Page 122 of Between Tea & Tandoori

He shakes his head with a smile, and my heart feels so safe with him.

I was stupid to think I could live without seeing this stupid smile every day. I would never be me if not with him.

“Not in a million years, baby. I would have chased you again after giving you some space. But I meant it when I said that you are stuck with me for every lifetime.”

I chuckled, and I looked at our mothers, who had tears in their eyes too.

No way they would have wanted this too.

“I love you, Reyansh. You are my home.”

“I love you,meri jaan.I am who I am because of you. I am sorry for disappointing you, but I will be a better man.”

He kneels down in front of me, and my eyes widen.

“I don’t have a ring with me right now,” he says, and I smile. “But I have a heart full of love for you. I have dreams and hopes of waking up next to you, sleeping with you in my arms. I promise to be a better man, and I promise that the only tears you will ever have in your eyes from now on will be of happiness.”

I chuckled, waiting for him to go on.

“So, today, I ask you the one question I asked you years ago,” he says, and tears run down his face. “Will you do me the honor of calling myself your husband? Will you let me remarry you?”

“Yes,” I say, bending down to kiss his face. “I will. I want to be your wife. Always and forever.”

And as he takes me in his arms, wrapped in his embrace, I realize that this is home.

He is my home.

And I have never been happier.

Epilogue

3 months later

“Reyansh,” I call my husband’s name as I put on my watch. Today, I have the most important event of my career, and I finally have the one person I want to celebrate all my wins with by my side. “We will be late like this.”

“Coming,meri jaan,” he says, and I take a look at myself in the mirror of our hotel room. I look happy from within, which is all I have felt from the moment in that courtroom when I said yes to him.

He has been the best decision of my life, and I am grateful to God that he gave me enough courage to not do something stupid under pressure.

“Here,” he says, coming with a bowl of what looks like yoghurt. “Dahi Gudfor good luck. I am so proud of you, my wife.”

I smile as I take a bite, and because I can’t help myself, I lean up on my toes and kiss him.

He keeps one steady hand on the back of my head, kissing me intently like we have all the time in the world.

Because we do.

“I am so lucky to have you,” I say.

“I am lucky to have you, baby,” he says, shaking his head. “Thank you for choosing me.”

“It was always going to be you,” I say, and he smiles, the one that reaches his eyes and stretches his full face.

“Stop talking dirty to me, or we won’t leave this room.”

I laugh as I pull away from him, and he takes my hand in his as we exit the room for the book event of Sienna Hayes.

Loving him was always going to be right.

No doubt about that. No question mark at the end.

Only love and peace, and that was how it was always supposed to be.

Just Reyansh and Aisha.

I guess now I really have to tolerate the fact that I am in love with a man who likes hischaiblack.

The End