THE TATTOOS

"You're not the person I thought you were. You're so much better."

- To All the Boys I've Loved Before

.~A A R O H I~

After spending the entire day wandering alone through Paris, I finally returned to the hotel suite long after sunset.

And honestly?

Solo traveling had been unexpectedly beautiful.

The fear stayed, but I called him only once. I was so immersed in my travels. Wandering.

The driver , a very built strong french guy with a moustache...stayed 15 feets away from me. Never interrupted.

The streets were overflowing with tourists because of peak season.

Artists sketching portraits near sidewalks. Street musicians filling the air with violins and jazz. Couples laughing beneath glowing café lights.

At one point, I had stopped near a cathedral where a live orchestra was performing in the open streets.

The music echoed through the evening air while strangers gathered around smiling at each other like they belonged to the same story.

Paris romanticized everything.

Even loneliness felt cinematic here.

Later, I found a tiny old café tucked between narrow lanes.

The kind straight out of a romcom.

Warm yellow lights. Comfort coffee. Fresh French breads behind glass counters. Soft jazz humming quietly somewhere in the background.

I sat near the window for almost an hour.

Writing random things into my journal. Watching rain threaten the streets outside. Thinking about Advik more than I intended to.

How he would complain about overpriced coffee. How he would still pay for it anyway. How he would secretly remember this exact café if I said I liked it once..

By the time I finally returned to the suite, exhaustion had settled warmly into my bones.

I pushed the hotel door open quietly.

And froze.

Advik was already back.

Fresh out of the shower. Hair damp and slightly messy.

And shirtless.

My brain immediately stopped functioning.

His back faced me while he spoke on a business call calmly, one hand resting against the counter beside him.

Low voice. Relaxed posture.

Dangerous combination.

I swallowed hard.

Because unfortunately,

my husband looked like he had been sculpted by deeply unfair gods.



(DEKH LO DEKH LO 💦💦💦)

Broad shoulders. Sharp waist. Defined muscles stretching across his back and arms effortlessly.

And when he shifted slightly-

I caught sight of his abs.

Actual abs.....

Not gym brochure abs.

Greek mythology abs.

The kind painters would cry over.

God.

I tried looking away respectfully.

Then accidentally looked again.

Disrespectfully.

Loose control, ride it ~~~~

And that's when I noticed the tattoos.

The first one stretched down along his rib cage in elegant black ink.

Minimalistic. Clean.

"Memento Mori."

My brows furrowed softly.

Latin. Dark. Very Advik-coded.

But then, my eyes lifted higher.

And I noticed the second tattoo across the upper part of his back.

Smaller. Hidden more carefully.

A compass.

Not the flashy kind.

A worn-looking compass sketched in fine lines, and beneath it, written subtly in cursive

"To the places that feel like home."

Something about that one affected me unexpectedly.

Because suddenly, I understood him again.

A man terrified of staying still.

A man constantly searching for somewhere he could finally belong.

It was first time I found out he had tattoos, first time I saw him shirtless. And first time I felt my soul leave my body because this man was just ......... incredible.

I was staring at my own husband....

I facepalmed myself. Ahhh... I should not behave like a teenager.

I tried to move , but my sandal caught slightly against the carpet accidentally.

The tiny sound made Advik turn immediately.

And the moment his grey eyes landed on me, everything inside me short-circuited.

God.

His eyes should genuinely be illegal.

Storm-grey. Sharp. Intense in ways that always made me feel too seen.

The conversation on his phone paused for half a second.

Just enough for me to notice the subtle shift in his expression.

His gaze moved over me once.

Slowly,

Then returned to my face again.

"You're back," he said quietly into the phone.

But he wasn't speaking to the caller anymore. He was looking directly at me.

I nodded once.

"Hm."

Wonderful response, Aarohi.

Truly intelligent. A faint smile tugged at the corner of his lips.

Like he already knew exactly what state my brain was currently in.

He said something quickly into the phone afterward before ending the call entirely.

Then silence filled the suite.

Soft. Heavy.

Way too warm suddenly.

"How was Paris?" he asked casually while tossing the phone aside.

Casually.

Like he wasn't standing there looking like temptation wrapped in expensive cologne.

"It was nice," I managed somehow.

"Just nice?"

I tried focusing on literally anything else.

The curtains. The couch. Global economics.

Anything.

"There was live music near the cathedral," I answered finally while setting my bag down.

"And this really beautiful old café."

He watched me quietly while I spoke.

Not interrupting. Just looking.

And somehow, that was worse.

"You enjoyed going alone?" he asked softly.

I nodded.

Then smiled faintly.

"But I kept wanting to tell you things."

Something softened instantly in his face after that.

"What things?"

"Everything."

A quiet laugh escaped me.

"The coffee. The violin player. This bookstore cat that hated me personally."

A low laugh left him.

Warm. Deep.

And suddenly the room felt smaller.

"You should've called."

"I wanted you to finish work properly."

His gaze held mine another second longer.

Then quieter

"I still would've come."

That sentence settled somewhere dangerously deep inside me.

I looked at him properly then.

Really looked.

At the damp hair falling slightly across his forehead. The grey eyes watching me steadily. The tattoos. The sharp lines of his body.

Fuck it all....this is straight attack to my ovaries. My hormones.

I could literally feel heat creep through my body. The tattoos and the abs and the man himself.........

Completely mine:)

Aarohi, you won in life ......

He was walking closer.

Close enough that I could smell soap and his cologne mixed together.

Close enough that my heartbeat completely betrayed me.

Then softly,dangerously softly...

"You're staring."

"I am not."

"Aarohi."

I crossed my arms defensively.

"You are literally shirtless."

"That sounds accusatory."

"Because it is."....

"I will call purush helpline.....this is harassing me with your eyes" He said and my jaw dropped. Literally.

"You!!" I choke out "You are insufferable. So what if you have the body of a Greek god.....? Kutta!!!"

"Kutta...?" His face looks almost wounded

"Calling your husband a street mutt....verbal violence Mrs Advik"

"Gadha. Kutta. Pagal Aadmi" I storm through the room.

(Dog! Donkey! Idiot )

A laugh escaped him properly this time.

And God.

That sound alone could ruin lives.

He closed the distance between us again.

I stilled at the proximity and his shirtless self.

My ovaries whiplashed....

Then his fingers gently tilted my chin upward.

Forcing my eyes back toward him.

"Eyes on me ...Mrs Advik" he whispered in that low raspy voice of his which made a woman go mad.

For a minute, I held his gaze. I could see myself through his eyes and I felt all kinds of insects dancing in my stomach.

"What do the tattoos mean?" I asked quickly.

Trying to stay saint.

And

Mostly because I needed oxygen.

His expression shifted slightly after that.

Quieter now.

"The rib one?"

A faint pause.

"'Memento Mori.'"

His thumb brushed lightly near my jaw.

"It means remember you must die."

I blinked.

"That is aggressively concerning."

A soft smirk touched his lips.

"I got it when I was twenty."

"Why?"

For a second, his gaze drifted somewhere distant. Like he was remembering a version of himself I never met.

"Back then," he said quietly, "I thought if life ends anyway..."

A humorless smile appeared briefly.

"...maybe fear shouldn't decide everything."

My chest tightened painfully.

Because twenty-year-old Advik already sounded lonely.

Already sounded tired.

"And the compass?" I asked softly.

His eyes lifted back to mine slowly.

"That one," he murmured, "I got after my first solo trip."

A pause.

"When I realized I was always searching for places that felt more like home than my own house."

I want to be your home Advik....the words stayed with me.

That sentence nearly broke something inside me.

Without thinking, my fingers lightly brushed the tattoo across his back.

Careful. Curious.

And immediately

his entire body stilled beneath my touch.

Not tense.

Aware.

Very aware. The air changed instantly. Heavier now. Thicker.

"You know," I whispered softly while tracing the edge of the compass lightly,

"For someone with existential Latin tattoos..."

I stepped slightly closer.

"...you've become surprisingly soft."

His grey eyes darkened slightly after that.

And God, that look nearly destroyed me.

Without any warning, he intertwined o

ur fingers, pulling me flush against his chest.

My soul left my body as I stared and stared.

Then,

"Only around you," he admitted quietly.

Still holding me against his bare chest as if he never wanted to let me go.

I felt like I had won a lottery.

__________

VOTE because This is going to be spicier .......