Gehraiyan [2] - (Resuming) Author's Note pg. 58 - Page 17

Everywhere he touched felt as if it had been set on fire. His fingers traced hers and moved slowly along the length of her arm, blazing a trail of goose bumps on her skin.

Raindrops fell on her, pleasant and warm, and he leaned down to her shoulder to graze them with his nose. Her back hit his chest and she closed her eyes, savouring the sensation of his skin on hers. His fingers curled around her arm and she felt herself letting go, slipping away in the pleasure...

A jolt of electricity brought her back. His lips had replaced the tip of his nose and she sighed as he lazily dragged them across her skin... higher and higher, across her collarbone and up her neck, until... She gasped, instinctively gripping the sides of his wet shirt.

He bit her. She looked up incredulously, in time to see him smile against her ear and place a kiss on her earlobe.

The tenderness caused her heart to thump against her chest. Slowly, she found his fingers and laced their hands together, bringing them up to her lips.

She turned to face him and her heart swelled at the serenity on his face. His eyes were closed and the little lines of distress that often appeared on his forehead had disappeared.

She raised her hands hesitantly and traced his rough stubble with her fingertips. The smile that lit up his face at her caress was one of innocence. He was happy. Loving, indulgent, happy.

Gently, she cupped his head in her hands and watched as his eyes fluttered open. Her heart filled with wonder.

Was it possible to love someone this much?

The rain was falling fast now, each drop sizzling her bare skin. The trees around them moved with the wind, the branches bending with the weight of the water. She listened as the pitter-patter on the leaves steadied into an ominous drumbeat, instilling fear into her heart.

Her hands slipped down to his shoulders and she rubbed them searchingly until the wet fabric clung to him at odd angles. She was gripped by the sudden need to ascertain that he was real.

A shiver ran through her and she froze, blinking in surprise. When had the water turned cold?

Her fingers tightened around the collar of his shirt but the harder she held on to him, the quicker she felt him slip away.

She felt distressed.

The rain was making it impossible to see him and now, she could no longer feel the heat from his chest. The sky was overcast and in the increasing darkness, she blindly grappled for him.

She was panicking, grabbing at fistfuls of air, unaware of the heavy, wet curls that lashed at her face with her frantic movements. A wave of hopefulness hit her now and again but quickly fell apart with each unsuccessful attempt to find him.

She closed her eyes, trying to coax him back to her in the way she had often tried to recover newly forgotten dreams.

She tried to recall the feeling of his fingers on her skin, tried to will herself back into the heightened sensitivity his touches had created.

A frustrated sob escaped her and she felt herself begin to shake. It felt as if she was in a pool of darkness... a pool not quite filled with water, neither air... She was floating above and below, in and out, somewhere in between...

"Geet..."

His voice - no, a shadow of his voice called out to her. She felt disoriented, unsure of whether to float back, of whether she'd find him if she did.

"Geet..."

The shaking grew stronger and this time, she was sure of his voice. She fought against herself, against the instincts that told her not to move.

She waded through the pool, moving without thought or direction. She had to find him. His warmth, his heartbeat... She had to find him.

The shaking was vigorous now and she was becoming vaguely aware of some thing on her back. No... not thing... things. Needles? Rubble? Branches?

She moved restlessly, her confused state forcing her to fight harder against the paralysis.

Branches...

"Geet! Wake up!"

Her eyes snapped open and she saw the smallest flash of a cloud-filled sky before she shielded her eyes with a shriek. Rain drops, cold and pellet-like, had assailed her.

Moving her hands around herself, she tried to understand where she was but found that her hands were blocked by a source of heat. She felt strange - cold, feverish and confused -, the understanding that she had been sleeping still a vague one. Looking down, she saw that she was soaked. The white shirt she had been wearing was translucent now and worse for wear.

Drawing her knees up so that she was no longer lying down, she put her hands down on the mossy forest floor. A second later, she gasped. Her breath caught in her throat and her heart thumped anxiously at the sudden heat under her hands.

His fingers...

Turning, she saw him crouched behind her, chest heaving, wet hair falling over his dark eyes, the very incarnation of the lover boy she had met at twenty-three. Except...

This man was different. There was a harder edge to his jaw and the little lines of worry she knew well creased his forehead as he cautiously searched her face.

"Maan..."

She watched, transfixed, as he ran a hand through his hair and exhaled in relief.

"You must have fallen asleep while waiting for me. I found you under this tree. It's been raining for so long and I... Are you okay?"

She searched his eyes and found that the fear in them had not subsided. He watched her every movement with torment, as if waiting for an exclamation of pain.

She leaned forward until her eyes were level with his.

"Maan..."

Gently, she put her hands on either side of his face and kissed him.

Originally posted by: muskanp

Mesmerising all I could say

So beautiful intro to geet
Depicting t depth of her emotions

Originally posted by: kaamchorni

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Thank you, Muskan :) Yep, even if it's her subconscious mind doing the digging, she's really beginning to face her feelings... all the love and the fear.

P.S. Happy birthday!