Anaika

Only twelve hours, 14 minutes and 23 seconds left for the morning flight and yes, I had counting on every seconds of it. I was so against on going back and even thought of sneaking away from my family to stay there a little bit longer with my husband. But what he quoted few seconds ago, had me smitten.

The words coming out of him were enough to soothe my heart. Took hands on my emotions and suddenly I was happy to leave with our beautiful memories.

I saw his handsome smile and I still couldn't believe of how I scored him. The all in one, I could say.

"I will be back, my love." He said before leaving me with the girls. I was upset that I couldn't be with him when I planned to spend every second of it with him before leaving but he seemed determine.

The girls started rambling things about their relationship and soon their partner appears one by one. Which really make me feel jealous with their romantic fiascos.

Where's mine anyway?

I looked around from where I'm standing and he's nowhere to spot.

Round and round, I ended up on the same place. My body was shaking with fear. I went to our room and waited, excluding all the negative images in my brain. Something is telling me that he's fine and I'm just messing my mind. I closed my eyes to avoid succumbing to my pessimism.

Suddenly comes the sounds of door knob and I turned around to meet my husband with his skin burning in red as if he really worked it out hard. I rushed to his side and checked on him. "Are you not okay? What happened? Where were you, Adi?"

He chuckled, grabbing me by my hands and kissing them with a smile. "I'm fine, my love. But I'm really sorry, my phone died out of battery and I knew you must have tried to call me. I should have told you but I wanted to surprise you. I'm really, really sorry."

I groaned, "I don't care. As long as you're safe and back to me." I pulled his hands away from mine and lounged on to hug him but he hissed.

I moved and stared at his chest. "What happened, Adi? Are you really okay?!" I begin yelling unintentionally as I found out that my husband's hurt. Who did this to him? I started panicking again, but this time with some anger as well.

"Relax, love. It's just the surprise I wanted to show you." He cooed me with soft assurance but I was relentless and confused on the other side.

"What is it, Adi? This surprise of yours is really freaking me out." I whined and took a step back for him to show me.

He slowly undid his shirt buttons with a sly grin as if he's testing my patience. I swear to God, I will eat him alive for the amount of patience I need to resist this man. He's definitely encouraging me to take every advantages. When he's fully done with his silly miniature, I gasped.

I definitely didn't expected this. "Adi....is it permanent?"

"Y-Yes, still not visible because of the bandage." He stuttered, which means he's nervous.

"I'm s-sorry, Anaika. I should have ask you first before getting it, I never knew you hated tattoos." He turned his head away lightly with his eyes closed.

"Adi, I love tattoos! I just never get one because of my parents and their nonsense beliefs." I squealed in joy as soon as I hold myself together and he smiled. I went into his arms but stopped, he stared at me with concern as he had his arms open.

I stepped closer and tiptoed to kiss on his lips without having to contact with his chest because it would sting him. He came closer but I pulled away. "Nuh-uh, you're in the recovery process. If anything, it will only hurt you."

"No, it doesn't." He was so quick to defend and I giggled before pulling him to the bed. I made him sit on the bed in a way that talks about seduction and he was eyeing me with desire, clearly expecting for something compelling. I gently slapped away his wondery arms that had almost make me lose control and pushed him backwards.

"Husband, this is not what I meant to do. I want to peel the bandage off myself so stay put." I said my motive while working on unpeeling the bandage slowly. His hisses and moans were getting louder by the time I finished uncovering his tattoo, yet even though it was challenging for me to just stay on top of him with the sounds he make and especially without doing a thing, having to admire the art he had needled into his skin made everything worth it.

"So....do you like it?" He was so unsure of my expression and when I smiled ear to ear while lingeringly tracing his skin, he got his answer.

The artwork was mildly connected to his life, the incarnation which he needed. He just made the scar he was once so afraid of showing into a splendid form of complexion.

I froze, my fingers stopped their way and tears slowly crowded my eyes. "Adi....is that-"

He held my hands right away to place it on top of the tattoo. Which is rights across his heart, with my name tatted beautifully. "Yes, love. It is." Noticing the tears, he wiped them away before kissing my forehead. "Nothing would have changed my life if it's not for the miracle that happened to me. You're the miracle and I want my miracle to be here always. I love you, Anaika."

I released a small sob before leaning in to kiss him. "I love you too, Adi. I love you so much." We reconnected with a kiss again that only heated things up but when he suddenly hissed, I pulled away.

"I'm sorry." I bite on my tongue with a guilt smile. I stood up and went to find stuffs to clean his tattoo. He at first was reluctant, he said it was okay even though it's stinging him. My God, this man is relentless when it comes to lovemaking.

I made some quick research on tattoo aftercare and took my duty seriously. He almost lose his limbs just by reaching up for me to be close. He was taken care of within minutes and my head was transported to his arm for time being as he insisted me to cuddle.

"Have you not wished for a tattoo?" He asked.

"I do. But my parents were always against it." I told him the true. Typical Indian household as some would say.

"You can get it now, right? You're an independent married woman, my love." He said while caressing my cheeks.

"Really?"

"Yes, I know so." He was confident on me.

"Okay, I will give it a thought. But just to let you know, I always wished to have it on a place that no one but only me can see it." He got stunned for a second but relaxed later. I didn't knew why I had this weird wish but it was something for me.

He smirked. "So the tattoo would be only for me to see, hmm?" I blushed and nodded my head as I snuggled into his arm.

"I think I'm regretting now on getting tatted all over my chest." He sighed and I laughed, knowing why he feels that way.

*****

Back home after the vacation, or should I say our honeymoon and we were quite thrilled to return back to reality. I was once again back behind the desk and he was back to school. We even went to visit his grandparents and stayed the weekend with them. Aditya managed to retrieve most of his mother's memories and one day, we even brought his father who was not willing at first but came anyway to meet his in laws.

The elder couple were incapable of speech when we introduced him. It turned out they didn't got any chance to interfere on their daughter's life after she run away from home to be with her lover, Aditya's father. They were disapproving of him but she was persistent and when she passed away, they blamed it on him. Which made him sulk in his own life.

Though their love story was tragic and ended in a sad note, it lived. The sorrow and lost Uncle Khanna had all these years came back like a lightning when he ripped in tears as soon as he got to be in front of his late wife's beautiful picture.

Aditya was breaking inside, I noticed it and nudged him to go to his father. He did it and they shared their emotions, which they should have years ago.

One of my hand was held by the old lady and she dragged me to somewhere. It was one of their room which would be locked most of the times. The room was spacious and there was only an old wooden crate around the corner. When she opened it, all I saw was children's toys. Some looked old while others were seemed new.

"Darling, I want you to have this crate. This is the toys which we bought for our grandkid, which we had no idea back on that years. Now, it would be such a heartwarming gifts for my great-grandchild from their old great-grandparents." She smiled at me.

"I would love to have it. But grandma, I'm not yet to expe-"

"You're darling. I'm an eighty year old lady, I know when I see one." She kissed my forehead as some sort of blessing before leaving the room with one thought on my head.

"Am I really pregnant?"