"Are you trying to walk away from me because I look ugly with these bandages?" His eyes grew large at his own statement that he spoke without any consideration.

And the one to blame were... Heavy antibiotics!

"What the-?" Vaanya's mouth fell agape at his words because it was totally the opposite of what he said.

His upper body was entirely naked in front of her.  His abs, his toned torso, his chiseled chest were like- a male model's body being displayed on any magazine's cover. And he thought that she was thinking of him as ugly?

What rubbish!

"You've never looked so fine in your entire life like you're looking right now, and you called yourself ugly? How dare you, Agnihotri?"

And all her headache, all her slumber threw itself out of her body. She got up with the adrenaline rush to counter back his words which he really wanted to hear.

"I think antibiotics really got on your head, you dumbass," she angrily muttered to herself, swaying back her hair off from her face in annoyance.

"Did you just call me... Hot?" And that sly, shy smile lingering on his lips depicted something else.

But what else could he do? Because he's always seeking chances to hear compliments from her, and she never does that. Whenever she did, she would always twist her words and turn them into a taunt, so he had no other ideas than to make her spill some real compliments for him.

"Of course you d— w- wait—" but as she turned around after realising what he just said, Vaanya noticed that flickering smirk that he was trying to conceal from her.

"Oh," and she perceived that it weren't the antibiotics, but his trashy brain.

So she twisted the game.

"Of course," she smiled. Not any usual smile, but the one that Abhir had to face earlier in the day after he pranked her.

Shit. Regretting? More than 100%.

"You do like a hot burning potato on the stove, screaming to spare his life," the lady smirked, folding her arms under her chest, chuckling at her husband's scowl.

"Enough? Now sleep," and with one stern tone, Vaanya bent down to pick up his blanket and cover his lower body with the soft woollen fabric.

"Should I bring the heater close to you?" She asks, fixing his blanket and bed from the empty corners.

Abhir's eyes were only stuck on her face, watching how easily she was handling everything while secretly crying as well.

Of course he wasn't blind to not see her red eyes. She might have cried in those moments whenever she went out of the ward with excuses like calling the doctor or buying his medicines. Feeling agonized, Abhir lifted his hand to hold her wrist, and drag her towards himself, halting her from doing her work.

"Wh-"

"Shh,"

Their faces were inches apart when Abhir gazed in her orbs. Peace. Her eyes have peace. Lips? Her lips are love. Nose? Her nose is that one mountain with the highest peak, that adorns the sky with it's snowy peak. Her cheeks? Those are like clouds in the sky, that stroke the blue reflection of the ether like a blush on a girl's cheek.

And his thumb found her cheeks to gently nuzzle her skin under her right eye, as if wiping those tears that he couldn't wipe off earlier.

"Just how much have you cried, Miss Birla?" He questions. His voice barely above a whisper as his heart felt stabbed by knifes at just the imagination of her crying secretly.

How she would have handled it all alone? How strong she had to be, when she was told that he was in a critical condition? How she would have faced their families when all she would have wanted to be alone and pray for him?

"Did you eat in those 24 hours when I was unconscious?" He added another question, and Vaanya just heard him silently.

"How-"

"Shhh-"

Vaanya shushed him by placing a finger on his lips, as she knew he wouldn't stop anytime soon if she doesn't make him shut up.

But in response to her coerced silence, Abhir kissed her finger that she placed on his lips with his eyes closed, and simultaneously a tear drew a watery line, originating from the corner of his right eye, and muffling in his hair with the side hairline .

"I'm sorry, Vaanya. You had to cry so much because of me,"

His heart ached at the memory when he saw tears in her eyes for the first time on their engagement. When she was running out of the bride's room after she messed up the announcement about the Birla's and Agnihotri's collaboration instead of their engagement and marriage.

His heart ached that day as well, but the intensity today was just unimaginable.

"I promise you'll never cry because of me, or anything else as well, after today,"

Looking in her orbs, Abhir smiled at his promise and so did she, still caressing his hair.

Vaanya was overwhelmed seeing how thoughtful he has always been. Only she was blind to deliberately ignore his patience with her since the starting.

"But genuinely, I wanna know, how much did you cry because your eyes are much reddish than in the noon,"

He queried normally this time, tapping on his side for her to lay down beside him even after she denied many times.

"Just come, please," he requested with his throat in immense pain of holding back the urge to cry out in her arms.

Maybe it's the medicine, maybe the accident, maybe her tears, or maybe their situation, but it was altogether too much for both of them to hold themselves back, and actually stronger.

"What if I hurt your wounds, Abhi?" She exclaimed her concern, her voice hurling with anxiety. And hearing her, Abhir intensely locked their eyes in a straight line, holding both her hands in his.

"You," his brows pointed at her face. "Can only heal me,"

He confessed. And her heartbeat elevated to infinity. How the hell even in this condition can he flirt like that? He's unbelievable!

"Abhi-"

"Just come, Vaanu, you talk too much these days," observing her constant resistance, Abhir just circled his fine arm around her waist, and hauled her right next to him, on the bed, and back hugged her closely to his chest making sure all his wounds were pressed by her back, as it somehow caused him less pain.

"Mmm~" a light moan with a smile escaped his lips, as he could finally cuddle with her after so long. Feels almost like a decade since he has touched her or been close to her like this.

"How can your mere presence have this effect on me, that I barely remember to breathe?" He whispered huskily in her ear.

His breath hitched, and so did hers when Abhir's lips found their way to her nape.

Vaanya shut her eyes at their intimacy. Abhir's arms tightened around her waist, pulling her closer to his body.

"Your wounds—"

"They're fine, so don't distract me, the landlady of my heart," he mumbled croakily in her ear.

Vaanya's breathing was rushed and unstable. Her heart perhaps was pumping blood way too fast, and her mind was probably unnerved at this time when Abhir's slender fingers, and big hands moved in a circular motion on her belly.

"Vaanya,"

A breathy moan escalated from his mouth when he took her name. Both of their eyes were tightly shut at their closeness proximity.

Abhir's breathing was almost unnatural when his lips grazed along her nape from up to down. He used his nose to slide away her hair for an open access to her skin.

"Almost-" Abhir heavily breaths with his eyes tightly closed, his mind only feeling her presence close to himself. "Almost an year of this marriage- a- and- you barely heard an I love you from me as an expression of my love for you, biwi ji,"

And his lips finally, finally pressed on her nape after a long foreplay to plant a gentle and long kiss on her neck, earning a weak moan from her.

"I feel so guilty for not expressing my love to you in all the ways that I'm capable of,"

And another breathy sentence that caught his wife off guard, but also sent butterflies and shivers down her spine, and to her entire body like an electric shock.

Vaanya's eyes were still tightly pressed as her goosebumps still hadn't settled back to normal because of Abhir. The presence of his lips was still there on her nape after the foreplay, even though he had long retrieved back his lips from her skin.

"Wifey," Abhir finally calmed down, opening his eyes, and coming closer to attach his cheek with hers, completely submerging her body underneath him.

And fun fact?

No wounds were hurted in this process.

"Will you give me the golden opportunity to express my love for you, in all the ways that any human can?" He questions gently.

His voice softer and tone affectionate.

Vaanya eventually opens her eyes as well, looking at the wall in front with this few paintings hung on it.

"And how will you do that, hubby?" She retracts his tone with a shy smile on her lips.

Abhir smiled at her response. "I won't reveal that, but I'll take that as a yes?" He queried with a chuckle.

Vaanya slightly rotated her neck to look at his face while lying underneath him.

Abhir allowed her to move as he extended his arm under her head, and let her turn sides so now they were completely facing each other.

"Fine," Vaanya smiled looking up at her husband while her fingers traced along his wounds.

"Ahh—" but suddenly, a painful, low and brittle roar came from his mouth when she touched his chest wound.

"Did it hurt? I'm so so—" Vaanya was about to sit up when he covered her side face with his huge palm, and made her lay back on his extended arm under her head, as his expressions worsened.

"I only take kisses as apologies from now on," he rashly interrupted while holding his hand up to his heart where his wound was aching.

"Wh-" and all her worried dropped down as soon as she realised he was acting up again.

"Stupid Agnihotri," she pushed back his head by slapping his forehead with her index finger and a chuckle.

Abhir as well ended up laughing, and completely circled his arms around her shoulder and waist to hug her tightly. They talked for a while until Abhir fell asleep because of his medication when Vaanya was telling him some of her college stories.

His hand laid under head, and other one patiently circled around her waist as his lips protruded outwards like a baby sleeping with a pout.

"So cute," Vaanya wished to bite his nose, but avoided it so she doesn't wake him up even unintentionally.

"Vaanya Birla Agnihotri really really really loves you, Abhir Agnihotri Birla,"

And finally with a soft peck on his nose, she fell asleep in his arms as well, only to wake up early in the morning, around 6 am in his arms, in the same position like he slept.

A pure smile of affection crossed her lips at this beautiful face that she saw to commence her day with.

"Morning, akdu Agnihotri," she whispered with a sterling smile.

A brief peck on the tip of his nose like she placed earlier in the night, and carefully got off the bed to freshen up after properly covering her husband in duvets.

Vaanya leisurely walks to the washroom to wash her face with cold water to bring her alertness as she had no less work than yesterday. Just say that it's doubled today, as there are two consecutive meetings that she asked Revanth to reschedule for today as an online meeting, so she can take care of Abhir, as well as focus on work to not let the families down either.

And for all of that, she needed her usual cold water that actually wakes her up with just a few drops of it.

Looking at her puffy eyes in the mirror, a pout formed on her lips at how tired she looked. But all she could do was state blankly at herself as memories and those horrific gunshots resounded in her ears, jerking her up.

"Uff, calm down Vaanu, calm down. Abhir is fine, it's okay, everything is okay. He's alive, he's alive, he's alive, nothing happened to him, he's fine,"

She breathed out, shaking her head to get rid of the perturbed thoughts.

She lifted her hands up to clutch her hair up before washing her face, when something unusual caught her eye. 

And to confirm it, as Vaanya tilted closer to the mirror, she noticed that highly visible red mark on her neck.

And no- that- wasn't a mark. It's a...

"Hickey?"