The Lion and the Rose

Chapter 48

Ashwika

My nights are becoming sleepless, not because of mood swings, overthinking and anxiety but curious confusions, joy and excitement.

Siva

Even thinking of his name gives me kulu kulu-ness. Ever since he came into my life, I started seeing the world differently than my already different way of seeing it. He made my already beautiful life more beautiful.

In fact, since Sunday, I have not gotten the creepy feeling of being watched by the Devil. Well, there was a slight creepiness on Sunday and Monday morning but after that it was completely gone. Maybe my mind is being occupied with the feelings Siva is showering on me.

Hugging a person is not new to me. But being in Siva's arms is always comforting. Whether it was the bear hug after the investor meeting or the hugs during our dance performance, they were so emotional and lovely. But our first heartfelt full hug happened in the private lift of our company.

I was a little saddened when he behaved as if he was least bothered about my presence but when suddenly he pulled me into the lift and hugged me saying he wanted to do it all along, I understood that he was controlling his urge in front of others by avoiding me.

My face was buried in his chest but I could feel his heart hitting against his cage and I wanted to hear it. So I made myself comfortable in his arms before he could pull back. I rested my ears against his chest and listened to his heart beat. He was so nervous or it was his adrenaline rush of twirling me into the lift but it calmed my nerves.

Unlike other times when he used to talk indirectly or hide things, he spoke out about what he was feeling. It was raw compared to how I thought he would talk about this. He didn't say those three words or any other fancy words but his words held promises.

We can make it official, a few months after your internship

Is it Aunt's gift?

But the shocker was when Siva pulled my saree pallu and kissed on my cheeks by hugging me from behind. I got frozen for a second, as other than my big extended family members no other men kissed me, not even the friendly greeting peck.

When I turned to look at him, he was kind of shivering in fear with his eyes closed shut. To be honest, it sort of boosted my ego. The Lion of the V&D Automobiles, who makes everyone shiver in fear, was afraid of my response. He actually looked cute and I wanted to kiss him too.

Though his height was comfortable to hear his heartbeat while hugging, for kissing it's quite difficult. I raised on my toes and also pulled him down by tugging on his Shrug coat and returned his kiss on his cheeks.

Nowadays even two years old babies are going for liplock but that was also feeling good, exploring step by step. And I'm not sure what would have been my reaction if he tried anything else directly. But after kissing him and him opening his eyes to see me, I felt super shy and ran off to Pallavi Akka's cabin.

The kiss was unexpected and Siva did not just stop by that, he asked me out. I could have gone by just informing my parents but Siva's family knows everything, so the least I could do was ask my parents permission to go out with him. If I had talked, I would have gotten permission only for that day, but Siva wanted to get permission on his own.

Not just that, Siva spoke to Appa and got permission to pick me up and drop me everyday. But today when he comes to pick me up he is going to get nicely from me. He unofficially asked my hand to my dad without discussing it with me.

On Monday Evening when he dropped me at home, he invited my family personally. Actually Moni akka invited only close ones from the office and asked us to bring our family members too, it was not necessary for all to be dressed in cartoon theme. Dad agreed after I shared that Moni akka also invited everyone in the family.