"Baby, what are you trying to do?" Shubman asked as he sat on the edge of the bed.

"Trying to lift you up," you tried again, an arm draped across his back and the other trying to lift his knees up. "Never mind."

You sighed, letting yourself fall back on the bed.

He turned to you, pulling your legs towards himself, and you made yourself comfortable on his lap.

"But it looked so easy," you mumbled, scratching your nails on the blazer over his shoulder.

"When?" Shubman ran his fingers through your hair, tilting his head to kiss your cheek.

"When Shahneel did it," you replied. "She lifted Ishan so easily and dropped him in the pool yesterday."

"Maybe you're still a little tipsy, honey," he wiped the side of your face as you started to sweat. "Let's try again in the morning."

"Maybe," you mumbled again, gaze falling to his lips, straddling him.

Oh those sweet lips, you could kiss them all night long.

You knew every inch of him now, gave him your love. He took comfort that you were here and you were not alone.

Leaning forward, you placed a small kiss on his lips, faintly tasting the scotch you both shared an hour back.

In the past months, you've seen Shubman's caring side. Or when he's protective, fretting over trivial things because it's about you. His passionate side, and the one that spoils you. But none that doesn't love you.

You don't know which side of him you cherish the most. You treasure each side, just as you treasure him.

His hand rested on your cheek. His touch gentle, warm and soft as sin.

You both just stare at each other like idiots for a few minutes, until you start pulling away.

"What happened?" Shubman held you by your waist as you leaned towards the nightstand, grabbing your phone.

"Wait a moment," you said, unlocking your phone which became the only source of illumination in the room, and staring at it instead.

After a minute or so, you smiled and looked at him again.

"Happy Valentine's day, baby," you placed your phone away, hands reaching up to pinch his cheeks.

Your arms wrapped around his neck in a tight hug, the smile not fading away as he said it back.

Shubman pulled your head back softly, and a smile found its way to his lips, realizing that he was unconsciously passing on the kiss he received not long before.

All its intimacy and promise, all its love. A message like a song, and just as important.

He kissed you gently, carefully, but it wasn't the gentleness you wanted right now.

You hungrily pushed back, your mouth open, tongue pushing past his lips to the moist space within.

One of your hands gripped his head firmly, as if to keep him from escaping.

You worked your mouth against his, tongues battling back and forth like wrestlers, each trying to pin the other.

Shubman's lips mashed against yours, as if trying to flatten and destroy your mouth.

Afterwards, in paradise and awake, you both lie a long time on the bed, on your sides, unclad and fully facing each other.

You do not know what he sees, but you see eyes of surpassing tenderness and calm.

A calm like the dignity of matter.

You love the brown of his irises. You love the curve of it against the white.

That curve, the sight of what caused you to come, when he was quite still, deep inside you.

Never have you seen a curve like that, except the moon or a picture of the earth from outer space.

You don't know how Shubman got this love for you.

Though he's told you, love at first sight. That the world stopped. The moment he looked at you, he didn't belong to himself anymore.

Sometimes, he's slightly smiling and caressing your cheek. Sometimes, your hand is held in his.

There's no worry. Just radiance.

When you wake up again in the morning, he's still looking at you.

For an hour, you both wake and doze, and then you're slowly up together.