BROKE THE CURSE
After getting home, I immediately grabbed my phone while Adithya carried all the grocery bags into the kitchen.
He was already busy arranging the ingredients on the counter and reading a recipe on his phone with an expression so serious that anyone would think he was preparing for an important surgery instead of attempting to bake a birthday cake.
Meanwhile, I flopped onto the floor and started searching for a song. After scrolling through my playlist for a few seconds, I found one of my favorite Taylor Swift songs and instantly played it through the speaker.
The familiar music filled the house, making me grin happily. The moment the lyrics started, I abandoned all dignity and began singing along loudly as I made my way toward the kitchen.
Adithya was standing near the counter carefully mixing the batter in a bowl when I walked in dramatically, still singing at the top of my lungs.
"Send the code, he's waitin' there. The sticks and stones they throw froze mid-air. Everyone wants him, that was my crime, the wrong place at the right time..."
I sang while spinning once before marching straight toward him.
"And I break down, then he's pullin' me in. In a world of boys, he's a gentleman."
I tapped his nose with my finger, making him wrinkle it slightly before a soft chuckle escaped his lips.
"Well, I am not a gentleman," he said.
I wrapped my arms around him from the side, nearly making him lose focus on the batter again. Before he could protest, I began peppering his face with kisses, one on his cheek, another near his jaw, and one on the corner of his lips.
"Viyana," he complained, trying-and failing-not to smile.
"Nobody is going to believe you if you say that." I muttered.
He looked at me with amusement dancing in his eyes. "Really?"
"Really." I pressed another kiss to his cheek.
"Do you know how many women would fight me if they heard you saying that?" I asked.
"Hopefully none." He said.
I ignored him. "You are kind, respectful, patient, and somehow manage to be sweet even when I am being completely unreasonable."
"I disagree with all of that." He shook his head.
"See?" I pointed at him dramatically. "Only a gentleman would disagree after being complimented."
He laughed and shook his head. I rested my chin on his shoulder and watched him continue mixing the batter.
"You are literally the green forest, Adithya."
"The green forest?" he asked.
"Yes. Not a green flag. A whole forest." I said.
His ears immediately turned pink. "That's embarrassing."
"It should be. I am trying to make you blush." I said proudly.
"You are succeeding." He chuckled.
A victorious grin spread across my face. For a moment, I simply watched him standing there in our tiny kitchen, holding a bowl of cake batter while trying not to smile at my ridiculous compliments.
Then suddenly he leaned closer and pressed a quick kiss against my forehead.
"Good thing I married you," he murmured.
My heart instantly melted. "Good thing I forced you to marry me," I corrected proudly.
He glared at me for a moment before looking away.
"That Love Story song of Taylor Swift would be nice," he muttered while continuing to mix the batter.
I blinked at him in surprise. "How do you know that song?" I asked. "You literally told me you don't listen to her songs."
"You told me you liked her songs," he said casually. "So I started listening to them."
I stared at him. He continued stirring the batter as if he hadn't just dropped the most devastatingly romantic statement known to mankind.
"You started listening to Taylor Swift?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"So that the next time you talk about one of her songs, I would be able to understand what you are talking about and accompany you in the conversation." He shrugged casually.
I physically, emotionally, mentally melted.
If somebody had touched me at that moment, I would have dissolved into a puddle on the kitchen floor.
What in the world was this man doing to me?
I immediately started poking his cheek and his arm.
"Viyana."
I poked him again.
"What?" he asked.
I stared at him suspiciously. "I am checking if you are real."
His eyebrows furrowed. "What does that even mean?"
"I am checking whether you are an actual human being or whether I am hallucinating a fictional character that somehow escaped from a romance novel." I said.
He chuckled softly while I stood beside him, helping him with the ingredients whenever he asked. The smile never left my face. Honestly, at this point, every second spent with him felt unfairly precious.
"You are exaggerating me way too much," he said while pouring the batter into a tray. "There are men out there doing far more things for their girlfriends and wives. All I did was listen to an artist because my wife likes her songs. That's literally the bare minimum."
I immediately turned toward him. "No, Adithya. It is not."
He looked at me unconvinced. "It is."
"It isn't." I said firmly.
"Fine. Explain." He muttered.
I placed both palms on the counter and looked at him seriously.
"Do you know what bare minimum actually is?"
"What?"
"Respecting your partner. Being honest. Being loyal. Not cheating. Not lying. Not treating them badly. That's the bare minimum." I said. "What you did isn't bare minimum." I pointed at him.
"It is." He said stubbornly.
"No. You listened because you genuinely wanted to understand something I love. Nobody forced you. I didn't even ask you to do it."
He shrugged. "I wanted to."
"Exactly." I said.
His eyes softened slightly. "Still doesn't make it special."
I stared at him.
God. This man genuinely had no idea what kind of person he was.
"Adithya, there are people who spend years in relationships without learning their partner's favorite color."
That actually made him laugh. "That's tragic."
"It is."
"And your point?"
"My point is that you remembered an artist I like and listened to her songs so you could talk to me about them, and somehow you think that's normal." I asked, while pulling him closer to me by the collar of his shirt.
"It is normal when you love someone." He said and kissed my cheek before turning around.
The answer came so naturally that my heart physically squeezed inside my chest. For a second I just looked at him. Meanwhile he had already gone back to focusing on the cake.
"No," I said quietly. "Actually what I am doing for you is the bare minimum."
That made him look up. "What are you doing for me?"
"I kiss you. Hug you. Tell you I love you. Annoy you. Those are easy things. I think you deserve better treatment," I muttered.
A mischievous smile appeared on his face. "Oh?"
I immediately became suspicious. That smile never meant anything good.
"Do you want to treat me like a prince?" he asked.
Without hesitation, I nodded. "Yes."
His smile widened. "You answered that very quickly."
"Because it's true." I said.
"Interesting." He nodded his head to himself.
I narrowed my eyes. "What?"
He leaned against the counter and folded his arms. "Then where is my crown?"
I blinked. "What?"
"My throne. My royal treatment." He asked.
I picked up the knife lying beside me and pointed it toward him dramatically.
"Come here, Your Highness. Let me give you the royal treatment you deserve," I said sweetly.
The moment he saw the knife in my hand, Adithya took an immediate step backward.
"No. Absolutely not. I value my life too much to walk toward a woman holding a weapon while smiling like that."
I stared at him in disbelief. "You are being dramatic."
"I am being cautious," he corrected as he carefully lifted the cake tray and placed it inside the cooker he had prepared earlier.
A grin spread across my face as I leaned against the counter. "You know, for a nurse, you have surprisingly good survival instincts."
"I married a criminal. Survival instincts became necessary." He chuckled.
I grinned proudly as he finished arranging the cake tray inside the vessel and dusted his hands together in satisfaction.
"There," he said. "Now we wait."
Before I could say anything, he suddenly walked toward me. He bent down, scooped me into his arms effortlessly, and started carrying me toward the bedroom.
"Adithya!" I laughed, instinctively wrapping my arms around his neck. "The cake?"
"It takes time," he muttered casually as he carried me inside before placing me gently on the bed.
The mattress dipped beneath his weight when he sat beside me. Before I could move away, his arm slipped around my waist and pulled me closer until I was practically leaning against him.
The sudden closeness made my cheeks warm. I looked everywhere except at him. Then finally I gathered enough courage to glance up.
"So?" I asked, already blushing.
"So what?" he asked innocently.
I narrowed my eyes. "You carried me here romantically and now looking at me suspiciously."
He smiled. "I am looking at my wife."
My heart immediately betrayed me."Oh."
"Mhm?" He raised his eyebrows.
The silence stretched between us comfortably. Then he reached forward and tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear.
"I think this is my best birthday," I muttered softly as I cupped his face in both my hands.
The moonlight streamed through the bedroom window and fell across his features, wrapping him in a silver glow.
For a brief moment he looked unreal to me.
Like he had stepped out of one of those fairytales I secretly loved as a child.
His dark hair was slightly messy from running around the kitchen, his eyes were gentle as they looked at me, and the small smile on his lips made him look no less than a Disney prince.
"You are making my birthday special, Adithya," I continued quietly, my thumb brushing against his cheek.
"And I think I am going to remember this day until my last breath.
This is the first birthday I am celebrating with you.
The first birthday where I am not counting the hours for the day to end.
The first birthday where I am genuinely happy. "
My voice trembled slightly. I blinked rapidly when tears started stinging my eyes.
It was ridiculous.
For years birthdays had always been the hardest day of the year for me.
No matter how expensive the gifts were or how grand the celebrations looked from the outside, I had always ended up crying when nobody was looking.
Every birthday felt like a reminder of everything I had lost, everything I never had, and every person who was missing from my life.
But tonight felt different.
Tonight there was no loneliness or emptiness in my heart.
There was only him
"Guess what?" I asked, laughing weakly through the tears.
"What?" he asked softly.
"I even have wishes to make this time." I muttered.
His eyes warmed immediately. For a moment neither of us spoke. Then I smiled and tilted my head slightly.
"Do you know that fairytale about the princess who was cursed?" I asked.
He frowned thoughtfully. "Which one?"
"I don't remember the name. I read it when I was little.
The princess was cursed from birth. No matter what happened, she could never be truly happy.
Every happy moment was stolen from her somehow.
Every dream she had eventually broke apart.
Everyone around her believed the curse would stay forever. "
Adithya listened quietly while gently rubbing circles against my waist.
"But according to the story, there was one way to break it," I continued. "The curse could only be broken when she met the person fate had chosen for her. And the moment he kissed her, the curse would disappear forever."
A smile appeared on his face before he leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss on my lips.
I closed my eyes for a moment, letting myself enjoy the warmth of the moment and the happiness filling my heart.
For once, there was no sadness attached to this day, no loneliness hiding behind the celebrations.
When he pulled back, amusement danced in his eyes.
"So?" he asked. "Did the curse break?"
I pretended to think about it carefully. "Hmm...The prince had to give five more kisses for the curse to break completely."
His eyebrows rose. "Really?"
"Obviously. These things have rules." I nodded.
He laughed and immediately reached over to tickle my waist. I squealed and tried to push him away, but that only encouraged him further.
"Adithya!" I burst into laughter.
He shook his head and gently held my face between his hands.
"Fine," he said. "Let's see if this works."
He started peppering kisses all over my face while I giggled happily.
"There," he said proudly. "Surely that's enough."
I tried to maintain a serious expression but failed miserably.
He watched me expectantly. "Well? Did the curse broke now?" he asked.
A smile spread across my face as I looked at him.
"Yes," I said softly. "The curse broke."
In every fairytale I had ever read, the princess waited years for her prince. She looked toward distant horizons, endured endless hardships, and trusted that one day fate would place the right person in her path.
I never waited.
First of all, I never believed in fate enough to sit quietly and trust it.
Instead, I stormed into someone's life like a disaster. I forced my way into his story, tied him to mine with selfish hands, and called it destiny before destiny had a chance to speak for itself.
And somehow...
....somehow the man I dragged into my life became the prince I had unknowingly spent my whole life searching for.
Not because he was perfect or because he arrived on a white horse or fought dragons for me.
But because he looked at the ugliest parts of me and stayed.
He stood beside the anger that lived inside me.
He touched the wounds I spent years hiding.
He saw the darkness I carried in my bones and never once asked me to become someone else.
Before him, I had been surviving, breathing, existing but not truly living.
Loneliness had woven itself so deeply into my soul that it felt like part of my identity. Pain had become so familiar that I wore it like a second skin.
I had spent years convincing myself that I was strong enough to live without warmth, without softness, without being loved.
Then he came into my life.
Or perhaps...I dragged him into it.
And with the simplest things-a smile, a touch, a quiet "I'm here," a hand reaching for mine in the dark...he began undoing years of hurt that I thought were permanent.
He did not save me in one grand moment.
He saved me slowly...patiently and day by day until the loneliness no longer felt endless.
Until the pain no longer felt like home. Until I remembered what it meant to laugh without forcing it.
To dream without fear.
To love without expecting loss.
People say princes break curses with a kiss.
But Adithya broke mine with every ordinary day he chose to stay.
And somewhere between the woman who forced a marriage and the man who accidentally became her forever, the curse of pain finally loosened its grip on my heart.
For the first time in my life, I was not merely surviving.
I was human again.