DISCLAIMER: Hot content ahead! Readers are advised to read at their own discretion!

"I look like an ogre!" Shree exhales as she gets fitted into the green lehenga from Sabyasachi. She stares menacingly at her reflection on the mirror.

"Nonsense!" dismissed Madhav "Shriya, can you tighten Mrs. Ramakrishna's blouse a bit?"

"It's already tight enough!" Shree exclaims and stomps her feet. Madhav and Shree have been shopping throughout the day. After purchasing diamond jewellery, cosmetics and toiletries, they stopped at the nearest Sabyasachi, wedding costume outlet to collect Shree's reception lehenga. Shree was miffed that Madhav took the final call in all the purchases. Somehow, he overruled her selections, replacing everything she chose with his selections

The lehenga was custom-made, under Madhav's administrative overlooking. It took the experts only a few weeks to create an eminent emerald shaded lehenga with microscopic workings in gold thread. The blouse was sleeveless, the neckline was plunging and revealed only the moderate amount of cleavage.

"Would this much do?" asked Shriya, as she pinned the excess fabric together.

"Yes, that would do!" Madhav said, standing up from the cushioned chair. "We'll wait until you make the adjustments."

Shriya escorted Shree into the changing rooms.

* * * * *

"Not as bad as you thought you'd look like!" Madhav complimented as he walked into the walk-in closets. The beautician had just finished preparing Shree for the wedding reception. She was neatly fitted into the lehenga and her hair was pulled back into a bun, which had exquisite flowers surrounding it. Her jewelry, expensive diamonds chosen by Madhav, were heavy, despite their extravagance. He placed the signed cheque on the dressing table. "Do join us for the ceremony, Savita." The beautician packs her equipment quickly and walks smiling at the cheque.

Madhav was wearing a dark green sherwani and cream shaded pants. His beard was trimmed short and his hair was neatly combed.

"You really lack self-confidence, Shree." meddling with Shree's lehenga shawl, tugging, adjusting until it covered her cleavage and her waist properly. "Perfect! Let's go!"

"Do we have to do this?" Shree whines. "We're already married! Can't we just bail out on the reception and call it a night? I'm tired!"

He leans down until his nose rests on her cheek. "I spent millions on this function and many VIPs have rescheduled their appointments to attend this event. I expect you to put on a smile and be a good girl. Understood?"

Shree looks into his stern eyes and nods quickly. She squeezes her feet into the high heels which he got for her from Las Vegas. She tumbles like an unsteady tower in the heels which bring her close to this menacing height. Madhav holds her as he secures an arm around her delicate frame. Together they walk into the backyard, which was laid out with several round tables and cushioned chairs. The string quartet was playing a beautiful melody that drowned the voices of the chatty guests.

Madhav's friend Sivaji walks towards them. The tall dark coppery man wore a black suit that matched the shade of his curly locks. He worriedly held Madhav's arm and whispered, "Who sent out the invitations?"

"I didn't have time to personally have them sent out so I gave my final year college address book to Shyaam and asked him to-"

"Are you sure you gave the correct book, machan?" Sivaji whispers and Shree looks on concerned.

"Yes, I told him to- SHYAAM!" Madhav calls out as Shyaam walks past them.

"Bhai'saab?" asks Shyaam.

"Remember that day when I told you to take the address book from my drawer?" Madhav asks and Shyaam nods. "Which address book did you take? Is it the blue one or the black one?"

"I took the blue one-" Shyaam says and stops abruptly as he noticed Madhav's face grow pale. "Is there a problem?"

"No! No!" Sivaji exclaimed. "We'll join you in a while. There's something important we need to do."

"So, everyone you knew from your second year at the University of Madras is here!" Sivaji whispered as Shyaam walked into the backyard. "Which means there is a high chance that she is invited too!"

"Who?" Shree asks curiously.

"You haven't told her?" Sivaji yells at Madhav. "How could you do that-"

"Hi, Madhav!" greets a young lady from behind Madhav. Madhav turns instantaneously to find a tall fair woman with eyes like a doe and a teasing smile on her square face. Her hair was braided to a side and she wore a simple yet elegant blue sari.

"Si-Si-Siya!" Madhav fumbles upon seeing her. "H-H-How are you?"

"I'm fine, Maddy. It's so good to see you after so many years! And it's so great to know that you considered inviting me for your wedding reception!" Siya smiles and hugs him. Sivaji makes an excuse and walks away, dragging Shree along with him. "I've heard so much about you in the past few years. I'm so proud of you. I really am."

"Thank you." Madhav chokes as he tears away from her. "How are you?" he asks as his eyes fall on the mangalsutra on her neck. He looked away remembering how he used to make promises of marrying her and tying the mangalsutra around her slender neck. "I'm good- great to be specific! I've been married for almost four years now. He's an aeronautical engineer." She says smiling. "I have a son, and I'm three months pregnant with my second child."

"That-that's great!" Madhav manages to say excitedly. As lovesick undergraduates, they dreamt of a fine day where they would marry, unlimited lovemaking, having babies together and growing old together. His dreams and everything they hoped to do bounced back into his mind. "I-I must be going. Shree would be looking for me. Sorry. You enjoy the ceremony."

He tries to steer away the thoughts about her as he silently walked past relatives who cheerfully greeted him.

* * * * *

Madhav breathes heavily as he sits beside Shree on the table. Opposite him Sivaji gestures him to talk to Shree about Siya. He nods.

"Shree, I need to talk with you." Madhav whispers. He holds her hand under the table. "It's urgent, love."

Shree nods and stands, together they walk into the house. Madhav escorts her into the nearest room in the house and locks the door. He makes Shree sit on the red sofa and he stands in front of her, with her hands in his.

"Shree, the woman you saw downstairs is-is-is whom you assume she is." Madhav adds sweating profusely. "Her name is Siya Chhabra. S-S-Siya and I have been in a serious live-in relationship while we were in University. We broke up, though. I forgot her and she's no longer-"

Shree stood up and started to walk away from him, throughout the reception she was upset and did not look at Madhav. She feigned a smile and talked cheerfully to all the guests. When the reception ended after midnight, Madhav went to take out his car from the garage. Shree was standing by the fountain as he asked her.

"I'm too tired Madhav!" Shree argues as he drives the car near the fountain.

"Get in!" Madhav insists blankly.

"I'm sorry, I'm going back to our room." She says.

"I'm taking you to an important place-so stop arguing and get the fuck inside!"

Shree swears to herself and sits inside the car. He drives for almost an hour before stopping at the entrance of SUNRISE luxury apartment. They get off the car as he parks the car in the apartment's basement.

They take the elevator to the topmost floor; the penthouse. Madhav fishes out a key from his pocket and opens the door to a dark room. Shree walks in, silently and Madhav turns on the lights.

"Welcome to our new home!" he says as Shree looks around the luxurious penthouse. The apartment walls were double length and the walls had a regal violet damask wallpaper with an antique Chinese silk rug spread across the floor. "I felt we needed a place for ourselves apart from the RK mansion. That's why I brought this apartment."

Shree walks in as she caresses the soft black daybed covered in Métaphores fabric. Her eyes went to the big framed picture above the credenza. It was a picture taken during their wedding, when Shree was garlanding Madhav in the mandapam. His eyes were drilling into her blushing form as she stood on the tip of her toes to place the garland of roses and jasmines around his neck. Surrounding the big picture were small framed pictures of them during the engagement, the preshoot and the wedding shoot. She noticed a few small crosses in between large empty spaces, probably for the a few pictures from the honeymoon photoshoot would occupy these spaces.

"What do you think about our new house?" Madhav asked as he sat on the big black sofa near the cocktail table. Her silence was too deafening, and it annoyed him. "Say something for god's sake!"

Shree was looking intently at the big wedding picture. "Why didn't you ever tell me?" she softly asked. Madhav stood in a snap. Shree turned to him.

"I didn't think it would be worth discussing about her, because she's no longer an important person in my life, just as I am in her's." he said and walked towards her. His hands wrap around her bare waist and he snuggles into the soft curve of her neck. "You are worrying about unwanted things, love. I would appreciate it if you smile and cooperate towards making this night memorable to us. Come, I'll show you the bedroom."

She closes her eyes feeling his beard scratch mercilessly on her neck. She moves away from him as he starts to place kisses along her neck. "You could have at least mentioned the presence of an ex-lover in the frame, without divulging into vital information. I had absolutely no idea about Siya nor the kind of life you had with her. It's so disturbing and unpleasant for me to find out this way!"

"Listen, the only think you need to know is that she is no longer in my life!" Madhav explained as she held her hand. "I used to love her but now, it's you whom I love!"

Shree slowly pulled her hand from his hold and walked away from his sight.

"And so, this is what I feared. You are rejecting me for my past, which I have left behind." He gripped her hand angrily and pulled her until she was facing him again. "Here's a small disclosure, about my past with her. I met her when I was in my second year, she was a fresher. She proposed and I said yes. We lived in her apartment at Triplicane. We supported each other, have kissed, seen each other naked, had sex countless times. But we mutually broke up two years later and we have never seen each other ever since!"

"I met you so many years later and I'm madly in love with you. I love you more than I could ever love Siya. Remember that!" He stopped and looked at her. "If you think my past with her is unpleasant or think you deserve a 'chaste' man unlike me, then you may leave from here and go to your mother's apartment! You may apply for divorce and I'll make sure you get a handsome alimony."

He spoke more wounded. "Just keep one thing in mind though. My love for you would not decrease an ounce, even if you've had had a sexual relationship with Rishabh or any other man, because to me what matters the most is that we have each other forevermore, in sickness and ill health. I wouldn't judge you on your past as you are judging me right now. I accepted you along with your past, your imperfections and flaws. It's sad that you don't."

He turned and walked into the room at the right.

Shree sat on the sofa for the next few minutes, contemplating, her fingers nervously scratching the soft velvet of the sofa. She stood up and walked into the room which he walked into.

The room was dark, and a ray of light came from the bathroom door that was slightly left open. Shree could conceive the dark silhouette of the bed and his discarded clothes on the bed. She sits on the bed and hurriedly starts to take off her jewelry as she listens to the faint sniffles and sobs that came from the bathroom. Reaching towards the back of the lehenga blouse she unzips her the tightly fitted blouse and takes off her heavily worked skirt.

She softly and confidently walks into the bathroom, only wearing the black thongs and her black bra, her hair still intact. Madhav's shadow was against the pale blue shower curtain. Shree slides into the shower cubicle, his eyes were closed as he let the warm water from the shower wash away his tears and cascade down his naked body.

"Madhav!" Shree touches his arm, but he pulls himself away. Shree steps closer and wraps her arms around his back, getting wet in the shower. She sighs as she inhales his masculine scent, her body pressed against his back.

"Leave me alone, Ms. Prasad. I need some privacy." He orders faintly and the words reverberate through his body.

"I'm here to assist you." She says walking in front to face him, turning off the shower. His eyes were closed, and his face looked weary. Her eyes do not marvel at his perfectly sculpted muscles and his sharp bones, instead they stay glued to his tormented heart. Her eyes quickly catch the intertwined M and S tattoo on his hip. Madhav and Siya.

"Alright then." He agrees weakly. "I'd like to enjoy my shower in complete silence too."

She squeezes a large amount of shampoo into her palm. Her fingers massage his scalp, forming the shampoo into a lather. She steps closer and stands on the tip of her toes to massage on the back of his head. He sighs in relief as her fingers work a calming massage and feeling her soft breasts and the mangalsutra pressed against his chest. She promptly had distanced herself from being pressed against his manhood.

"Please-please listen to me, M-M-M-Madhav." Shree insists, as she grabbed the shower gel and started to scrub his shoulder with the blue loofah. "I didn't mean to hurt you-I-I-I was shocked because I never expected such a situation to arise and I- and I-I-I-I feel somewhat secondary in front of her."

"Secondary?" he asks concerned as he looks intently into her eyes.

She nods, the foamed loofah resting at his chest.

"All these days I've been thinking that I am the only girl in this galaxy to get pampered and spoilt in your love. Now, I know there was someone before me and she's better than me in so many ways."

"What makes you think she is better than you?" he asks concerned.

"She's intelligent I assume, since it's not easy to land oneself into the Madras University, whereas I went to some glumly old institute in Kakkinada to do my degree! Look at how fair and slim she is! She looks sexier and better than me and how can someone be this slim after having a child? I bet she would have been a succubus in bed, and I just lie there like a boring cinnamon roll."

"I must be such a pathetic demote, right?" She starts scrubbing his abdomen, but he stops her and takes the loofah from her hands.

"You really do overthink, Shree." He whispered as he starts to scrub her collarbones. "You are better than her in a million ways. I'll tell you why, apparently Ms. Chhabra never understood the concept of something as basic as accruals and prepays. Not everyone who lands themselves in state university is intelligent. Remember that. Do you want me to do your hair?"

She shakes her head. He starts scrubbing her arms. "Siya may look sexy, but chellam, you are beautiful. You don't have to take an effort to make yourself look attractive; you look attractive naturally. You look beautiful even when you wake up on a Monday morning, whining about going to work and facing that mean poker-faced dickhead boss you serve."

Shree laughs. "He's not a mean poker-faced dickhead boss. He might be mean and poker-faced, but he is never a dickhead. Although I do know he sleeps and showers with his secretary in a regular basis."

A loud laughter erupts from Madhav. "And who the fuck told you that I want my wife to be a succubus in bed?" he asks huskily as he pulls her close to him. His fingers trace the wet black thongs on her hips, his finger hook into the hem and he softly fondles her. "Also, I love cinnamon rolls."

Shree snuggles into his foamy chest, inhaling the berry fragrance of the shower gel. Her delicate fingers smoothly run over his chest scribbling bits of nothings.

"Shree, you may not be my first love of my life, but you are definitely the best love of my life. I love you so so so much!"" He whispers into her ears as his fingers brush against her firm buttocks. Her eyes well with tears as she looks at him, smiling.

"I love you too, madly, wildly and so uncontrollably." She whispers, trying to hold back from exploding into tears, her hands fondling his chest. "You are my husband, mine alone!"

"Call me selfish or possessive but I am not letting anyone have you too, Shree!" Madhav says in a deep baritone as he holds her face, his rough fingers smearing foam against her cheeks, setting butterflies liberated in her stomach. His hands trail down her cheeks to her neck, her collarbone, the swell of her breasts, her waist where he lingers before cocooning her in his arms.

He leans forward and turns on the shower as he presses his lips against hers. Shree hums against his mouth as the water washes away the foam and the lather from their bodies. Madhav moans in delight as their tongues caress when their lips part, his hands massaging and squeezing her soft firm buttocks. She opens her eyes and looks up at him, his hair dripping wet and his hair surrounding his face like a halo.

"We should do that again." Madhav suggests as she breaks away, her mouth tasting like the shampoo that she applied to his dark hair.

"That was better and hotter shower than the one in Fifty Shades Darker. Maybe you can draw us a nice bath tomorrow with those special bath salts you ordered from Monaco." Shree says as she divests herself off her wet undergarments and wraps a towel around her. "We can snuggle together in the tub as we talk, about-about the future- or what we ought to do together in the honeymoon- or we could do neither and savour the moment."

"This is why I married you. Beautiful and innocent, with the right amount of naughtiness." He says as he wraps a towel around his torso. "I'm hungry. I need something to eat. I didn't eat anything from that seven-course buffet at the reception, those chicken wings looked so delicious." He presses a quick chaste kiss to her forehead and walks out of the bathroom and she follows his lead. "You must be hungry too, Shree; you didn't even get touch your corn soup at the reception. I noticed. Get dressed I'll meet you in the kitchen, I'm thinking of making pasta."

Shree timidly stands in front of him. "I'm hungry too. But it's not for food. Before that, we need to do some griha-pravesh ritual, for this house." She walks towards the bed and lets the towel fall on the floor. She lies on the bed and extends her hand to him. "The bed looks like it needs to be christened and sanctified with our lovemaking. Will you join me, husband?"

Madhav smiles, keeps their discarded clothes and her jewelry on top of the vanity.

Madhav thought for a while and said "You know, this isn't the only bedroom in this apartment, there's 2 more bedrooms and there's a living room, a kitchen and a dining-"

"Is that going to be a problem for you?"

"The only problem is that we have a few hours to sleep and there's a flight we need to catch at 7:00AM." Madhav adds. "We're leaving for our honeymoon photoshoot at Bali, and the day after we're taking a cruise