Leap Of Faith

Chapter 20

I try to push him away, but his hand tightens just so slightly on my neck. Not enough to hurt, just enough to show he can.

I do not like it at all.

I kick his shin, hard, and he grunts in disapproval. His eyes narrow, nostrils flaring.

"Know your place." He seethes.

"Excuse me?"

He leans in and kisses me shortly, just a small, seductive stroke of his tounge. I whimper when he pulls away. He threads a hand through my hair.

"In this relationship," He says, tugging hard, till I'm gasping. "I'm the one in control."

"There's no relationship." I spit.

He laughs wickedly. "You belong to me." He says. "It's a relationship enough."

"I don't belong to anyone." I snap.

"You live with misconceptions, babe." He says, then kisses me again.

I push at his chest, and he finally obeys, getting away from me.

"Fuck off." I tell him.

"Watch your mouth." He snaps.

"Stop fucking telling me what to do!"

He raises an eyebrow at me, and I raise one back.

"You can't do this." I tell him. "You can't just kiss me anytime you want. I'm not your wife. Or your girlfriend."

He nods and steps back. "You're mine." He says.

"Not until you give us a chance."

"I can't." He says. "You don't understand."

"Try me."

He grins roguishly. "Oh I want to."

I roll my eyes. "You said you wanted to marry me for your grandmother. The condition is over now. What next?"

He gulps. "I want you for me for a few more days. We still have a week left."

"Just a week?" I whisper as reality crashes onto me.

He nods, impassive. "I need to taste you before you go. And I need to be inside you before you leave me forever."

"Why?" I murmur, so soft I'm not sure he heard it.

"Because I," His gaze shifts to the floor, then back up at me. "Because you're my anchor," He says. "You keep me from drowning."

"Then don't let me go." I say, I'm almost begging. "Tell me to stay, Abhi, and I will."

"I won't. I'm doing this for you."

I sigh, shaking my head. "Lets go to sleep."

He nods. "Okay."

We sleep in my bed, like always, cuddled up together.

"Why won't you do this with me?" I ask him. His hand tightens around my torso, and he snuggles into my hair.

"I don't do relationships." He says.

"You did with Natasha."

He stiffens. "Who told you about her?"

"Leena." I whisper. "Will you talk to me about her?"

"I don't wanna talk about it. Its just me and you right now." He whispers back."Don't let her come between."

I'm breathing slowly, but my heart is beating so fast I'm afraid it will burst.

"I love you." I tell him.

"I... Thank you." He says.

"I can't believe just a week is left." I say.

"Me neither."

"I love you." I repeat. He doesn't say anything, just flips me over so I'm facing him and buries his face in my neck.

"Say it over and over till its time for me to let you go." He demands softly. "It's like music. A song that I never want to end."

"Okay."

I lull him to sleep, whispering declarations of my love over and over again.

- - -

We grab breakfast at a waffle house the next day and watch old English movies at home. He cooks dinner and we eat on the terrace.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you that day you went to my art room." He says, shoving a spoonful of the cake I had baked yesterday into his mouth.

I shrug. "Its fine, I was being nosey."

He turns to look at me, our eyes meeting in a flurry of emotions. His eyes that are usually brown seem more like golden now. I'm incandescent with love, feeling those pools of gold bear into me.

"Come on." He tugs at my hand, pulling me up as he stands up too. "I want to show you my paintings."

I gape at him. "You don't have to, Abhi, really."

His comeback is just a warm smile.

We do the dishes together before he takes my hand in a warm embrace and leads me to the room.

I'm told to unlock it, so I do so, and he lets me enter first. I'm met with the drugging smell of paints and paper.

Abhi opens up a small cupboard filled with rolls of paper, big and small. He pulls out some of them, then picks me up by the hips and places me on a stool.

The first paper i unrolled to show a painting of the night sky. It's a constellation, I think.

"Its the Orion." Abhi says. "Nothing much, but I spent a shitload of time on it."

"Its beautiful." I tell him.

He shows me more of his paintings, each of them is perfect to the last stroke. A lot of them are of the buildings he's built, some incomplete, others done and working. He's so passionate about what he does. Its breathtaking.

"So this is it." He shrugs.

I nod. "What are you painting right now?"

"You already saw it."

"Yes," I whisper, "Can I see it again?"

He turns over his canvas so it faces me. My painting is almost complete, and its like I'm looking at a mirror.

"Abhi," I gasp. "This is flawless."

He shrugs. "Its okay. I still couldn't make it as beautiful as you really are."

I suck in a sharp breath.

He looks at me from beneath his lashes. He seems a little bashful, which is so much unlike him. "One night I started to paint, and" He chokes on the words, "I found myself painting you."

I give him a warm smile. "Thank you."

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