TejRan- Gehraiyaan

Part 3

"I have." Karan answered plainly.

"Then what is the problem with me?!" Teja almost found herself shrieking.

He grabbed her hair roughly and placed a quick peck on her lips. "Teja. I don't think it's possible to count how many times I have imagined having sex with you while locked up in that damn house, not being able to say or do anything to you because of people and cameras. So when I finally have sex with you sweety, I want to do it freely, without a single fucking worry. I want to hear all those noises from you that I have been dreaming about for more than hundred days, I want to hear you screaming my name. Do you understand?"

She felt her cheeks heat up at his words, as her mouth curved into a shy smile.

"Do you understand?" Karan asked again, more sternly.

She nodded like a little girl who was being admonished.

"Good!" He placed a soft kiss on the tip of her nose.

Karan rested his forehead against hers, and sighed deeply. He took her in, her scent, her air, her presence. She smelled lovely, light and floral. Teja never smelled like the other ladies, who drenched themselves in perfume and triggered his allergies.

"I love you." Teja said after a while. "Did I tell you that today?"

"No," he lied, his lips slowly curved into a big grin. "You can tell me now."

"I love you Sunny. Today when I won, I didn't want to see anyone's face. I didn't want to celebrate it, I just wanted you. Everyone kept coming up to me, asking questions, congratulating me, taking pictures. I pictured all of that in my head before, I thought I would enjoy all of that, but I couldn't. Not when you were not there. The whole time I was like Sunny kidhar hai, Sunny kidhar hai, Sunny kidhar hai, Sunny chahiye, Sunny chahiye. I thought I was going to cry in front of everyone. I think Salman sir knew I was going to start crying so he started calling you too."

Karan felt a big, painful knot in his throat that he tried to swallow. He had tried his best to not ruin her night, he ended up doing it anyway by not being there for her.

"I am sorry," he felt his voice cracking. "I didn't mean to ruin your night sweety."

"You didn't ruin my night!" Teju said quickly, sounding offended. She kissed him on both of his cheeks and wrapped her arms around his back tightly. "You didn't ruin my night at all. You are the only thing that made my night better." She mumbled into his neck.

Karan let out a sigh, half from physical exhaustion, half from mental. He kept his arms around her and lay down on the cushiony sofa, facing each other. He adjusted the throw pillow under her head to make sure she was comfortable. The leather was cool against his body, oddly comforting. Dawn had yet not broken, but blue and purple lights slanted in through the gaps of his sheer curtains. He could see her now. He took in a long, slow breath as he looked at her achingly beautiful face. Karan did not think Teja was the type of beauty who made men turn their heads when on the street. She might even blend in with a crowd — but when you looked at her, when you took a moment and really looked at her, her beauty was the type that would ruin a man. He was sure that once one really saw her, there was no way he could ever see anyone else. He pitied all the men who saw her, who fell for her, could never have her or had to lose her. He didn't know how they coped, he was certain he couldn't.

"Sunny, you are staring at me." Teja said in the softest voice possible 

"Hmm. I am just having a moment." 

"Are you really okay?" He could see her eyes sparkle with the hint of tears. "I saw your tweet." 

He shrugged before speaking. "I couldn't even get second place." Karan laughed bitterly. "That stung. Not to mention it was humiliating!" He was okay now. He knew he was. He was no longer devastated the way he was just a few hours ago. Some of that bitterness seemed to remain though. 

"You are Karan Kundrra babe. THE KARAN KUNDRRA! One and only! Do you not realize who you are? How big you are, how important you are? This show could never define who you are, change the position you had already created for yourself. Think of what a journey you had made all on your own to get to where you are! You are not just a name, you are basically a brand babe! And you did all of that by yourself! Do you realize how inspiring you are?"

He tried to take her words in, one by one. Dissect it, analyze it, think which point he could refute with solid arguments. 

"Do you understand what I am saying?" Teja asked, grabbing his t-shirt in her small fists.

Karan found himself smiling, truly smiling to his surprise. "Yeah... but you continue. Sun ke accha lag raha hai." 

Teja slapped him on the chest and he winced. "Ouch!" He said through gritted teeth. Grabbing a tight hold of her wrists, he pulled her closer. "I am going to have to keep your hands tied all the time I think." 

"You know people are outraged online? They are furious you didn't win Sunny. You don't even know how much love you have earned. You have received more love than anyone. You are so loved. Everyone loves you."

She pulled her hand away from his grip and gently stroked his face, tracing his cheekbone with her thumb. The way she looked at him at that moment made him feel something he could not remember ever feeling before – this was pure unadulterated happiness. All his life he remembered feeling a little alone, even among his family and closest loved ones he was the odd one so he had felt left out. He never felt fully loved even when his ex-girlfriends proclaimed to love him. He couldn't believe people loved him completely. He believed her. He believed those big beautiful eyes that were staring at him as if they saw nothing except him. He knew they loved him, adored him, believed in him. He was fine losing the title. He was fine with third place, heck at this point even fourth or fifth would have been fine. What he came out with was so much bigger than any title the show could have given him. How could any title compare to her? 

He didn't realize he had gotten teary eyed until he saw her frown and wipe the corner of his eyes.

He took her hand and placed a kiss on her palm. "I love you so much, so damn much." He whispered.

"I love you too." Teja replied softly.

His room had gotten significantly brighter, the sun was fully up now. He knew he had to take her home. Her family must be dying to have her back. He didn't want to part from her, not even for a second. The thought of not being around her anymore caused him pain somewhere deep within his chest. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with her on that sofa, just like that. He had once told her that he had to have physical intimacy to feel connected to his partner. Today he realized he had been so wrong. Unlike anyone else before, she had managed to connect to his soul, and all it took was for her to look at him like that. 

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Author's note
I can't thank you guys enough for the comments and messages! They are the reason I haven't stopped. I am still trying to update Remember That Day. I smile every time someone messages me about that because that story is so close to my heart. I never thought anyone would want to read it but me.


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