𝐔𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞: 𝐀 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐲

Chapter 17

~•Aaravi's pov•~

Someone  gently shook me shoulder. "Aaravi, wake up and go to the room to sleep, "someone said softly and tenderly.

I woke up immediately after the first call.

I saw him.

"You're back?" I  asked in my sleepy voice, rubbing my eyes and trying to open them.

"Go, sleep in the room," he said.

"Did you have your dinner?" I asked again, opening my eyes.

I looked at him, and shock spread across my face.

Kya yeh bacche hai jo aadhi raat ko paani mein khel ke aaye.

"Kya aap raat ko paani ke saath khelne Gaye the," I  gasped.

"What?"

"I mean, how did you get completely soaked?"

He looked at his drenched clothes and then at me, "Oh, it's nothing."

Now I was fully awake, my doe eyes blinking.

He extended his hand in front of me, the one holding the seashell.

"Open it," he commanded.

I looked at the seashell and then at him, confused.

"Don't just stare at me, open it," he said, placing it in my palm.

I opened the seashell, and my eyes widened in shock as tears welled up.

There was a pearl inside the seashell.

I excitedly hugged him and, while jumping, said, "Thank you, Nikshant ji, thank you!" I felt his hand on my back, and only then did I realize what I had done. I started to pull back, but he hugged me tighter, pressing my face more into his chest.

"Do you like the gift?" he asked, his voice low and calm.

Like it? No, I loved it.

"Yes, very much," I replied with a smile, hugging him back.

In his arms, I felt a deep sense of peace.

He pulled away from the hug, and I immediately missed his warmth around me.

"My clothes are wet, so yours will get wet too," he said.

I nodded.

I felt happy, but when I looked at his drenched clothes, I felt guilty that he did that for me—he spent the entire night searching for a pearl.

I shouldn’t feel these butterflies in my stomach right now, especially when he's all soaked at night just because of me.

I shook my head internally because this is not the right time to think about all of this.

I should make some ginger tea so he doesn’t catch a cold or get a fever.

"I’ll set the food. You go and change your clothes," I said.

He nodded and went to the room.

I reheated the food and served it on the dining table. He came and sat down.

"Have you had your dinner?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

How do I tell him that I was waiting for him? I don't have the courage to say that, especially since he had already told me to eat dinner earlier.

"Oh..I," I stammered.

Why do you always stammer when speaking to him, Aaravi?

"Do you?" he asked again, his voice now stern and dangerous.