White teeth trapped her plump lower lip, a fleeting shadow of hurt marring her face.
“Even if it embarrasses your family?” she finally asked, her voice low.
His grip on her firmed, his thumb rubbing soothing circles on the back of her hand.
“My only family is Nanamma and my friends. And they adore you. They’re here too, by the way.”
Aditi’s eyes slipped past his ear, only now sighting Kaya, Arjun, Vihaan and Nanamma. From the edge of her vision, she noted her grandmother wave at her friend, hurrying over to greet her.
“Your mother—,” she began, only to be shushed.
“Does not matter. You were right to call me out on not having let go of the past. You’ve always known I needed to learn to move on. I’ve started to. I hope you’ll give me the chance to prove that to you also.”
“You made me cry,” she complained.
“I know. I’ll accept a lifetime of punishment at your hands for that.”
She glanced down where their hands were joined, shaking her head lightly.
“I don’t like thinking that you want me for reasons other than love.”
One warm palm cupped her cheek, tenderly raising her face up. “You weren’t part of any of my plans, Doc. If tonight is any indication, you know you’ve changed me. What I thought I knew about love was very different until you came into my life and taught me how to be better.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning,” he said, dropping the softest kiss on her knuckles before glancing up at her, his heart in his eyes. “I am drowning with how deeply I’m in love with you. Without you, I exist. With you, I’m alive. You have become the reason for my smiles, the peace in my soul. My heart, my body, my entire being—you own me. A lifetime wouldn’t be enough to figure out how much I love you but I will try everyday to show you in words, in actions, in every way you need that you, andonly you, complete me.”
Aditi let out a soft sob, overwhelmed by his admission.
“I need you so much more than you could need me and I know I’m being selfish. But come back to me,” he begged. “Save me, Doc. As part of your Hippocratic oath, save me, or. . .I’ll die.”
“Ayappa satyam, if she doesn’t marry him, I will,” they heard someone declare. “Hell, I would too after that speech,” a manconcurred. “Is this a skit?” someone else asked, multiple voices shushing them when Aditi spoke again.
“You’re being very dramatic, Bugs,” she teased, a tremulous smile on her lips, her eyes glimmering with happiness. “You’ll die without me?”
The grin he bore was as much in response to her joy as it was in relief that she’d smiled again. “Don’t make me prove it. I’d rather live with you.”
“Did you rehearse that?”
He chuckled, sheepishly scratching above one thick eyebrow. “A little. Kaya wanted to write me a script on the flight here. She thought I’d mess this up.”
“Was this from the script?”
“No. She uses too many big words.”
Aditi let out a soft laugh. “The Hippocratic oath was a nice touch.”
“I have something better,” he said, before reaching into his pocket and producing a velvet box. Her eyes grew round when he opened the lid to reveal a flawless solitaire ring about the size of the nail on her index finger. Round, cut brilliantly, sitting on six high prongs—it was a stunning piece of jewellery that caught the light and bounced it off so perfectly, she couldn’t hold back a gasp.
“It’s a yellow diamond?” she asked, staring.
“To match the sunshine you spread in my life," he explained. The utter devotion written upon his face had her raising one hand to her chest, afraid of her heart bursting within.
“Will you. . .”
“Yes!”
He laughed delightedly. “Let me finish, Sunshine.”