Dare Trilogy | Book 3 Editing | ✓

2.14 | Stay +Self-Involved

This was the first real fight I had with my brother in probably our whole life. We have arguments where we irritate each other, but never had it be a serious one as this one on such a big thing. When it counted, we always had each other's back, and not having him to lean back on was heart-shattering.

He has always been my rock. I cannot lose him. I used to fear about Arnav finding out, but now I fear what would happen to my relationship with Armaan now that he has found out. I only hope and pray that Riddhima would talk to him and get through to him.

Without meaning to, I sniffled. Almost instantly, I felt the bed shift and then his hand touched mines. "Hey," He whispered. His voice sounded estranged as if holding on to his control. His next words confirmed it, "I wish I could just hug you right now."

I wasn't sure I would have objected right now. There was a lump in my throat, stopping me from saying he could. At my lack of a verbal response, he simply continued to hold my hand and rubbed the back of it as if to comfort me with the tiny gesture. It did mean immensely to me. He wasn't breaching my personal space, but still being there. It's like he knew I had gotten comfortable with him holding my hand and so he never went past that.

He tried to assure, "It'll be fine tomorrow."

There was still an uncertainty in his voice that he was trying very hard to hide but I heard it loud and clear. It makes sense that there would be. He didn't know what was wrong. How could he possibly claim that in confidence?

Somewhere between him rubbing the back of my hand with his thumb and moving on to unintentionally play around with our fingers intertwined as if to slip the memory of how my skin feels in memory, I fell asleep with rhythmic breathing.

. . . ∞ . ∞ . ∞ . ∞. . .

With a slight whimper, I forced my eyes open in the morning. I didn't have to look in the mirror to know the state of my eyes. I could already feel that they were swollen – no doubt puffy. I proceeded to rub my eyes when I realized one of my hand wasn't free. The trail followed to Arnav, still sitting in bed, but asleep. My hand was still in his.

I gently uncurled his fingers with my free hand and slipped it out of his gentle touch. I sat up with a strange feeling creeping in my heart seeing him there. He stayed the whole night in an uncomfortable position because I asked him to. He was going to have a sore neck or back for sure.

I glanced at the clock on the wall. The small hand was on seven while the big hand was at eleven. 6:55 in the morning. I might as well wake him up. He puts his alarm for 7 am. He would have to wake up in 5 minutes anyway.

"Arnav?" I whispered, not sure if he was a light sleeper or a deep one. He stirs slightly but doesn't answer. "Wake up, Arnav." I continued to whisper in the same octave, but this time, slightly shaking his hand.

"Hmm." He answered, turning his head a little and his throat swallowing. He groaned and his hand instantly went to his neck. I waited as his eyes opened and he twisted his head from side to side. Seeing where he was, and me, he started to sit up from his slouching position. "Hey... sorry I didn't realize when I fell asleep."

As I had assumed. I simply smiled at him to let him know it was okay. The events of last night seeped in when I blinked and felt the swelling of my eyes. The smile faltered at it, but I tried to cover up for it by suggesting, "You should apply something on that neck pain."

"Yeah." He said and then paused, looking at me. He seemed hesitant as he asked, "Are you...?"

I half-nodded, "I'll be fine." Before he would leave, I added, "Thank you for last night."