The Corporate Monster ✅

R E S O L V E D

Aniket traced the curves on his wife's hips, going back and forth over the valley. Krithi wanted to yell at him for all he made her go through for the past few months, but her husband was too distracting.

She still couldn't believe that he was alive, in front of her, safe. Krithi snuggled closer to him, observing his new face with awe. She was fascinated with his beautiful surgery. Although she had never wanted to become a plastic surgeon (or respected them), she was grateful for the existence of the beauty experts.

"What are you looking at?" Aniket whispered, as if someone was hiding in the shadows to snatch his wife away from him.

"You." Krithi said, tracing the sharp line of jaw. "You're beautiful. Damn god hot."

Aniket didn't know what to say. He was green with jealousy; how could his wife fall in love with another man's face?

"Okay, I was wrong. It is not attractive when you scrunch you nose like that." She said, giggling. "Even if you have dimples."

They were spread out on the ground, facing each other like two hormonal teenagers. Krithi wanted to kiss him, yell at him, and cry over him all at the same time. She felt like a pregnant woman all over again.

"I have dimples?" He asked, surprising Krithi.

She nodded her head. "Didn't you look in the mirror?"

Aniket shrugged. "All I ever did was punch the mirrors. I hated to look at this face, so I never really noticed the imperfections."

"Dimples aren't imperfections, you idiot." Krithi accused. "They're bloody adorable."

Aniket smiled, yet his abdomen wasn't the only broken, bleeding part on his body. "Jokes aside, aren't you mad at me? Not even a little bit?"

Krithi winced. "I am trying to convince myself that this is not a dream, and then I will start punishing you."

Aniket bit his lower lip tentatively. "Oh la la. Punishment." Aniket winked at her, earning a chuckle.

"Stop it." She said, a unnecessary blush spreading onto her round cheeks. She remembered why she loved him. Maybe she had been lost in the wind and heart stopped being her compass, but now, she knew. This was what she had wanted.

Happiness.

He was her happiness.

They both stopped laughing, their noses blocking their line of sight. "I have one question, though." She said.

"Yeah? Shoot."

"Well, you have to promise to not get mad at me." She had lost him for two months, and if he gets scared again... she just cannot bare a situation like that again.

"I don't think I can ever get mad at you."

"You said you would never leave me, but you've left me twice now, Aniket."

Aniket sighed. He wanted her to yell at him, punch him, break a few more if his ribs. He could take the physical pain. But his heart was tender, it needed to be coerced; not attacked. And Krithi was definitely attacking him— not plainly, but invisibly.

Invisible enemies are the worst.

"I didn't leave you. You refused to come with me to Paris, you workaholic." He argued. "Secondly, I didn't leave you forever, did I? I came back to you." He shook his head. He was changing the subject without noticing. "Just... ask me what you wanted to ask. I don't have the energy or the breath in me to fight."

Krithi removed herself from him, her eyes searching for wounds. Bruises lined his torso, his arms. Everywhere. She couldn't see his shattered heart, but   doubted the remnants of it did him any good. "You're hurt." She knew she had just kicked and punched him in his chest, but never hurt him to this extent. "Who did this to you?"