Chapter 40

Gautham woke up in the middle of the night. He let Sindhu sleep through the day. He did not even bother waking her up for the dinner. She seemed she needed the sleep more. But when he checked the bed, she wasn't there. He checked the bathrooms and kitchen but could not find her.

And suddenly he thought of something and he rushed to terrace. Before going he gave it some thought and took a blanket with him. And as expected he found her on top of his house's water tank. It was a big rectangle box structure raised on top of four pillars and made of bricks and access to top was via a steel ladder. Gautham found her on top of it lying down curled up into a ball. The floor was hard and the weather was cold. Gautham chided her nicely on his head but sat beside her and went to scoop her into his laps. But Sindhu sat up straight with a start when she suddenly felt someone touch her.

"Oh! Gautham," Sindhu said calming down.

Gautham did not say anything. He just scooped her and sat her on his laps. He sat with his legs stretched in the front while Sindhu sat sideways leaning on him.

"What are you doing here??" Sindhu asked.

"I want to ask you that. What are you doing here?? It's so cold and you are lying down on bare floor. Do you ever use your brain??" Gautham scolded her and draped the blanket around her.

"I just came to get some air." Sindhu murmured with a pitiful face.

Gautham let out a sign. Why does he even try?? Anyways it was impossible for him to stay mad at her. He just brought her closer to him and draped his arms around her. He rubbed the back of her head and gave a gentle kiss over her crown. Sindhu snuggled in with a big smile for having successfully escaped without a scratch.

"Are you okay now??" Gautham asked softly.

"Hmmm" Sindhu replied nodding her head.

"Really??" Gautham asked again arching his brows.

"I will get there… eventually." Sindhu replied.

"You can visit them whenever you want okay?? I will take you whenever you want. Just say the words," Gautham reassured her.

Sindhu stayed quiet. She just shifted such that she now sat strangling him on his laps. She then wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face over his shoulders.

Not in a million years have she ever thought there would come a day when she will be acting so clingy. She always faced everything on her head alone. She never thought of sharing it with anyone ever. She always had a tackle over her emotions. In all her life from when she had turned 15 years old, she never once cried in front of other people not even her mum saw her crying. Let alone be comforted by one. But for some god freaking reason when she felt his arms around her in the car, the dam just broke without her even realizing. All her feelings felt cringe worthily clichéd.

But she was grateful for them. She never knew having someone beside her can make everything so easy to deal with even if they are not really doing anything. Just his presence made her feel light.

"How long have you been up?? Did you have something to eat??" Gautham asked softly rubbing the back of her head.

"I am not hungry. I think I woke up an hour before midnight. I freshened up and came here." Sindhu replied pulling away from the hug.

"I can see you stole my cloths again." Gautham said seeing his shirt sleeves hanging past her hands and hem hanging past her thighs. She had a full length black legging beneath his shirt.

"Not stolen. Borrowed," Sindhu corrected him pointing her finger at him. Or rather it should be pointing the shirt sleeves at him if you want to be accurate.

"Are you sure?? Cause I did not see you giving back the sweatshirt yet" Gautham said with a smirk.

Sindhu pouted and puffed her cheeks. She turned her head side-ways and folded her hands in the front and said stubbornly, "You are never getting back this shirt."

When Sindhu woke up, Gautham was nowhere in the room. Oddly she did not like it. So she got the next best thing around. Weirdly wearing his shirt felt comforting even when she knew it was way too cheesy for her taste.

"You like wearing my shirt that much ah??" Gautham asked smugly. Gautham thought he could tease her a bit and make her flustered or maybe make her blush.

But Sindhu neither blushed nor evaded the question. Instead the pout disappeared from her face and she looked down on her hands which were completely hidden by the shirt sleeves and nodded her head while her lips curled up into a very sweet and gentle smile. Then she looked up at his eyes and said, "You weren't in the room and wearing it was oddly comforting." Without losing the sweet smile on her face.

Gautham shook his head to get rid of all the dirty thoughts that were plaguing him at that moment because of his cute little wife.

"I just wanted to give you some space for you to getting used to living here. I just thought you might need some time to be able to share a room" Gautham said looking away from Sindhu. He had no confidence on himself to look at Sindhu and not do anything at that moment that too when she was sitting on him leaning so close.

And to Gautham's absolute misery Sindhu leaned closer to him and gave him a long wet kiss on his cheeks.

Gautham looked down at her surprised. Their eyes met and his eyes darkened instantly. Sindhu looked at him tentatively. Her breath hitched seeing the desire in his eyes. She felt weirdly breathless all of a sudden. Gautham's eyes slowly shifted towards her plump pink lips. He lifted his right hand and rested it on her cheeks.

Sindhu bit on her lower lips in nervousness which only increased Gautham's misery. He reached out and plucked it out from the assault of her teeth. He felt her nervous breath on his thumb. He ran his thumb across her wet lower lip tentatively. He could feel her lips trembling under his touch.

Gautham met with her eyes once again and leaned forward slowly without breaking the eye contact. He was giving her a chance to stop him if she was not ready for it yet but Sindhu just looked back at him with clear eyes. She could hear her heart pounding against her ribs but she did not evade him.

At last when their lips were just a breath away from each other, both of them closed their eyes and Gautham captured her plump lips with his. He felt electrified the minutes he felt her soft lips against his. He softly nibbled and sucked on them slowly. The kiss was not passionate or hungry. It was very gentle and sweet sealing the marriage between them.

Gautham pulled away after a minute or so but did not completely let her go. He still held her face just inches away from him. He could feel her shaking breathe on his face. He opened his eyes and was met with her slightly dazed ones.

"I love you." Gautham said in a slightly husky voice and pecked her lips one more time. Then he pulled her in for a hug. Sindhu circled her arms around his back and held him tightly. Both of them could feel each other's hearts pounding against their ribs.

Gautham buried his face over her shoulders and took a few deep breaths to calm his pounding heart. Once both of their hearts calmed down, Gautham pulled away and looked at Sindhu. He ran his thumbs over her slightly blushed cheeks softly.

"Hey Sindhu…" Gautham called out. He was slightly nervous about Sindhu's reaction. He did not want to scare her away but at that moment he just could resist himself. And his nervousness showed in his voice as it slightly shook when she called out her name.

Sindhu did not look up at him but instead leaned in gave him a chaste kiss on his other cheeks. Then she lifted her fingers and subconsciously touched her lip that was still tingling. Her head was hung low but Gautham could easily see her lips curve into a shy sparkling smile while remembering the kiss they just shared.

Relief and happiness spread through him wildly. He grabbed her face and pecked her smiling lips one more time and gave her a big goofy grin.

Once the excitement wearied down, Gautham saw that it was getting pretty late.

"Sindhu come on, we should go get some sleep. We will have to be up pretty early tomorrow. I think we will be visiting your house tomorrow." Gautham said.

Sindhu's face immediately brightened up. She got up and dragged Gautham with her to their bedroom. Once inside she sprinted to the bed and landed on it with a bouncy thud. She then tapped the space beside her for Gautham to lie down.

Gautham softly chuckled at her antics and closed the doors behind him and locked it by habit. He approached the bed but did not lie down immediately but instead asked Sindhu, "Are you sure about this?? I can even sleep on floor. I don't mind."

Sindhu did not reply but tapped at the space beside her one more time. Gautham switched off all the lights and adjusted the air conditioner at appropriate temperature before lying down beside Sindhu.

Sindhu immediately snuggled closer to him. Gautham reached out and scooped her plush against his chests and let her head rest on his arms and at last closed his eyes.