𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐍𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐃𝐢𝐞𝐬

Chapter 11: Love Destroys

"Green would suit you better," he murmured.

Her painted lips were parted slightly as she leaned into his touch like a moth to flame. Her white netted scarf long forgotten as it slipped from her shoulders and danced with the wind.

"You confuse me," Meera professed.

Her doe eyes pulled at his heartstring. Her obsidians- so deep and dark. They sucked him in like the blackhole and he never wanted to see the light of the day again. They compelled Dev to reveal to her, the secrets he had so very carefully hidden away from her reach, enclosed in the iron cage of his hardened heart. But his conscious intervened, salving the vicious burns with caution.

"I know." He leaned forward. Their foreheads almost touched.

"Then do something."

"I can't," he whispered and sighed in despondence. "If only it were as easy for us to be as it was for us to fall."

Meera held the hand that cradled her face. "It could be."

His expression softened.

Dev envied her sanguinity. She hoped too much and he hoped too little. That would be their downfall. Faith in this faithless world only brought misery. And heaven would curse him if he gave her hope of a future when he was still unsure of his present.

"I'm sorry, butterfly." His voice was hoarse. "I wish I could show you how much you mean to me. I do," he asserted. "I wish I could show you how much I care. How much I----"

He broke off, a look of horror flashing across his face and moved back.

"How much you what?" Meera demanded. "How much you what, Dev?"

"Nothing." The corners of his lips tightened. "It doesn't matter."

Her face fell. "It matters to me."

Dev shook his head in regret. "It wouldn't change a thing. I'll still be inexplicably entrenched in matters that have no business becoming a part of your life and we still won't be able to be together."

"But why?" she asked, desperation laced her tone.

"Because that's the only way to protect you," he said.

"Protect me?" She was taken aback by the statement. "Protect me from what?"

"From me."

The words came out in a whisper.

And my family.

I can't let you become like my mother.

Meera's brows scrunched adorably in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Knowing he had said enough, he tried to back away.

"Meera," called Dev, stiffly. "It's late. You better go inside. Your family's waiting."

She gritted her teeth. "If you want to walk away from me, you'll have to do it yourself."

He hesitated. She saw the tension in him, in his body, rise like a wave about to break.

"Walk away from me," she challenged him harshly. "Walk away."

"I can't," he said, his voice low and broken. "You know I can't."

"Then tell me what you meant," she demanded, tilting her chin up. "What matters were you talking about? And what did you mean by protecting me? Is it about bhai again?"

She ambushed him with questions he did not have answers to. Or rather did not want to answer.

"Meera," he breathed.