Poles Apart

Chapter Fifty-Eight

Arvi

"Dance with me," Arjun proposes, randomly, once we're in our room.

"Dance?" I laugh, finding the request strange. "Me?" My aversion to dancing isn't unpopular.

"Yes," Arjun states, obviously. "Dance. You."

"You know I don't dance, Arjun," I try to weasel my way out of it, even going as far as to walk out of the room, into the closet.

But Arjun is quick to reach out and pulls me back, snaking an arm around my waist, while he uses his other hand to caress my cheek.

He cocks his head to the side, a tiny smirk visible on his features. "I remember you saying that before," he agrees.

"Then you should let me go," I tell him, not attempting to move out of his embrace. "You know I don't dance."

My husband's eyes are quick to flit to the painting on our wall. "That's not you?"

Oh, god. I put this idea in his head.

But I don't give in. "I danced with you once, and ended up having to marry you. I don't want to risk a second."

"Well, you've already married me," he says, playing along, "how bad could anything else be?"

I stand on my toes to peck his lips. "Nothing could be better," I whisper, landing back on my feet.

Arjun presses his lips against my hairline. "Dance with me?"

A smile embraces my lips, and I nod, accepting his request.

"When your legs don't work like they used to before"

I let out a short laugh when the song starts to play. I cup Arjun's face, turning it the other way to kiss his cheek before stepping back to dance.

"And I can't sweep you off of your feet"

Sweep me off my feet? He'd done that at his first glance.

"Will your mouth still remember the taste of my love

Will your eyes still smile from your cheeks"

Arjun twirls me closer to himself, resting his hands on my back. He mouths the following lyrics as we sway side by side, filling me with a kind of euphoria, of being, that I haven't experienced in a long while now.

"And darling I will be loving you 'til we're 70

And baby my heart could still fall as hard at 23

And I'm thinking 'bout how people fall in love in mysterious ways

Maybe just the touch of a hand

Oh me I fall in love with you every single day

And I just wanna tell you I am"

I allow myself to feel the joy of dancing.

"So honey now

Take me into your loving arms

Kiss me under the light of a thousand stars

Place your head on my beating heart

I'm thinking out loud

Maybe we found love right where we are"

I sing along to Ed Sheeran's song, letting myself go.

Arjun's grin widens as I become more involved, leading the dance.