16+
~30~
He stood outside her door his hand raised to knock the door for perhaps the 20th time in the past hour and was still unable to do it. He sighed defeatedly and was wondering if he should better leave when the door opened on its own. He looked up to see her. She looked dull, her eyes puffy and her hair was messy. A plain yellow saree was wrapped around her loosely. He could see it was not pinned.
"You came..."
"You knew I would come?"
"I knew.... come in..."
He entered and she shut the door. She walked to the kitchen and poured him a glass of water.
"Here..."
He took it and drank. Placing the glass on the table, he looked at her. Pointing to her eyes, he said
"Anu... why? You promised..."
"I don't know..."
"You don't know?"
She looked away from him. He tipped her chin and made her look at him.
"Look at me..."
She looked into his eyes filed with love for her and melted.
"Sorry... I..."
"Come sit..."
As they both sat down beside each other on the living room couch, she wrapped her hand around his arms and rested her head on his shoulder. He rubbed her fingers with his thumb.
"Anu... why do you have to cry alone when I am here?"
"Sorry..."
He shook his head.
"You promised... you promised you will let me fight your battles with you..."
She just clutched him tight.
"Anu... few days back I was over the moon thinking I had you... but now... I am not very sure..."
She looked at him.
"Anuj... what are you...?"
He stared into the open space and said with a small crack in his voice.
"I want to be with you... I want you so much, Anu... I have wanted you for so long... but you seem so far away... even though you are sitting right beside me... so close... yet so far away..."
As his eyes filled up, she trembled with guilt. In her attempt to shield him from the world she had pushed him so far away. She threw her arms around him and let her tears flow.
"Sorry, sorry, sorry..."
He said nothing but held her hands and gently caressed it.
"I... I... didn't want you to get hurt... I am sorry sorry sorry..."
"Please don't leave me... ever... I can't bear life without you..."
She shook her head vigorously.
"Whatever comes our way... promise we would face it together..."
She squeezed him tight and he bent down dropping a kiss on her hand.
"Now... what made my Anu cry so much?"
"Pakhi..."
"Pakhi?"
Still in his embrace, she recollected the events from the evening. He clenched his fists. The pain she would have gone through after Pakhi left would have been tremendous.
"How like Vanraj and Kavya to encourage adolescent jealousy..."
"I sometimes wonder if Mr. Shah really ever loves Pakhi... after all she was..."
She stopped and he raised his eyebrow.
"Nothing..."
"Anu?"
She removed her hand from him and looked down.
"Anu...?"
She hid her face in her palms. He put his hand on her shoulder feeling uneasy. He gently rubbed her back and whispered her name again
"Anu..."
"I was a fool... oh such a fool then to trust he was in love with me... He..."
She took in a deep breath and blurted.
"17 years ago, I got an offer to go to the US for a dance concert. To stop me from going, he had sex with me and Pakhi was the result of that night. He didn't do it out of love... he hadn't touched me after Samar so I was desperate that night... and so foolish... he never had sex with me or touched me in that way after that."
Anuj felt disgust fill him and removing his hand from her shoulder, he stood up trying to calm himself down. He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. He had never in his life loathed a person like he loathed that despicable man. As she felt the warmth of his presence leave her, she peeked through her hands to see his rigid back facing her. She felt a pang of fear clutch her. She wondered if she was wrong in sharing the details of her intimate life to him. Was he feeling disgusted at her? She had been so ashamed the day she had found out about it. To confess to him of her stupidity had taken great courage and now that it was over, she didn't have any guts left to face him. Unable to face him she whispered
"Anuj..."
Her broken whisper brought him back to the present. He rushed to her side
"Anu..."
"Anuj? Are you... are you... disgusted of... of me?"
"Anu... what... no no no..."
He engulfed her and held her tight in his strong arms
"I love you Anu... so much... how can I even dream of being disgusted? If there is anyone I am disgusted of... then it's that creep. He exploited my Anu and he will pay for it."
She snuggled closer to him drawing strength from the warmth of his embrace. He loved her inspite of her foolishness and that was all she needed. He drew a deep breath and filled his senses with her scent calming himself for her. He promised to himself that he would show her what it meant to be truly desired and that she would never be driven to desperation. He had desired her for so long and yearned for her. He looked at the clock and decided it was time she knew atleast a bit of it.
"Mohatarma..."
"Hmmm?"
"Do you remember your challenge...?"
"Huh?"
"If I welcome the new year alone with you... I get to..."
She blushed at the memory. He pulled back and pointed to the wall clock. She turned and saw the time. It was 12:01. They had entered into the new year in each other's arms.
"I have won the challenge... do I get to kiss wherever I want to?"
She lowered her eyes and he tipped her chin up making her look directly into his eyes.
"Anu look at me... Do you want to be kissed?"
"Bholuram... as if you don't know my answer is yes"
She whispered before turning away. He made her stand up and walked in front of her. Taking her hand in his, he said
"I have fantasized kissing you all over so many times... I desire you as much as I love you... want to know how much?"
She nodded her heart racing and he dropped to his knees. Leaving her hand, he gently let his fingers caress her waist. Pushing away the pallu he traced patterns around her belly button his eyes never leaving hers. As he lowered his eyes to admire what his brain told was rightfully his, she suddenly pulled back. He raised his eyebrow. She whispered
"Anuj... please...."
"Please... what?"
"Please don't look... it's... it's..."
"It's...?"
"It's not pretty..."
"Not pretty?"
She nodded and he sighed.
"Let me look, Anu... Always hidden from my sight... I have desired so much to see it... let me..."
"You may... May not like it... Three pregnancies... wrinkles, loose skin, stretch marks... its really not pretty..."
"When I said I desire you... I desire you fully.. your wrinkles, your loose skin... your stretch marks too... let me look...."
"You won't...."
"I want to Anu... I have dreamt about it... let me live my dream today... let me..."
She shut her eyes, pursed her lips and nodded. He reached out and wrapped his hand around her waist and pulled her closer to him. He slowly moved the thin fabric away and caressed her waist again. He let his eyes roam over all the places she had mentioned and his eyes darkened.
"Oh Anu... Anu... how beautiful you are..."
He let his hand touch and feel her marks longer than necessary. His touch ignited an unquenchable thirst in her. He looked at her, eyes hooded with desire and whispered
"Do you trust me enough to let me touch your precious self with my lips?"
With his breath fanning her waist, she felt herself losing more and more to him. She leaned forward and clutched his shoulder as she felt a sudden rush of warmth flood her insides. He slowly withdrew his fingers and replaced it with his lips. As she felt the warm pressure, she felt her legs give way and leant completely on him letting him completely overpower her senses. He slowly pulled back and looked up at her.
"Anu..."
She snapped her eyes open to see his eyes darkened and pupils dilated.
"I desire you.. so so much... you are so beautiful... so lovely... my Anu... mine..."
She pulled him up clutching the collars of his shirt and firmly planted her lips on his affirming his statement. His... always.
***
Precap: Mukku meets Anu and Anuj.
A/N: Hope you liked the chapter... let me know how it was. This was hard. Really hope you get what I am trying to convey. Thanks for reading
Ye Hai Mohabbatein
Cricket
