Posted: June 20, 2022
| . . . C H A P T E R - 3 . 2 6 - B R E A K I N G - C Y C L E . . . |
It had been a long week, but it was Thursday – so, almost there. I fought my yawn. The creative meeting was making me fall asleep. As rare as it was for me to be sleepy in the middle of things that always excited me, it was understandable. I hadn't been sleeping well this week. I'd tried telling myself that the day in court didn't affect me too much, but I had clearly been in denial so far.
Yesterday, it had finally hit just what toll it was taking on my emotional well-being. The nightmares started all over again. The first night, I tried hiding it from Arnav but the next morning, he knew. And I knew that it wasn't wise turning away from him. Repeating a cycle that we'd both worked hard to break. I didn't want to fall back into it.
The second day, I could barely force myself to eat my meals. But for the sake of people who loved me, I managed. I also saw Sam and it helped. We mostly just talked about work and a little bit of me prying about Lavanya because I was worried about her. He'd said she would be okay, so I believed him. I talked to her later in the evening when we were both under one roof. It helped some.
The third day, I kept myself busy with work – trying not to read the news that was floating around in the papers. Everyone on my team were sensitive enough to not bring it up. They were polite and professional – and I totally got that at times, they just didn't know how to tread, and it wasn't their fault – but the way they were being still bothered me. Tiptoeing around me. As if worrying they'd say the wrong thing and I'd snap. It made me feel like I was fragile, and I didn't like feeling that way again.
Now, after the meeting was dismissed, rather than following them towards our workspace, I excused myself after handing Avani my notepad and asking her if she could keep it on my desk while I went for a restroom break. I had every intention of hiding in there until I no longer had to keep taking deep breaths.
Only, that plan didn't go down too well.
I found myself heading towards the elevator. I knew I was about to take advantage of my friendship, but I pushed the moral boundaries aside as I knocked on Sam's door and peeked my head inside. He was on a call and I quickly indicated he didn't need to rush to end that call as I walked inside closing the door after myself.
I heard the one-sided conversation about the accounts for a project I didn't recognize the name of. Slouching on the couch, I rested my head against the back support and closed my eyes. Focusing on my breathing was all I could do to put the upcoming panic attack at bay. It wouldn't last long, I knew it. I knew I'd been through it before plenty times, and I was always okay. I would be okay again.
I was safe... but I could feel my breathing turn deep and rapid. Trying to fight my body's reactions was making it worse.
Within the next few seconds, Sam ended the call short. Apologizing to the person at the other end as he asked them to email him the balance sheets with heir final analysis. He then walked closer and with my eyes still close, I murmured. "I'm sorry."
"Don't even," he sat next to me.
With one ragged breath, I opened my eyes and blinked a few times to let my vision settle. "Gonna need that day off." I thought I could keep working as usual, get through the day, but clearly I can't go on like this. "I should be asking Neeta, but..."
"Hey," he interrupted the guilt I felt for jumping the hoops, "you are welcome to come straight to me whenever you need."
After I smiled at him in gratitude, allowing me to skip the HR formalities of getting a leave approved well in advance, I asked, "Can you call Arnav? I left my phone in my desk."
"I'll do you one better." He stood up, "I'll take you to him."
. . . ∞ . ∞ . ∞ . ∞. . .
"Khushi, hi!" Payal stood from her cubicle to greet me with a hug. Friendly and full of warmth. The concern in her eyes was clear as she asked, "How are you holding up?"
"Working on it." I answered truthfully before adding, least I get dragged into a conversation I can't carry on right now. Somehow, the drive over helped push my panic attack aside, but there's still just one thing I'd like right now. "Listen, it's good to see you, but I really need to see Arnav and just get away from everything. I hope you understand."
"Yes. Yes, of course." She squeezed my hands in assurance, and I knew. She didn't take offense and understood what I needed. Working at Irani House now, I did miss her daily presence. Add it to the list of things I needed to work on improving. Outside of the friends I basically lived with, I needed to remember to keep up with my other friends. Payal most definitely being one of them. "We'll catch up later. Take care."
"You too." I smiled before heading to the elevators.
Reaching Arnav's office, his door wide open, I took a small step in. At the shadow, he turned his chair about to face the doorway. He did a double-take at my unexpected presence before he was up on his feet and walking towards me. I met him halfway. Holding out my arms and wrapping it around his body, resting my head on his chest. It felt natural.
As his arms tugged me closer, one hand at the back of my head and the other around my shoulder, I closed my eyes and allowed the tension to leave my shoulders. I didn't need to tell him anything as he held me for as long as I needed. He quietly asked, "Why didn't you call me?"
"Sam drove," I informed while loosening my arms from his body to lean back and gaze up at him. "Can we get out of here? Go somewhere. Anywhere."
His fingers brushed against my cheek. "I know just the place."
. . . ∞ . ∞ . ∞ . ∞. . .
"Oh, wow." I expressed my surprise seeing the exterior structure in front of us after Arnav parked the car. "I know you'd said they'd made significant headway, but I didn't think it was already built."
Arnav took my hand, leading me towards our home. "It's almost ready for us to move in. Not just yet though. Come on, you'll see."
Still at awe with the progress, I questioned, "Doesn't it usually take a while to get the permissions and everything? It's only been like 2 months. If that."
"Helps when you hire an effective team."
I teased as he led me through the doorway. "I know you're an honest businessman, but gotta ask. You didn't bribe any government officials and all, right? Need to know if either of us are going to face potential jail time."
He abruptly picked me up, putting me over his shoulder in revenge.
I squealed at suddenly being off my feet, fisting and hitting his back. "Raizada! Put me down, damn it. Don't be a brute."
He pinched my side but did put me down, letting me lean back against a wall that wasn't plastered yet. With one hand on the wall by my head, he leaned in to kiss me before resting his forehead against mine. "You haven't called me Raizada in a while."
"I'm sure that's not true." His personality is bound to do things that unknowingly annoy me.
"And about your other comment, the only one going to jail anytime soon is the one who's had it coming for long."
The smile from my face dropped at Shyam's mention. I knew he'd bring it up eventually, but I was hoping it wouldn't be time already. I ducked under his arm to walk around. "Give me a tour?"
He stopped me by holding my wrist and making me face him. His other hand tucked at my chin. "You have to talk about this, sweet pea. And I'd rather you get it off your chest first so you can actually enjoy the tour after."
He was right, and we both knew it. I had to find the words for my feelings. "Fine, let's find a place to sit."
With a quick look around, he realized his mistake. He brought me here, but it wasn't tidy enough and neither was there a single piece of furniture here yet. Quick on his feet, he shrugged off his suit coat. "Hold this." After I take it from him, he begins unbuttoning his sleeves and rolling them up. It wasn't till he scolded, "Stop it," that I realized I was biting my lip. "You're not going to distract me."
It sounded like he was saying it to me, but it was more for himself. To remind himself to stay on track when he knew that I found it a turn on when he'd roll up his sleeves. It's nothing unique though. A lot of girls find that attractive.
But, not the point here.
He then loosens his tie and undoes the top two buttons before making himself comfortable on the floor. "Arnav, no, don't. Floor is dirty. Get up." I held out my hand but instead, he took it to lead me over. Making me sit on his thighs and locking his fingers around me. "You know, I thought you'd take me to the beach."
"We always go there."
I put one arm around the back of his shoulder and hugged him sideways while playing with the chest pocket using my free hand. Figuring out what to say next.
His own fingers brush over my side in a soothing manner. "You shut down on me."
I apologized in a small voice, "I'm sorry." I felt bad about it, I did. I didn't like that I'd reverted to a previous unhealthy cycle.
He hugged me closer, expressing. "I didn't say that to make you feel bad, Khushi. I was fully prepared for you to need your space. I said this just to give us a starting point to talk."
My eyes were starting to well up, my heart dropping with emotions up to my throat. "I h-h-hate that facing him spiraled me into all of my p-previous actions I thought I'd ov-overcome. I pushed you away. Didn't let you help me with my nightmares. Didn't think about you. That it must have been hard for you to face him too."
"It was harder seeing you in pain and not knowing how to be there for you." He didn't shy away from voicing his feelings, perhaps knowing that I wouldn't want him to stay silent and only listen to me. We both had to be honest with each other. Face both of our fears. This wasn't just about me.
Turning my body, I hugged him tightly. "I didn't know how to face you."
"You never need to worry about my reaction to anything, sweet pea." He leaned back to make me look at him. His thumbs wiped away the tear trails even as fresh one's dropped from my eyelids. "Nothing will ever change the way I look at you or feel about you."
His words are meant to comfort me. Make me feel his love for me. It had always been unconditional. From the get-go, he had accepted every part of me. Flawed or otherwise. All the broken pieces. The parts that cut deep.
But it had the opposite effect, making me cry harder. Because this piece cut the deepest. A part of my past I had buried deep down. Hadn't given it a second thought until taking the stand had pricked it out to the surface.
What I just said to him... no. That was a lie. "I don't know how to face myself, Arnav. I don't..." My hand at his chest pocket turned into a fist needing to find a channel for my anger. "I d-didn't say no." I hit his chest, breaking down, having barely the strength to whisper. "I didn't say no. I didn't. Say. No."
He led my head to his chest, hiding me in his embrace. "No. You did. Even if you don't remember it, Khushi, you did. You were drugged but you still fought like hell to push him away. That was your biggest no, Khushi." I must have shaken my head since he insisted, "I know you did. I'd just looked at you for one second that night and I knew, Khushi. I knew you'd fought him off for as long as you could... till you couldn't."
"It wasn't enough."
Arnav loosened his arms around me. "Look to me, Khushi. It was a nasty trick to break you and you are not going to let that prick of a lawyer force you into shaming yourself. I'll forgive everything but that. You fought like hell and it's not your fault you were drugged and tied up. You were brave. If you ever find yourself doubting that, just ask me. You didn't give up then and you're not going to give up now. Do you hear me?"
"But..."
He shook his head, cupping my face. "No. Aren't you the one who says that the word complicates things unnecessarily. Everything before the word 'but' becomes meaningless, which is the farthest from the truth, sweet pea. Believe me. They may sound like words to you now. So I'll say them as many times as needed till you start to believe it too. Yeah?"
I let my forehead touch his, needing that anchor as I nodded. Silently for the next few minutes, he rubs circles on my back while I pull myself together. With every second, every breath, I let go of the burden weighing me down.
It's true. I don't remember saying no. Maybe I never said it. If his lawyer was so confidently pushing me on it, odds are that I didn't. But I need to believe Arnav. Because another fact is that I did fight. The state my body was in that night is proof of that. Even if there weren't any photographic evidence or there weren't scars in my body, Arnav is the proof.
When my breathing evened out, Arnav voiced. "I didn't know it then and I haven't said it till now, but I've felt it since we met again. Sweet pea, I am happy, proud, grateful, relieved, and all of the many other positive verbs, actions, adjectives and more that you held on till I could get to you. That is what we both need to focus on. Our pasts are marred, but no reason it carries on to our present and future. We won't let it, right?"
I nodded, my heart overflowing with just those positive emotions. "Right."
There will always be things ready to yank us back down. But as long as we keep turning to each other, remember the future we want for ourselves, our demons won't win.
That's not what we've imagined.
There's only one way to go and that's forward.
I embraced myself with his familiar warmth and love. Allowing myself to feel the emotions I'd somewhere pushed aside the last couple days whilst focusing on the bad, ugly parts that I couldn't come to terms with. "I love you, Arnav. So much. Sometimes I don't know how to express just how much."
"Now you know what I mean when I say words are harder for me than actions."
I laughed through my tears as he turned his head to kiss my cheek. He still wanted to play that card, but he's talked me down from my uphill battle's countless times. Pulling back, keeping my fingers locked at the base of his head, I added, "There's one more thing I need to say."
"Lay it on me."
"I know I always have you to talk to-"
"You do."
"-but I think..." I paused to chuckle when he gave me the squinted eye for using the word but, given what he'd just said about rendering the words before but meaningless. "...it's time I also get professional help. I don't want this cycle to ever repeat."
A big smile spread on his face. "I know what you mean. We'll find someone you're comfortable with."
"What about the one you used to go to?"
"I don't think they'd uproot their family to Mumbai just because I asked."
I teased, "Look at that. There's something even Arnav Singh Raizada can't manage."
His revenge tickles caused me to yelp and pull away from him. Standing, I held out my hand. "How about that tour now?"
He took my hand but pulled himself up knowing full well that I didn't have the strength to help him get up. Once he brushed down his pants, he rested his hands at my lower back and gave me a soft kiss. "I love you too. So much more."
Despite grinning, I rolled my eyes at his later uncalled for addition.
. . . ∞ . ∞ . ∞ . ∞. . .
The next day, after a lazy morning, I finally managed to convince Arnav to get out of bed and go to AR. He did make me promise though that I'd take the day for myself. For once, I didn't argue. While I didn't think I'd have a breakdown today, I decided to give myself a mental health day. Put myself first.
Staying in by myself though? An empty brain is a devil's workshop. It led me to all sorts of self-reflection, which led to a string of words being sent out to my main girls.
Minutes later, their faces filled my screen as they answered the group call.
Riddhima asked, "Hey, doll, what's the emergency?"
I didn't mind at all that lately, she'd taken the liberty to call me that when Armaan wasn't around. "How does romance work?"
Kripa deadpanned. "What?"
Lavanya was giving me the glare, "You called me out of a very important meeting for this?!"
Jenny cribbed, "I'm in a different time zone and I dragged myself out of my dream for this?"
Muskaan added, "Twinzie. I haven't slept in almost two days!"
I could give them hell for being cribbers, every single one of them, but priorities. "Girls. I'm serious, please. I need help. I want to do something for Arnav, but I don't know what. I mean, I thought of making him a nice meal but..."
"NO!"
I pushed back the eye roll at their exaggerated yet synchronized outburst. "Exactly. It'll be a disaster, not 'nice'. So, help me out here. This is all extremely new to me. So, work your magic!"
Lavanya muttered, "This is why no one should leave you alone at home. I should tell Sam to call you back to work. Problem solved."
"Oo, Sam, how's that going?"
We're quick to turn the conversation on her. Riddhima requested, "Yes, please, fill me in. I feel like I haven't got the inside deets in forever."
Muskaan complained, "Because someone's gotten too busy for friends."
"You're one to talk, Miss I-haven't-slept-in-two-days."
Jenny interrupted before Muskaan had the chance to quip back. "Ladies, reel it back. First, let's solve Khushi's problem. Then tomorrow we can get on another group call at a reasonable time and get updates from both Khushi and Lavanya on their love lives because God knows the rest of our love lives are doomed."
Riddhima and Muskaan objected, "Speak for yourself."
Kripa added, "What they said."
Jenny rolled her eyes, "Fine, give me an update on all y'all love lives tomorrow and I'll live vicariously. Now start spitting ideas for Khushi. I have an early morning shoot and I need my beauty sleep."
"Take him for candlelight dinner."
Kripa countered, "Let's be original, La."
Muskaan muttered, "So that's a no to movies then."
Jenny said, "Muski, you've been in a relationship the longest and that's what you come up with?"
"Hey, what works for Rahul ain't gonna work for Arnav."
Riddhima hummed. "Man, it's tough to plan something for Arnav."
I chimed in, "You all are making me regret calling you."
Lavanya sassed, "I don't hear you leading ideas. It's for your man, you know? You have to come up with ideas and we help execute."
"If you recall, my first question was how romance works. I never had to think – more like never allowed myself to think of any of this, okay?" Romance was always the last thing on my mind. Even when I fell for Arnav in college, I hadn't realized what had happened until it had. Neither of us flirted with each other.
Riddhima said, "You don't need to do anything, Khushi."
I took that as her being a best friend supporting me. "Well, I know that I don't need to, but I want to."
She shook her head, correcting my misassumption. "No, I mean, you don't need to plan anything extraordinary or special. That has never been the definition of romance in your relationship. For both of you, it's been the simple things. Even if you just go out for a walk in the evening, that'll be it for Arnav."
"I don't know..." I wasn't convinced.
She tried again, "Tell me this, how did you both end up getting arrested that one time?"
"His car ran out of gas and it was raining. We walked to the nearest gas station when..." Oh. I see what she means.
Kripa said, given she was there too at that time. She'd been the one to get us released, after all. "If you were to ask him, I bet he'd said that was the best memory he has of going anywhere when it rained. Because you were there with him. Otherwise Arnie allowing himself to get rained on? Not for anyone else, Khushi."
I admitted, "That might as well have been the first night I started letting him in." I remembered the confession I'd made to him when locked up. It was as simple as telling him I didn't hate him anymore and thanking him for helping me, but those had been big steps for me at the time. To trust someone to help me without asking questions. To rely on someone else that wasn't Riddhima or Armaan.
All the previous sass and attitude left Lavanya's tone as she voiced, "Khushi, you know what you want to do. You just freaked out a little because you thought you needed to compare to the kinds of romantic things you either read about or see in media, or even know about from your friends' lives."
Riddhima added, "La's right, Khushi. Go do something you've always wanted to do but never got the chance."
Muskaan said, "And it doesn't matter how simple it is."
"Or if it's cliched." Jenny seconded.
Kripa added, "Or cheesy. Sometimes those things are sweet too and nothing wrong with experiencing them once."
Even though I wasn't walking away from this call with a solid plan, I smiled back at my friends who'd given me the boost I hadn't realized I needed. I didn't need to freak out about the fact that I knew zilch about romance. Or that the things that hinted at romance in my life were initiated by Arnav.
Till now, I was thinking that the only romantic thing I'd initiated was the fact that I'd voiced my feelings first. But there had been plenty things I'd overlooked thinking it didn't match up.
Every interaction we've had. Every talk of ours. Every time we've thought of each other.
It all mattered. It all played a part in creating our romance. Our story.
. . . ∞ . ∞ . ∞ . ∞. . .
By the time I've reached Arnav's office, I am bubbling with excitement. When I looked up the stairs, he was standing at the top with a menacing glare paired with arms crossed over his chest. My bet was that the security guard rang him letting him know I was on my way up to the floor.
Reaching him, I tiptoed to kiss his cheek, holding his shoulder for balance. "Hi, you."
His glare faded just a bit, not expecting the gesture. When I began walking around him to get to his office, he followed. "You promised you'd stay home."
I corrected, "No, I promised I wouldn't go to work or even think about it. Which, I did not." Entering his office, I dropped my side bag on the chair before making my way to the couch tucked away in the corner.
He stood in front of me, his jaw clenched. "Khushi."
Taking his hand, I tugged him to sit next to me. "Get rid of that glare. You know you're secretly happy to see me."
He muttered after a slight slouch, "I would've seen you in two hours anyway."
Given he wasn't playing along, I hooked my arm with his and pulled him to sit straighter. "Seriously, listen to me. I was home all alone – which you should know by now is never a good idea, but anyway, there I was. Thinking all sorts of things. Freaking out that I hadn't done anything nice for you recently. Or like, ever."
He started to object, "That's not..."
"True. Yeah, I know now. But I didn't when I called an emergency sesh with the girls. They set me straight."
He grinned, "That explains Jenny's random passive aggressive message."
"I'll make it up to her."
"So, you're here because?"
I waved it off, "We'll get to that. First, you're going to need to excuse the charges I've drummed up on the credit card you gave me."
On cue, his brows creased, and he pulled out his cell. Confused. "I didn't get any notifications of purchases."
"Yeah, nope. Getting them to change the contact number on file was a pain. See, I called up the bank because I didn't want it ruining anything. But nope, didn't matter I am your wife. So then I drafted this letter and good thing Lavanya's a pro at signing your name. Anjali di came with to hand deliver the letter to the bank manager, telling him you approved changing the number but were just so busy that couldn't come yourself. Since the manager knows di, he was willing to make an exception."
He shook his head in disbelief, "Such elaborate ploy when you could've just rung me?"
"That'd ruin the purpose, silly. You'd have been alerted to what I was up to."
"I wouldn't have asked questions."
"Snap, forgot how many times di has said patience, chote, that it's drilled in your head now."
"Fine, fine, move on with the story." He said, knowing full well my lame attempt at sarcasm and the fact that even if he would've changed the notification method online and wouldn't have asked questions, he couldn't have resisted the temptation of checking. He can be patient with a whole lot of things, but not if he knew I was planning a surprise for him.
I shrugged, sitting back comfortably. "Oh, that was it."
He stared in disbelief. "That's it?"
I laughed. In his defense, I did start it like I had a huge story. "Yeah. Changed it from your number to mine and after a bunch of online clicks, here I am."
He eyed the tiny side bag I brought along. "So whatever you bought, it's in the car?"
"Nope."
"Getting delivered soon or something?"
"Oh no. You'll have to wait a couple months for it."
His brows climbed up on his forehead. It was almost comical. "Excuse me? Hell no." He muttered the later, picking up his phone again to log into his bank account. Like I said, he had no patience.
But, I'm also known for planning things from A to Z. Good thing di knew his passcode and was onboard with helping me change it.
When he got the login error, his eyes turned murderous. "Khushi Arnav Singh Raizada. You're dead."
I could only laugh.
"Seriously. What the fuck is the passcode?"
"Not telling."
He tried another tactic. "You realize I'm going to need to make the payments? You cannot possibly keep it a surprise for couple of months. You shouldn't have used my card."
I moved to sit on my knees, facing him and keeping my hands on his shoulders. "Why do you underestimate me?" When his eyes narrowed, I confirmed. "Di is going to make the payments."
"So she knows the passcode." There was a hint of relief in his voice – but not because he would have missed the payments. It's because he was thinking of ways to get his sister to give up the passcode.
Once again, he underestimates. "Oh, no." I crushed his hope. "I'm going to log in for her whenever she needs to make the payments." I could visibly see his heart drop. I patted him, "You're not getting your hands on those statements unless I give them to you." Those wheels were turning fast and again, I shut it down. "And nothing mischievous you do will work."
He still seemed confident. "I have a few tricks up my sleeve too."
"Uh-huh. Good luck with that."
Rolling his eyes, he questioned. "Was that all you were here for? To torture me with this news?"
"I wouldn't do that. Not that heartless."
"Seriously doubting that."
Biting back a laugh at his expense, I stood up and held out my hand making gimme motion. He gave me his hand exaggerating a sigh. "Since you don't have any other meetings for the day, how about playing hooky one more day?"
He'd left yesterday unannounced, but at least today, Lavanya and Anjali di were aware and prepared to handle anything that might come up last minute. "Where are we going?" He moved to the desk so he could grab his things.
"Since we didn't go to the beach yesterday, figured we could go today. Watch the sunset."
"Sunset isn't for another 3, 3 and half hours."
I raised a brow in challenge, "Are you saying we won't have anything to talk about till then?"
Of course, the plan isn't just to go to the beach. Walk around. Find a spot to sit and watch the endless ocean in front of us while talking about anything and everything.
There's a delicious picnic basket in my car with all of his favorite food items. Picked up from some of his favorite restaurants. I wouldn't attempt a cooking disaster just yet. Saving that for one of the things I booked for us. There's a cooking class with 3 sessions that starts next month. We'd only cooked – baked – together once, but I'd enjoyed that time. Sure, that was just the two of us and these classes will be shared with people. It would still be a fun activity together.
Anyway, back to the panic basket. He's going to love that too.
And I want to do all the things I haven't got the chance to yet. All the simple gestures. Even things as small as getting him coffee from his preferred spot on the weekend.
When he picked up his car keys, I suggested, "You might want to leave your keys with Aman so he can drive it back."
He hesitated, "Uh, how about we leave your car keys with him?"
"Nuh-uh. No one gets to drive my Mercedes. Besides, it'll be a pain moving things from my car to yours."
He caged me against the office door just as I reached for the knob. "I've driven your car before."
"Well, that's you. You're allowed."
"Yeah?"
I bopped my shoulder to his chest, "Don't be cheeky. Let's go."
I didn't realize the bit of information I'd given up till we reached the parking lot and he started lagging behind. I had figured he just didn't want to wait by the passenger door while I unlocked the car for him to get in. But no. He was delaying so that the second I unlocked it, he could open the trunk.
"Ow! Ow! Ow! Damn it, that hurts." I let out because my foot got caught with his in an attempt to block him followed by me dropping on one knee because my balance is shit.
He'd grabbed my elbow, but by then, the damage had been done and I was hobbling on one foot, the other knee being cradled by my palms. "What were you thinking?" He scolded even as he picked me up to have me sit atop the trunk.
"Me? You were trying to be sneaky!" I snapped right back even as he fought my grip to check my knee and make sure I didn't scrape it.
No blood drawn. After he made the same conclusion that it'll just be a bit bruised for a day, he held out his hand. I started to put mines in his palm when he swatted it away. "Keys. Hand 'em over. I'm driving."
"Rude." I handed them over and he walked away to the driver side. I gaped as he left me there. "If you don't want me to sport a sprain, you better get here and help me down."
"Nah, feel free to safeguard your trunk."
I whined, "Arnav!" when he made a show of getting in the car. "Oh, come on. Are you really mad?"
I heard him sigh as he walked back. He proceeded to put his hands on the space at my either side, leaning in. "I'm really going to need you to stop getting injured. I do not like it when my heart drops at these moments. Honestly, even Aarav doesn't freak me out like this and he's the child here."
He had a point there. Exhaling, I nodded. "I'll be more careful." Promising that, I pecked his lips. Once again, he looked startled. "What, I've kissed you before."
"Yes, but..." he started to justify his reaction but shook his head. "Never mind. Whatever the ladies said to you, I like this new change in you."
"I like this shirt on you. Have I told you that before? It's my favorite color on you."
He looked down as if needed to check what color he was wearing so he could remember it for future. "You've definitely never complimented me before."
"Never?"
"I remember you made me change when we went on our first date. Ever after that, you made some comment to which I'd said something like it was impossible to impress you."
I tapped my temple, making a mental more. "More compliments, got it."
Breathing out a laugh, he wrapped his arms around me, picked me up, and put me back on my feet. After pulling back, he slid his hands down my arms and brought my hands to his lips, kissing my knuckles.
. . . ∞ . ∞ . ∞ . ∞. . .
| . . . A U T H O R - N O T E . . . |
I wish I could say I had written more for Dare to Love during my years-long hiatus... But I wrote some other concepts instead. Before sharing those however, I do want to complete this edition. Thing is, I only have a rough 20 pages written for Dare to Love - that is barely 2 chapters. I like to have written 5-7+ chapters before I share so that if I want to go back a few chapters and make changes, I can do that before they're posted.
Keeping that in mind, plus the mess everyone's life is these days, I am going to do my absolute best to update once a week or every other week.
Thank you for your support and loving the way Arnav and Khushi are written in Dare.