Ch44 The Ultimate Worship
The impact of Rudraksh's kiss on her cheek was written all over Rivanya's face.
She had initially planned to show everyone her fierce, unstoppable "baddie" avatar, but look at her now completely melted by a single, soft kiss from Rudraksh.
Inside the car, Rudraksh was in an incredibly good mood, perhaps happier than he had ever been in his entire life.
He slid smoothly into the driver's seat, leaned over to pop open the passenger door, and called out, "Sugarplum, are you going to get inside on your own, or should I come out there and lift you into the seat myself?"
The sudden threat instantly snapped Rivanya out of her deep trance.
She hurriedly scrambled into the car and slammed the door shut behind her.
Watching her frantic, flustered state, a wide smile spread across Rudraksh's face as he started the engine and accelerated down the road at full speed.
For the first ten minutes, a comfortable silence stretched across the car, with neither Rudraksh nor Rivanya breaking the quiet.
Suddenly, Rudraksh remembered something, turned his gaze forward, and commanded smoothly, "Sugarplum, put both of your feet on my lap for a second."
Rivanya stared at him in utter disbelief, almost shrieking in surprise. "Huh? What? But why? Why on earth should I put my feet on your lap?"
Without taking his eyes off the road, Rudraksh replied calmly, "Just do exactly as you are told. Otherwise, if I have to force you, you will just turn into a bright red tomato all over again."
Rivanya puffed out her cheeks in irritation and muttered under her breath, Aap bohot badtameez ho Rudra aur nirlaj bhi...("You are incredibly rude, Rudra... and absolutely shameless too.")
Rudraksh let out a soft chuckle and countered playfully, "If you truly don't want to witness the next level of my shamelessness, then quietly place your feet on my lap."
Reluctantly and with a heavy pout, Rivanya kicked off her sandals.
She shifted her position in the seat, turned toward him, and carefully lifted both of her feet onto Rudraksh's lap.
The posture felt incredibly intimate and a little strange to her, yet somewhere deep down in a corner of her heart, she secretly loved it.
Rudraksh managed the steering wheel effortlessly with his right hand, while his left hand reached forward to open the dashboard compartment.
He pulled out a beautiful pair of anklets.
Holding her ankles gently with one hand, he began to carefully fasten the first anklet around her foot.
"You look completely incomplete to me without these anklets," he murmured softly as he secured the clasp. "I have genuinely grown to like the sweet jingling sound they make, so make sure you keep them on from now on."
Rivanya stared at him, utterly paralyzed with shock at this sudden display of affection.
She couldn't comprehend how a man who usually acted like a ruthless destroyer a literal Bhasmasura was suddenly uttering such incredibly sweet, deeply romantic words to her.
And that too, to a woman who was supposed to be his wife "only on paper."
After putting on the anklets, Rudraksh didn't let her take her feet back.
Instead, he kept his left hand on her feet and began to gently massage them.
Noticing the heavy, intense thoughts clouding her face, he chimed in teasingly, "Don't think so hard, sweetheart. You already possess a very limited amount of brain cells. If you strain that tiny little brain of yours any further, it might just explode, Sugarplum."
Rivanya instantly caught onto his sharp sarcasm.
Flaring up in irritation, she extended her leg and gave him a playful, light kick right against his stomach, just to show him that she was perfectly capable of fighting back when provoked.
To a man like Rudraksh, her sudden kick felt like nothing more than a gentle tickle.
Yet, true to his dramatic mood today, he immediately winced and began to act out in mock agony.
"Ah! You've killed me!" he cried out dramatically. "You heartless girl... look at how much cruelty you inflict upon your poor husband!"
Rivanya stared at Rudraksh, glaring at him intensely before she spoke up. "If you talk any more nonsense, I swear I will beat you up so hard that your precious six-pack will turn into a sagging family pack. Then let's see how you go around showing it off to other girls..."
Rudraksh burst into a hearty, unbridled laugh, the sound filling the car as he replied, "First of all, my dear wife, I don't have a six-pack. I have an eight-pack it is the dedicated result of a lifetime of hard work and grueling sweat. And secondly, what exactly do you mean by 'other girls'?
Whether I have an eight-pack or a family pack, you are the absolute only person in this universe who has ever seen it. Why on earth would I show it to anyone else, huh?"
Rivanya twisted her face away, continuing to glare at him through her lashes as she scoffed jealously, "Oh really? What about that Alisha? She seems deeply, exceptionally interested in seeing your packs, whether they are six or eight. Why don't you go ahead and show them to her!"
Rudraksh smiled warmly, his eyes softening completely as he glanced at her profile. "My goodness, you talk so much beautiful nonsense, sweetheart."
Rivanya retorted angrily, her possessiveness flaring, "And I will keep talking nonsense! What are you going to do about it? You cannot shut me up, no matter what you try, Rudraksh Vardhan. You have no power to make me quiet..."
Rudraksh slowed the vehicle down, staring at her with a knowing, dangerously magnetic smile for a brief, heavy moment. "I can shut you up very easily, Sugarplum..." he murmured, his voice dripping with an unspoken promise.
Before Rivanya could even process his words or formulate a reply, Rudraksh abruptly brought the car to a complete halt on the side of the deserted road.
Turning his entire body toward her, locking his intense, dark eyes directly with hers, he leaned over.
He didn't say a word. Instead, he dipped his head and gently, reverently pressed a soft, lingering kiss onto each of her bare feet, one after the other, right over the newly placed anklets.
An instant, violent jolt, like a live electric current, surged through Rivanya's entire being.
She was utterly stunned, paralyzed by the sheer intimacy of the gesture, and a deep, burning blush immediately rushed across her cheeks out of pure modesty.
The very millisecond Rudraksh's warm lips brushed against her sensitive skin, Rivanya's eyelids fluttered shut, unable to bear the intensity of his gaze.
Seeing her in this entirely helpless, beautifully defeated state, Rudraksh completely lost his own carefully guarded self-control.
He didn't pull away. Instead, he began to kiss her feet repeatedly, his touch growing deeper, holding them as if he were worshipping a deity with his own hands.
In that suspended moment, it was as if Rivanya had become his ultimate sanctuary, his goddess, and his sole, burning purpose in life was to revere, cherish, and worship her in every possible way.
Rivanya grew incredibly restless under the intoxicating, lingering touch of his lips, a breathless gasp escaping her, but she kept her eyes firmly shut, terrified of what would happen if she looked at him.
Somewhere deep down in the most sacred corner of her heart, she was secretly, deeply loving every bit of this madness.
After a few profound moments, Rudraksh finally snapped back to his senses, the fog of desire lifting slightly.
He straightened his posture, and seeing Rivanya sitting there with her eyes still tightly closed, her lips parted, he became entirely lost in admiring her breathtaking face.
"See? I told you I could shut you up quite easily, Sugarplum," he whispered softly, his breath fanning her face.
Rivanya slowly fluttered her eyes open, her lashes trembling.
Finding Rudraksh's intense, burning gaze fixed entirely on her, she flushed a violent crimson with extreme embarrassment.
Panic setting in, she immediately pulled her feet away from his lap and swung them back down onto the floorboard, curling her toes away.
She couldn't summon a single ounce of courage to even look in Rudraksh's direction.
Despite the air conditioner running at its maximum blast, filling the car with cold air, Rivanya found herself completely drenched in a nervous, heated sweat.
She quickly rolled down the passenger window, staring out at the passing landscape to catch her breath while trying her absolute best to hide her blushing, flustered face from his piercing eyes.
The ghost of Rudraksh's lips was still burning against her skin like a raging wildfire, refusing to cool down.
Observing her chaotic, beautiful reaction, Rudraksh silently restarted the car and drove onward into the streets light.
He himself couldn't fully comprehend or articulate what had just come over him in that small space.
Rudraksh's greatest asset, his ultimate strength throughout his life, had always been his absolute, unshakeable self-control.
It was this iron discipline that had helped him survive and win every brutal battle in his past.
Whether it was managing his explosive, lethal anger, guarding the high walls around his heart, or mastering his physical needs, Rudraksh always maintained flawless restraint.
Yet, for some inexplicable, terrifying reason, he completely lost all control whenever he was within arm's reach of Rivanya.
Her touch, her scent, and her mere presence were rapidly turning into a consuming, undeniable obsession for him.
However, the most surprising and unsettling thing for Rudraksh was his own internal reaction.