The evening was work loaded too. They woke up to great weather and Hritika felt greatly motivated to complete work.

She sat by the balcony while Aarav chose the hall room.

She heard Aarav yelling, she slowly walked inside the suite.

Aarav was shouting to the phone.

"How the hell did you not get it!? We had great plans for the architecture and it was such a huge deal"

"Consider yourselves fired."

Aarav was panting in anger.

Hritika poured him some water and advanced it to him.

He took it with a curt nod.

"What is wrong? Are you okay?"

"I'm sorry, couldn't help my anger."

"Yeah but why?"

"I couldn't be at the meeting because of this. And my business opponent didn't even let the Indonesian personnel reach the conference! How could my employees not be alert enough! It was a very important deal!"

He sat on the sofa with a huff, Hritika did the same beside him.

Hritika held his palm in hers and looked at him in the eye "So should we go drown in the sea, now?"

"What?"

"No? Fan won't be able to take your load."

"What are you talking about?"

"Mr. Malhotra, shits happen. You have lost deals before right?"

"Yes but they mislead the personnels! Their rivalry is simply outrageous!"

"Too competitive. Is his surname Sharma?"

Aarav let out a small laugh "no"

"Too bad, would suit them"

Aarav scooted more towards her as he put his arm around her.

She laid her head on his shoulders.

"Right now can you do something about it?" She asked.

"No, they have secured it."

"Then, let it pass. Why worry? I am sure you will get better deals."

"Mhm, I'll try to keep it off mind."

"Do you wanna take a walk outside?"

"Right now?"

"Right now."

"Weren't you working? You don't have to-"

"I want to!"

They both left for the hotel's garden. It was huge with a heartwarming scenery,  the plants were extraordinarily beautiful. The sun had set, and the sky looked like....it was made for honeymoons.

They walked and talked about, well, business! They talked passionately about stalk markets, economy, Healthcare, ugh. But even though their subjects weren't as romantic as Pablo Neruda's poems would be, but their chemistry was stronger than dipole-dipole interactions.

They sat facing the sea, the hair making her hair fly onto his face, without complaints he laughed– without complaints he loved.

As the night fell deeper, Hritika felt cold. The breeze from the beach was making her Indian soul shiver.

"Do you need my jacket?"

"Er, no, I am fine!"

"You are cold, Hritika"

"No, no! It's okay"

Without more words spoken he pulled her closer, sharing his jacket, he held her close. His warmth made her close her eyes.

She thought about it. She thought about how he cared for the littlest worries, how he knew without her saying a word. She couldn't stop thinking about it. She didn't want to stop thinking about it.

"Are you feeling better now?" She asked.

"I do, thank you."

"You're welcome. Feeling grass beneath my feet is something like, like it transfers my negative thoughts towards the earth– you know like in earthing?"

"What else relaxes you?"

"Tea..indubitably. Flavoured with ginger or cardamom or both."

"And?"

"You wanna know more?"

"Mhm"

"...maybe work? Like finishing some work. Feeling productive. What relaxes you?"

"Weird habit but cleaning. I had this friend in college. And I would visit him everytime I was stressed and I would clean it all. Everything."

Hritika laughed "explains why your house is so tidy always."

"Our house." He corrected.

"Huh?"

"Our house, ma'am. You said my house."

Hritika laughed "It is your house, Mr. Malhotra. I don't want wifely rights from you."

"First of all, I have a name. Find your comfort to call me that. And why do not want your wifely rights?" He looked at her with questioning eyes and a smile on his lips.

"First of all, I call everyone like that. I even called your cousin that. He was so perplexed. I had to change calling him that. Secondly, I don't wanna be attached to your home and never want to leave it"

"What? Who? Siddharth? Poor kid. And what about bua!? May God never let her know that she called you just right and it was just you didn't know 'who Aarav was'" he laughed like smooth waves over skin "Secondly," he looked at her, held her hand "You don't have to leave it"

Their eyes locked and the unknown longing of their well known souls was indescribable, until Hritika sneezed.

"Let's go inside, otherwise you'll ruin my honeymoon." Aarav joked getting up.

"Mr. Mal- Aarav, that is where you use 'our', our honeymoon and I know for a fact you'd walk over my dead body for traveling, sickling" Hritika walked fast towards the hotel.

Aarav shook his head in disbelief and laughed before he ran behind her to catch up.

Pulling the covers on her, she sat with a murder mystery. Something that terrified her, given her own parents were killed and she watched it and could do nothing about it.

Aarav looked at her as she was sitting, terried, clutching to the blanket.

"Don't you think you should go to sleep now?" He asked, getting comfortable on the bed.

"......yeah..2 minutes."

"I'm off to sleep. Good night, you."

"G'night"

1 hour in, she was struggling to sleep. She had read way too much. And it was from one of the notorious books for murder mysteries. What made them horrible was they were true. Somewhere, someone had been subjected to that threat.

She was sweating. She did not remember the whole incident of when her parent died. But the part she remembered, her father had threw her out, them under the heavy vehicle, dying— screaming for help— knowing they'd die that night. She could almost hear her own cries, the terrible, oh so terrible cries for help.

She sometimes blamed her father. Why did he push her out? A life is lived when you have love, her life did not include love. Her life was like a labyrinth, a deep dark maze. But still she thrived. Still she made efforts to laugh, to make jokes, to mix with people but it was so damn hard, she almost believed she 'couldn't' be loved— that she shouldn't be loved.

She thought until she was asleep. But animals don't even leave you in your home. Nightmares started within.

Till some point she was sweating but it got horrific and she woke up with a gasp and started crying.

Watching your parents be killed in such an tender age, and never being treated for that— hurts way more than just business heartbreak. And to relive that every other night through nightmares, leaves you with no strength.

She held her palms buried to her face as she cried.

Aarav for once, when he woke up to the sound of her crying, was heavily scared. He sat up straight, and noticing how hard she was crying, he spoke nothing but held onto her. He held her close to his chest, very tightly letting her know that he is there for her, that whatever she was crying for was something they could together get over with.

After her cries calmed down a bit, he loosened the hug a bit and asked "What happened, Hritika?"

Hritika looked up at him "Just another nightmare"

"Why were crying so much? It's not that simple as you're saying. Are you hurt? Did you get hurt somewhere? On the wal—"

Hritika stopped him "No no, I'm absolutely fine physically."

"And mentally?"

"I don't know. It's normal for me. I get them... almost every other day."

"What are they about? A specific something."

Hritika nodded looking away "yes, my parents. I don't seem to forget the incident and I keep getting flashbacks. And i- I just can't seem to forget. Or even accept-" her eyes had swollen up with tears again.

Aarav held her hands in his as she continued.

"I just- childhood wasn't the best for me after them. And my psychiatric treatment was stopped abruptly by my aunt, and I never received the help I needed. And now that I am old enough and rich enough to get it for myself, all people wanna do is right about it on newspapers and no one wants to be friends with a girl who doesn't 'have a life'" she let out a sardonic laugh.

"You can tell me"

"I know, and it makes me so vulnerable. And- and I just don't want to witness another of that and I am so scared of everything–"

"Scared of what?"

"Innumerable things."

"Like?"

"Cars! Aarav, Cars! As simple as those are. I am scared of fire. Because that's all I see in those flashbacks. I hate, I hate knives– 'cause- 'cause-" She  was crying again " 'cause that was my punishments from my uncle and aunt. They would- they would heat up a butter knife- and they would make me hold it- or they would make me use it for the whole meal." Hritika's tears knew no bounds.

Aarav's heart pounded in his chest, his eyes were watery.

He pulled Hritika onto his chest again, in a loving embrace "I can not even imagine what must you have been through, but I promise you, I promise you I won't ever let them near you again. I promise you I won't let anything like that happen to you."

"I am scared for you too. Will you be safe now that you're married to me?"

"I am more than just safe. With my wife knowing Krav Maga that good, I am sure no one can dare to touch me ever again!" He said on a lighter tone.

Hritika held him closer when they lied back down on the bed.

"If you feel I am taking too much of your space, let me know." She said.

He put his arms around her while combing her hair through his fingers "Even if you did, own the space. It's all yours."

Author screaming in the background. LITERALLY. Ugh, editing books is a goddamn job. I wanna die out of exhaustion.