Of friendship, love and obsession. ~OS Gallery~ New OS added, pg 5 - Page 2

Fatal Attraction.

His long fingers strummed the strings of his brand-new guitar. He closed his eyes and let the sound of it calm his senses. He'd had enough of Aalya's suggestive remarks, enough of Harshad's taunts, Dhruv's teasing. Hell even his buddy failed to offer him some peace of mind. He trashed all of it in an imaginary dustbin and continued playing.

But try as he might, there was no escaping the images that came unbidden in his mind.

There was no escaping her. She had possessed him in such a manner, he felt like he was trapped in his own head.

He had tried and failed and tried again to blame her for the havoc she was wrecking inside him, but one look into those big, beguiling eyes, and he felt himself being pulled in their vortex, being sucked inside them, never to return.

He was just rendered speechless. Every time.

He still hadn't changed his clothes. He just didn't feel like. He wondered why? What was he expecting? The last remnants of her scent? He scoffed at the thought.

Unconsciously he tried sniffing his t-shirt. 'Ewww', no way, he had to take a shower and get a change of clothes!

Whatever scent of hers' that might have mingled with his' was lost on his clothes now. May be, next day when he'll arrive at college- wearing fresh set of clothes- he might just get close to her and...

He stopped in his tracks abruptly.

'WHAT WAS HE THINKING???'

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

She tossed and turned on her bed. Even after such an exhausting day, sleep seemed to have broken-up with her!

May be it was the unfamiliarity of her surroundings, but that just didn't make sense to her. She knew she was tired- physically at least.

She reached for her phone. *Grrr* she'd forgotten that thanks to her 'best friend', it was broken!

She threw away the pillow at her feet, got up and went to the window that was open. The view from Navya's hostel was different. She let the cool breeze caress her face. She smiled closing her eyes.

For a change she wasn't worried about Rishabh, or college or her new job or anything else that usually worried her.

But then what was it? She knew something was different tonight.

She felt, rather sensed that something was changing. Did she know exactly what? May be she did, but preferred not to answer herself.

She had seen him with his guard down for the first time. She has witnessed his vulnerable side. His fear for darkness, yes fear. No matter how else he liked to put it, she just knew.

She have seen him getting restless, heard him calling her again and again in a panicked voice when she was busy searching for that bucket.

Somewhere, deep, deep down inside, a sadistic part of her was quite enjoying this. But compassion was the most dominating trait in her character so she did what she felt was needed to be done to end his misery.

Funny how destiny brought two people- who cannot stand each other- together. Even funnier were the repercussions of it. From the time she's came back she has been reliving those eight hours in her head again and again.

Her face heated up every time she remembered her kurti getting torn from the back, she giggled reminiscing his sarcastic one-liners and shouting for help, her heartbeats sped up every time his angry face bellowed about being fed up of everyone doubting him for everything that goes wrong with her, she flinched every time she remembered him getting hurt. But what surprised her most was her reaction when she remembered him helping her get down from that iron stand. It was alien.

She knew one thing, though. She didn't want to dig too much into it.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

He saw her standing with her back to him. He knew it was her of course. These clothes can only belong to her of all the people in this college.

Her long, jet black hair was gently flowing in the wind. He felt a drop of water on his nose and looked up at the sky. Grey clouds were covering most of it. He started debating on whether or not it was a good idea to come to the terrace. In case they both show up after getting drenched, he'll just end up making tongues wag...AGAIN.

But one look in her direction and he decided that he didn't really care.

He was Maanik Malhotra.

He slowly walked up to her and cleared his throat to get her attention. She slowly turned back and gave him a look which was torn between confusion and questioning. He gave his trademark smirk.

'Are you planning to keep my jacket all to yourself for the rest of your life?' He asked in a playful tone, smiling still. He saw her getting even more confused.

'Why are you being so polite?' She blurted. He stopped smiling at once and took a step towards her, she took a step backwards. 'Why...do you like it rough?' His voice grew husky. She looked away unable to look into those penetrating eyes that were boring into her.

She realized her back had hit the railing. She tried escaping him but he caught her wrist that very moment and brought her close to him, his face inches away from her.

'I'm only asking for what's mine' his voice grew huskier still. He was quite enjoying her struggle but he was sure not to inflict pain on her with his grip. She looked everywhere but him. Let go' she tried her best to sound firm but her voice cracked somewhat.

'Why?' He demanded and let his free hand grip her arm. She stopped struggling. 'I've sent it for dry cleaning, I...I will return it to you when I receive it...now leave me'. He gave her a long searching look, she just wouldn't look up to him. 'Look at me' he commanded. She frowned for a second and then obliged, her eyes silently questioning him.

He left her abruptly and asked her to leave. She was even more confused now. What's going on? He was looking away from her. She didn't feel like staying here for another minute. She was used to him invading her personal space every now and then but this sudden action of his' seemed alien to her, so was her mind's reaction to it. She felt...cold.

It has started to rain now.

He looked at her slowly retreating figure in the rain. Did he realize that he was fighting a losing battle? The moment her eyes started questioning his actions, he backtracked. Why? Since when has he become such a coward?

Something snapped inside him as he thought of the last word.

Before she could go any further, he again stopped her in her tracks. Did he look...mad? She wondered what she might have done. But before she could register that in her mind, his one hand was at the back of her head gripping her slightly dampened hair and the other was wrapped around her waist. Their now-wet bodies were almost glued to each other with their wet clothes offering whatever little barrier it could. She had her right hand in between their chests.

He saw a drop of water hanging from her long lashes. She blinked once and it disappeared.

'Don't' he nearly pleaded. Her lips parted slightly in surprise. She was trapped between Maanik and the wall and the physical proximity along with their ragged breaths weren't helping things either. Her hand on his chest clutched the fabric of his t-shirt.

He took one look at her parted lips and didn't wait for an invitation. His lips crashed onto hers' in a searing, all-consuming kiss!

He felt her struggle, he heard her moans. But he was beyond control. The gentleman who he promised himself to be before coming here had went out of the window and the monster had resurfaced in full force. He bit the corner of her full lower lip, sucked on her tongue, he tried his best to explore every crevice of her mouth amid her strong resistance. She was so goddamn sweet!

He felt his insides burn pleasurably. She dug her long nails onto the side of his neck as she fought the assault that his lips and tongue were doing on her. She felt him grip her head tighter every time she tried she tried to tilt it backwards- something that was impossible. His other hand was now running down her spine.

Strange sensations filled her stomach. She stopped protesting. The hand which was busy marking his skin now slowly went to the back of his head and gripped his wet hair. He smirked amid the kiss and broke apart abruptly. Both were red in the face, breathing heavily. Nandini's eyes were moist.

'You. Are. So...' he tried formulating a sentence but stopped midway. He grabbed her cheeks and kissed her again.

This time it wasn't aggression but full-blown passion that took over. And to his surprise and immense pleasure, she started kissing him back. Though hesitant at first, she returned his fervour. Her one hand was encircling his neck and the other still gripping the back of his head.

He felt a new burning consuming him. He could cry out of happiness. Happiness at her response, her touch, her acceptance of him.

He felt the whole world spin around him. Everything that made him who he was came undone in that very moment. He wasn't left drifting, a new string held him where he was. He felt his knees go weak, his body was trembling and then...

He snapped his eyes open and started breathing heavily. He breathed lungful of air and tried steadying his erratic heartbeats. He realized he was covered in sweat and the clothes he'd worn after the shower were nearly sticking to him.

It was a dream?

But it felt so real!

Fatal attraction by 'Mumzy Strangers'