Devakshi FF:The Memory of Us Epilogue Updated on Pg 70 - Page 31

Originally posted by: Jade0001

Part 4

The awkwardness yet knowing that both are married, still a stranger

It seems Sonakshi picking the paper rose probably remembered something

Originally posted by: Malvika07

Thank you.😃 Updating part 8 in a while :)
Ermagawd yayyy!! So excited 😃

Originally posted by: ssimmy

Originally posted by: LiveLife321

Awesome update Malvika..Will be waiting for the next one😊

Hi guys, a big thank you for all the love. Part 8 is here. Hope you like it

Dev saw Sonakshi sitting on the floor with tears in her eyes as she looked at him, and froze. Imagining the worst, he quickly crossed the distance between them and went down on his knees beside her. He took her face in his hands and asked, with dread, "What's wrong Sona?" To his surprise she enveloped him in a bone crushing hug. Dev couldn't understand the sudden change in Sonakshi's mood. Running his hands along her back, he asked again, "Hey, its okay. What happened?" She lifted her tear drenched eyes to look at him, and smiled. "I just remembered something," she said softly, keeping his eyes.

His upper body stiffened as he held her. He waited before speaking. Struggling to keep his voice casual, he said, "Another fight?"

She smiled. "No, something good."

He visibly relaxed. "Yeah?"

"Something very,very good." She hugged him again, her arms wrapping around his midsection.

"Dare I hope I'm involved?" he drawled.

"You may hope." She leaned in, kissing his cheeks. "You'd be right."

Still smiling, she showed him the post-it she was holding in her hand. A delighted look crossed his face. "Ah. The post-it wedding" he said, recognition in his eyes.

"You promised me if I ever forget you.."

".. I would remind you who I was every day" he completed. "This is me keeping my promise" he said, as he stared deep into her eyes.

As they stared in each other's eyes, something changed in the atmosphere. They both suddenly became aware of the position they were in. Huddled on the floor together, her hand on his shoulders and his arms circled protectively around her petite figure. She knew they both wanted it. Later, it would be easy to place the blame on him, to tell herself that he started it and she became a cajoled participant. But, if she were completely honest with herself, she'd acknowledge that she was the first one to reach out.

Either way, in the same moment her hands grabbed his shirt collar, he palmed her waist, bringing her so close to him even air couldn't pass through. Her mouth found his in an expression of starvation that had him stumbling back against the closet.

They got up clumsily, his hands never leaving her, as they made their way to the bed, kissing all the while. He placed her on the bed as they broke the kiss, eager for oxygen.

Not having her lips on him for 5 seconds helped clear his mind a bit, he pulled away to look at her. "I don't think - "

"No," she said, shaking her head. "Don't"

"You're not ready," he said. It was a flimsy excuse, one he took time creating as his eyes searched hers.

Mouth dry, she licked her lips. If he put her down and sent her to bed alone, she'd die from the mortification of it all. At the thought of such rejection, she tightened her hold on him and whimpered, "Please, Dev.."

That was his undoing. He groaned and let out a curse before kissing her again.

He was going to hell anyway, what was one more sin under his belt?

Please, Sonakshi prayed as his knees sank into the mattress and her back crushed the pillows, please let this be good for me. Let it be good for him.

When he pulled back to begin removing his shirt, she pushed herself up until she was also on her knees. Stilling his hands with her own, she looked up at him. He met her eyes, their joined hands over the dark blue cloth of his shirt. Holding his gaze, she began working the column of buttons. The small discs slid easily out of the worn fabric and it wasn't long until the shirt hung in two separate strips.

Her gaze wandered from the hard planes of his face down to the tanned column of his throat and finally, to the wide expanse of his chest. She inhaled, bringing her palms flush against his heated skin near his clavicle.

He was patient while she moved her hands up and under his shirt, slipping it from his shoulders. When it fell to the comforter behind him, he raised his free arms to play with the ends of her hair.

It had been a while since he'd touched her hair, he realized, letting the strands sift through his fingers. The light behind her caught its color and he saw burgundy, deep and illuminated, against his skin.

Mindful of her tender scalp, he brushed her hair back before tilting her face up. His kiss began even before his lips reached hers, their sighs stirring the minimal space between their mouths for a full, pregnant moment.

He moved forward, stretching out above her so she had no choice but to extend her limbs as she rested back. Looking at her was enough for a while; there was such an expectant wonder in her eyes, it humbled him.

She lifted a tentative hand to his cheek and he turned to plant an open-mouthed kiss on her palm, the tip of his tongue brushing the sensitized skin. Her breath hissed out and her hand jerked, as if to move away.

One hand snaked around her wrist to keep it in place as he kissed her palm once more. With his other hand, he cupped her cheek, mirroring her action. After waiting a beat, she kissed the skin right below his thumb. He swallowed, his fingers moving across the curve of her cheekbone to her temple. A scar, pink and puckered, was busy healing and his index finger traced its progress.

She wriggled away, angling her face away from him. "I hate it," she said quietly, looking at the vee at the base of his throat. "It reminds me I almost died."

He remained silent. Then, with a hand that wasn't unkind, he grasped her chin and turned her head, exposing both sides of her face evenly. "It reminds me you lived." He kissed her scar.

While one arm curved under her, bringing their bodies closer, its twin wedged between them, working the buttons of her kurta. Within seconds, her top was undone. She looked down at his quick work and laughed soundlessly. "You're better at that than me."

He smiled gently. "I've had a lot of practice."

She smiled as he pulled her top away from her back with the care reserved for newborns. It was then she realized, the furious, clumsy, desperate clutches from before had been replaced by an almost reverent tone.

"I won't break, you know," she said, finally.

He swallowed hard. "I know," he agreed. "But it's your first time. Kind of." The look he gave her was almost sheepish and her chest suddenly felt so full, she was afraid she would cry. But she was too giddy to cry. Instead she hooked an arm around his neck and pulled him down to her.

By the time all of their clothes had been discarded, she'd lost track of the number of kisses, but it hardly mattered because she was addicted. Her arms looped around his neck, his back, her palms eager for every inch of smooth skin they contacted.

It took a good, long, minute for her to realize the importance of oxygen. Finding her way back to the pillowcase, she rested on her stomach, her face turned to look at him. They focussed on breathing for a while longer, laughing when they caught each other's eye, but still unable to vocalize anything coherent.

Then, swallowing her dry throat, she managed to get out, "Do people know about this?"

He laughed, reaching over to trace the curve of her back, "About sex? Yeah, I think word's out."

"No, not just sex. Sex."

He grinned, "So I take it it was good for you?"

"So good we should name it"

The crack of laughter that left his chest was so sudden, she was startled for a moment before joining him.

He pressed an idle kiss to her temple. In moments like these, when Sonakshi was Sonakshi, it was easy to forget she didn't know all she had known before. She'd have to rediscover it, which, he realized, was fine with him. Preferable even.

Every time Sonakshi looked at him, it was with a tentative apology for not yet remembering. While she was regretful, he was grateful. While she looked at him hoping to remember, he was wary one day she would.

At that thought, his fingers stilled over the cloud of her hair and he kissed her soundly, as if to reassure himself she was still there.

Sonakshi was on cloud nine. The fragments of unhappiness she'd remembered before belonged to another life, another couple. They were long gone, replaced with new memories of a man to whom she couldn't possibly feel closer. She couldn't remember smiling more in her life.

If she was honest with herself, she'd admit that she was meshing the few known pieces of her life in a disjointed picture. She was shoving mismatched edges together like an impatient child, bending corners any way she could, all to escape the realization that she wasn't playing with all the relevant pieces.

But honesty wasn't fun. Dev was. So she ignored the ramblings of her mind and proceeded to sleep peacefully in his arms.

Two days later, she ran to the conference room where Dev had called her. He was stopping by the hospital and wanted to steal a moment with her. "You have no idea how long I've been waiting for your message," she said, as she entered, crossing over to kiss him.

He stood up when she entered, his face solemn. When his hands stilled hers, she looked up. Brow furrowing at his somber expression, she said, "What's wrong?"

"I love you," he said, his hands bracing her shoulders. When her eyes rounded in surprise, he rushed to placate her. "You don't have to say anything; I could wait to hear it, but not to say it," he exhaled, his shoulders flexing as if releasing a big weight off his shoulders. "I - " he started again, equipped with more disclaimers and prevarications.

"I love you, too," she interrupted, clamping a hand over his mouth.

She saw his cheeks lift into a smile and smiled back, slipping her hand away after he pressed a kiss against her palm.

"I do, I don't think I can ever love someone as much as I love you," she said.

"Then marry me," he said.

She looked at him in utter confusion, as if he had amnesia. "Dev, we're already married," she said slowly, as if talking to a two year old.

"But you don't remember any of it. Let's get married again," he said, his voice taking on the excitement of a child that had just been promised candy.

She looked at him in wonder. It was ridiculous. He was ridiculous. "Uhh.. Okayy"

She let out small scream as he picked her up and spun her around. On putting her down, he stole a kiss, one boasting of familiarity and she reveled in the comfort of such a gesture. "I'll see you tonight," he said, and she nodded as he kissed her once more before leaving.

When he left, she practiced not smiling. But even when she physically used her fingers to pull down the corners of her mouth, it was futile. Giving up, she left the room, ignoring the knowing looks of the nurses nearby.

Let them look. She was going to be a bride.

She decided to be adventurous and make him dinner to celebrate their upcoming wedding. She went to the grocery store to buy the stuff she would need for her elaborate meal. The grocery store was an absolute zoo at 5 in the evening, she realized. She ticked off the items on her mental list as she moved along the aisles, taking the things she needed. When she added the freshly selected paneer to the cart, she knocked over the small carton of gourmet icecream standing in the built-in child's seat off her cart. She bent to find it after it rolled on the floor near the produce section. As her finger's reached, so did her mind and it went into an overdrive, giving her images and pictures in vivid Technicolor.

By the time she stood, her face was white, her brain too full of things that weren't welcome. Mind screaming in protest, she inhaled. Then exhaled. Once more. Then she systematically walked around the store, replacing each item with utmost care. When she returned the last can of peas to its original home, she walked her cart to its designated drop off point, her motions on autopilot.

She reached home like a robot.

By the time she walked into their room, there was no more procrastinating. After slipping out of her shoes, her eyes fell on the picture laden mantle for the umpteenth time. Only this time, there was no frustration, no racking her mind for the missing key.

She knew the answer now, she thought grimly before walking to the nightstand.

Her actions were deliberate, knowing. She immediately went to the top drawer, her fingers finding the second book in the low stack. She flipped through the crisp pages, the flapping sound halting when thick photo paper stilled its rhythm.

Although prepared, she couldn't help the small cry that escaped when she pulled out the photograph. It wasn't particularly artistic or skilfully taken; it was grainy and black and white. But, for an all-too-short while, it had been her world.

She traced the white curves on the picture with tentative fingertips. Her name was in block letters in the lower corner.

She saw him darken the doorway out of the corner of her eye. When she looked up to meet his grim face, her vision was blurry with tears. Anger cleared her eyes within seconds.

"We were going to have a baby," she said. The words were expressionless; it wasn't a question.

His face bleak, he echoed a confirmation, "We were going to have a baby."

-

Author's note : And it's out!

Originally posted by: saumiee

Unreserving:

Felt like years. But that was the funny thing about altering events; they made everything in the before seem like it happened to a different person.

This was my favorite part of the part,Malvika❤️

This line instantly struck a chord with me, how do you manage to be so so so precise with words to portray the emotions🤗

The wedding vows were❤️ A very cute part. . Sonakshi remembers some more good memories of them now..

You already updated the next part. . Rushing to read it. .😳

Big hugs dear😳