Chapter 17
The trepidation of terror hunt down my nerves, drenching my skin from the fear of listening to the last truth of him. A strong gust of throbbing pain ushered against my chest and my stomach churned from it's effect. It would only stop after his statements had disclosed the final predicament and I might be forced to state my verdict whether to hate or maybe love him forever.
"Can there be anything else for me to know about you?" I was trying to make an attempt in guessing but I could be wrong.
"You were enquiring as to where my mother was in all these, didn't you?" He decided to break his silence and avoidance on the questions related to his mother.
"Did she pass away? I am sorry if I hurt you but the story made me think..." I did not know what to tell him. He was already filled with remorse, his eyes sore from the reminiscence of the bitter memories.
"Promise me that you won't hate me after this. I have earned enough hatred from others." He captivated my wrist, urging me to lend the words of promises to him.
"I won't, I promise. Now tell me. Why will I hate you?" I was desperate to know though I was scared if he ever had a girl in his life, if his mother had betrayed him or if she was even worse than his father.
"My mother was my father's mistress and I wasn't born out of a wedlock." He blurted out with a heavy sigh but not looking in my direction. He could not gather enough courage to stare at me again.
His fear was inevitable, the angst of people hating or parting from him was so true. He must have also been abused to be the son of a bitch, questioned of his illegitimacy or many other abusive offences. His uncle and aunt hated him, and he might have been treated like a dirt by others. But in the recent times, he was one of the renowned billionaires of the country and every inch of his success was the fruitful result of his hard work. He had built a platform for himself and nobody could deny it.
I closed my eyes, not wanting to embarrass him by my fixed gaze on him. His truth was injuring my heart, the pains I had suffered in life were nothing in comparison to his desolation. I had lost my parents very early but Siddharth had no parents in real sense. He could call nobody as his own family.
I would accept that his sufferings had acted like a pillar to fight back in life. He was the bedrock to his own and his brother's career. He was the master of his own fate and he had tutored himself in a very diligent manner.
Tears were flowing down my cheeks and I was not in a hurry to wipe off the salty liquid that was casting a layer on my skin. My cheekbones were trembling without a hint of how emotions could be expressed. He was indeed in the habit of considering himself to be a desolated part of the society where children born out of such physical relationships were considered to be bane, people bad-mouthed them, and some of them were even beaten to death.
Our society had never pondered over the fact that these innocent children were no curse or the result of an evil act. They were also born by following the similar biological processes as we legitimates were, they resembled similar blood running in their veins like ours, they also possessed similar knowledge and brain as ours, and even they held the rights to lead their lives independently, free from all social bondages and severe indictment.
But Siddharth's case was simply different and noteworthy, he had the courage to stand up against all odds of the society to create a respectable place for himself. Though a few many people might have doubted his abilities as an agent, but many others like Mr. Karthik duly respected him.
I felt a light pat on my shoulder before recognising Siddharth's voice. "I know Sapna, you are going to hate me now. You've closed your eyes not to meet my dirty eyes again. I know I am an embarrassing creature but please trust me this time... I told you everything because I know how honest and innocent you are... I can believe in you..."
He paused for a brief second for my response, but when I didn't utter anything, he spoke again in a pleading voice, "Please don't leave my bungalow before solving the case... I don't want to die so early..."
I opened my eyes at once and cupped his cheeks, trying to decipher the honesty in his voice. The words of narration of his past had captured my attention in such an astonishing way that I didn't want to shush his lips with the tip of my finger this time. I was his guardian angel and was blessed not to look above his pains, but to look through it.
To his utter amazement, I pressed my lips against his tantalizing ones and the savouring kiss began to already take our breaths away. He was not able to apprehend to my sudden bold move, inescapably giving into my advances. Our rendering kiss was compelling our world to fall apart, the passionate flavour in the heat of his delicious lips were getting engraved into mine.
I began threading my fingers through his smooth hair while his thumbs traversed my jawline. I couldn't have resisted myself anymore against delivering devoured kisses on to his fragile yet tempting mouth. His lips were visibly rough and cracked, the exact reason of it's outcome was the medicines, but it contained enough relishing wine for intoxicating me with the amorous sensation.
He mumbled my first name against my lips, stressing on the alphabet. "SAPNA..."
I had never felt earlier that my name would sound so wonderful and swoon worthy, his angelic tone ringing in my ears like a soft melody. He leaned into my side, deepening the kiss with forceful compulsions of his tongue into my mouth and narrowing the distinct gap between our bodies.
It wasn't necessary for us to know whether it was love, infatuation or some sort of comforting each other, but it was a moment of pure bliss. It contained all the emotions that my heart couldn't express for his hurting past. Relinquishing and exchanging the divine wine of our lips was the only need of the hour, resting into each other's embrace.
I brought his sleepy face next to my chest before muttering, "I think you have found the answer to your questions, doubts and fear. I DO NOT HATE YOU EVEN AFTER KNOWING EVERYTHING."
He encircled my waist with his arms with a lucid smile. "This is why I've named you my guardian angel because you will never break the trust I've bestowed upon you."
I lulled him to sleep with the raking of his hair after quite some time. He was on medicines and staying awake late at night wasn't right for his health. It was almost half past one and there was this prominent silence engulfing us. After he had fallen asleep, I let my thoughts travel to the world of fairytale imaginations where the magical tune of my life's first kiss was lingering and I was merrily cherishing it!
*****
The following day, I had to talk to Mr. Karthik about Vaibhav and other new revelations, and even start with Siddharth's physiotherapy. It was only Vaibhav who could help a mentally challenged Mr. Dushyant out of his trauma and we needed to find him. Mr. Dushyant was still dwelling in his past, holding Siddharth guilty for everything and I couldn't afford him to continue blackmailing Siddharth at any cost.
Siddharth changed his position in sleep next to me, his one hand still holding on to my knuckles. I immediately recalled the heavenly kiss we had shared the previous night, admitting that it was a heart savouring one. I was admiring the innocence in his sleepy face when he twitched open his eyes.
"Good morning, Sapna." He wished me as usual and I reciprocated, moving out of the bed to freshen up. I quickly glanced at my image into the mirror when my eyes fell on Siddharth's reflection behind me.
Siddharth was blankly staring at me but I couldn't comprehend the reason of his quietness. An hour passed before we moved to the living room for breakfast without speaking to each other. The single kiss had surely brought awkwardness between the two of us.
*****
I found Mr. Dushyant sitting next to the window when I visited his room later during the day. When his gaze fell on my emerging footsteps, he stiffened in his place before looking in the other direction.
"You are finally here, doctor." He mumbled in a low voice without looking at me.
"Did you have your breakfast?" I asked casually, not knowing the reason of his indifference towards me.
"Yes."
"Why do you seem to be upset today?" I asked being the most sympathetic person in the entire city, I mean I was overly concerned for every individual in the entire world.
"You promised me that you will get my family back in my life, doctor." There was a painful silence in his voice.
"I am working on it so I need your help," I said before feeding him with his medicinal doses. "Do you know where your son Vaibhav lives?"
He sipped water after taking the medicines. "He has just completed his engineering and is staying at Bengaluru. He doesn't share things about his daily life with me."
"Do you have his phone number?" I needed a contact to reach Vaibhav.
I could sense my victory when he genuinely nodded before taking out a notebook from his backpack.
As he was flipping the pages of the notebook, I saw one number written in bright letters in red ink. I recognised it at once- it was Siddharth's number. I tried to control the shocking expression over my face while taking Vaibhav's number from him.
I left his room after some time and dialled Vaibhav's number. He received it after a few rings and I spoke over the speaker, "Hi there... Are you Vaibhav Singhania?"
"I am but who are you?" The male voice enquired of me.
"You might not know me but I know you quite well. I have called you to discuss about your father Dushyant Singhania. He is under my treatment and there is something very urgent to be discussed with you. When are you visiting Kolkata?" I wanted to meet him as soon as possible.
"I am in Kolkata nowadays and working in an international based company. We can fix a meeting whenever you say, doctor." He confirmed and I could sense the concern for his father's health in his gruff voice.
"Fine, meet me at six o'clock in the evening today. I'll text you the details." I said before disconnecting the call.
*****
Siddharth was playing a game on his desktop later in the afternoon and I was sitting beside him sipping on a cup of coffee lemonade. He hadn't spoken to me the entire day and I wondered if he was also equally embarrassed like me with the passion filled kiss.
"Are you feeling better today?" I initiated the conversation somehow.
"I am better," he replied, his gaze still fixed to his computer screen.
"Why are you behaving coldly since the previous night? Had I done something wrong by kis...kissing you?" I suddenly asked gathering courage, being always the straightforward woman.
His behaviour was now seriously irking me. He was neither displaying his rights on me as he always did nor he was holding me closer to him. I angrily placed my coffee mug on his computer table with a thud and he didn't fail to notice my annoyed face. I wanted to leave his side but he caught hold of my wrist all of a sudden, pulling me towards him.
I landed on his thighs the next moment, straddling his legs and front facing him, feeling his breath so near to my face. I attempted to push him away but he caged my back into his stalwart arms, bringing his lips next to my ear before whispering, "I am not behaving awkwardly at all, Sapna. I was feeling a little different since then."
"Why?" I wrapped my arms around his neck.
"It was my first kiss ever, Sapna... I'd never felt the urge to kiss a girl so intoxicating and ravishing earlier in my life. I'd always considered myself incapable of being kissed or loved because of my uncertain past.. You are the one to break that stereotypical thoughts for me, proving to me that I was worth it." He stated everything in a single breath before rendering numerous kisses to both my cheeks passionately. "I always need you beside me, Sapna."
"It was my first kiss too but we needed to discuss to erase the awkwardness between us, Siddharth." I doubt I was falling for him. My respect for him had increased after knowing his past and how his golden heart was exposed before me. I solely wished to demand a place for me in that gold mine of his, excavating like a miner forever.
"Now I know how to erase the awkwardness between us." He crushed his lips with mine, plunging his tongue into the depth of my watering mouth.
We were kissing each other as if it was the only thing we had ever wished for. His lips were trailing warm kisses on my plump ones, his thumb rubbing the surface of my chin. The moment our noses nuzzled each other, we exchanged delightful smile before continuing with our smooth endearment.
The awkwardness now felt so meaningless and negligible, thoroughly disappearing on it's own, rendering our brains unusually numb. The sensual state of intoxication caused by the touch of his sizzling lips almost took my breath away, giving rise to imaginary butterflies into my stomach.
His fingers reached the side of my earlobe and he tugged a lock of hair behind my ear before imparting hot compress just at the sensitive corner of my delicate skin. I moaned under my breath when he bit my inner tongue, kissing away all our insecurities. As our lips got rooted to their own desires, each of our tongues made it's playful way into the opponent's court, craving for desirable victory over each other before saliva could engross them.
We broke our assemblage when the bell to my cellphone rang. I was standing on the floor, glancing at my mobile screen and discovering Vaibhav's number. I promised to meet him at the decided café in an hour and disconnected the call. Unexpectedly, Siddharth was staring at me from the corner of his eyes, vivid frown clouding the skin on his forehead.
"Who wants to meet you, Sapna? Are you going to meet someone at the café?" I didn't expect him to enquire me in such a way but he did. And when he did, I couldn't tell him the truth because I was going to meet his cousin, the cousin who wasn't in contact with him anymore and surely hated him.
"I have some urgent hospital work, Siddharth. Mr. Karthik will be staying with you till I return," I informed him before checking my outfit in the mirror.
Siddharth didn't take the pain of replying me because he had his eyes embedded into a novel, not looking up at me again. Though I pecked on his cheek and waved at him before leaving the room, he didn't respond. I didn't know what mistake I had committed again but it was clearly evident that possessiveness was brewing mightily inside him!
To be continued...
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