The Blazing Heiress

09|| Bruised knuckles

"Love is when you look into someone's eyes and see everything you need."

***

"Roses," She replied, her voice low and devoid of emotions.

A tiny frown creased on his forehead, confusion tightening his features as he queried, "What roses?"

Avni's nose scrunched ever so slightly as the lovely chaplet of white roses, once her favorite, flashed against her eyes. "Rudra sent them to the room," A wicked smile curled against the corner of her mouth. "And I charred them into ashes." The bitterness in her voice didn't go disregarded by Viransh.

A low whiff of breath fled past his mouth. He remembered the bouquet of budding white beauty Avni held last night when he knocked on her room to forewarn her about the weather. He was discreetly thrilled by her bold move of searing them instead of adoring them. His gaze slowly drifted to her face. Her eyes were blazing with agitation and pain. He'd never believed that beauty could ever live in self-destruction, the vulnerability in those precious orbs tugging his heartstrings. "So much pain for someone so young?" He asked, his voice as gentle as it could be.

Avni's brown irises flickered toward him. The warmth in his eyes clenched her heart. "If only we could flee past this agony. Sadly, life sabotages us with this suffering at each beat."

She sucked in a long breath feeling his large warm hand on hers, squeezing it, a shot of heat racing her veins at the contact. She jerked off her hand suddenly when she felt roughness against her soft fingers. Her lips twitched downward before she glanced down at his hand. She immediately took hold of them, inspecting his bruised hand, swollen and red, few drops of blood specked on it. He hissed in pain when she traced them.

Her brown orbs flitted on his face for a brief moment. Her mind whirled back to the incident that ensued a few minutes ago. She couldn't believe that she almost got assaulted by Rudra today. She came close to being violated again. If Viransh Malik didn't come to save her, the day would've turned out very differently. Remorse crept over her senses. She let out of his and made her way to the washroom, rummaging through drawers for a first aid kit which she noticed last night.

She entered the room holding a rectangular box and almost choked a shocked gasp seeing the cleaning staff preening the shambles. Viransh sat on the bed upright, his gaze pinned on the wounded hand. The man chafed in faded jeans and a dark grey V-neck shirt that snugly fitted his muscled build. The chemise hugged his form showing his broad chest and arms, which the fabric enfolded. She couldn't deny that her heart skipped a beat at this sight.

Sighing, she sat next to him and examined the bruises again before gently rubbing an alcohol swab on them. A pink hue slowly crept through her cheeks, feeling his intense stare on her face as she unhurriedly wrapped a bandage around his hand.

"Beating him was fun."

"Wh-what?" she asked him, her voice faltered, and her eyebrows furrowed in bewilderment as she wrapped his wound.

"Nothing."

"Nothing?" She sent him a murderous glare.

Viransh was clearly shocked by her brusque response, but it didn't take long for a familiar teasing glint to join his light orbs. "Why are you glaring at me?"

"I'm just hoping you'll spontaneously combust."

Viransh's eyes gleamed, and his lips twitched into a mischievousness as he looked up at her, "You are so much fun to mess with."

Avni withered at his words. Regardless, she had a hunch that his comment wasn't as ignorant as he made it out to be. She wondered if he despised Rudra for any particular reasons. Suddenly, her breath hitched when her unwittingly dark gaze moved from his piercing eyes to his aristocratic nose and then down to his full pink lips, which had a gentle smile. She fought a sudden urge to touch them and know whether they were as soft as they looked.