Taking my phone out, I checked the battery and messaged her.Come in the hotel garden.Why?She replied instantly. Her eyes flew to me, eyebrows raised in question.Secret, baby. Just come. We're going to do some hiding.Winking at her, I walked out of the hall, hoping she would be following me out of the hall. Glancing back, I found her gathering her skirts in her hands, trailing between the chairs to follow me with a curious look.Climbing the stairs, I asked the manager about the garden even when I knew the place. This hotel belonged to my family, and yet, here I was asking about the garden. I was giving Alina the time to catch up with me. Stepping out in the grass, the night wind whipped through me, the smell of the plants wafted in my nose, the golden LED lights made me smirk in return.Perfect location.Finding a hidden support, I swirled to look at my girl."Why you called me?" I opened my phone, played a song and placed it on the floor. Going near her, I caught her hand and pus
"You need anything?" I settled Nisha's pillow.She shook her head. "Thank you for staying.""Don't irritate me." I poked her cheek. "Sleep. Today, I'm staying. Dad was tired." She smiled. "And no pizza.""I'm tired of hospital food, bro!" She whined. "Do this for your sister. Don't you love me?""Nisha--""Please, please, please. I have this bad taste in my mouth. I will not use chili flakes. I promise. I'm hungry. Too hungry.""I hate you. Dad will scold me," Mumbling, I took my phone out and ordered a pizza for both of us, but it worth the smile brought on her face and she slept soundly on her bed.Taking the opposite sofa, I laid across the seat. What was Alina doing? Should I call and check on her? What if she was sleeping and I would disturb her? What if she didn't want to talk to me?Taking my phone out, I wrote a text.Alina, up?I was about to press send but deleted it.I'm sorry for shouting at you that day. You know my anger. I understand your position. Let's talk calmly like
When everything was done, I grabbed the towel from the cabinet and tied it around her body after drying her hair."My shirt?" She nodded. "Will you wait whilst I change my clothes?""You're leaving?" She asked in a scared tone."Just across the room. I need to change my wet clothes." Seeing her terrified expression, I caught her hand, grabbed my bag from the hall and took her to my room. "Sit here. I will be there." Smiling a bit, I opened my wardrobe and was surprised to find it was cleaned. As if suddenly remembering, I stared back and found no dust was present.She must've cleaned it herself.Opening my bag, I caught my clothes and changed quickly and when I turned back, her attention was on me. It was fair. I saw her naked. She could see me too.Taking a shirt out, I turned to her, gripped her hand lightly and made her stand up."Help?" I asked.She nodded.How much would more trust you put in me?Untying her towel knot, I allowed it pool on our feet and slid in the shirt from her
[ K A B I R ' S P O V ]"Why your girlfriend is blushing too much today?" My head raised from my book to stare at Kriti and Alina, joining us under the tree.My gaze halted at Alina, or more like the pink glow apparent on her face. Ignoring Kriti, she sat next to me and her shy smile was a giveaway to me. She was thinking about last night. I was thinking about last night."Why are you saying to him?" Sagar laughed, clutching his stomach. "He's grinning without any reason today too.""Shut up, loser." I slung my arm over Alina's shoulder, but she didn't turn her attention to me, opened her novel and started reading it. "Do you even study your course books?""As a matter of fact, she does," Kriti interrupted, sitting next to Deb on the ground and waved her hand to remove the sweat rising on her face. "Explain to me who studies in college? I hate her marks. I hate college, too much work, too many assignments and projects and character studies.""There is a reason I call her bookworm." I
[ A L I N A ' S P O V ]Placing my handbag on the table, I gawked at the beer bottles and twisted my lips in anger. He knew I hated the leftovers bottle placed on the table. If he invited his friends to the apartment, they should learn to throw them in the dustbin."Kabir! Clean the table! I'm not doing it!" I shouted, untying my hair and went to the kitchen to get a glass of water. "What the fuck?" I shouted at the person standing opposite to me."Hey," Dhruv mumbled nervously.Narrowing my eyes, I called, "Kabir! Where the hell is you?!""Alina, calm down." Dhruv placed his mug on the table top.Refusing to talk to him, I glared at my running boyfriend. How dare he invite Dhruv to our apartment? Didn't he know I hated this man for anything in the world? He insulted me as if it was nothing. He told my life to a girl who didn't deserve it. He pitied me and became my friend because of my past. I hadn't asked him to become my friend. I wasn't desperate for a person like him.I hated hi
Someone tapped my shoulder. Shrugging it off, I snuggled deeper into my pillow, tightening the blanket over me."Five minutes more," I slurred. "Kabir, let me sleep.""Uff, this girl thinks of Kabir in her sleep also." Shocked by the owner of the voice, I flew my eyes open and blinked my eyes rapidly but the view didn't change. Screaming, I sat up on the bed and hugged her tightly. "Nisha, what are you doing here?"She laughed. "Dhruv." She slapped my hands off from her neck. "That stupid left Delhi. Kabir called me last night. I came with Rahul. He's too annoying. The whole flight I had to listen to his stupid flirting with the girl sitting next to us. And that bitch. How could she cheat on him? I will fucking kill her. If I see—""Shush." I pushed my hair at the back, standing on the bed and planted my hands on her shoulder to steady myself. "Your college?""It's weekend. Two-day holiday won't change anything. I had to lie to mom and dad that I was missing Kabir, but they wouldn't le
She slapped me.Of course, she would. That's what mom and dad did. Whenever I tried to do something, they slapped me to shut me down.From the side, Dhruv tried to step forward and say something but I shook my head.It was normal for me."You disgust me," she panted. "How could you be my daughter? Leave this place before I slap you again.""I don't care.""What?""I don't care," I gritted. "I'm not leaving. Do whatever you want." Her hand raised and the burning spread to the other side of the cheek."Aunty, enough!" Rahul shouted, caught my hand and pushed me into the back. "You're hurting her."Before she could respond, the door opened at her back and a figure entered, panting and breathing heavily."Alina," Kabir whispered his tracksuit still on. His gaze fell to my mom. "Aunty, I—""You shut up!" Mom whirled, shouting at him. "What have you done to my daughter?! I knew you would do this. She's innocent. You must have said her words to get her to do this. I called your parents." He s
"Alina," he sang. Blinking my eyes, I stared into the black orbs of his. "You slept. Was I too hard?" He pulled his lips down. I looked around desperately. "Don't be scared. I put your clothes on."Struggling, I tried to push him off with my small hands but he chuckled darkly."Nobody stays much here, is it?" I gulped, staring at the window at my side, ignoring his stare. "Misha is busy with summer school. Your mom and dad always stay at work. And my mom, uff, she's on the other side of the house, sleeping."I started crying, remembering what he would again.Why couldn't anyone see him?"Don't cry." He pressed his hand hard against my cheek. "I said don't cry. I hate when you cry. You're such a crybaby." He tugged my hair, slapped me. "Stop crying." His nails dug into my cheek. "Do you want to get punished? Huh!" He stood up, leaving my body alone as I gathered myself on the bed. "So small, yet too irritating."He caught my hair. "I said stop crying! You're ruining my mood! I wanted to
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
"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
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
"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
[ 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
***"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.
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
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
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