"HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, DI AND JIJU!" Gauri squealed. The two of them replied with a thank you devoid of the zest she had expected, and Gauri could only wonder what was wrong.

Shivaay and Annika proceeded to eat while occasionally stealing glances of each other. Tough luck for the two of them, because it was probably the first time they had come close to each other's faces. Annika took back the cart after they finished eating, and Shivaay went to their cupboard.

When Annika returned, she saw a large portrait of them hung above their bed rest, and Shivaay was hanging some stars on the wall. Sensing her, he turned and grinned at her. "You told me you liked stars long back, remember? I thought I should bring them to you."

"The picture was taken on our roka, right?" She climbed onto the bed and stood next to him. He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her a little closer.

"We hardly knew each other then. But see, you are looking at me like I'm the sexiest man who has walked on the planet Earth." He looked at her smugly and smiled.

"I'm pretty sure I was looking at the plate of laddoos behind you." Annika stuck her tongue out at him, and his smile vanished. Before he could do anything, Annika sprinted out of the room.

Shivaay only sighed. He had definitely walked right into it.

*

"Shivaay, are you sure this is the way?" Annika asked skeptically, and Shivaay glared at her. They were finally going on a date; it wasn't any date. They had been driving to this new restaurant on the outskirts of the city where Shivaay had meticulously planned a big surprise for her for over an hour and a half.

"Yes, Annika," Shivaay said through his teeth. How could she question him, especially about the directions? Plus, he was following the GPS. He took deep breaths to calm himself down. It was a special day, and he could definitely tolerate it through Annika's "Are you sure?" a few times.

But, as another half hour went by, Shivaay wasn't sure. They should have reached the restaurant by now. He pulled the car over and took out his phone only to find that they were heading to the wrong place. Since the restaurant belonged to one of Tej's close friends, Tej had gotten the details and location and had WhatsApp-ed him. He had also sent him the location of the property they had planned on buying outside Mumbai. Rudra had called right after Annika and Shivaay got into the car. With all the chit chat, Shivaay had clearly clicked on the wrong one and were now well into NH3. Realizing his blunder, Shivaay looked at Annika apologetically as his heart sunk a little. Today was supposed to be perfect.

Annika groaned, "I'm hungry, Shivaay. Let's find someplace to eat, please?"

"Annika, I am really sorry. This was not how it's supposed to be," Shivaay said in a low voice as his face well while they took a U-turn, and Annika's expression softened.

"It is alright, Shivaay." She squeezed his hand. "Let's eat somewhere, okay?" She said softly, and he nodded. She knew he had planned a lot and he had, only because she was really excited.

"Could you wait for another hour? It seems like it would take a while before we find a decent restaurant," Shivaay said guiltily, and Annika shook her head.

"We can eat in the dhaba over there..." Annika started saying, and Shivaay fervently shook his head. He started saying no, but she interrupted, "We ARE eating there. Pullover, Shivaay."

"We don't know with what oil they cooked..."

"They won't feed us poison!"

"It won't be healthy."

"It is food!"

"We can try somewhere else..."

"STOP THE CAR!" Annika yelled and took a deep breath to compose herself. "Shivaay, I'm starving." She looked at him pleadingly and he sighed.

"I had something else in mind, and this is a far cry from that," He said as he parked the car. He signaled Annika to proceed as he called his father to inform him how he messed the whole evening up. He was chided at, if not yelled, by both of his parents for being careless- a word he was never associated with before tonight. He got out of the car grudgingly and looked at the dhaba. It was sparsely crowded, but at that restaurant, they would have had the whole place by themselves. He had instructed them to cook all of Annika's favorite food and had ordered the best champagne ever. Instead of her favorite soft pop songs in the background, some trashy Hindi item songs were playing.

It wasn't romantic at all.

He stood there for a few more minutes. Annika came and stood in front of him.

"Shivaay," she whined. "Stop looking like your world has ended, and come with me." She dragged him, and he was surprised she didn't take him inside. Instead, she took him to the field behind the dhaba, and he was greeted by a couple who were well past his parents' age.

"Hello, puttar. I am Diljeet. Your wife told us what happened. I hope you two enjoy what we were able to arrange," The man said as he gave him a friendly smile, and they left. Shivaay saw two charpoys kept closer together, which were surrounded by four stools that had oil lanterns placed on them. Shivaay looked at Annika in wonder, and she just shrugged. Smiling, they sat down.

"This isn't half bad, I guess." Shivaay frowned when Annika rolled her eyes. "I had hanging stars everywhere in the room, you know," He said defensively.

"Look. Don't you think the sky is unusual today? It is full of... wait, what? OMG, the sky has stars." Annika said dramatically with her mouth agape, and it was his turn to roll his eyes. Hot plates of authentic Punjabi food arrived, and Daljeet's wife announced lovingly that they were specially preparing jalebis for the couple. Shivaay had to agree this kind of personal touch would have been missing in the evening he had in mind.

Annika immediately started eating while Shivaay stared at the food uncertainly. Looking at her picky eater, she tore off some the butter kulcha from her plate, took a huge cube of paneer from the gravy, and shoved it in his mouth. She continued feeding him as she ate herself while she ranted how Shivaay should learn to be more open to eating at places other than the upscale restaurants he opted for. She did not notice how Shivaay had stopped complaining and was enjoying eating out of his wife's hand.

They had finished eating and were leisurely talking about nothing in particular. Shivaay's smile widened by each passing minute as he heard the sound of Annika's laughter; he had never considered himself funny, but Annika made him feel otherwise.

"By the way," Shivaay said as he fished out a box from his pocket. He took Annika's hand into his and fastened the platinum charm bracelet he had taken out of the box. It had exactly three stars hanging around the wrist. Although Shivaay didn't say anything, Annika knew it was intended that way. Annika pulled her hand closer to examine the bracelet. It had a sun along the chain of the bracelet and Annika involuntarily ran her fingers over them.

"I love it, Shivaay." She looked at him, and a million emotions flashed through her orbs. She smiled at him. It was very pure that it did something to Shivaay's heart. He squeezed her hand, and he pressed his lips on it. He let his lips linger on, and his hot breath sent shivers down Annika's spine. "I got you a bracelet, as well."

Annika slid in the bracelet cuff she had gotten for Shivaay with his name engraved on it. It had two little diamonds studded forming a border to his name. It was totally up his alley, and he gave Annika a wide smile. His eyes fell on yet another name that was engraved on the other side, and he looked at Annika, surprised. He loved it, but he was definitely surprised.

Annika pressed her lips and smiled at him sheepishly and said, "Well, now girls like Shriya would know you are not for flirting." She pouted a little, and Shivaay laughed loudly.

"How are you this adorable?" He exclaimed as he pinched her cheeks, and she pushed him away, annoyed. It only made him laugh even more. "Can I ask you something? How come you didn't get jealous when Tia was talking to me? I know you saw it."

"First of all, I am NOT jealous. I am territorial. Repeat after me: TERRITORIAL," Annika said loudly, and Shivaay nodded, chuckling. "Secondly, Tia was talking to you and was not flirting."

"But she is also my ex." Shivaay pointed out.

" I trust you." Annika shrugged, and Shivaay was stumped at the casualness at her declaration. She had stated the same earlier too, but this time, it was for a different context. He was overwhelmed that Annika felt secure in their relationship, and it was a big thing for her. As they stood up, Shivaay pulled her into a tight hug, and she happily obliged.

*

After thanking the couple at the Dhaba, Shivaay and Annika were on the way back to their home. Annika had drifted into slumber while Shivaay drove. He was content. So what if the date was not as he had planned? It was so much more. Annika had stated that the best place to be with was with him, and it was definitely the best day of her life, which made Shivaay's heart leap.

He looked at her.

He acknowledged something he had known for a while.

He loved her, and he would do just about anything for her.

When they'd reached, Shivaay had a good mind of carrying Annika to their room. But she'd woken up, and he tried to ignore the disappointment he felt. He wanted to profess his love to her, but he immediately decided against it. He didn't want to do it hastily. Annika was special. And she deserved it to be said in the most special way possible.

When they reached the doorstep, Annika pulled Shivaay's hand.

"I had a wonderful time, Shivaay. I'm looking forward to more dates," Annika hinted, and he nodded immediately. She tiptoed and kissed his cheeks. She looked into his gleaming orbs, and they were gently caressing her bruised soul. He snaked his arms around her waist and pulled her to him. She entwined hers around his neck when he inched closer to her face. His eyes traveled from her eyes to her lips. She moaned, inaudibly, when he touched her lower lips with his fingertip. His eyes darkened as the hand that brushed her lips now held her head.

He came in closer.

And they heard the door open.

This is the longest chapter I have ever written.

Also, don't kill me for the last line *smiles innocently*