Nandini quickly kept the receiver down on hearing her mother. She badly wanted to talk to Rajesh Garewal but not in front of her family.

“Nandini!”

She started on hearing Sarojini call out again, and quickly traipsed up the stairs to her mother’s room.

“What were you doing downstairs?” Sarojini asked quizzically as she walked inside.

Nandini wavered a bit, but then decided to be honest. “I was trying to phone Rajesh uncle,” she said uncomfortably, walking over to the bed to help with the clothes.

Sarojini looked at her in astonishment. “Rajesh? But why?”

Nandini concentrated on folding one of her dresses into a neat bundle. “Nothing special…it’s just….I was missing papa,” she mumbled.

Sarojini felt like a hand had gripped her by the throat.

In the years since Siddharth’s demise, she had somehow compelled herself to get used to Prakash’s frequent questions about him. But in all this time, Nandini had never spoken about her father. For her daughter, as for her father-in-law and for Sarojini herself, Siddharth’s death was a wound that had not healed fully as yet….

Alarmed, Nandini saw her mother turn slightly pale, and instantly regretted having mentioned her father. 

She quickly kept the dress aside and knelt down on the floor in front of Sarojini.

“Nothing to get upset about, ma,” she said hastily. “I just felt like -”

“How can I not get upset? When my daughter no longer feels the need to share her thoughts and feelings with me?” Sarojini asked quietly, looking steadily into her daughter’s face.

Nandini looked at her silently for a moment, too stunned to react. Then she nervously asked, “Why – why are you saying that, ma?”

“You’ve been very upset for days now, but you won’t tell me why! You’ve hardly eaten anything in the past few days and I know you haven’t been sleeping well too! But you still insist that you are perfectly fine and expect me to believe it!” Sarojini said, sounding frighteningly close to tears now.

Horribly distressed at the gathering moisture in her mother’s eyes, Nandini swiftly tightly clasped her mother’s hands.

“Ma, please don’t cry! I’ll tell you anything you want to know,” she said desperately.

Sarojini forced back her tears and looked at her searchingly. She had to ask the question now. “Nandini, whatever I ask…you must tell me the truth. I promise…I will not scold you or react badly.”

Nandini intuitively knew what was coming…..she had been expecting this round of questioning for days, but had not been able to think of any way to tackle it….until this evening.  In some strange way, the confrontation earlier in the evening with the prince of hell had dulled her pain and fuelled the anger and determination to cut off all ties.

Sarojini hesitantly continued, “From your behaviour in the past week, I’ve been feeling like something….unusual…special…has happened in your life. And if it has, I’ll understand completely. At your age it is natural to develop – new feelings for someone,” she said gently. “If there is anything like that in your heart, don’t feel shy about telling me.”

Nandini didn’t answer for a moment. In her mind’s eye, she was seeing Prithvi walking towards the small idol, seeing him crush it ruthlessly….

With or without your consent, you’re mine until I decide to throw you out of my life….whether it happens in days or weeks or never….

“No, ma, there isn’t anything like that. I don’t like anyone in…in that way,” she said assertively.

Sarojini looked at her closely. “Nandini, you’re being honest with me, aren’t you?”

“Believe me….the only two men in my life are grandfather and Prakash,” she grinned with a small spark of her old mischievousness.

The genuineness in the words and the straightforward tone were compelling enough, but it was the stark truth in her daughter’s eyes that finally convinced her. And now it didn’t make sense to raise her concerns about her daughter’s relationship with Prithvi either. The tension that had been plaguing her for days drained out of her frame and she found it easier to breathe.

 “Then why have you been so depressed?” she asked faintly.

Nandini wordlessly rose to her feet and sat on the bed. She inched back until her back was against her wall, and then wrapped her arms around her knees.

“I had a terrible nightmare a few days ago,” she said in a small voice. “I saw that something – something was taking me away from all of you. By the time I realised that it was a monster, it was almost too late. I wanted to come back to you, but I wasn’t able to…..and when I finally managed to get back home, I saw that a part of me had already been destroyed.”

“You’re not being honest with me! I know you haven’t been so affected by nightmares since you were a little girl!” Sarojini said exasperatedly.

As tears welled up in her eyes, Nandini looked at her mother directly. “It was not the nightmare that disturbed me. I was upset because it made me realise that I still miss papa too much,” she whispered truthfully. “All the memories, all his – promises…..all that pain I’d thought I’d dealt with… all of it suddenly came back with so much force…and not just that….so many other things too.”

Unable to speak momentarily because of the tears clogging her throat, Sarojini held out her arms silently and her daughter gratefully went into her tight hug.

“Nandini, his memories should make you smile, not cry,” she said huskily. “He is watching over all of us and it would hurt him to see tears in your eyes. You’re my brave and strong girl, aren’t you?”

“I – I’m not brave or strong, ma. I’m a weak coward…. he would have been ashamed of me if he was still with us,” she wept helplessly.

Crying softly, Sarojini rocked her daughter in the loving embrace. “Don’t – don’t ever let such thoughts enter your mind again. Your father….I know the dreams he had for you and the hopes he had for the person you would become…you’ve fulfilled all of them. …. You have no idea how proud I am of you. …and he is as proud of you as I am.”

Nandini couldn’t bring herself to reply and neither of them spoke again. Sarojini held her for a long time in soothing silence, and when the tears finally stopped, Nandini slipped into sleep on her mother’s lap, finding some semblance of peace after what seemed like eons of pain.

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

Sankatmochan blankly looked at the idol that Nandini was handing over to him. He barely heard the words she mumbled as explanation. Even when she had left, he stood motionless, staring at the marble Krishna, his thoughts flying back years into a past that had left too many scars to count….to the last time he had seen Prithvi touch a piece of marble…

He was walking along the marble corridor, holding a tin of biscuits in the crook of one hand. He didn’t intend to stop before reaching the security of his own little room where he could finish all the contents of the tin in peace, but found himself stopping on seeing a thin thread of light under one of the doors on the right.

Prithvi was awake then. Well, he simple loathed sharing food, or any of his possessions, with anyone, but Prithvi was an exception. Sharing anything with his young friend somehow made him feel happier and more content. All part of the mysteries of life….

Holding the tin tight, he pushed open the door to Prithvi’s room and peeped in.

A little boy was sitting on the floor, huddled in front of the electric lamp, fully absorbed with carving an image on a small piece of marble. The statue of a little marble princess was lying next to the lamp.

“What are you doing?” Sankatmochan asked.

Startled badly, Prithvi looked up fearfully, and then sighed with relief. Even in the golden light, shadows under his bright black eyes were clearly visible, as were the faded marks of bruises on his fair, rounded cheeks. Then he grinned, and the cheeky smile lit up his sweet face, banishing all real and imaginary traces of woe.

“I’m making this for my brother!” he answered gleefully as Sankatmochan closed the door and walked into the room.

As he sat down on the floor next to his friend, Sankatmochan absentmindedly kept the tin aside and tried to determine if he was being ribbed, but the excitement and joy on Prithvi’s face was too real to be feigned.

“You’re making this for Indrajit?” he asked. “But how do you plan to give it to him? You’ve never met him before and you don’t know where he lives.”

“I’ll find out his address, I’m not worried about that,” Prithvi dismissed his concerns with a careless conviction that was just beginning to become a characteristic.

“Then what are you worried about?” Sankatmochan asked astutely.

Prithvi looked down and fiddled with the sharp implement he had been using to carve the image of the prince. “Mochi, do you think he will like and accept….my gift?” he mumbled with a tiny quaver in his voice.

Sankatmochan heard the real question behind the superficial words. Wanting desperately to reassure his small friend that he was not going to be hurt anymore, he stoutly said, “I’m sure he will love it!”

“And you,” he added compassionately in his mind.

Relieved, Prithvi looked up at him and smiled again, and then one more distressing uncertainty clouded his eyes.

“Mochi, have you managed to learn something more about him? I mean…. is my brother…..nice?” he asked anxiously.

Sankatmochan took a moment to think about his answer. From the few tit bits he had heard in the last few days, he had gotten the impression that Indrajit was snooty and mean. But if he said it, the little bit of cheerfulness in Prithvi’s eyes would also vanish, and he didn’t want that. It was true that things were much better now, but still, it had been forever since he had seen so much cheer on his friend’s face. No…he couldn’t snatch away Prithvi’s last hope of having a real family.

And who knew….wasn’t it possible that he’d misinterpreted parts of the conversation he’d overheard between the men. Maybe Indrajit really was a good person, and was only misunderstood by those around him.

He looked at his best friend’s troubled eyes that had accumulated too much pain and fear for such a young child. He nodded firmly.

“Yes, I’ve heard that your brother is a very nice and sweet person!” he lied blatantly and was rewarded with another happy grin on Prithvi’s face, before the little boy once again returned his attention to the painstaking task of carving features on the tiny face of the prince.

He had believed it to be a small lie….a harmless lie….

It had turned out to be one of the biggest mistakes of his life.

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

Nandini hopefully held up a tiny blue shirt with minuscule yellow flowers for her grandfather and mother to inspect. “This is also so cute! We have to buy it!” she begged.

“Okay, keep that along with the others,” Grandfather chuckled.

Pleased, Nandini added it to the small pile of baby clothes that they had already purchased for Manju aunty’s grandson, who was scheduled to arrive the next day.

“Nandini, if you buy any more baby clothes, we’ll have enough to start a shop ourselves,” Sarojini said laughingly.

“This is the last one!” Nandini promised and then pleadingly added, “But we also need to buy some toys for him!”

“Alright, but before that we need to go to the next shop to buy some utensils for the house!” Sarojini said.

Requesting the shop keeper to keep the clothes packed and ready while they went to the nearby store, the family left the shop and stepped onto the pavement. As her mother and grandfather began to walk towards the appliances store, Nandini paused and peered across the road.

A peddler was pushing his mobile jewellery stall across the road on the other side. She loved those stalls. They often had beautiful pieces that were sold for thrice the price in the big shops in the town.

She turned to look at her mother. Bhoothnath had gone inside the shop but Sarojini was just about to enter the store. She had already noticed her daughter’s interest in the distant stall and she smiled and gave a small nod of permission.

 Nandini grinned back and started to cross the road, but then came to a stunned halt.

It was a bustling street with innumerable big and small shops, vegetable vendors and hawkers. There were throngs of people on the sidewalks and vehicles continuously plying through the road. And still, even through all that chaos and crowd, her eyes located him as surely as if she had known he would be there right before that electronics shop to the far right of the road….at that that precise spot….

He was staring back at her with equal astonishment, frozen in the attitude of stepping out of the swanky shop. And with an odd jolt in the pit of her stomach, she realised that their eyes had collided at that very same instant in time, almost as if the contact had been orchestrated. 

Then a slightly sardonic grin spread slowly across his handsome face, and she went rigid with rage, instinctively knowing the reason for the mockery.  It was simultaneously his grim acceptance of the bewilderingly fierce attraction that pulsed between them regardless of time and space, and his mockery of her foolishness in believing that she could easily severe a bond so intense and powerful…..

Her face turned hot as blood rushed to her face, and she despaired at his continuing sway over her. But self-disgust gave her the necessary strength to deliberately turn away. Abandoning the plan to buy a few trinkets, she began to return to her family.

“Nandini!”

She froze for the second time in as many minutes at the familiar male voice. Forcing a smile onto her lips, she turned to look at Suvek’s eager and happy face as he got out of a sparkling red car.

She had already endured a rough enough time earlier in the college when she had gone to the drama club with Nishi and Rishabh. Vrinda had been diagonised with viral flu and was only expected to join college after a day or two. The three friends had been having a good enough time by themselves, discussing the two dramas and making plans to visit Vrinda, until Suvek had decided to join them rather than practice his dialogues with his co-actor. He was no longer bothering to camouflage his attraction towards her and she had just been regretting her decision to even come to college when thankfully Daya had yelled at him to pay attention and practice his lines.

“Hi Suvek,” she muttered with a smile.  “What are you doing here?”

Suvek looked at her with his heart in his eyes, helplessly admiring the beautiful kohl lined eyes, lips that were a natural rosy pink, and unblemished skin that had just the faint tinges of a blush. 

“Needed to buy some stuff for college,” he said and eagerly asked, “are you here with your family? I’ve always wanted to -” his voice trailed off suddenly, apparently seeing something terrifying just above her head.

Nandini winced slightly. She had a very good idea of what could have caused Suvek to turn pale all of a sudden. But she hadn’t been aware that he had met Prithvi before, she thought uncertainly. And yet, something apart from her own quickening heartbeat told her that nothing else could have triggered so much alarm on his expression.

She refused to look around herself and stoutly asked, “So have you finished with your shopping?”

But the answer, chill and cynical, came from somewhere behind. “No, he needs to buy painkillers for future injuries.”

Nandini turned irately, flushed but defiant. Prithvi’s cold eyes, however, were fixed on Suvek’s faintly ashen features. With deliberate intent, he came and stood very close to her, and even as she inched away rebelliously, she realised that she couldn’t really blame Suvek for becoming so nervous. The aura of dangerous strength and ruthlessness that surrounded Prithvi even at the most cordial times seemed to have magnified several times as he looked at Suvek grimly. 

Avoiding a response, Suvek looked at her bravely. “Can I drop you anywhere, Nandini?”

“You’ll be able to drive with broken legs? That’s amazing,” Prithvi said in surprise,

Suvek frowned at him in bewilderment and opened his mouth to say something, but then, as the malevolent meaning of the words sank into his brain, he turned paler.

Nandini glowered at Prithvi with escalating anger, wishing earnestly that she could have hurled something at him. But before that she needed to help Suvek who was clearly torn between scuttling away to retain his wellbeing and wanting to take a stand to create a good impression on her. She suddenly felt pity for him.

“He’s just joking, Suvek. And didn’t you say your friends are waiting for you at the hostel?” she said softly.

“What – yeah! They are!” Suvek said with profound relief. “I need to leave!”

“Yeah, run back to the hostel, and try to get into a fatal accident on the way,” Prithvi requested sincerely.

 Turning red with embarrassment, he hastily took Nandini’s leave. There was biting hate in his eyes as he looked at Prithvi before getting into his car.

“Why did you talk to him like that?” Nandini snapped irately as soon as the car had sped away.

Prithvi started to snarl back, but all of a sudden, he halted and then innocently said, “I don’t think he is the right kind of company for girls belonging to good families, like you.”

She frowned at the curious response and the abrupt change in tone and expression, but even as she began to retort, someone asked, “Who was that boy, Nandini?”

She looked around to see her grandfather coming towards her with a questioning look. He smiled warmly at Prithvi by way of greeting and then turned to his granddaughter again. 

Nandini resentfully glanced at Prithvi, now realizing the reason for his unexpected change of tack, and then looked at Bhoothnath again. 

“That was Suvek, grandpa. He’s from my college,” she said awkwardly.

Bhoothnath didn’t say anything, but there was mild disapproval on his wrinkled features as he looked in the direction in which the car had zoomed away. “Hmmmm…..your mother is still busy in that store. How much longer will you both take to finish shopping?”

“Only two more shops to buy clothes for Prakash and toys for Manju aunty’s grandson and we’ll be done,” Nandini said quickly.

“Aren’t you going to buy a dress for your birthday too?” he asked warmly.

She turned pink with discomfort as Prithvi looked at her with a pleased, astonishing tenderness, which thankfully went unnoticed by her grandfather. “Your birthday’s coming? When is it?” he asked in a completely different tone from the attitude he had displayed so far.

She started to snap that it was none of his concern but Bhoothnath had already happily answered, “After 4 days! Hmmm….if you’re not buying anything for your birthday today, can I go home with Prithvi?” he asked hopefully.

“Sure, I’ll drop you home. Wait here, I’ll get my bike,” Prithvi said.

“No, I don’t want you to go with him on the bike,” Nandini said sharply. “He speeds too much! I – I’ve seen him racing on the roads,” she ended clumsily.

“Have you ever seen me speed when there is someone with me?” Prithvi asked innocently.  

She started to reply irritably that she knew if from experience, then realized she couldn’t.

“I’m sure he’ll go slow,” Bhoothnath said stoutly, and then quickly took out a worn out purse from his pocket and forced it into her hands. “Here, take my wallet and buy all that you want! Prithvi, where is your bike? We’ll walk to it!”

Blatantly overlooking her indignant expression, he began walking away in the direction that Prithvi had indicated.

“Prithvi, you better be careful and get him home safely,” she said tersely.

“Don’t worry. I’ll drive at the same speed that your mind works,” he grinned, and then strode away leaving her spluttering with rage.

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

They were hardly out of hearing distance from her when Bhoothnath secretively asked, “Prithvi, isn’t this the same boy you had told me about? The one who is in the drama with Nandini?”

“Yes.” Prithvi answered gloomily.

“I saw him from afar, and I don’t like the look of that boy,” the old man declared.

“Don’t worry. He will not have that same face for long,” Prithvi muttered viciously.

Not hearing him, Bhoothnath worriedly continued, “I don’t want him near Nandini! Prithvi, I want you to keep an eye on him and see that he stays away from my grandchild.”

The smug smile Prithvi suppressed with great difficulty shone in his eyes as mischief.  

He looked at the fluffy old man with outward hesitation. “Your granddaughter does not like me as it is,” he said sadly. “Now if she thinks I’m….I don’t think it will go down well with her.”

“She is my granddaughter, and I will decide what is best for her!” Bhoothnath said with increasing agitation. “Please, do this as a favour to this old man,” he urged.

Conceding defeat with a great sigh, Prithvi kept a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“Ok, I’ll do it….I’ll keep him as far away from Nandini as humanly possible,” Prithvi said with almost chilling sincerity, and then kindly added, “Just for your sake.”

“God bless you!” Bhoothnath beamed. “But errr….don’t tell Nandini I’ve told you this. And if she is ever rude to you again, I’ll – I’ll try and tell her not to,” he finished meekly.

“You’ll be that harsh? I’m frightened for her now,” Prithvi said sarcastically.

“I’ve never been able to be strict with her,” Bhoothnath said shamefacedly. “And if she comes to know I’ve asked you to….She rarely loses her temper, but when she does….sometimes I feel she has inherited her grandmother’s temper, which could make the bravest men cower in fear,” Bhoothnath said glumly.

“That explains a lot about your hair,” Prithvi mused, and with a regretful sigh, he raked hard fingers through his own luxuriant, jet black mane.

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

Sankatmochan knocked at the door to Prithvi’s room and gently nudged open the door to see Prithvi rolling up the sleeves of the pure white kurta.  He turned around at the sound of the door opening and casually asked, “Where have you been since morning? Baba has been grumbling about the excess food he’d prepared for you.”

“You made this, didn’t you?” Sankatmochan asked unsteadily, holding out the minitature Krishna in the palm of his pudgy hand. 

Prithvi looked at it and something tautened in his expression.

Sankatmochan hurriedly said, “She eerrrmm she said that – she -”

“Doesn’t matter,” Prithvi muttered, “Throw it away, Mochi.”

“But it is beautiful! When…and where did you make it? I didn’t see you working on it here.”

“Found a shop that sells marble sculptures in the town. It had a workshop behind it. The owner took me inside, and I selected a rough piece and worked on it,” Prithvi said briefly.

“It is the splitting image of the one that you – I mean, the one that got destroyed,” Sankatmochan tweaked hastily. “But you had barely seen the original for a few seconds!”

“It was enough,” he dismissed, then paused and quietly added, “She didn’t like it.”

“That’s only her anger talking! And did you even tell her you made it yourself?” Sankatmochan asked exasperatedly.

“No, and keep your fat mouth shut about it….because it is not going to make any difference,” Prithvi said tersely. 

“She’s upset right now, but when she’ll know that you’ve made it yourself, it will surely - ”

“10 years ago it didn’t work with my own brother. I shouldn’t have expected anything different this time,” Prithvi shrugged indifferently.

Sankatmochan stared at him in amazement, confounded by the nonchalance with which he had spoken of that traumatic incident in the past. As though Indrajit had only politely refused the gift and sent him back home safe and sound…...

Then he cautiously asked, “So what are you going to do now?”

Prithvi raised his brows. “What makes you think I’m going to do anything? She has taken a decision and I respect that,” he said seriously. “Now go downstairs and eat up everything you can and wipe away Baba’s tears of joy,” he grinned.

Leaving Sankatmochan absolutely stunned, he left the room and started to go downstairs, then stopped and looked towards the stairway leading to the terrace.

Well…it was worth a try….

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

Nandini kept the drama’s script aside on the straw mat, lost in a swirl of thoughts. She had started reading the script in strong sunlight and now it was almost dusk. She stood up and walked over to the ledge of the terrace and looked out at the pretty scenery. People returning to their houses after their work places, mothers calling out to their children to return home immediately,

At the start, she had only felt amusement at the corny lines and relief that she wouldn’t have to spout the atrociously melodramatic dialogues on stage. And her respect for the young girl who was enacting the main role along with Suvek with so much sincerity had increased hundredfold.

But somewhere along the line, in the middle of the heroine’s monologue on her love, the amusement had slowly disintegrated and the sick, leaden feeling had returned to her chest.  

This was the definition of love that children grew up with….they made their way into maturity trusting it to be a pure and joyful emotion….free of darkness, free of shadows….

But love wasn’t like that….

It wasn’t free of darkness, it was full of it. It was an affliction that could destroy your soul…a gruesome creature that could drag you down to murky, terrifying depths you hadn’t even known existed.

Darkness, shadows, despair and pain….these were the elements of love….

As tears blurred her vision, she wrapped her arms around herself.

He found her like that. A slender figure standing at a corner of the terrace, hugging herself while being enveloped in the dimming light of the setting sun, gazing down into the picturesque locality.

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

Nandini squeezed her eyes shut at the familiar sensation. She didn’t find it surprising that he should come here now, and bitterly cursed the strange, gravitational force that continued to draw them towards each other.

But why….why did he have to come at this moment, when she was feeling too hurt and vulnerable to gather anger or strength to lash out at him like she wanted to.  

“Go away,” she whispered listlessly, unwilling to turn around for fear that he would see the dampness in her eyes and deem it as just another sign of her weakness.

As seconds ticked past, she waited and hoped that he would leave her alone. Her voice had broken even while uttering those two words. Couldn’t he understand and leave without making her feel like a fool for going to pieces in front of him…. 

Prithvi silently moved forward, and before she could react, his arms were curling gently around her waist, and his head was nestled in the curve of her neck.

Infuriated, she tried to push his hands away in anger, but his fingers closed around her arms in a warm but firm grip, forcing her struggles to subside.

“Why won’t you stay away from me?” she demanded, and then cringed inwardly on realizing that the unsteadiness in her voice had made it sound like a plea more than an aggressive question.

“I can’t,” he admitted with genuine regret.

Furious, she looked back at him. He grinned and brushed his lips caressingly against an anger-reddened cheek. It was a seemingly innocuous act, but it sent a disturbingly pleasant shiver right down to her toes. 

“Don’t do that!” she said heatedly, feeling humiliated by her weakness, and tried again to draw away from him. “Let me go!”

“No,” he refused coolly.

When she glared around at him, he smiled irresistibly again. She saw overwhelming stubbornness and willpower in that smile, and briefly felt incapable of combating that strength.

Despairing of his obstinacy, she looked away and stopped fighting for the moment, knowing that it would only add to his amusement if she continued to resist. But she refused to relax against his reassuring warmth….refused to give in to the soothing effect of being cuddled so tenderly and the feel of his cheek resting warmly against hers.

 When several minutes had gone past, he softly said, “I’m sorry I didn’t know your birthday was so near.”

Nandini hands turned into fists as she breathed hard to restrain her temper, and then she twisted around in his arms. She faced him with withering contempt, keeping her coiled fists braced solidly against his chest to keep as much distance between them as she could. 

“Is that the only thing you don’t know about me?”

Still holding her close, Prithvi looked down at her flushed face and blistering eyes with a mix of confusion and uneasiness. Because though her tone was light, her voice had been quiet enough to warn him that he had just stepped into a minefield….

 “What do you really know about me? About my past? My childhood?” she asked grimly. “Do you know what colours I like? Which books I love? My favourite food? The season I love the most?” she demanded passionately.

Startled as he was by the unexpected nature of the offensive, his mind still instantly offered a million responses – sarcastic and otherwise.

He asked his mind to shut up and concentrated on keeping his lips sealed shut, as pure male instinct told him that even attempting a reply to any of her questions would be nothing short of fatal.

“No – you know nothing! I know nothing much about you too, but only because you didn’t want me to! You don’t know anything about me because you never bothered to find out. So please stop acting like you care! Whatever relationship we had is over in my eyes. So why won’t you just let me go?” she blazed wildly.

“I can’t let you go because -,” he hesitated, looking extremely uncomfortable.

Despite knowing that nothing he said would make a difference, she found herself waiting….

He sighed and continued, “ - because I haven’t gotten as far with you as I’d like,” he confessed seriously

Blinding rage roared through her. She wasn’t aware that she had lashed out….she only knew that if she had a knife in her hand at that moment she would have plunged it into his heart without a second’s hesitation.

Prithvi laughed and caught her arm before it had even risen fully. The shock of that beautiful sound, which she had only heard once before, caused her to still temporarily. Then the amusement faded slowly from his eyes, leaving only an intense softness and some other infinitely powerful emotion as they lingered on her angry features. And suddenly, out of nowhere, she felt swamped with immense guilt….as though she was doing a terrible wrong….

And as if to worsen her uncertainty, without breaking the mesmeric effect of his gaze, he pressed his lips caressingly against the smooth skin on the back of the hand.

Even the mild touch scorched her skin, and Nandini violently yanked her hand out of his grasp. She hurriedly began to walk away, but he caught her arm lightly and tugged her back towards himself.

 “What do you want for your birthday?” he asked softly, cradling her face with one hand.

Just as she was about to retort that she wanted him to get out of her life, his thumb delicately grazed against the angry pout on her lips, silencing her instantly. 

Imprisoning her confused gaze with the compelling sincerity in his own, he quietly said, “I’ll give you anything but that.”

Incensed, she hit his arm away from her face, but didn’t challenge his assumption, crossly aware that he had known the gist of what she had been about to say.

“But I don’t want anything else from you,” she said rigidly.

“You won’t accept anything of my choice, so I guess I’ll just have to take you along to buy your gift,” he said thoughtfully.

She looked up at him in absolute disbelief. “Are you insane?! I am not going to accept anything from you, leave alone accompany you to buy it,” she said hostilely.

“If you’re worried about your family’s reaction, I’ll go and ask them for permission,” he said reassuringly.

“Don’t you dare!” she yelped, aghast. “I don’t want you to buy anything for me! Why can’t you just give me some peace of mind!” she cried distraughtly.

“You can have all the peace of mind you want as long as it is in my arms,” he consoled, and grinned as she stared at him with incredulous fury, and then stormed away, slamming the door on her way out and locking it from the inside with enough force to make it audible to him.

“This is turning out to be more fun than I thought,” Prithvi mused and he laughed again.

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