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A couple crossing us stops at the very indecent behavior from my end, but Mohit’s laughs make them believe we are friends and that’s how we play with each other.

Did he gift Jhanvi a red dress? Is she wearing it? How dare he call her HOT? I don’t stay there anymore. I have to reach my wife and make sure she gets rid of his gift immediately. With hurried steps, I rush for the elevator. Mohit’s venomous laugh keeps echoing in my ears until the doors of the elevator shut and it takes its course.

I barge inside the bedroom where Jhanvi is busy admiring herself in the mirror. The dress!!! She’s wearing a red skimpy sequined sleeveless bodycon dress with real gold lace on the shoulder straps and edges, hugging her body like an added layer of skin. She is shocked at my sudden intrusion, but does nothing to hide from me.

“Take off that dress,” I demand, standing at the door.

“What?” she glares at me all ready to pounce back in anger if I give her another command.

“I said take off that damn dress and wear something else, Jhanvi. No arguments.”

I suddenly realize whenever I am angry, I call her Jhanvi and not Jaan like I do otherwise. She gives me a pained look. I know she hates taking orders from me. I’m fine with that. But not today. Not when she is wearing something that’s gifted by the man, I hate getting her close to.

“Didn’t you hear?”

None of us break the eye lock and show no urgency in doing that anytime soon.

“I won’t,” she challenges me.

“Mohit gave you that dress.” I take a step forward, reminding her why I am making this demand.

She goes still for a second and then nods.

“Yes, he did. And I love it.”

LOVE!! She said Love IT.. Not Love HIM. Calm down Aarav. No, I bloody can’t. I storm inside the room, reaching for the closet where Jhanvi has arranged her clothes. She’s hardly got five to six dresses for the weekend, which already seemed over necessary.

“Pick a dress from this and change NOW,” I order her one last time. If she doesn’t listen to me now, there will be consequences.

She doesn’t move an inch, challenging me with her glare.

“You won’t?”

She nods in denial and that’s all the confirmation I needed to grab her clothes from the closet and tear them off, one by one.

“Aarav, what the hell are you doing?” she yells, but I don’t stop.

She makes an attempt to save a few dresses, but I snatch them from her again and tear them off. The moment I am confident I have torn all of them, I finally step back.

“You love that dress so much? Now you will eat, sleep and do whatever you want in that same dress, Jhanvi. Wear it as long as you get back home and have other options to change.”

Saying that, I walk out of her room. I can’t see her in that dress anymore. And definitely not when heavy tears roll down her cheeks, seeing the pile of her torn dresses.

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Once again, I unleashed my raw side to Jhanvi, which I really don’t want her to see often. But she gave me no choice today. All I wanted her to do was change the dress which Mohit gifted her. What was so wrong with it? I hate this day. I have reasons. First Mohit’s presence in Mussourie, then this gift he gave her, and now Jhanvi’s reluctance in taking it off. Everything took a toll on me, and I vent it out on my wife.

I am down at the hotel bar from past few hours. This is the best place to calm down but I am done for tonight. So, I gulp the last drink in one go and retire to my room. After tearing off Jhanvi’s clothes from the wardrobe, I didn’t step into the room again. But I know she had her dinner because I signed the room service bills a while ago while I was here at the bar. I check my watch. It’s around 1:00 am and I am sure by now Jhanvi must have fallen asleep.On my bed!!That mere thought is enough to tickle my stomach. Sliding the key, I enter the room. It’s dark. Jhanvi is surely sleeping, which means I can’t take the bed tonight. Though it was me who demanded we can share the same bed henceforth, I don’t think I will do that when she’s still so uncomfortable around me. But that doesn’t mean I won’t check on her. Throwing off my jacket on the couch, unbuttoning the cufflinks and folding the sleeves of my shirt up, I walk inside the bedroom. She hasn’t locked it which is surprising.

Jhanvi is on the bed, sleeping hopefully, and she hasn’t changed her outfit. She’s still in that uncomfortable red gold dress which I am sure must be itching her sensitive skin everywhere. I’m aware Jhanvi’s skin type is sensitive because, while keeping a tab on her life in London, I also found out she was visiting a dermatologist for her skin issues. She cannot wear gold that often as it bites her skin. That’s why I made her wear a platinum bracelet the first time we met, the one which she’s still unable to decode or take off from her wrist.

Jhanvi tosses in sleep, completely unaware I am in the room, admiring her. As usual, the duvet is off her body which exposes her completely to my heated gaze. Her pale milky white skin has got rashes on her arms and legs. Damn!!! I should have known. I am responsible for them as I didn’t leave her anything to wear. I tore all her clothes and now I’m extremely guilty about it. She keeps scratching those rashes and tosses on the bed again when finally, her eyes shoot open as she sees me.

In a second, she jerks and sits on the bed, giving me the same annoyed looks she gives every time I am around her. Mentally making a note of what I have to do, I stride to the bed. She pushes herself behind in fear, but before she can move completely away from my reach, I grab her foot.

“Leave me,” she scowls.

I don’t know why she keeps telling me that when she knows I will never let her go away from me. I lean down and scoop her in my arms, carrying her to the bathroom. She wiggles her feet, punches my chest to somehow get off me, but I don’t let her down until we are in the bathroom. Placing her on the marble slab beside the washbasin, I give her a sharp stare, pinning her there with one hand while the other grabs the cordless phone to dial the room service.

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