Rise of the Devil - Part 35

 

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Chapter 35



Khushi’s POV


There is immense ache in my body. I have practiced self defense for two hours today and it didn’t bother me then. But now at night, I am unable to move my arms at all. Kate had informed me only one hour training daily was enough but I was annoyed on Devil for hiding my Dad’s innocence so I didn’t let her stop. She trained me for continuous two hours. I settle on the bed of my room in Chandra Mahal where I have decided to spend tonight… Alone… To punish Devil for the distrust he showed on me. I haven’t seen him since I began my training today morning. He and Dad were busy planning and plotting to trace Jaipal and both were locked up in a room, to discuss the same. I had to eat my lunch and dinner with Buaji alone. I am aware of the seriousness of this matter which is why I am not going to punish Devil for not being able to spend time with me. But he cannot escape my today’s punishment. Let him sleep alone tonight in the Villa. I don’t care.

I pick a Romance Novel from the closet. This is all I need right now… A good romantic read on my bed… Changing into my regular night suit, I settle on the bed with the Quilt covering my legs and continue the book from where I had left last. Almost fifteen minutes later, I hear the door clicking open and there he is… Devil Singh Raizada. I don’t doubt he has the keys to my bedroom which he can use any time to enter without my permission but what is he doing here and that too in his night pants and casual T-shirt? Looks like he is here to sleep..!! SERIOUSLY?? No.


“I am not going anywhere if you are here to take me back.”


A wicked grin forms on his face which does a somersault inside my stomach.


“Who said I am here to take you back?”

He reaches the bed and, in a minute, he is sitting beside me in the same position, with the quilt covering his feet too. He is very close and I can tell he has taken a shower. I hate to admit how much I am attracted by his night cologne.


“What are you reading?”

He tries to check the cover but I push his arm away.

“Don’t touch my book. It’s not yours.”

“Okay.” He gives me another lopsided smile and strokes my arm instead.

“What do you think you are doing Devil?” I snap.

“You said I can’t touch your book. But I can touch you..” He kisses my shoulder and then whispers. “Because you are mine..”


How very oddly romantic. The man has no idea what romance is yet he speaks as if he has done mastery in it. I push him away by my shoulder but only inches away. He is still sitting glued to me with his eyes on the page I am reading.


“Is this a mafia romance you are reading?” Arnav asks and I want to hide inside my quilt not willing to answer that. “You read mafia romances?” He pokes again.

“Yea, why? Can’t mafias fall in love?”

“They do…” He grins devilishly and I am already on the verge of kissing him. Nope!! Not tonight!

“Will you please stop bothering me with your questions and let me read? This is my favorite novel.”

“I am not stopping you to read. Please carry on.”


Good!! I thought he will lie down and sleep but he doesn’t. He keeps reading with me silently and I am confused if I should flip the page or not as the scene is romantic. My book hero is going to make love to his heroine and I don’t want to ready those cheesy scenes with my very own Devil sitting next to me with his eyes on it. I close the book.


“What the…” Arnav groans. “Why did you close the book?”

“Because I am done for today.”

“You said it’s your favorite novel,” he argues. “Shouldn’t you complete the chapter at least.”

“My book, my wish. I will finish it whenever I have interest. Why is this bothering you?”


He smirks hard and taps my nose.


“Your nose has turned pink…”


Has it? I touch it but obviously touching won’t let me feel the color on it.


“Your hero was going to romance his heroine. I need to know how he does that… Give me the book if you don’t want to read.”


Arnav is about to snatch the book from me when I hide it below my pillow.


“Don’t even dare touch my stuff.. Go grab your own copy from the store. There are deals going on.”


I shut the night lamps off and lie down, facing my back to him.

“Can we share your book?”

Why is he so interested in my book? Only because it’s a mafia romance? His type of romance? Damn!! My cheeks hurt as they are burning with love. I cannot imagine Devil reading that romance and imagining us in it though a part of me wants him to.

“No…oo..No” I stutter in the process of hiding my grin. Thank God the room is dark and he cannot see my face.


The next instant, I find him sleeping behind me and in a second his arm curls around my waist, drawing me behind to glue to him. Shit!! The man has spooned me in sleep. What a torturous way to begin a night which I had strongly aimed to spend without him. It looks like I am going to have a sleepless night today, not Devil.

“You are breathing hard..” Arnav whispers in my ears. He is so close.. his face is so close to my ears that I can feel his breath fanning my cheeks.


Am I breathing hard? He can read my pulse? Damn!! I shut my eyes tight to just fall asleep when his lips brush the exposed area of my neck and this time my heart beats like a Dolby music system. He is torturing me.


“I thought you are here to sleep” I taunt him so that he takes me seriously..

“I am here to draw away your sleep” Arnav confronts shamelessly kissing me tenderly on the neck and I am in another world. This man!! The way he romances me at times is much better than all the mafia heroes in the books I have read does.


I suddenly go still recalling why I am punishing him tonight. He didn’t think I was trustworthy to share all these secrets with me. And it hurts!!


As if he senses my turmoil, Arnav stops kissing my neck and pulls me closer again.


“I didn’t trust you earlier but now I do..” he murmurs. “I didn’t want to risk my mission which was my only priority at that time Khushi. But you too are my priority now and I will never hurt you again. I promise.”


He means that. I can feel it already. I don’t say anything yet though. It’s good that we aren’t facing each other. This way he can easily share what he has in his heart.


“During my training, I was taught to keep my feelings low.. not letting it come in the way of my mission and all these years I have been abiding by that. But what I feel for you is not something I can curb in my heart any longer.”


Tears roll down my eyes and fall on my pillow, but I zip my lips. It is his chance to speak. I want to just listen to him…

“I am sorry if I hurt you so far but I was helpless Khushi.. I…”


Words choke in his throat and this is when I finally turn around within the circle of his arms, to face him. He has similar tears in his eyes and that’s unbearable. I have never seen him with tears and so much insecurity for me before. I palm his rough cheek.


“It’s okay. I understand.”


My verbal assurance isn’t enough so I kiss his nose to show him I mean it.

“You don’t have to promise me anything Arnav. I might be silly at times I do understand the seriousness of your mission. I want you to finish it soon so that we two can start our own private life. Where there wont be anyone except you… me and.. a handful of toddlers and kids around..”


His lips part in surprise at my reply.


“Handful of toddlers?” he repeats and I blush.

“I like to have big families.. I won’t let you stay at ease unless you don’t give me minimum three babies.”


I mean it!! He grins ear to ear pulling me closer. Our faces just an inch apart.


“For giving birth to three babies you need to be mentally and physically fit first,” he reminds.

“Right..” I pout. “And I am already sore and achy by spending two hours of self defense training. Can’t move my arms much.. see..”

I try to stretch my arms and wince when it aches badly after a certain angle. Arnav feels bad for me and holding that arm, he pulls it to his mouth, to kiss.

“It will be better with time.. I will ask Kate to slow down the training pace if that helps.”

“Not her fault.” I frown. “I asked her to extend today because I was mad at you..”

“WAS?” He interrupts.. “Not anymore?”

Fine!! I sigh giving up all my resolve to be angry on him tonight and smile.


“Not anymore.. I forgive you. To be honest, I am done counting people’s mistakes. We cannot live like that for long Arnav. We have to learn to forgive and forget and then move on. I believe so. That’s why no more pasts is going to matter. I want to have a good future with you all. There’s no point grieving what you all couldn’t give me back in the past. Right?”

He is even more stunned at my thoughtfulness. Devil nods softly.


“You are not as silly as I thought. You are something else Khushi Kumari Gupta..”

“Singh Raizada…” I add. “Don’t forget to add Devil Queen too in the end. I love that tag.”

“Now you do?” He lazily rolls me on my back and hovers on me, carefully ensuring my arms don’t hurt. That’s new!! The man who was so rough before in all his touches, has been handling me so delicately like I am glass doll. When Arnav leans down on my face, I assume he is going to kiss me but he stuns me totally by grabbing the book from under the pillow and gets back on his side of the bed.


“Lets see what your hero does with his heroine..” He opens the exact same page where I had stopped reading, all thanks to the bookmark.

“Arnav don’t” I try to stop him from reading but he grabs me and settles me closer to his body, with my head on his pillow.

“Lets read together, can we?”

I frown. Reading a romance novel with my husband? Doesn’t seem bad!

“Okay,” I agree.


He holds the book on his chest and we both read it silently. Obviously, as expected my mafia book hero romances his wife and I am so glad the scene isn’t very embarrassing to read with Devil beside me. For a moment I am afraid if it would get cheesy ahead and I might not be able to face Arnav anymore. But nothing so happens in the story either. We read good number of pages before my eyes begin to close and I doze off.


*****************

Arnav’s POV


I doze off too after hearing Khushi’s soft snore at the crook of my neck. I cannot believe me, the Devil King read a romance novel with his wife at night. But that surely left us with some good moments. I have never felt this close to anyone before. Now I do. I have my own family.. my own personal hugger and kisser whom I am going to cherish lifelong. So this morning when I open my eyes and find Khushi still sleeping peacefully in my arms, I cannot hold myself from waking her up with my kiss!! She seems to like it and probably is still in sleep while kissing me back. But soon she opens her eyes and the surprise on her face makes me laugh hard. I pull away from her body to notice her frozen expressions.

“You… you.. kissed me? I… I didn’t even brush..”

“Me neither” I pull her close to me again and she shies, hiding her face in my chest. “But that was still the best kiss of my life.”

“Same here” she finally replies after a few seconds, getting her courage back.


We stay like that for long until I make my mind.

“You want to meet my extended family?” I ask and Khushi instantly raises her chin to meet my eyes. She has so many questions already and I am going to answer them all.

“Yea.. of course yes.. I mean.. I will if you take me to them..”

“That’s not a good idea to arrange your meet physically with them” I answer. “But we can talk on a video call. I will get it arranged.”

“Really?” Her eyes gleam with delight.

“Really..” I tap her nose and she hugs me tight.

“I am so .. happy.. I hope they like me.. They know about me? I mean.. Our marriage and… what about your identity?”

“Sshhh..” I hush her. “They know it all”

“They..?” she swallows. “How many members are there in your family?”

“Not many.. You already have met Maama and Maami at Naintal.”

She nods.

“They have a son Akash and his wife is Sheetal. No kids yet. Akash works for this secret agency too and he is the mastermind of all the plotting that happens when we raid these gangster’s hideouts. And then there is Nani.”

“Nani?” She smiles.

“Hmm.”

I don’t tell her much about Nani and divert the topic.

“I will ask Aman to arrange a secure Video call and you can meet them all. By now even Maama and Maami have returned from their Maldives trip.”

“Wow..” she smiles. “Where does your family stay?”

“Mumbai.. at a safe bungalow. Highly secure place and no one from the dark world knows they are related to me.”


Her jaw drops.

“And you still told me all this?”


Yes, I did. I cup her face.

“That’s because I trust you with my family Khushi. All my secrets are yours now..”


She gets emotional but before she sheds tears, I kiss her and she kisses me back.. not letting our painful feelings spoil this beautiful moment between us.



To be Continued.

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