Rehnuma

1. Lover Boy

I had never known serenity before. Not until she stood infront of the window, gazing into nothingness. Her hair a mess. The red silk sheets wrapped around her all crumpled. She makes me forget. Forget everything other than her.

Veera Malhotra. She is not a person. She is an enigma. One capable of burning you from afar. But she becomes the cure when you get close enough. People who see her say she is a harsh person. They see her sarcasm, her ability to brush everything off. But I know her. The real her. Because I see behind the curtain of nonchalance.

She is strong yet so soft. I've felt her heart thump under my fingers, my lips. She is human, yet above us all. She doesn't bend the way mortals do. She skips around life, like feathering her fingers through roses. Daring a thorn to prick her. They do, she bleeds, then she wipes it off and moves ahead.

She has taught me alot in the last two years. She was only nineteen when I met her as someone more than an acquaintance. Our families made it pretty clear that we would be married one day. We made our lives easier by learning about each other. I am eight years older than her, yet I look at her for answers when my heart drowns itself in sorrows.

When the past comes back to haunt me, I drop my head in her lap until her fingers in my hair lull me to sleep. No one else sees it. My pain, heartache but she does. And she holds my heart like it's made of glass. Carefully, tenderly.

"You think too much." My daze clears. She has now turned to stare at me. Leaning against the window, wrapped in deep red silk, my girl looks like a rose. Beautiful enough to make you bleed. She glides across the floor, sitting on the bed. I turn on my side to stare up at her. Admire the beauty that she is.

"You dwell on the past Lakshay. Don't do that. It's gone. All it leaves is a trail of memories you can't control. So keep hold of what you can. You didn't have control then, and you still blame yourself for it. No matter how much someone tells you not to."

There she is, stitching another wound she didn't give. Her fingers trail over the side of my face, feathering her touch, soothing my burning soul. I turn my face and kiss her palm. Her fingers curl. Running the back of them over my jaw, again and again.

"My father told me he talked to your father about the wedding. It will be in a month."

My father didn't tell me anything but then again, I haven't met or talked to him since I came to Delhi a week ago. I'll go back to him tomorrow, maybe we could talk then.

I sigh when her fingers reach up into my hair, massaging my scalp. She uses her hold to pull me closer. Our lips meet, tongues tangle, and my burning soul stops blazing in her vicinity. The sheets that cover her fall apart. My fingers whisper over the beat of her heart, just as she jumps up to straddle me.

Pulling away the sheets covering my modesty just as quickly. She pulls away to graze my temple with her lips. "Forget it. Whatever is on your mind, haunting your dreams, forget it for now."