Never Say Goodbye Final Part and Link to New SS - Page 37

He hadn't said a word since she came back. He had simply lounged on the sofa, giving her brooding looks, when he thought she was not looking.

When she did look at him, he averted his gaze and continued to look outside the window.

To say that she found his behavior puzzling would be an understatement.

It made her apprehensive.

Had she hurt him a lot?

Had he taken her refusal for a future with him too hard?

Was he just sulking?

Or was he just being plain difficult?

Suspiciously she glanced at him again. He was still unnaturally quiet.

She had to get him to speak.

Hmmm. Lunch is served,' Khushi announced.

'I am not hungry,' he said and looked away.

'Arnav you don't have choice. You have to eat or your sugar level will drop,' she pleaded as if to a child.

'So let it drop?' he told her peevishly and irritated her further by sprawling himself on the couch with his arms behind his head.

'I don't believe this. Just because you are in a bad mood, you are going to skip lunch? How old are you?' Khushi said, annoyed with him for neglecting his health.

'It's my health and my issue. 10 days from now, you won't care what I do or what I eat and whether I eat or not. So, stop fussing,' he said and went back to looking into space.

Khushi counted till 10. Her patience level was thinning. He was behaving worse than one of the children in the orphanages she worked in.

She came and stood beside the couch, her arms on her hips, ''Arnav Singh Raizada, you are twenty eight. Not eight. Now, stop behaving like a child,' she glowered down at him.

In a matter of seconds, Khushi found herself sprawled on top of him on the couch, her face close to his, her body plastered to his lithe one, in an odd angle due to the fall.

'So I am a child am I?' he asked, turning on his full seductive charm.

Khushi licked her lips nervously and she said 'I meant'umm---you were behaving like one---'

'So, you want me to behave like an adult?' he asked her, bringing her head closer to his, with his hand buried in her hair.

'No. I never said that---I just wanted you to eat'' she said.

'And what if I say I want to eat you?' he asked her, raising an eyebrow, his voice huskier.

'I ---umm---we need to go and eat---'she mumbled, trying to raise herself on an elbow. But Arnav had an iron grip on her waist.

'No. I am not hungry for food. I told you' he said, bringing her head close.

The years of yearning for each other, the deep love they felt for each other and the cozy atmosphere they were in, acted as catalysts for what followed.

As his lips brushed hers, tenderly at first and passionately next, they lost all sense of time and place.

She gave all the love she felt for him in the kisses and he returned the love with equal fervor.

7 years he had dreamed of holding her again, wanting to know if he had imagined all the things with her, due to youth and inexperience.

7 years later and with all the experience he had, he could still feel the same purity, innocence, beauty and soulful fulfillment with the only woman who ruled his heart and thoughts.

7 years she had denied herself even the thought of what it felt to be in his arms. She had shunned those thoughts due to a deep sense of shame and immorality. But today, being in his arms and being kissed by him, she was only aware of one fact-she was a woman again----

It's as if the floodgates of their emotions had opened, as they kissed and nibbled and touched and explored.

Neither of them were able to control themselves as they gave in to the pent up emotions.

Khushi was so lost in the passion, that she never stopped him as he fumbled with the buttons of her shirt and it came open.

It was only when his hands found her chest she suddenly came back to senses. 'No Arnav,' she said pushing his hands away.

'Khushi, sweetheart, what's wrong?' Arnav asked, still too drugged with the passion to let her go.

'No. I can't make the same mistake again. I won't let you call me a tramp again,' she said pulling her shirt together and trying to move away.

'Do you want to live in the past all your life Khushi? What we shared just now was beautiful. Will you let my actions and my harsh words deprive you of the joy of experiencing something beautiful?' he asked, deeply hurt by her actions.

Khushi did not reply, but continued to struggle to get up, while he held on, determined to get to the bottom of this. 'I was 21 Khushi. I was in pain. I said a lot of things. I did not know what you were. Today, having seen the world and having experienced life, I can guarantee that I have never met a woman with higher morals and principles. Khushi don't let the past stop us from having a beautiful future,' he pleaded.

She lay quietly in his arms, feeling his erratic heartbeats, feeling the warmth of his arms around her, feeling that the whole world was perfect and beautiful---didn't she want the same thing he wanted? This beautiful emotion they shared? How many were lucky enough to find it in their lifetime? Should she waste such a God given chance to be with the man who still ruled her heart? Did tomorrow matter? She wanted to live now.

Suddenly she raised he hand and touched his cheek 'I have lived with these thoughts and self hatred for 7 years thinking I must be wrong to sleep with you and betray my parents and then what you said deepened the guilt.

But to be honest, today, being back in your arms, I again feel this world is beautiful and I would rather be in your arms all day---Though can't let you proceed with anything else can you please just hold me ?' she ended shyly, lowering her eyes burying her face in his chest.

Joy shot through every fiber in his body, as he held her close to him. He had wanted to get close to her, to break her barriers. But he hadn't planned what had followed. It was then he thought, did tomorrow matter when today she was in his arms and said she wanted to be there?

A line he had read, long back from Robert Browning's Last Ride Together came floating back to his mind'

'I and my lady, side by side

Shall be together----,

So, one day more am I deified.

Who knows but the world may end to-night?

Precap:

'I hope you remember me?' he said looking at her directly.

'Yes. Of course. You are Arnav's father.'