He said it every time he saw it.
She had stopped arguing and started looking for other ways to get him to stop thinking about it.
“It’s barely visible when I wear clothes,” she reminded.
“That is irrelevant.”
She smiled. “Think of it as a designer tattoo,” she said. “A limited edition. Jogra Maharaja exclusive. Only you get to see it.”
A faint exhale left him. “You do not get to turn gunshot wounds into jokes.”
“I absolutely do,” she said, moving her lips along his jawline.
His breath hitched while his gaze steadied.
“Stop brooding, maharaja,” she said.
“I do not brood.”
“You absolutely brood and look quite sexy when you do.”
Another faint exhale escaped him, almost close enough to be laughter.
Her smile widened, and she kissed him, capturing the laughter she knew was only for her.
She recalled the initial months of their marriage when she had tried to understand him.
She had wondered whether he married her for revenge, obsession, duty, or pride.
Time had finally given her an answer. None of those questions mattered anymore.
Because whatever name the world gave it, she knew one thing with absolute certainty.
Nobody would ever love her the way Bharat Singh Jogra did.
“I love you,” she murmured against his mouth.
She said those words quite often. But each time, she felt a faint tremor run through him, and his breath hitched.
His fingers moved gently through her hair, and then there was a slight tug to deepen the kiss. It was slow, deep, and unrushed.
When she pulled back, their breaths were faster.
“I love you too,” he said.
He always said it that way, as though the feeling had been carried so long that the words felt almost unnecessary.
She studied him for a moment, her heart feeling full.
“In a few more months,” she said, “I'm going to be too big to lie on top of you.”
His hand moved and settled against her stomach, stroking it gently. Her stomach was still flat, but she was carrying their child inside.
She was two months pregnant.
A few weeks after she was shot, Bharat had come to her studio one evening. She had been sorting through photographs for her new exhibition when he walked in and stood in front of her.
“I underwent a minor surgery this morning. It was to reverse a decision I made eleven years ago.”
