The waves fell over the shore as you walked through it.

"The surface is very silky," you felt your toes sink into the sand and held the hand that was placed on your waist. "It feels like my feet are being buried. Is that supposed to happen?"

"Yeah," Shubman mumbled, an arm still around you as he rested his head against yours. "The waves pull the sand when they shift."

You hummed in response while the waves swept past your knees.

"I want to go deeper," you said as you stared at the faint horizon where it appeared as if the sky met the sea. "Do you know how to swim?"

You looked at him and he nodded, eyes on you while his arms were making sure that you didn't get swept away.

"Good," you mumbled this time. "Because I don't."

You couldn't swim even if your life depended on it.

Your clothes were already half wet so you thought there was nothing stopping you from getting drenched completely. Plus, you both had spare ones.

You looked down at Shubman's pants that were rolled up his ankles. You'd hate to ruin them but he didn't seem to mind.

His arm that was around your waist moved as he faced you.

Looking into your eyes and making sure you were ready, he held your waist, hoisting you up in the water just a bit so that you could wrap your legs around him.

"Sh!t," you mumbled as an impulsive instinct, your arms going around his neck and holding yourself closer to him.

Your legs that were around his waist tightened, your ankles interlocked.

"You're sure you won't drop me?" You asked, looking around at the endless body of water and empty shore.

"Never," Shubman answered and kissed your cheek to reassure you.

Then he started moving and you felt the water up your waist.

"Hold on, okay?" He held you tightly in his arms and you nodded. "How far do you want to go?"

"I don't know," you said, clutching on the back of his shirt. "Maybe you could dive in the water once."

You looked at him expectantly, bracing yourself for the impact before you hugged him completely.

Like a shooting star falling across the sky, you drifted into the ocean with your eyes closed.

Not even a second later, you felt your head being pulled back a little.

You didn't open your eyes but you felt Shubman place his lips on yours, synchronizing their movements similar to how the water danced with the sea.

Holding your breath, you kissed him back, eyes opening involuntarily to look into his own that were already looking at you.

He swam up to the surface of the water again and you pulled away, catching your breath. Your eyes did feel like they were burning.

You kept your arms around his neck, kissing him again, your breath rising and falling like the waves until he pulled away.

"It's really salty," you said while still breathing heavily and Shubman laughed a little.

He swam back to the shore with you in his arms, not letting you go even when he walked to the dry sand.

You ran a hand through his wet hair, pushing it back and kissing his forehead.

Satisfied with the smile on his face, you leaned your head on his shoulder, the evening sun facing you both.

"Just because you call me 'baby' it doesn't make me one," you mumbled. "You can let me down."

"If I have to carry you around for the rest of our lives, then I will," Shubman nuzzled his face into your hair. "Who'll question us?"

You just buried your face in his neck in return, ghosting your lips over his skin.

"But just for a moment," you said, raising your head to look at him.

"Okay," he agreed, slowly unwrapping his arms that were around your waist.

You still held on to his neck, giving him a small peck on his lips before you stepped back.

"Ever played tag?" You asked and before he could answer, you turned around and took off. "You're it!"

Shubman wasted no time in running after you, missing you just by an inch before he chased you again.

He was all smiles as he caught you by your waist from behind, carrying you back to the waves and kissing your cheek.

You both could live like this forever.

Well, could.

-

You dried your wet hair with the towel, pacing the hotel room upstairs to the dining area.

Looking at your clothes and Shubman's black Luca sweater, you contemplated. You're the one who packed it along with your stuff.

Giving it a thought, you changed into the sweater that was made of soft and comfortable fabric, a crew neck and long sleeves.

Plus, there was still a whiff of his scent.

Again, you walked downstairs where Shubman was waiting for you, seated on one of the chairs on the patio.

"You didn't have to wait," you said, looking at all the food placed on the table beside him.

"Baby, I can never miss an opportunity to dine with-" He replied while turning around, only to get the functioning of his respiratory system stopped for a moment.

Did I mention that this is your first time wearing something from Shubman's wardrobe?

"-you," he completed, eyes still on you.

According to ichthyologists, fishes open and close their mouths frequently to force the surrounding water to enter their body, so that the oxygen dissolved in the water can be absorbed when the water passes through the gills.

(A/n: No pun intended)

And Shubman here, was rivaling all the fishes in the ocean.

"The sleeves are a bit longer than I expected them to be," you said nonchalantly as you walked to him.

Before he could even recover and pull out another chair for you, you moved his arm a little to sit on his lap.

"But it's comfortable," you said again, an arm placed around his neck. "The sleeves," you added and nudged his chest with your shoulder when he didn't respond.

"Uh, yeah," he responded when he finally did recover, wrapping his arms around your waist and holding you.

Smiling a little, you laid your head on his shoulder, staring at the sunset.

Your fingers played with the buttons of the shirt he was wearing, occasionally tracing a finger down the part of his chest that was revealed.

Shubman held you close, feeling your warmth on his chest and the chills down his spine.

He felt a squeeze around his heart, goosebumps raising on his skin as he once again smiled at the thought that you were together.

"I thought it'd be nice to live near a lighthouse," you said, staring off at the waves. "But then again, I didn't want to. Because once people get something, they don't love it as they did before."

"Maybe they didn't truly love it or love it enough in the first place," he ran his fingers through your hair, cradling you on his lap.

You hummed a little in response as you stopped fiddling with his shirt buttons. "Do you love me enough?"

Shubman held your cheek and lifted your face up, looking into your eyes. "More than enough."

The evening breeze wafted over you as he placed a kiss on your lips and the rest of the world dissolved.

Is this what they call stardust? The feeling of romance, magic, and ethereality.

"But tell me one thing, baby," he said against your lips. "Do you want to live near a lighthouse?"

"Maybe for holidays," you mumbled as his thumb caressed your cheek. "Why?"

"We must buy you a house near a lighthouse," he said with a tone that made it obvious that he was not joking.

"If I tell you I like stars, would you buy the sky for me?" You asked with a little laugh.

"I'll buy the galaxy for you," Shubman brushed the tip of his nose against yours. "Though you'll have to specify which one or all of them, sweetheart. There are a hundred to two hundred billion galaxies in the universe and also more than a trillion that are undiscovered."

"I'm sure no one can buy the galaxy but I would love to eat ice cream now," you kissed his cheek before sitting straight on his lap.

"Then I'll just click a picture of your eyes and give it to you," he smiled, a hand placed on your back, the other one reaching out towards the plate of food.

In your eyes there are countless stars yet to be discovered. Why will I look for another sky?

A/n

I'm really sorry for the radio silence, guys. I was visiting my native place the previous week and there were internet issues. It wasn't always this way the other times and I'm not sure what caused the internet outage now. But I managed to briefly access Google Docs and saved the draft of half this chapter offline. And here we are~