Chapter 1

'I cannot believe you did that!', Khushi bellowed, slamming the door behind them. Huffing with rage, she flipped her long hair back, glaring out the window.

Arnav, who was now biting his lips to contain his laughter, gently pulled her wrist towards him. '

Khushi,' he said softy.

'Why are you so angry? It was just a kiss!'

'Just a kiss?!' She whipped herself around, almost swaying to the side from the speed. immediately, Arnav was by her side, caging her from falling.

The air surrounding them turned thick all of a sudden at their contact. Chests heaved, as desire shot through their spines. Khushi's lips trembled at the close approximate. Her gaze flickered to his lips.

Corners of his lips curved in to a smirk, when he saw her control slightly slipping away. Without missing this golden opportunity, Arnav leaned forward, their lips now brushing, when he simply whispered. ''Do you feel that Khushi? You can't simply let that go away. There are times when we have to act on it. And I did.'

Unfortunately for Arnav, his plan took another turn. Dainty palms pressed against his chest, pushed him away with great force. He stumbled back in shock.

Now his eyes narrowed. 'What the!', he barked. 'Khushi now you're just overreacting!'

'I am overreacting?!', she countered back. 'How can you say that! How could you do that!' Frustration coursed through his veins. He knew she would be annoyed, but he didn't realize she'd be this annoyed- better term- angry. He simply couldn't understand why she was making this such a big deal.

'Khushi,' he stated, calmly this time. 'It was just a kiss... I kissed you. Your own husband kissed you. What's so wrong about that! I wasn't stranger, nor was I forcefully kissing you either. You kissed me back just as I did.'

'I was caught off guard! I didn't expect you to kiss me!'

'But YOU STILL KISSED ME BACK!'

What the hell was happening here. One kiss was causing everything to spiral out of control. Inwardly he sighed. When has anything been in control, after he met her, anyways. Ever since they crossed each other's paths, nothing has ever been sane.

'I KISSED YOU BACK BECAUSE... BECAUSE..' She stammered, her eyes widening. Blood rushed to her cheeks, when she realized she couldn't form words to argue back. Her body turned to the side, hiding her face from him.

'... What will people think,' she whispered.

'Khushi,' he took a step forward. Gently grasping her arm, he pulled her to him. Their gazes met once again. 'After everything, you still care about what people think? We are husband and wife. We can kiss as much as we want in public if we want to.'

'You don't understand,' she said, sighing. 'I don't care about what people say, but.. but it's hard to forget, Arnavji.'

Arnav frowned.

'Hard to forget what, Khushi?'

'Do you remember when I hosed you down with water? That time when you got covered in-' She giggled a bit.

Memories flooded to his mind. He rolled his eyes, but bit his lips to stop himself from smiling. Secretly, it was one of his favourite memories, even though he pretended to be annoyed. That day was a good day.

'Yes, what about it?'

'... It was our 6 months contract marriage days.. What happened today was similar.. except this time I was getting hosed down by little kids, yet... when you walked over and kissed me, all I could think about was that moment. I just felt.. sad. I... I don't know.'

Guilt washed in to the pit of his stomach. Confusion which clouded his senses, disappeared as it finally dawned on him. An unbearable ache stabbed his heart at her confession. How could he forget... She might have said, 'I don't know..' But Arnav knew exactly what she was implying. After all the obstacles they encountered, Arnav and Khushi somehow managed to make it through.

Even though he repented, and won her over with love, Arnav knew there were some scars that would take a very long time to heal. What he did, drastically shattered her trust.

Putting back together trust was like trying to fix the pieces of glass. Regardless of the pieces being melded together, the cracks were still visible.

When they re-married for the second time, Arnav swore to himself he would work his entire life to fix those pieces. No matter what, he wouldn't ever cause even a chip.

Large palms, cupped her face. Leaning forward, he placed a warm kiss on her forehead. He felt her tiny palms fisting his sweater. When he leaned back, he took her hand, and placed it near his chest.

'I know what I did caused some serious damage in you... And I know there will come times when you will remember. I can't stop that, Khushi... But I can still help you. I will work day and night- rest of eternity- to make sure these scares I inflicted on you, be healed. I can't take back what I did, but I can make it up to you. I am sorry if I kissed you-'

'No!', she croaked, pulling her palm from his grasp, and placing them on his cheeks. 'I don't want you to apologize. I am sorry for getting angry. I know you're trying, Arnav. God, I know. I feel your overwhelming love every single day. When I wake up the first thing that hits me is your love. I breathe every second of it. I might still have moments where it's hard, but I hope you know, I love you just as much as you love me. You know that, don't you?'

Why were they crying all of a sudden? He didn't know. But his cheeks were streaming with tears and so was hers.

'I knew it the moment you fell in to my arms, Khushi...'

Sobbing in to his arms, Khushi hugged him tight. Both of them held on to each other, fighting away the shackles of their past.

***

Well, well, well. That took an unexpected turn- at least for me, since I thought it was going to be light, and then this happened.

In a reality, Khushi would have taken a bit time to move on. There would have been glimpses of her scars. So I ended up writing a short one shot of how they both dealt with the outcomes.