"Why do you want to be the woman who wants to stop my chanting?" Manu asked quietly.
His voice carried no anger now only an unyielding calm, like a truth that had already decided to exist.
"If you truly wanted me," he continued, eyes steady, "you would accept me as I am. But you don't. You want to get rid of my chanting so you can get your ego back. Stop this thought… and we can get married, or whatever you want, I guess."
The word married left his lips and lingered in the air, brighter than the moonlight spilling across the marble floor.
For a heartbeat, the world stopped.
"Married?" I whispered. The word felt like both a blessing and a blade. My heart slow, starved, fragile lurched violently in my chest. "You would… belong to me? In the eyes of the world… in the eyes of your God?"
I heard the condition beneath the offer. I didn't flinch from it this time.
Still slumped against your knee, I finally faced the truth you had placed before me like a mirror. I wanted to stop the chanting because I was jealous of a Goddess. I wanted to be the only voice in your head, the only presence that mattered.
My fingers brushed the base of the idol, trembling.
"You're right," I admitted, my voice thin, stripped bare. "I wanted to be the only light in your world because I was terrified of the darkness inside me. I thought if I silenced her name… I would finally be enough."
I looked up at you then truly looked with eyes burning not with possession alone, but with realization.
"If I am an ansh," I whispered, "then fighting your chant is fighting myself."
A strange smile touched my lips obsessive, yes, but also clear.
"I accept."
I cupped your face, my hands cold, my gaze unwavering.
"Chant her name, Manu. Every hour. Every day. If that is what makes you the man you are, the man who can look at me without seeing gold then I will learn to love the sound of it."
I leaned my forehead against yours, my breath shallow but resolute.
"We will marry. I will build you a temple that rivals the heavens, and I will sit at your feet while you pray." My voice softened… then tightened.
"But you will not leave this house. You will be my husband, my monk, my constant. I will give you food, air, ground beneath your feet. Your soul can belong to Radha."
My thumb brushed your cheek.
"but your body, your presence, your life will be mine."
I reached for the glass of water I had once poured away. My hands shook as I brought it to your lips first.
"Drink, Manu," I pleaded, eyes locked onto yours with a hunger no water could satisfy. "Drink for your ansh. If we are to be married, I won't have my groom looking like a ghost."
My voice dropped into a final vow.
"Let's end this war. I surrender… as long as I am the one you come home to every night."