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18. The One Where I Protect Her
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Related chapters
Always is not Forever 19. The One Where I Learn The Truth
Alina.Shit. I ran inside the club and sighed in relief. She was leaning on the wall with Kriti and Shikha. Inching closer, I stood next to her. Her eyes pulled to mine and she frowned."Where were you?""Restroom," I answered quietly. "I'm sorry about drinks. Wait, let me get it.""No need. Shika got me one." I frowned, noticing the glass in her hands. "It tastes bitter, but I was thirsty, so I drank three." I snatched the glass from her hands and took a sip, and coughed."Didn't you tell her you don't drink alcohol?""I did. Why?""That is vodka, Alina." I skidded my gaze to Shikha, who winked at me."It was her first time here. She should enjoy more. I helped her.""No, you didn't," I hissed, placed the glass on the table. "It's not she hasn't tried it. She hates it."The awareness came to her face, and she tried to apologize but I waved her off. Swirling, I caught Alina's arm, who was staring at the glass perched on the table.Deb and Sagar joined me, whilst I stared at her panicke
Always is not Forever 20. The One Where I Accept Us
My eyes burn at the bottle of the beer placed on the table. I couldn't drink anymore. I couldn't force something she wasn't comfortable with. She trusted me. And what of my love if I couldn't do anything to protect her?She never asked me to leave the drinks. She knew I liked it and handled herself. Since when was she doing this? Torturing herself to be with me and handle the broken pieces of what happened. That's why she wasn't fond of clubs. Drinks, too many drunk people, but she came. For me.How could I end us when she always thought about me? Maybe she never talks about love, but her actions spoke more than enough. And that's what mattered.I ran my hand through her hair, too torn apart to tell her anything.She broke her grip, leaned her head back."I'm sorry. I always cry whenever I'm drunk.""Don't be stupid." I cleaned her tears with my thumb. "I'm your shoulder to cry on."She chuckled lightly, but her eyes spoke the reality."Last time you too cried.""Looks like I'm too cry
Always is not Forever 21. The One Where I Down It
Shedding the thoughts, I picked the duffel bag and went inside the bathroom. My dress was neatly folded, and placed on the vanity. He must have done this. Placing the bag on the beside it, I bend down and got the new toothbrush from inside the vanity.Brushing my teeth, endeavoring to remove the smell of alcohol, I checked his bathroom. I had never come into this one, always preferred the one in the living room. Shedding my clothes off, I entered the shower and checked the things placed on my right.When I was done with the shower, I wore my clothes, toweled dry my hair and stepped out of the bathroom. My head felt much better, I felt much better.Wearing his slippers again, I walked out of the room and nervously stepped into the living room. His friends were still there, too occupied within their books. Huh, exams were approaching in two weeks. Shit! I had to go back to the hostel and prepare for the first semester.Sitting next to Kabir, he paused to look up from his book and grinned
Always is not Forever 22. The One Where I Feel Shy
Yawning, I stretched my arms above my head and shut the book closed. Moving from the bed, I wore my slippers and slipped out of the room to find Kriti already in the kitchen, preparing something."Morning," I whispered. She nodded, pouring the dalia into her bowl and placed the cooker back on the stove. "You're early.""I am?" She yawned, took a bite of her bowl. "God, it's getting cold here." I nodded, clutching my stall tightly around my shoulders. End of January and the cold wasn't keen on leaving us.It had been two months since I moved in with her, two months since I had my own room and no tension of a stupid girl sneaking in boys while I was sleeping. Kabir had been shocked when I told him I was leaving the hostel. He tried to ask the reason, but I brushed his attempts off. All he knew was that I wanted to stay with Kriti, and that's all.Dad was more than happy to compile when I conveyed Fiza was afraid of my screams. Another half-truth. But mom, huh, she had threatened she woul
Always is not Forever 23. The One Where I Take Control
Parking the activa in the basement, I shook his hands off my waist and climbed off. From my helmet, I glared at him but he didn't pay attention and bit his lower lip."You! Huh!" I stomp my foot on the floor."What?" He grinned, running his hand through his hair. Haircut. He needed a haircut. "What have I done?"Too much.Unbuckling the helmet, I barked, "Get off.""Are you hot and bothered?" His bluntness made me further warm. "I'm known to make girls feel hot.""You and your damn ego." I put the helmet back in its place and without paying any heed to his questions, I walked to the lift and pressed the button. When the lift arrived, I entered, finding it empty and Kabir grinned as if something dirty ran through his head.Ignoring him, I paid attention to my phone."Tell me." I hadn't noticed him standing close to me. "How you charm me off?" I gripped my phone tighter in my hands. "How you resist yourself not to touch me because that's all I think about when I see you."Gasping, I met
Always is not Forever 28. The One Where I Cut
[ A L I N A ' S P O V ]"I won't be able to come early tonight," Kabir moved around the living room, searching for his books. Rolling my eyes, I crunched beside the LED panel and snatched the books from one of the drawers and passed it to him. He passed me a thankful smile and stuffed it into his bag. "And yes about today. I won't be able to come early.""Why?" I strapped my hair in a high pony."Going to spend time with my friends. You don't mind, right?" He looked up from his bag.Yes, I minded it. I would be worried to hell about where were you and with whom you were. What if you were lying like dad? What if you were going to meet some girl?Shut up, Alina!Trust him!"Na, it's okay." I waved my hand in the air as if it would remove the bugging happening inside me. He could go out with his friends. If we lived together, it didn't mean we had to spend every single minute with each other. Some separation from each other would do us good."Sure?" He wore his specs. "After what hap
Always is not Forever 24. The One Where I Have it Again
[ A L I N A ' S P O V ]You both are the same level of fucked up.I swirled my spoon, mixing the sugar or trying to remove the impact of Dhruv's words. No matter how hard I tried, his words didn't leave me. They bit me back again and again. How did I tell Kabir about this? Should I even tell him about them? He would get hurt.Dhruv was his best friend.I couldn't hurt him that way."What you thinking, bookworm?" Kabir snapped his fingers in front of me, and I jumped slightly in my chair. As I saw him, I remembered the time I spent in his apartment the other day. How we kissed too hard, how his hands wander to my back and how much I loved it."Nothing." I passed him a small smile, curbing Dhruv's word within my heart. "So are you okay now? No more fuzzy mind?"I stopped the smile arising on my face. Unlike last time, he rolled his eyes."You caught me off guard." His eyes diverted to my noodles. I pushed it to his side. Chinese and he couldn't be left apart. He passed me a grateful
Always is not Forever 25. The One Where I Make a Mistake
[ K A B I R ' S P O V ]My heart clenched as if something was wrong. Ignoring, I continued wiping the table for the next guests, but it clenched further. Maybe it could be because of the fact that Alina hadn't talked with me for four days. She was right. How could I doubt her love? How could I doubt she loved Dhruv?She loved me. She always loved me.What was I doing?I should talk to her, not ignore her, feeling guilty. When the wiping was done, I stepped back and let them be seated. Going into the kitchen, I took the tray of the dishes and stroll out to present them to the customers.Two months had made me accustomed to the routine. In that start, I screwed up, screwed too much that most of the times, the boss yelled at me because I couldn't wipe a single table. Many times, I strived to yell at him I was Kabir Oberoi, I don't take orders from you, but let it die down.I had promised dad. I couldn't disappoint him."Kabir?" My boss called me from the kitchen. I entered and faced him
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Always is not Forever 120. The One Where He Proposes
Rubbing my neck with the hand, I felt his presence on my back. "What is he doing here?"I turned to face him. "Kabir--""Alina, no." He cornered me, caging between his body by placing both of his hands on the counter table. "It's ten at the night.""He came. I couldn't say him to leave.""Or you could have said it's not ideal for him to come," He shot back, straining lines visible on his forehead. "You looked uncomfortable. Did he say something?"Nothing just confessed it to me and I had no idea why he thought he loved me when he knew nothing about me except the things I shared in the support group when he had no idea how needy I was, how I seek for attention."No," I whispered. "You got late.""Work." Pranit voice from the hall echoed in the kitchen and Kabir's eyes darkened. "I hate him. When I see him, I see how you said you loved him." But it was a lie. I was trying to hurt you, make you see how you leaving had impacted me. "I know you both have same past," He dragged a shaky brea
Always is not Forever 119. The One Where I Reject Him
"Come again?" Dr. Sha asked, her hands flying from right to left, hitting the ping pong ball with the red colored bat.Hitting with my bat, I tried to dodge her attempts to make me lose a point. "Why are we playing ping pong?""Don't you get bored staying in a room?""Kind of."But this wasn't what I had expected when she called for an outside meeting instead in her building's cabin. I had thought a café maybe, or someplace quiet but she had surprised by calling me to a club and assured nobody would come in this room."Your dad was ready to allow it.""His friend owns the club," I mumbled dryly, the sound of the hitting echoing in the four walls."And he loves you," She pointed out, smashing the ball and before I could hit, it flew from my side. "And you lost a point.""Funny," Grumbling, I walked to one of the corners, picked the ball and started the game again. The sweat had started forming on the forehead, my grip on the handle of the bat was losing, my wrists were aching. What was
Always is not Forever 118. The One Where I Face It At Last
Yawning, I closed my books and stretched my legs. Getting up from the bed, I walked out of the room to find something to eat. Switching on the lights, I found a note stuck to the refrigerator.Food is in the microwave. You were sleeping. Must be hard practice 😝 Ps. Heat and eat.Chuckling at her handmade emoji, I crumbled the note and threw it in the dustbin before opening the microwave and found the plate in it. She never forgot about me. Twitching my lips, I brought the plate out and grabbed a spoon.Cold food was better than hot food and she wouldn't understand that.She wouldn't understand why I had gone straight to the bed after coming back from college, she wouldn't understand how much it was killing to know that how deep secrets we both were holding.Before I could take a spoon, the kitchen walls were invaded by the screams.Alina.Dropping the spoon, I sprinted to her room, opened the gate and saw her struggling in her bed. She hadn't gotten any dreams since she had started s
Always is not Forever 117. The One Where He Knows
"I still think you shouldn't go," Kabir's voice brought me back to present.Shaking my head, I tried to remove the memory. It was before I had started imagining him as Rishi, it was before when we were happy and there used to nothing other than nightmares to trouble our relationship.Now we had to be careful. This careful was getting on my nerves."It's fine," I stated, changing the song on the stereo of the car."Here." He passed me his phone, connected it to the black aux cable. "Listen any you want."Taking his phone, I went through the songs, ignoring the EDMs he loved to hear and settled on something soft to not make him hyper."Now, Dhruv and you. You're traveling too much.""I'm not. He needs me. He's all alone, handling Ria." I curled on the seat. "She's too small. She needs to see people love her despite her father leaving for jobs. And Dhruv deserves a break.""I get you're worried. We all are." He dabbed his palm on the horn. "But look at yourself. You're squeezing your sch
Always is not Forever 116. The One Where I Miss
[ A L I N A ' S P O V ]Gripping the pen tightly, I wrote down the explanation of the sonnet, completing the work that had been due last night. I blamed it on my over-worrying boyfriend who couldn't keep his mouth shut on why I was traveling this much. From past two months, I had been pacing back and forth between Bangalore and Delhi every weekend.He was getting angry.And I was getting pissed.Sighing, I placed the pen between the pages. Just two more lines, Alina and then you could go and shower to remove the aftermath of mediation and yoga."What you writing?" Hearing him, I levitated my head to stare at his face, but then, my gaze dropped to his chest.Where was his shirt? And why the hell wasn't I changing my gaze?Gulping, I paid attention to the white pages, overwritten by my hands. "Sonnet explanation. College work. You didn't go to GYM?""I'm taking a time off for a while," he answered, moving across the kitchen to grab a bowl for himself and picked the milk carton from m
Always is not Forever 115. The One Where Reality Is Out
***"You!" Shouting, I shut the door of her cabin. Jennifer looked up from the files. "In my cabin now."She raised her eyebrows in amusement and nodded. Who told her to tell lies to Alina? I got her teasing on me, I accepted it but feeding lies to her wasn't acceptable. I was an inch away from losing Alina again. Inch away to destroy all the progress we both had made after getting back together.Taking a deep breath, I entered my office and turned to face her. Yesterday, I had spent all my day to get new clothes before selling my old clothes and helping Alina with the packing.She was moving back with me. Good. I could see clearly how she was scared of me.Jennifer stepped in. "Now that's the Kabir I know. Angry and dominating one."Rolling my eyes, I nodded my head to the money placed on the table. "You're leaving India in next twenty-four hours. This is your pay. You're no longer my assistant.""I answer to your father, not to you." She crossed her arms over her chest. "He sent me.
Always is not Forever 114. The One Where The Past Begins
Staring ahead at the scene, I smiled and tapped my fingers on her arm. She turned with a smile and slipped her hand around my waist."I missed you.""You did?""Yup," She grinned. "Don't go again."Laughing lightly, I was about to reply when her figure disappeared from my arms and all I could see was the face of her house perched in front of me. What was I doing here? I was in our apartment, meeting her after a long time.A hand tugged on my shirt. Peering down, I stared at the girl."Kabir, save me." Confused by her statement, I wondered what she was talking about me. "Save me, Kabir," She cried, thumping her hand on my chest. "You promised you'll save me. Save me now."She took a run inside the house. Frowning a bit, I followed her inside, took the flight of stairs and entered the room I hadn't been into for past three years.Wasn't it burned? Wasn't it locked?My feet thumped on the old familiar room, looking for the small girl but, all I found was Alina standing at the corner, sta
Always is not Forever 113. The One Where We Solve
Presenting a smile, I stood up, took the clothes and strode to her bathroom. Shedding the rest of my clothes, I entered the shower and cleaned the disgusting things sticking to my body. When I checked for a shower gel and shampoo, I found the girly stuff and sighed. Looks like I would be smelling like her until the morning.As I was washing my hair, all the previous month we had spent together started biting my places. She was too distant from me. Her words seemed to be held and assessed carefully. Maybe moving in with me would change everything, maybe we would be different then, maybe we would back to our love life.But what about the insecurities? How would I solve them?"Kabir, are you done?" She knocked the door. "Was I too harsh? Is it not removing? Do you need my help?""Yes, it's not removing!" I shouted back, smirking. "Help me.""Tie a towel."Looking around the shower, I grabbed the towel from the upper shelve and tied it around my waist. "Done." My eyes remained glued to th
Always is not Forever 112. The One Where I Become A Joke
Alina's expression didn't change, her hands remained still at her side, her eyes narrowed at me."You're lying." Again, the same sentence. "She saw you without clothes.""I'm aware," I confessed. "Once she came in my penthouse. I was roaming in my briefs and she saw it." Seeing her expression, I added quickly, "I did yell at her for disturbing my privacy. I changed the code too. I didn't know she knew about it. She purchased the penthouse. I should've been aware.""But you kissed her." She clutched the arms of the chair tightly. And that was the reason I didn't want to tell her. "I can't stop imagining when you kissed her." She dragged a long, shaky breath before facing me, turmoil residing in her black eyes. "You wanted to forget me?" With reluctance, I nodded. "Was I that bad?""No, I just love you too much," I replied honestly. "Wouldn't you have done anything to forget me?""True." Standing on her toes, she trudged to my side, caught my face in her hands and inched it closer to he
