16. A Place Close to His Heart

"No, I am not letting you buy all of this for me." I said in a stern voice.

"Who says it is for you? This is all for me." Shiv tried to make an excuse.

"You are going to wear dress, 4-inch heels and make-up?" I said while picking up the dress.

"I might. Who knows if I turn out to be a drag queen one day." He said with one hand on his waist.

"Remind me again why am I dating you? No, actually don't. I don't want you going on about it for another hour."

"As you wish." He shrugged. "But please let me buy them for you. I will take you out for dinner and you can use all of this."

"Yes, but I won't even fit in these clothes in a couple of months. They will just be kept in the back of my closet for months."

"But you do fit in them now. Please." He said with puppy eyes. "Will you at least try them on for me?"

"Fine. But I am just trying them on."

"We will see."

.

I stripped out of my clothes and picked up the dress. It was a dusky rose coloured gown. It hugged my curves and ended at the ankles, it had a split on the right side from the calf of the leg down to the ankle. It had a lace cape with intricate designs in it, over the shoulders which ended at the wrists and covered the front till my stomach. The back had a very deep V-cut which ended at the small of my back and exposed almost all of my back, the cape ended right below my butt. It was really beautiful. I loved everything about the dress. I also put on the heels which were golden block heels with a clasp around the ankle which took me about 10 minutes to figure out. Clasps on footwear are always made so complicated and I never understood the reason.

I stepped out of the changing room and Shiv was looking down at his phone. I cleared my throat and he looked up.

I saw him inhale a deep breath and his eyes scanned every bit of my body.

"You are so beautiful." He said in a whisper. "There is no way I am not buying this for you."

"No, I tol-" I said but he cut me off.

He placed his mouth on mine and kissed me gently.

"The only way to shut you up." He said with a smile.

"I would love to shut up forever." I flirted and we both laughed.

.

After an hour of Shiv changing in and out of clothes, we were done shopping. We didn't even realise that we skipped lunch and it was time for dinner.

"I have a place to show you. We can have dinner there." Shiv said, once we were back in the car and all of our bags were stacked in the trunk of the car.

"Okay." I said and nodded.

.

We stopped in front of a grocery store.

"This is what you had to show me."

"No, I just need to buy some things. You can wait in the car, I will be back in five minutes."

"Okay." I agreed. I was already hungry and I didn't have the energy to argue or to walk around in a grocery store.

He stepped out a few minutes later with two bags and put them straight into the trunk with the other bags. He didn't even tell me what he bought.

"What did you buy? You just put all of it in the trunk." I asked.

"It's for another surprise." He said with a wink.

"No. Why do you keep doing this to me?" I said, dramatically and he laughed.

.

We drove around for another 10 minutes and slowed down in front of a large building. This was the area for the rich people in London.

Why the hell did he bring me here? I thought.

I was thinking that we would get out of the car and walk to some restaurant but he drove the car into the basement parking of the building.

"What are we doing here?" I asked him.

"Just wait." He replied.

We got out and held all the bags in our hands and walked to the elevator.

"Are you planning to push me down from the 43rd floor?" I asked when he pressed the button for the 43rd floor.

"Yes, that is exactly why I brought you here." He said while rolling his eyes.

A bell announced that we had arrived on our floor.

I saw beige coloured carpets on the floors and chandeliers hung from the ceiling at every door. This was an apartment building.

"Why are we in a residential building?" I asked again.

"Will you please just wait for a minute. Can I not even surprise you?" He said, getting a little annoyed.

"Sorry." I said and kept quiet till we reached the end of the hall and stopped in front of a door.

4320.

He set the bags down and took out a key card from his wallet.

This is his apartment? What on earth is going on?

"Welcome to my home." He said when the door opened.

"But-" I started.

"No buts. I will explain everything, just get inside." He said as he held the door open for me.

The lights were automatically turned on when he opened the door with the key card.

The interiors were so beautiful, they made me want to cry.

The living room was the first thing I saw as we entered. The floor was hardwood and the beige leather couches were set in a L-shape. Behind the couches were huge windows with white see-though curtains which were opened and the London skyline was visible. All the lights, even the Thames river was visible from there. There was a huge television in front of the sofa set. The lighting inside were dim, coming just from the chandelier placed on the high ceiling. My jaw dropped as I took in the view.

"You like it?" I heard Shiv ask me and I turned around to face him.

"This- this is your place?" I asked, stuttering slightly.

"Pretty much. I bought it when I moved out of my father's place but I was already working for his company and I was paid a lot so I invested it in this apartment." he told me.

"It is beautiful. You lived here alone?"

"Yes. Sometimes I had Ashwin around when he came to visit or some random girl for the night. But other than that I was all alone here. So I moved out and went to India." He explained. It must've gotten lonely for him in such a huge apartment. Just the living room was bigger than all three rooms combined in my apartment.

"Oh." I said. "So if you haven't been here since so long, how is it still so clean."

"The apartment can go in vacuum mode if the owner is not going to be home for a long period of time. If we turn the switch on, it seals the apartment air-tight as soon as the front door closes. So the dust never came in. It is still in the same condition I left it in." he said.

"That is really smart."

"Come on let me show you the rest." He said and I nodded in reply.

We walked out of the living room and entered the kitchen and dining area. The kitchen was like a dream. There was a large window in front of the kitchen too. It was mostly wooden with a few chairs on the island of the kitchen. All the appliances were modular. There were two modern looking ceiling lamps on top of the counter. It must be awesome living in this place, I thought.

Shiv placed the grocery bags on the counter and we proceeded towards the next door.

It was the library. The shelves were on one wall of the room. They were till the ceiling, covered with books. The shelves had golden lights in them. There were two brown, comfortable chairs with matching ottomans at the centre of the room and a coffee table in between them. It was the best place I had ever been in. A library this beautiful, in someone's home seemed like an impossible idea.

"This is so beautiful." I said with a smile on my face.

"Not more than you." He said.

"That was so cheesy." I laughed. "But cute."

"I am not cute. How many times do I have to tell you?" He said, trying to look intimidating.

"Whatever, cutie." I said and laughed. "Okay, next room."

"Okay, so I had three bedrooms, I needed one for me, a guest room and I turned this one into a library. I will show you the other two." He said.

.

The guest bedroom was pretty basic but still very pretty. It was mostly white with a grey headrest and white sheets and pillows. There were a bedside table on each side of the bed with black lamps. There was a study/dresser on the right side of the foot of the bed and a large window near the dresser.

The last room was Shiv's bedroom. The floor was hardwood, like the rest of the apartment. The aesthetics of his room contrasted the other parts of his apartment. It was darker. With black wood on the walls, dark brown curtains and the same coloured cushioned wall which went up to the ceiling, behind the beige coloured headrest. There was a silver chandelier hung right above this bed, in the middle of the room. There was a television in front of the bed. Two beige leather chairs with a small coffee table sat near the window which was hidden by the closed curtains. It was a really nice room.

The whole flat was very luxurious and expensive.

"The whole place it very beautiful. But why did you bring me here?" I asked him.

"I wanted to show it to you because this place is very close to my heart, I have only let in a few people in, mostly important ones. The girls I told you about before, I brought only one of them here but I sent her away because I didn't feel comfortable. I don't let people in easily, I guess. But I brought you here, to show you just how important you are to me." He said and a few drops of tears escaped my eyes.

"I am glad you brought me here." I said and cried more. "Damnit! My emotions are all over the place. I am sorry. Just remember that I am pregnant before you say things like this." I blabbered while I sobbed.

Shiv embraced me in a tight hug while I cried. I didn't even know why I was crying. Hormones are weird.

"Okay, I am done." I said while wiping the tears away. "Can we have dinner now? I am starving."

"Yes, we can. I will go and prepare something. You go and freshen up. The bathroom is over there." He pointed me to the bathroom connected to his bedroom.

"Wait. If You have this place, you must have clothes here, right?" I asked and he nodded.

"Then why the hell did you shop for an entire new wardrobe today?" I asked.

"Because I can." He said.

"You are such a brat." I said, jokingly and shook my head.

"Oh, I am a brat?" He asked me playfully and I nodded.

He then, suddenly picked me up and threw me lightly on the bed and started tickling me.

I didn't have any control of my body. I was extremely ticklish and I swear I at least scratched his face a couple times.

"Stop! St-stop!" I said in between the laughs.

"Say I am not a brat." he said and continued tickling.

"I am not a brat." I said while laughing uncontrollably.

"That is not what I meant. Say it or I will keep tickling." he said.

"Okay fine! You are not a brat." I said finally and he stopped tickling me and got up from above me. I wiped the tears which escaped my eyes while I was laughing.

"Go and clean up. I will make dinner." he said and I nodded.

I entered the bathroom. It was just as luxurious as the rest of the house. Italian marble and modern faucets were fitted in it. I looked at myself in the mirror above the matte black sink.

My mascara was flowing down to my cheeks because of all the crying I did. My lipstick was mostly wiped away and my hair was all frizzy. I propped up my handbag on the counter and took out some make-up remover wipes and cleaned up my face. I threw the wipe in the trash can and washed my face with slightly warm water. I had a spare, tiny bottle of face cream in my bag so I moisturised my face and left it like that. I brushed through my tangled hair and put it in a bun.

I cleared up the counter and walked back towards the kitchen.

"Hey, what are we having tonight?"

"I am making daal-makhani and rice. We will have to wait for a little while though. I am just waiting for it to get done." He said.

"Okay. That sounds good." I said with a smile. "Hey, do you maybe have a change of clothes for me? This outfit is a little uncomfortable." I asked him. I really wanted to get out of the skinny jeans.

"Yes, come with me." He said and we walked back to his bedroom. He opened the door to his walk-in closet and picked out some joggers and a sweatshirt of his.

"These are the only ones which could possibly fit you. Is it okay?" He asked.

"Its better than okay. Anything will do. I just want to get out of these clothes." I said and immediately regretted saying it.

"I can help you with that." He said with a wink and I pushed him out of the room to change my clothes without saying a word.