That night, Raghav finally understood why the dragon in his chest had been roaring for this long. The look of pleasure in Pallavi's eyes soothed the dragon, but it only encouraged Raghav to go further. He kissed Pallavi deeply, smiling as he felt her hands on his chest.
Pallavi felt electrified, the weight of Raghav on top of her made her feel safe, and when his beard grazed the skin of her neck, collarbone, and then down her chest, she felt a shiver run up her spine. When she let out a moan, Raghav looked into her eyes, smiling, and then swung her on top of him. As Pallavi straddled him, Raghav ran his fingers through her hair, his lips moving down from her neck to her breasts, he quickly undid her bra, but at the sound of Pallavi's silent gasp, he stopped.
"Sorry, agar ham bahut jaldi kar rahe hain—"
Raghav didn't get to finish his question, Pallavi's hands were in his hair and she was kissing him again. Her hands moved to his shoulders as Raghav wrapped his around her, holding her tight. Pallavi could feel Raghav getting aroused, and then Raghav swung her back on the bed, spreading her legs, and undoing his pants.
As the two of them became husband and wife for the first time, neither of them cared about what tomorrow would bring. In fact, they both hoped that tomorrow would never come. But it did.
Pallavi woke with a smile the next morning, she had been dreaming about her first wedding, a dream she had often, but this time instead of ending as a nightmare with news of Mandaar's death, it ended with Raghav entering her room on their first night. When she opened her eyes, she first noticed that she was naked, and then a bigger shock: she was sleeping on Raghav's chest. Against her better judgment, her hand found its way to Raghav's hair, and as she ran her fingers through it, images of last night flashed before her eyes. She blushed, remembering the way Raghav had caressed her face, how his beard had felt against her body, the ecstasy she had felt. Then she quickly withdrew her hand from Raghav's hair and started to get up, then she felt a hand around her wrist.
"Ithni jaldi kya hai. Aur thoda mujhe admire karthi tho accha lagtha." Raghav said, grinning.
Pallavi pulled the blanket up to her neck, knowing full well that her back was still exposed to Raghav, she turned, "Main tumhe admire nahin kar rahi thi, I thought there was a bug in your hair, I was just brushing it away."
Raghav sat up behind Pallavi, putting an arm around her, "Tumhe hoot bolna nahin aata, Mrs. Raghav Rao."
She grinned and blushed, and then said with a straight voice, "Tumhe kaise bathaa, I could have many secrets that I'm keeping from you."
Raghav didn't let her go, with his other hand he grabbed his shirt from last night from the side of the bed, and put it around her, pulling the blanket down as he buttoned it. Then he swept her hair to the side, and traced his finger down her neck, kissing her shoulder, "I think I'll be able to extract these secrets from you very quickly, I have many talents."
She giggled and got off the bed, looking like an absolute goddess in Raghav's shirt, "Yes yes, I've learned quite a bit about your talents, but you haven't seen all of my talents yet..."
Raghav stood up, Pallavi thought he looked adorable in his boxers, but the way he pulled her into his arms made her knees go weak.
"Really? Well, Saree ka Dukaan, do share?" He kissed her and pulled her closer to him
"Raghav, bahut sharing ho gaya, aah mujhe nahaana hai." Pallavi laughed, pulling away from him.
"Teek hai, hum saath mein nahaathein hain, paani thi bachega." Raghav said, not letting go of her wrist.
"Ha ha very funny, Raghav, chodo mujhe." Pallavi was still smiling, however. She could have never in a hundred years imagine Raghav Rao flirting with her, let alone her enjoying it.
Raghav lifted Pallavi's chin to meet her eyes, and kissed her again, then her cheek, and then her earlobe, he whispered in her ear, "last night was a night I hope I never have to forget, but I think the only way to do that is if we repeat it, right now. You know? To keep the memory fresh?"
Pallavi laughed, and just then Farhad knocked on the door, "Anna, Anna are you awake, I just got a call from Harish—" Farhad opened the door.
Farhad walked in and only saw Pallavi's feet slipping into the bathroom, "oh, sorry Anna."
"Kya Yaar, Tumne kisee se vaada kiya tha ki tum aaj kabab me haddi banke aaega?" Raghav strode to the other side of the bed and grabbed his phone, and started looking through his messages.
"Did I interrupt an important 'conversation' between you and Bhabi?" Farhad knew he shouldn't poke fun at Raghav, but it was too good of an opportunity to pass up.
Raghav looked up from his phone to see Farhad snickering, he smiled sweetly, "yes we were discussing something very important, who to hire after I fire you? Get out, I'll talk to you about work later after I've had breakfast."
Farhad left the room laughing.
Raghav smiled to himself, looking at the bathroom door, he could hear Pallavi humming as the shower was running. He was about to see what the Mrs. Raghav Rao would do if he snuck in, when he heard a phone buzz. It wasn't his phone, then he saw Pallavi's phone light up on the side table.
He picked it up and saw a text from...Vikram. It read: "Looking forward to seeing you after a long time Pallu, let's meet at the park, I have a hankering for street food and don't want to be cooped up in the office all day. :) - Vikram."
"Pallu"? What the hell was this? Raghav clenched his fist around the phone, so much that he would have broken it, if not for Pallavi walking out right at that moment, in a beautiful but simple pink saree, her hair wet and clinging to her blouse, her face glowing despite not wearing any makeup.
"Raghav," Pallavi looked at him, "itana ghooro mat, main kaheen nahin ja rahi hun." She smiled and left the room.
Raghav relaxed, if Pallavi had really been concerned about this meeting with Vikram, she would have taken her phone, or at least looked for it. But still, something stopped him from forgetting the text completely.
