Divya

"What should I wear to your parent's house, I know I said yes but now I am scared," I asked Andrew as I was on a ferry coming back from the Statue of Liberty.

Man! that's a freaking huge statue and a fascinating one. We have been pretty much on the roads of New York since the morning.

"We can still back out, if you are scared we probably shouldn't go," Andrew told me with an evil smile.

I don't know what's with him and his father, he is the only person that makes Andrew angry. I don't know his story completely but I hope they make up. I wish for him to have every happiness, I see him craving parental love whenever we are with Ana and Vasudha Aunty. If me pushing myself out of my comfort zone gives him that, so be it.

"Nah! I feel better now. We will go."

I turned around enjoying the surroundings and the ferry ride. I love New York, these skyscrapers, the people, the food, and everything. This place reminds me of India, full of people and sounds. There is no quiet moment in here.

We went out to the Empire State Building and Brooklyn Bridge in the morning. And then we bought some food from the food trucks.

And last night after we got back home, we went to this place called Insomnia Cookies and this morning to Levain Bakery. Their desserts are just amazing, I might have put on a few pounds here.

We planned to go visit another place but Andrew had some work come up and we had to come back home as Andrew had some work to do.

"Amar, stop moving around. And let me put your pants on." I asked my son who's been running around without his pants for the last 30 minutes.

We are going to Andrew's parent's house for Dinner in an hour and he refuses to wear any clothes and is throwing a tantrum.

Amar ran out from our room to the living room to Andrew who was working seriously for the last two hours.

"Little man, go put your pants on. You do want to meet Hannah right?" Andrew asked Amar who was sitting on Andrew's laptop which is now closed shut.

"You do it, Andy."My son asked him sitting giving his pants from my hand.

I don't why but Amar prefers Andrew to do things if he is in the house, maybe he is already bored of his poor old mother or he just likes Andrew more.

"Don't get jealous of us," Andrew said zipping Amar up and I rolled my eyes at him and walked away to change.

I wore and full-sleeve blouse and black pants brushed my hair, put on light makeup, and got out of my room.

Andrew wore a regular shirt and pants and a leather jacket on top, whenever he is with his father I think he feels like a rebellious teenager trying to protest everything his father says. Let's see how it goes today.

Amar is all dressed up and sitting on Andrew's lap watching TV in the living room munching on some cookies we bought last night in sync. They always amaze me, how can two different people act so much similar? They look like father and Son.

"Let's go, people! We are already late." I yelled disturbing their little party.

We all walked out and found the driver waiting already by his vintage Car a 1939 Alfa Romeo.

Andrew is freaky rich, as in he is a complete trust fund kid. His father has business all over the world, he does imports and exports and he has planes, ships, and whatnot. I for one thought, Global Tech was the only source of his income. He is always down to earth,  I got completely fooled by his appearance.

"And starts the nightmare of my life," Andrew mumbled grabbing my attention.

We all got out of the car and walked to this huge mansion of a house. So huge that it took 4 minutes to drive from the gate to the house. All the other houses in the world look like trash compared to this one here. It's humongous.

Amar is in Andrew's arms, so I had to ring the bell and Andrew has a big scowl on his face, like a kid when I make Amar drink milk without any mix added to it.

Doesn't he look cute?

So cute that I just want to pull his cheeks and kiss him.

Really kiss him.

What's wrong with me?

Ever since that dance with him, I started to have these weird feelings to touch him, feel him, breathe his musky lemon scent. I want to be with him all the time.

"Hello Dear! Come on in." Madeleine said with a smile opening the door and looking at us.

While a maid came by and took all our coats, if the outside of this house is humongous, the inside is magnificent. This feels like a freaking palace.

"HANNAH!" Amar wiggled out of Andrew's arms and ran to her.

Hannah held Amar's hand and they both ran away from my vision before I could warn my son to not make a mess.

"Careful Hannah!" A loud voice came in making me look in that direction and it was Theodore looking at his daughter.

"Welcome, Divya! Andrew." Theodore said looking at us.

"Father!" Andrew nodded looking at him and I gave him a small smile feeling the awkwardness in the situation.

Andrew looks like he is ready to run away any second given the chance. I held his hand and dragged him along with me to the living room.

"Hannah loved Amar! She kept talking about him all night." Madeleine said changing the topic.

"Amar came here so he could meet Hannah. Apparently, he had too much fun last night." I replied while the father and son kept staring at each other.

Oh boy! We need a machete to cut the tension in this room.

"You have a nice home, Theodore!" I complimented to stop them from glaring at each other.

"Thanks, Dear! How's work going on Drew?"

"It's fine"

That's it, it's fine. I pinched his hand which is in mine and signaled him to interact more.

"How's your day? Father!" Andrew spew the last word like it was a sin to call him that.

"Sir! Mam! The food's ready." A lady came in and announced.

This going to be a really rough night.

"Mia, can you call in Hannah and Amar too?" Madeleine asked getting up from the chair.

We all got up and reached their dining table filled with all sorts of Indian food.

"I didn't know what you like. And Andrew didn't tell me anything when I asked him about your preferences." Madeleine told me looking at my shocked face.

"I told you anything is fine Madeleine. You didn't have to make all these. Divya is not picky at all." Andrew told her while she smiled at him. That's true I am not picky when it comes to food.

We all settled in our chairs, Andrew and me on one side, Theodore and Madeleine on the other.

"Mama! Look at this chocolate, It's soooo big." Amar ran to me with a big bar of Toblerone in his hands.

"Amar, that's not a nice thing to do baby! Give it back to Hannah."

How do I control this boy of mine? He is a sugar freak.

"It's okay Divya. I got it for him." Hannah smiled and said to me sitting in Theodore's lap.

"So, you are the infamous Amar!" Theodore asked looking at Amar, he shyly snuggled into my neck.

"I'm sorry, he is never shy around people. Amar say hi to Theodore, that's Andrew and Hannah's, papa." I told him and Amar turned around and smiled at Theodore.

We all started to eat, with small conversations between me and Madeleine. Hannah and Amar had their dinner real quick as they wanted to go play.

"Drew! I am planning to retire and I would like you to take over the company." Theory said cutting his steak with a knife.

"I will not do it." He said nonchalantly.

"What do mean by that? Do you like working under Jameson too much?" His father asked him stressing about Jameson.

Doesn't he like Jameson? He talked to him nicely yesterday, right?

"I meant what I said. I will not do it. I'd rather work under Jamie than take over your company" Andrew said and pushed his plate away.

"This is not another game of yours Drew! I am your father, You owe me this much. Who do you think paid for your Rehab visits, don't get me started on the drugs? Did Jameson pay all those?"

What is he talking about? Andrew was into drugs? Was this the bad phase of his life Andrew never talks about? What is happening here? I sat there completely clueless while the conversation was getting out of hand.

"Really you paid for my Rehab, right? How many times did I get into rehab? Just answer me that."  Andrew asked letting out a humorous-less chuckle.

"Once," Theodore said with confidence while Madeline shook her head disagreeing with her husband.

His answer made Andrew furious, so furious that it scared me to look at him like that.

"That's how fucking much you know me. I went to Rehab 5 times, and yes Jameson paid for all of them. Jameson was the one who helped me to a hospital when I overdosed. Did you even know that I had to get brain surgery to stop my addiction? And yes Jameson, Shaurya, and Ana were there not you. How would you know? When you were busy replacing my own mother, who apparently meant nothing to you? I owe you nothing! You stopped being my father the day mom died. You don't have any right to ask me to do anything for you."He yelled and started walking away from the table.

I looked at Theodore who has tears in his eyes, did he really not know his son's problems? Was he really that ignorant? I wanted to punch him for hurting Andrew.

"Excuse me!" I told them and walked away from the dining table.

I looked at Andrew who was running out of the house. I tried to catch up with him but I couldn't keep up with my small little steps.

"Andrew! Andrew! Wait up."

He stopped at my words and turned around, his eyes filled with anger and tears, jaws clenched, fists tightened.

"This is why I didn't want to come here Divya, I didn't want you to see this side of me.." He said and punched in the air.

He is in pain, and I couldn't watch him like that.

"I was not the man you think I am, I was scared that if you knew my past you wouldn't let me near you and Amar. I love you Divya! I was scared that you would push me away as my father did. I didn't mean to hide things from you." He said with tears in his eyes trying to put out his words.

He is still worried about me? Why do you keep me on such a high perch Andrew? Why?

I held his hand and pulled him to the nearest bench and made him sit there and I sat on my knees in front of him.

"You still are the man I think you are, no one can change the way I feel about you, Andrew." I told holding his hands and squeezing them assuring him.

"All I wanted was for him to tell me that it's okay to miss her, stand by me and say that I am here for you son! But he was never there, Divya. I miss my mom so much, that I didn't know how to stop myself from missing her. So I got into drugs and alcohol. I was a mess, I did so many things to grab his attention, so he can yell at me, and tell me that I am on the wrong path. He didn't care enough for me. He never cared."

We all are broken in our own ways. But seeing him helpless, longing for love like that ached my heart.

"Within a year he got Madeleine as a replacement for my mother, I thought he loved my mom. Yet there he was happily moving on and I couldn't take it. So I fought for my mom's place but I lost and ran away from him and his family." Andrew said trying to push his tears back in.

Every bone in my body is screaming in pain looking at Andrew like that, vulnerable and in pain.

"Why...Why do I always love the people who can't love me back Divya? What is wrong with me? Am I not worthy of love? Why Divya...Why?" He asked me with tears falling out of his eyes.

I wanted to stop him from saying that, There are so many people in this world who love Andrew and my son is the president of that club. I had to do something to end his pain and tears which are breaking my heart into pieces.

I have to tell him how I feel about him, I can't keep him hanging.

So, I just pulled him by his shirt collar, closer to my face, and placed my warm lips on his cold ones, feeling the wetness of his tears on my cheeks, shocking myself and him.

That is the first kiss I ever initiated in my life.

He was taken back at first, but regained his composure quickly and responded by pulling me closer claiming my mouth as I parted my lips and welcomed him.

My heart started pounding out of my chest. I felt a wave of warmth curling over my toes, a tingling sensation passing through my body as he wrapped his arms around me.

I tried to calm my racing heart but it was pointless. My knees went weak and gave up on me, making me land on my butt, breaking our kiss and leaving me breathless.

"I am not good with words like you are Andrew. But the truth is I like you...I like you a lot more than I ever thought I could. And It scares me, to be honest, I am scared that something will happen and It will screw up what we have...You are the best thing that happened to me in a really long time and I don't want anything bad to happen to us." I said pushing my hair behind my ear, biting my lips looking at him listening to me observing my every movement in happiness.

"I might have not said it out loud but I've fallen pretty damn hard for you. I love you, Andrew William Jones, I love you. " I confessed making him smile and ending his pain.

He slid down from the bench and sat on the ground before me, he held my hands and leaned forward closing in each and every inch between us making me feel like a bowl of jello all over again.

He paused near my lips, making my heart jump in anticipation of his next move.

"I love you too Divya! You made me the happiest man in this world today. I fucking love you.." He whispered leaving goosebumps all over my body and kissing me again.

This time, he claimed my mouth with intense hunger until my whole body gave in, his soft cold lips spread radiating heat all over my body as if time has stopped right there.

His hand was on the back of my head, and the kiss became slow and tender reassuring me that it was going to be better. It was like we were getting to know each other on an intimate level.

I was breathless and overwhelmed with all these new sensations taking over my body.

"Damn you, Lungs! I wish I could stop this moment and cherish it forever ." He mumbled breaking our kiss and making me smile.

He leaned his forehead against mine, taking in all the air we could get.

"Thank you for loving me back. I might be too late to be your first love but I'll do anything to be your last." He said after catching his breath, brushing my cheeks gently with his thumb and making my skin burn with the heat his touch gave me.

"Andrew! Can I tell you something?"

"Mm...Hmm" He mumbled nuzzling into my neck.

"Forgive your father," I said and he moved away from me and I saw anger, and pain in his eyes once again. But this time I was scared looking at him.

I closed my eyes waiting for the pain to hit my face.

Did I expect him to hit me?

"Why Divya? Why should I?" He asked me slowly in a calm voice and pulled me into his lap.

He didn't hit me, he didn't even raise his voice at me.

All his anger vanished into thin air when I looked at him, his eyes just showed undivided attention to what I had to say.

"You lost your mother, but your father lost the love of his life Andrew, that must've been pretty devastating and you know that he is not exactly expressive kind. He started loving Madeleine, but that doesn't mean he stopped loving your mother. I know he wasn't there for you when you needed him but he is trying now. Don't push him back, Let him in. You need this closure Andrew or else you will always be stuck in that same void and miss him out for the rest of your life. Do you think your mother would be happy to see you both like this?"

"I don't know Divya, but I will try for today because I am too happy to argue with you," I said and kissed me on my head with a smile on his face.

"Let's go in then," I said trying to get out of his hold.

"Let me enjoy this moment Divya, Don't move." He said holding me tighter. I smiled at his aloofness, he is like a baby clinging to his favorite toy.

"We have our whole life ahead of us to this, for now, let's go in before we freeze to death," I said and pulled him up while he sulked like a baby walking with me.

As we were walking into the house back again, we found Theodore and Madeline walking out towards us.

"Be nice," I whispered to him and walked out with Madeleine leaving both father and son in the same room.

So, how was it? Tell me you liked it.

Did you like the way Divya expressed her love?

I hope you enjoyed it.

This is the surprise I had for you in New York, Sorry if you wanted Jay to come back. If I had the powers I would never bring him back.

Don't forget to vote and comment.

Love,

Sneha