“You are everything, Vedika Thakkar. My everything.”His voice roughened.“You deserved better than me then. Maybe you still do. But if you give me one more chance… I’ll spend the rest of my life becoming the man you should have had all along.”
“You are already the man I want to have. But if you insist, I’ll give you every chance I have in this lifetime and in all the ones that follow,” she whispered. “Just promise you won’t leave me again.”
“Never,” he swore, kissing her long and deep. When they finally surfaced for air, he said, “Not unless you ask me to. I’ll figure something out on the work front and-“
“No, you won’t,” she said bossily. “I have it all figured out.” She dove for one of her bags and pulled out a laptop. He watched inamazement as she pulled up an excel sheet which fed into a fully constructed PowerPoint presentation. And then she proceeded to tell him exactly how their lives would look like together.
A base in Mumbai since her work kept her there. Flight schedules aligned with their deadlines. Protected weekends blocked off months in advance. A rule that no argument would be left unresolved for more than twenty-four hours. Her planned leave that would allow her to travel with him once in three months. And time, carefully guarded time, where they would just be Daksh and Vedika, nothing more, nothing less.
Somewhere between her calmly stating, “We will protect our time like any other critical investment,” and her matter-of-fact, “I have extrapolated possible promotion timelines so we don’t get blindsided,” something inside his chest gave way.
God.
She wasn’t just choosing him.She was planning for him, for their life together.Before she could move to what looked like a five-year emotional sustainability model, he reached forward, shut the laptop with a soft but decisive click, and pulled her straight into his lap.
“Daksh-”
He kissed her before she could finish, deep and certain, like a man who had just realised he was the luckiest bastard alive. Which he was, in this lifetime and every one to follow because he was never letting her go.
“You planned all that?” he murmured against her mouth.
“Obviously,” she said, slightly breathless but still indignant. “Someone has to be the strategic thinker in this relationship.”
His mouth curved.
“Mouse,” he said softly, pulling her closer, “I was already all in. You didn’t have to prepare a board presentation.”
Vedika melted into his arms. “Maybe we’ll leave the strategy for another time,” she murmured.
Daksh rubbed the tip of his nose against hers. “I love you,” he whispered.
“I know, idiot,” she said, breathlessly. “I’ve always known. Doyouknowthat I love you too?”
“Yeah Mouse,” he said, his voice rough with emotion. “I know. Mine,” he whispered, stealing another kiss.
“Yours,” she promised and then proceeded to show him in every way possible.
EPILOGUE
“Vedika!”
The hissed whisper had her jolting out of sleep.
“Wha-“ she mumbled, looking around their darkened bedroom. “What’s happening?”
“Can you hear it?” Daksh asked, sitting up wild eyed on their newly acquired mattress that lay on the floor of their even more newly acquired home.
“What?” she asked, her brain foggy with sleep.
“That!” He scrambled up on the mattress, bouncing a little on his toes.
Vedika gaped up at him. “What is going on with you?”
And then she heard it. A tiny squeak.
“That!” Daksh yelped again. He launched himself at the switchboard and turned on the lights.
Vedika blinked as light flooded their new flat in Bandra, the one they’d moved into just the previous day. All they’d managed tounpack were their bedsheets, draping it over the mattress on the floor and falling asleep in the middle of their unboxed cartons of luggage. Which were now squeaking…
