"I'm trying hard to forget you but my

Empty walls won't let me let you go

When you took it all, you forgot

Your shadow"

Shadow – Sam Tsui

Neil's POV

I fell into a dreamless stupor soon after we talked, I guess, because when I first regained consciousness, sunlight was blinding me. I managed to crack an eye open to see that the room was flooded with sunlight. It was obviously past early morning.

That wasn't the shocker.

The shocker was that I wasn't on the couch where I had set myself up the previous night after that stinging blow to my face. I was in the bed I had begrudgingly given up to Dhati, and she was sleeping soundly right next to me, half a foot away. She was on her side, facing me. The bandage on her head was hidden in her tousled hair, and her sprained wrist lay on the pillow next to her head, quite close to me.

The sun rays played with her dark hair, coloring them a hazel brown. Her features had softened in sleep, and with no worry marring them, she looked breathtaking. Her mouth was slightly open as she slept like a baby, without a care in the world.

I had seen her asleep before, back at the cabin. That was when I had realised that I liked her. When I looked at her now, I wanted to protect her. She made me feel like I could.

I shifted my weight slightly to turn towards her, and she twitched. I stilled immediately, and raised my hand to brush her hair away to check if the stitch on her head was okay. She twitched again, and I froze, but she opened her eyes before I could withdraw my hand.

With scrunched up eyes, she looked at me blankly for a few moments, disoriented.

"What are you doing in the bed?"

This lady really laid on the romance thick, I tell you.

"I don't know, I woke up here" I deadpanned.

"I'm pretty sure we didn't do anything."

Yes, she's right out of a romance novel.

"You have a bashed in head, sprains everywhere, and I have a bruised jaw" I snorted, "I know we didn't do anything."

She stared back sleepily, processing all the information. I brushed away her hair and raised myself on an elbow to take a look at the bandage. It looked fine to me. Her sleepiness had reduced a bit by the time I settled back into the pillow.

"Well. Good morning, then" I looked at her incredulously to see a smile on her face.

"A good morning because we didn't do anything?" I was surprisingly bitter for someone who had just woken up.

"No, silly" she chuckled sleepily, "It's a good morning because I actually woke up next to someone without a regret!"

I managed a small smile and simply watched her. She finished with her giggling and her eyes turned serious, but the residual smile never left her face. She lay right there, half a foot away from me, facing me.

Suddenly, she raised her uninjured left hand and touched my jaw. I flinched a bit, it was hell sore.

"That bad, huh" she murmured, eyes fixed on the bruise that I was sure had turned purple.

"Knocked it out of the park" I joked lightly.

"And you're still here." She finally looked up.

"Yeah...I'm not going anywhere..." I stifled a yawn.

Unexpectedly, she leaned in for a chaste peck on the lips. My sleepy eyes flew open as she held me in place by the back of my head.

"I...uh...morning breath..." I managed a tremulous laugh when she broke away.

"So?" up went an eyebrow, "Everyone's got it."

I didn't know what to say.

"We are going to get married right?" she asked.

"Yes" I replied with conviction, "We are."

She thought for a while.

"Do you like me at all?"

"I care about you" I said softly, looking into the deep brown pools of emotion that were her eyes. I wondered what was making her mind travel in so many different directions this soon after waking up. Her every question dealt with a different topic.

"I care about you too." She whispered back, "So much... I just don't know how to solve all this mess. How to finish up with all this and start a new life...I don't know."

"It doesn't get over in one day."

"It's like I'm stuck in a patch of quicksand, Neil" her voice was shaking, "No matter how hard I try to get out, it manages to drag me back in."

Her hand was back on my cheek, and worry marred her eyes again. My hand inched onto her waist and I held her close. She burrowed into my chest and I rested my head on hers.

"There's only one way out of a quicksand, Dhati" I murmured into her hair.

"And what's that?"

"You lean into it, and pray that you float."

**

Arundhati's POV

He made sense, of course. If there is one thing I didn't totally love about Neil, it was his unfailing way to be correct about everything. Not right, but correct, if you get my drift. He wasn't unscrupulous from any angle. And sometimes, you want your partner to be as mortal as you.

Sigh.

But of course, he made sense to me, and I decided that I would have that one dreaded conversation with Michael. Lord knows it had been pending for the last three years.

There was no one to be found by the time we finally went down to have breakfast. I managed to hunt out Martha, who, in turn, managed to put up a breakfast on toast, tea and some eggs in record time. Neil went back to our room after that, saying he had a ton of pending work left to sort out, and I let him. At least one of us should have a job by the time this mess was over. Lord knows what the status of mine was.

So I called Penny, and got my work delegated. She was horrified by my situation, of course, but I cut the call before the scolding started. I couldn't take any more preaching. I called my boss, begged for a week off, saying I was in the hospital, and she was surprisingly accommodating.

Finally, I mustered up courage and called my bhabhi. She picked up on the second ring, even before I had time to mumble in a prayer.

"Dhati?" High pitch. Shit. I'm in trouble here too.

"Yes bhabhi, it is I" I tried to laugh.

"Amma, Ashok, Papa-ji, it is Dhati on the phone!"

Oh holy crap. She was going to put me on speakerphone.

"Tell us" bhabhi was breathing heavily, "Tell us everything. Don't you dare leave anything out!"

So I did. From the LA job, to the part where Neil was sick, to the proposal, the night with Penny and the mugging, and of course, how Michael had come back. There is no such thing as a shocked silence or a dignified silence when it comes to my family. Everyone has a habit of talking together.

Mother: "You should've just given the ring..."

Brother: "That bastard PROPOSED TO YOU?"

Father: "I cannot believe that man came back again! When will he stop ruining my daughter's life?"

Bhabhi: "How's George? Is he still as cute?

Brother: "Why did you SAY YES?"

Father: "You told us you divorced that man!"

Mother: "Please tell me you didn't do anything with him..."

Bhabhi: "Are your sprains better?"

Brother: "I will find you a BETTER MAN!"

Mother: "Beta, come back home!"

Father: "Can you get a restraining order against him?'

I took the phone away from ear and stared at it, amused. Yes, they cared. Of course they cared, but they had a bloody weird way of showing concern, I tell you.

"Listen...Listen..."I managed to calm them down, "How about I call up tomorrow again? Or later this evening? I have some work left... yeah? Yeah? Okay, bye!"

I cut the call before anyone else could edge in a word, and sighed. I had a zoo to back to, but at least I would have Neil "the Correct" zookeeper with me when I did go back home.

**

This time, I knocked before I entered Michael's home office. One shock had been enough to scar me for a lifetime, and I didn't need a repeat.

Michael was on his desk when I peeked in. I noticed the sheaf of papers in front of him, and the glass of scotch at hand. It wasn't even eleven in the morning.

"Come on in" he grated out dourly before he looked up and saw my face. His expression blanked out momentarily, before he stood up and beckoned me in.

"I need to talk to you, Mickey" I said softly as I walked in and took a seat opposite him on the table.

He looked at me quizzically, his expression growing troubled.

"I am going to get married to Neil soon, Mickey" I started. He opened his mouth to object, but I put up my hand, "Let me say my piece, I've been wanting to say this for a while now. I am very grateful to you for that night. Your spies literally saved my life, and for that I'll always be grateful."

"It's nothing" he spoke softly, dejection evident in his eyes.

"Please don't have me followed again. Don't stalk me."

"I don't"  he sighed, "I've deployed them to make sure you're safe. They don't report back to me."

"Bullshit" I called him out, "They told you about Seth. You used them to beat up my fiancé back then, because of which we broke up."

Michael blanched at my words, proving my accusation correct.

"He was a depressed wierdo." Michael refused to meet my eyes.

I had had it.

"Michael" I spoke softly, but I was mighty pissed and he knew it, "I am a depression patient."

"And you won't be if you were still with me!" anger flashed in his eyes.

"Wrong" I cut in, "I fell in depression because of something neither of us could change, and you know it."

"I have always loved you, Hattie" he pleaded, reaching for my hand.

"I loved you too, Mickey" I sighed, "But I cannot stay with you knowing that you slept with... someone else behind my back. I...I can't."

"I can't help my orientation" he was rubbing his face vigorously, as if it would wake him up from this nightmare.

"I'm not asking you to do anything about it...maybe find someone who is comfortable with it." I sighed, "I'm not okay with it, Mickey, and that's a personal thing."

"So that's it?" he laughed harshly, mirthlessly, "You're giving me the 'its not you, it's me' talk."

"It is what it is, Mickey" I said quietly, "I'm not okay with sharing."

"Do I not deserve love just because of my orientation?" Mickey seemed close to cracking, "Is this what I get for something I can't help?"

"Mickey..." I pressed his hand once, "You deserve love, you do. Someday, you'll find a partner who loves you so much...so much that you'll be scared to lose them. They'll fill your world with hope, give you courage to face your demons. When you look at their face, you'll realise that 'this is it'. Hold on for that, Mickey."

He stared at me silently, his eyes troubled. I rubbed his palm, looking out of the windows near his desk. I didn't know how I would ever face him again.

"He...makes you...feel like this?" Michael spoke suddenly.

"Like what?" I turned towards him.

"Like what you said...that they fill your world with hope...he makes you feel like that?"

"Neil?" I asked, startled.

"Yes" he was observing my face closely.

I thought about it for a moment.

"He does" I said.

"You're not sure about it?"

"I am. I just wonder if I need him more than he needs me" I spoke without thinking, "I kept giving him chances to leave, to say that we don't need to see each other again, but he didn't. He stuck right by me, although he didn't have to."

"How long have you known him?"

"We met over two months back" I looked at our hands, "Through parents...arranged, you know. Got engaged back then."

"You've been engaged for two months?" he seemed surprised.

I was in two minds, about whether to tell him the truth, or just let him assume whatever the hell he wanted to, but I stopped. Neil had got a punch for not knowing the story properly. I wouldn't want anyone else to suffer because I never told them the complete tale.

"No, I broke the engagement then" I said, "We met again about a week back when I went to LA for work."

"One week. One fucking week and you're already ready to marry him."

"I am" I looked up to see a dangerous storm swirling in his eyes, "I care about him, and he cares about me too. Who else would have come all the way from LA on hearing that I was in the hospital?"

"I came for you."

"You don't get it" I sighed, "Don't keep comparing yourself with him, Mickey. You're wonderful in your own way, and he is wonderful in his way. I really do like him, and I can see myself build a future with him. Can't you just be happy for me and leave us alone?"

Mickey simply glared at the suggestion.

"All those emails, that photograph, those threats...he never even spoke about breaking up on receiving them. We want to be with each other. Please, just leave us alone. Give me a chance to be happy again."

**

Of course, Mickey wasn't happy with anything I was saying, but then, I hadn't expected him to be. He would come to terms with it, I hoped. I wanted to go and spend some time with George, maybe help him with some school work, like the ideal mother I was trying to be, but I decided to check on what Neil was doing before I went.

The room seemed empty when I walked in. His laptop and phone were on the bed, and a cup of coffee sat steaming on the side table, but there was no Neil.

"Neil?" I called out, guessing he either in the walk-in wardrobe or the washroom.

A loud dry-heave answered me.

I rushed to the washroom to see him crouching at the pot, heaving sick.

"What happened?" I rushed, alarmed. I was feeling fine, so it couldn't have been something he ate. "Neil?"

"Stacie..." he managed as he heaved again.

"Stacie?" I had a little trouble placing the name before I remembered his story from last night. "Oh, Stacie..."

"Stacie's pregnant" he managed as he heaved up his breakfast.

***

Well, hello readers!

Exams are finally over, and I finally managed to write some!

Do let me know if you liked this. Vote, comment and share, good folks. And thank you for the support on the last chapter, and keeping up with my erratic schedule:)

Love you lots,

Ellanie:)