Chapter 14 Bookmarks with Kisses
ADITYA
The key turns in the lock with a soft click. I push the door open and step aside so Divya can walk in first. The lights are already on inside, warm and low, the kind that make the room feel smaller than it actually is.
She pauses just past the doorway. Not dramatically. Just a small pause, like her feet forgot what they were doing for a second.
I close the door behind us.
“Okay,” she says slowly, turning in a slow circle. “Either you’re planning to rob this place or this is part of the date.”
I grin. “You caught me.”
She folds her arms, trying very hard to look unimpressed. “I knew it. This is a heist.”
“Relax,” I say, walking past her. “If I were robbing the place I wouldn’t bring you as my accomplice.”
She follows me deeper inside. “That’s offensive,” she mutters.
“It really is not, I am just being realistic.”
“Wow.”
“You would panic immediately.”
“I would not panic.”
“You screamed on a spinning ride, Divya. It wasn't even that fast.” I point out.
“That ride was a crime against humanity.” I laugh and gesture toward the middle of the room.
“Sit.”
Her eyes narrow immediately. "I am not your dog." She scoffs.
I smile and close my eyes, this woman, I sigh, "My beautiful wife, an absoluete angel, the cutest woman I have ever know, will you please do me a favor and sit down?" I bow down to her.
She chuckles and a blush spread on her cheeks, knowing I am the reason makes me feel giddy inside. She walks over slowly, looking around like she’s still trying to figure out what I’m doing but she sits down.
Then she notices the notebook on the table. It’s plain. Just a simple hardbound journal.
She picks it up. “What’s this?”
“A game.”
Her eyebrow lifts. “A game?”
“Yes.”
She flips it open. “This seems like the least entertaining game ever invented.”
“Wait for the rules.” She leans back against the edge of the table.
“Go on then.”
I slide a pen toward her. “Simple rule. You write a sentence about me. I write a sentence about you.”
She stares at me. “That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
She thinks about it for a second. Then slowly smiles. “Oh this is dangerous.”
“No it isn’t.”
“Oh it absolutely is.”
She takes the pen and sits down, bending over the notebook with exaggerated seriousness. “You’re not allowed to read mine,” she warns.
“I won’t.” I raise my hands in mock surrender.
She writes something quickly, then flips the notebook closed and slides it toward me. “Your turn.”
I open it. Her handwriting is neat but slightly slanted.
You pretend to be calm but you’re actually very annoying.
I laugh out loud. She beams proudly. “That was kind.”
“Very.”
I take the pen and write beneath it. Then push the notebook back to her. She reads my line.
You act like you have everything under control even when you’re clearly exhausted.
Her smile fades a little. Not in a bad way. Just softer.
“That was rude.”
“It was very accurate actually.”
"I don't do that anymore." She whispers, "at least I try."
I smile softly, "good, keep trying because I am always here, Divya. No matter what."
She flips the notebook back to me. “Again.”
We keep going. Her next line:
You cook suspiciously well.
Mine:
You pretend you’re bad at things so people won’t expect help from you.
She gasps. “That is slander.”
“It is observation.”
She writes another one quickly.
You laugh like you didn’t expect to.
I pause for a second before writing my next sentence.
You make my days easier.
She reads it. Then looks up at me. Neither of us says anything for a moment.
She clears her throat first and closes the notebook. “That game escalated quickly.”
I shrug. She stands and wanders toward the shelves. Her fingers trail along the spines absentmindedly. “You know,” she says, glancing over her shoulder, “this might be the first date in history where people insult each other through stationery.”
“I thought it was romantic.”
“It was extremely threatening.”
She stops near one of the tall shelves and tilts her head upward.
“I want to read that book.” She reaches up on her toes. Doesn’t reach. Then notices the rolling ladder beside the shelf. Before I can say anything she’s already climbing it.
“Divya—”
“What?”
“That thing moves.”
“I noticed.”
She climbs two more steps. “Let me do it.”
“Why so you can make fun of height?”
"I could do that without all this too." I chuckle. She narrows her eyes at me as she reaches the top shelf and pulls out a book triumphantly.
“See? I can do it.”
Then she starts climbing down. Halfway down she misses the next step. Not badly. Just enough to make her wobble.
Her hand shoots out instinctively. I catch her around the waist before she can lose her balance completely. Her feet hit the ground a second later.
But I don’t let go immediately. She’s very close now. Close enough that I can see the faint crease that appears near her mouth when she’s trying not to smile.
“Well,” she says softly, “that was embarrassing.”
“You nearly fell.”
“I did not nearly fall.”
“You absolutely did.” She exhales a small laugh.
“My hero.”
“Don’t mock me.”
“I’m not mocking you.”
Her hands are still resting lightly on my shoulders from when she steadied herself. Neither of us moves.
“Divya.”
“Hmm?”
“You realize this is the third time we’ve almost kissed.”
Her eyebrows lift. “Are you counting now?”
“Yes.”
She pretends to think about it. “That sounds like a pattern.”
“It is a pattern.”
She tilts her head slightly. “And what do you plan to do about it?”
I pull her a little closer. She doesn’t protest. “Fix it.”
Her lips curve slowly. “Good plan.”
And then I kiss her. Not quickly. Not rushed. Just slow enough that I can feel the exact moment she stops smiling and melts into it. Her hand slides from my shoulder to the back of my neck. I swear my heart forgets how to function for a second. When we finally pull apart she’s laughing quietly.
“Thank god,” I say.
She raises an eyebrow. “At this rate I thought I would never be able to kiss you.”
She laughs harder. “I did tell you my brother was very protective.”
I pull her back against me. “I’m pretty sure he’s on my team.”
She rests her forehead briefly against my chest. “You know,” she says, “his ridiculous list actually worked.”
I grin. “Yeah.”
She looks up at me again. “Yeah it did.”
I kiss her again. This time she’s the one who pulls me closer.
When we finally separate again I reach into my pocket and pull out a thin piece of card. She looks at it curiously.
“What’s that?”
“A bookmark.” She takes it from me.
Reads the small line written across the top.
For the chapter where we finally kissed.
Her cheeks turn pink.
“That’s very smug of you to believe we would kiss.”
“I knew we would.” I wink at her and she swats my arm, laughing.
She slides it into the notebook we used earlier. “Me too,” she says.