After twenty eight years of life, Tejasswi Prakash realized none of those countless romance novels she had read over the years were lying. The ridiculous, cheesy effects of love were not exaggerated like she had once believed. Knees actually could go weak – hers were about to give up on her any moment now if Karan did not stop toying with her.
Karan's fingers pressed into the small of her back underneath his oversized t-shirt, sending shivers throughout her body. She meant to push him away, instead she found herself arching her back to his touch. Grabbing a hold of his shirt, she pressed up against his body. His lips brushed over her brow, then the side of her face until he reached her ear. Gently moving her hair to the side, he whispered his question again. "What do I get?"
The normal, rational Teja would have hit him, warned him to stop this hot and cold, push and pull game he was interested in playing, however she did not feel like her regular self with him. Not when he was holding her like this. She wondered if this is how it will be for the rest of her life. He would touch her and she would forget her own name at something so minor.
She felt his hands slide down lower and lift her off the ground. It felt as if he set fire on her skin, everywhere he touched. She clung to him as her legs wrapped around his waist instinctively – she had done this many times before with him, never like this. Not with his hands feeling her bare legs, not with them alone in a dark room. When his mouth finally met hers again for the second time that night, they both let out sighs of relief, almost in unison.
Teja had waited one hundred and twenty days to kiss him — but it felt as if she had waited her whole life. This time around Karan kissed her slowly, his lips were gentle, and unbearably loving as he explored her mouth. He took his time tasting her, time opening her, playing with her. If the last kiss had stolen her senses, this one was here to rob her of her soul. From now on, everything belonged to this man. She knew she would never kiss another as long as she lived. He was it. She was his.
She felt him walk some steps back with her and sink down on the leather sofa by the massive ceiling to floor windows. Teja locked her ankles behind him, pulling herself closer to him so she could feel more of him on her. She leaned into his body, sighing against his mouth. She is going to kiss him like this everyday, for the rest of her life, she decided. The thought filled her chest with tingly lightness. Thank God he was holding her, otherwise she might've flown away.
His fingers dug into her hair, and his mouth became more insistent. She lightly grazed his lower lip. She had imagined doing this a hundred times before, especially on night when she touched his lips with the excuse of a mask. She found herself moving against her hip in a particular rhythm. He groaned something which sounded like her name.
"Teja..." he broke the kiss and murmured against her jaw. She hissed when she felt his teeth on the hollow space where her jaw met her neck.
"Oh!" She felt her body shudder from his warm breath and closed her eyes.
Karan laughed. "If you are losing it over just this, then what are you going to do when my mouth is here?" he asked as his hand brushed over her bare stomach, underneath the shirt. Teja moaned in response. "Or when my mouth is here," he said, cupping and feeling her over her bra. She felt her eyes roll back beneath her closed lids.
"I can't take it," Teja whimpered. "I want you so badly!" She almost cried.
"I want you too. Fuck! I want you," he murmured as he rubbed his face against her neck.
"Then what are we waiting for?" she asked, sounding more upset than she wanted to be. Who knew sexual frustration would make her this desperate, she thought to herself.
"Teja... I am not going to have sex with you when my parents are home!"
"You never had sex with your ex in the same house as your parents?" She knew he had, and the thought outraged her for various reasons.
"I have." Karan answered plainly.
"Then what is the problem with me?!" Teja almost found herself shrieking.
He grabbed her hair roughly and placed a quick peck on her lips. "Teja. I don't think it's possible to count how many times I have imagined having sex with you while locked up in that damn house, not being able to say or do anything to you because of people and cameras. So when I finally have sex with you sweety, I want to do it freely, without a single fucking worry. I want to hear all those noises from you that I have been dreaming about for more than hundred days, I want to hear you screaming my name. Do you understand?"
She felt her cheeks heat up at his words, as her mouth curved into a shy smile.
"Do you understand?" Karan asked again, more sternly.
She nodded like a little girl who was being admonished.
"Good!" He placed a soft kiss on the tip of her nose.
Karan rested his forehead against hers, and sighed deeply. He took her in, her scent, her air, her presence. She smelled lovely, light and floral. Teja never smelled like the other ladies, who drenched themselves in perfume and triggered his allergies.
"I love you." Teja said after a while. "Did I tell you that today?"
"No," he lied, his lips slowly curved into a big grin. "You can tell me now."
"I love you Sunny. Today when I won, I didn't want to see anyone's face. I didn't want to celebrate it, I just wanted you. Everyone kept coming up to me, asking questions, congratulating me, taking pictures. I pictured all of that in my head before, I thought I would enjoy all of that, but I couldn't. Not when you were not there. The whole time I was like Sunny kidhar hai, Sunny kidhar hai, Sunny kidhar hai, Sunny chahiye, Sunny chahiye. I thought I was going to cry in front of everyone. I think Salman sir knew I was going to start crying so he started calling you too."
Karan felt a big, painful knot in his throat that he tried to swallow. He had tried his best to not ruin her night, he ended up doing it anyway by not being there for her.
"I am sorry," he felt his voice cracking. "I didn't mean to ruin your night sweety."
"You didn't ruin my night!" Teju said quickly, sounding offended. She kissed him on both of his cheeks and wrapped her arms around his back tightly. "You didn't ruin my night at all. You are the only thing that made my night better." She mumbled into his neck.
Karan let out a sigh, half from physical exhaustion, half from mental. He kept his arms around her and lay down on the cushiony sofa, facing each other. He adjusted the throw pillow under her head to make sure she was comfortable. The leather was cool against his body, oddly comforting. Dawn had yet not broken, but blue and purple lights slanted in through the gaps of his sheer curtains. He could see her now. He took in a long, slow breath as he looked at her achingly beautiful face. Karan did not think Teja was the type of beauty who made men turn their heads when on the street. She might even blend in with a crowd — but when you looked at her, when you took a moment and really looked at her, her beauty was the type that would ruin a man. He was sure that once one really saw her, there was no way he could ever see anyone else. He pitied all the men who saw her, who fell for her, could never have her or had to lose her. He didn't know how they coped, he was certain he couldn't.
"Sunny, you are staring at me." Teja said in the softest voice possible
"Hmm. I am just having a moment."
"Are you really okay?" He could see her eyes sparkle with the hint of tears. "I saw your tweet."
He shrugged before speaking. "I couldn't even get second place." Karan laughed bitterly. "That stung. Not to mention it was humiliating!" He was okay now. He knew he was. He was no longer devastated the way he was just a few hours ago. Some of that bitterness seemed to remain though.
"You are Karan Kundrra babe. THE KARAN KUNDRRA! One and only! Do you not realize who you are? How big you are, how important you are? This show could never define who you are, change the position you had already created for yourself. Think of what a journey you had made all on your own to get to where you are! You are not just a name, you are basically a brand babe! And you did all of that by yourself! Do you realize how inspiring you are?"
He tried to take her words in, one by one. Dissect it, analyze it, think which point he could refute with solid arguments.
"Do you understand what I am saying?" Teja asked, grabbing his t-shirt in her small fists.
Karan found himself smiling, truly smiling to his surprise. "Yeah... but you continue. Sun ke accha lag raha hai."
Teja slapped him on the chest and he winced. "Ouch!" He said through gritted teeth. Grabbing a tight hold of her wrists, he pulled her closer. "I am going to have to keep your hands tied all the time I think."
"You know people are outraged online? They are furious you didn't win Sunny. You don't even know how much love you have earned. You have received more love than anyone. You are so loved. Everyone loves you."
She pulled her hand away from his grip and gently stroked his face, tracing his cheekbone with her thumb. The way she looked at him at that moment made him feel something he could not remember ever feeling before – this was pure unadulterated happiness. All his life he remembered feeling a little alone, even among his family and closest loved ones he was the odd one so he had felt left out. He never felt fully loved even when his ex-girlfriends proclaimed to love him. He couldn't believe people loved him completely. He believed her. He believed those big beautiful eyes that were staring at him as if they saw nothing except him. He knew they loved him, adored him, believed in him. He was fine losing the title. He was fine with third place, heck at this point even fourth or fifth would have been fine. What he came out with was so much bigger than any title the show could have given him. How could any title compare to her?
He didn't realize he had gotten teary eyed until he saw her frown and wipe the corner of his eyes.
He took her hand and placed a kiss on her palm. "I love you so much, so damn much." He whispered.
"I love you too." Teja replied softly.
His room had gotten significantly brighter, the sun was fully up now. He knew he had to take her home. Her family must be dying to have her back. He didn't want to part from her, not even for a second. The thought of not being around her anymore caused him pain somewhere deep within his chest. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with her on that sofa, just like that. He had once told her that he had to have physical intimacy to feel connected to his partner. Today he realized he had been so wrong. Unlike anyone else before, she had managed to connect to his soul, and all it took was for her to look at him like that.
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Author's note
I can't thank you guys enough for the comments and messages! They are the reason I haven't stopped. I am still trying to update Remember That Day. I smile every time someone messages me about that because that story is so close to my heart. I never thought anyone would want to read it but me.
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