Chapter 101: Chocolat
(Age restriction still in effect – please refrain from reading if it's not your cup of tea ;)
Bedroom 1:
When the music started without warning, Smitha looked at her husband and he smiled as he told her, "You know, when Rathan and Senna go back to the U.S., I really think we should have Shiv and Gauri move to the bedroom downstairs."
She laughed as she snuggled close to him. "And to think that they thought they hated each other. Neha and I used to tell each other all the time that for all their fighting, if they ever got stuck alone somewhere, it was bound to be fireworks. As it is, it took just 6 months…"
"I am glad Shashank didn't show, because I really don't think Shiv would have ever settled down if not with Gauri."
"They are so intense together. I sometimes feel like I may spontaneously catch on fire if I stand around them for too long…" she asked, looking up at his face, knowing what he would say in response.
"He's my son, where do you think he gets it from?"
"After all the grief that you gave him for all his shenanigans with women in the past?"
"Well, it's not enough that we all know that all his roads lead back to Gauri. He had to discover that too…"
"I think he's always known."
"Well, there's no doubt now."
Just then there heard a door creak open outside.
"I wondered how long they could last with this forced separation, although Senna really is adorable for doing that." Smitha said once the door shut again.
"Well, I don't think we would have to wait too long before our other bahu gives us grandchildren too…" he said as he laughed. She looked up at him with the same love that had shone in her eyes for more than 30 years and thought that he still looked like the man who had come to her father and knelt in front of him to ask for her hand in marriage.
Bedroom 2:
He didn't know why he woke up, but once he woke, he knew that it was because she was not in his arms. But he saw that she was sitting up in bed, with her back to him, wearing only one of his button-down shirts, her long legs folded to one side underneath her. Her hair streamed down her back, but it was now falling forward with her movements.
What the hell was she doing? And that too, at this time? And that too, away from his arms?
He knew that there was no way that he could sneak up on her on the bed. So, he was up and behind her in a split second, startling her. She looked back, her eyes wide, and he saw that she was holding a long stick of… chocolate?
"What are you doing?" he asked with a smile, leaning over to take a large bite of the chocolate.
"God, this is what your baby is doing to me… I crave chocolate at the weirdest times. Like in the middle of the night." She said as she licked the chocolate off her index finger.
"Lindt? My baby has good taste." He said as he leaned in to lick the same finger she licked.
She looked surprised for a moment at what he had done and then leaned up to kiss his lips.
"I love you" she said in a whisper.
He grabbed her by the waist and pulled her onto his lap as he requested, "Say it again."
She bit another square of her chocolate and put her head back against his shoulder.
"I love you…I love you…I love you…" she repeated with a smile.
He pulled her hair aside with one hand to nuzzle her neck while the other kept its hold around her waist. Between the chocolate and his kisses, she felt like she was floating in seventh heaven.
"Again."
She turned around and fed him another square of the chocolate before she kissed his jaw and said,
"Mahal na mahal kita…" kiss
"Wo ai ni," kiss, kiss
"Phom Rak Khun," another kiss
"Saranghaeyo" kiss
"Je t'aime de tout mon coeur"
The last one she said in a whisper as she kissed his lips lingeringly.
When she pulled back and his chest finally stopped feeling like it may explode, he tried to use a teasing tone as he asked, "I got the French love and the French kiss, but do tell me all the other languages you just loved me in…"
She had just one tiny square of chocolate left between her fingers now and he raised it to her mouth. Once it was in her mouth, though, he brought her very chocolatey fingers back to his mouth to start sucking on them one by one.
"Tagalog… Mandarin… mmm…" Her eyes closed in pleasure there and he nipped her finger with his teeth lightly and she opened them back up and resumed, "Thai and Korean…"
"Saranghaeyo…" he whispered back as he pulled her already unbuttoned shirt farther open.
"That's my favorite one…" she smiled.
She had always liked chocolate… but she decided that she fell in love with chocolate when Shiv licked it off of her that night…
Bedroom 3:
Melting the chocolate was not the hard part. He had put some water to boil and had just placed a ceramic plate over it and placed a stick of chocolate on top and the heat had taken care of the rest of it… Rolling the Midol in the melted chocolate was also not a problem… you just rolled it and chocolate just coated everything in all its gooey, rich, delectable glory… letting it dry was not a problem either, although that did take a bit of time…
The problem was figuring out how to make your girlfriend – who refused to take pills even if her last breath depended on it – swallow the chocolate with a glass of water rather than bite into it like she wanted to.
And so he had to let the truth out of the bag… not like he was all that good at lying anyways…
She had a stricken expression on her face for a few moments before she asked quietly, "You made chocolate-covered Midols for me?"
He wasn't sure how to interpret that tone and look, so he nodded, albeit hesitantly.
What he really should have worried about was what she did next, because she promptly burst into tears.
He set the plate with the Midol-chocolates on the table before climbing into bed to gather her into his arms.
"Alright sweetheart, you don't have to take it. You don't… We'll just do it like you usually do it… stay in here for a few days… it's not that bad… I will rent some movies and we'll have some heating pads – those should help, right?...."
She didn't let him finish before she threw her arms around his neck and continued sobbing.
"What's wrong, love? It's ok, you don't have to take it. Honest."
"I love you so much…" she said in a voice punctuated by her sobs.
He paused just a beat before he squeezed her tightly to him. "I love you too…"
"I know… although Lord knows why, but it's incredible that you do…"
By the time she pulled away from him, he had forgotten all about the Midol. But she hadn't, and she did take them, telling him very theatrically that if Romeo gave Juliet poison coated in chocolate, well, then Juliet would just have to take it…
He was glad that the pain of her monthlies had not killed off her flair for dramatic effect.
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AU notes: Mahal Na Mahal Kita is actually Tagalog (the language of Philippines) for "I love you very much"
Wo ai ni," - Mandarin for I love you
"Phom Rak Khun," - Thai for I love you
"Saranghaeyo" - Korean for I love you (yes, it's my favorite :)
""Je t'aime de tout mon coeur" is French for "I love you with all my heart"
*The Midol story is actually true, but it happened to my friend's roommate in college and not me ;)
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