Chapter: Under the Kuldevi’s Blessing

The mini SUV was filled with soft chatter and temple bells playing faintly from Devraj’s phone. The morning sun filtered through the windows as they drove toward their kuldevi temple.

Poornima sat beside Veeresh in the middle row. Ravi was explaining something to Inayat, who kept asking innocent questions, and Devraj and his wife were discussing the rituals for the next day.

But Veeresh?

He was not listening to anything.

He was watching his wife.

Every time the car slowed down or everyone’s attention shifted elsewhere, he leaned slightly toward her and brushed his lips against her cheek.

“Veer…” she whispered, trying not to smile. “They will see.”

“Nobody is seeing,” he replied confidently, like a mischievous boy.

And again—another quick kiss near her temple.

She tried to look serious, but her smile betrayed her.

He loved that smile.

Not the polite one she showed the world.
Not the calm one she wore in front of elders.

The real one. The one that appeared only when he teased her.

He intertwined his fingers with hers secretly, thumb brushing over her knuckles. She didn’t pull away.

The drive felt short.

They reached the ancestral house near the temple by afternoon. The air there felt different—quieter, sacred, almost protective. The walls held history; generations had walked those corridors.

After settling in their rooms, everyone rested for a while before the early morning pooja.

Poornima adjusted the curtains and turned around—only to find Veeresh standing too close.

“What?” she asked softly.

Instead of answering, he gently pulled her toward him.

“Veer…” she murmured again, but this time her voice wasn’t protesting.

He cupped her face and kissed her—slow, unhurried, like he had all the time in the world.

She placed her hand on his chest lightly. “Sleep. We have to wake up early.”

He rested his forehead against hers.

“Tomorrow,” he said quietly, brushing a strand of hair away from her face, “I’m not leaving you even for a second, jaan.”

There was no teasing in his tone this time.

Just certainty.

He lay down, pulling her with him, his arm wrapping securely around her waist. As always, he rested closer, as if her presence grounded him.

Within minutes, his breathing became steady.

Poornima watched him for a moment—the same man who carried boardrooms on his shoulders… now sleeping peacefully beside her.

She adjusted the blanket over him gently.

And slowly, she closed her eyes too.

Under the blessing of their kuldevi, in a house filled with ancestors’ memories, they slept—closer than yesterday, calmer than before.