I was really very angry with him for kissing me. My face was red. But I didn’t know with anger or embarrassment. I was not in control of my feelings anymore.

“I am warning you,” I said, “Don’t do that again.”

“Then don’t kiss me back,” he gave that heart-melting smile of his.

“Did anybody ever say to you, ‘Damn you!’?”

“Nope,” he gave a crooked smile.

“Damn you! Just damn you,” I exclaimed, “You steal dialogues from my favourite book and throw them on me?”

“Hey, how could I know you read VA? We never read it together as far as I remember,” he countered, “And for your kind information, you just stole Dimitri Belikov’s line. What could counter that better than a Rose Hathaway quip? So just get over it darling. You are caught.”

The pride of victory in his eyes made me smile. Such little things could make him happy. He was satisfied with trifles. He didn’t want more than just a hint of love from me. And I was pushing him away. But what could I do?

These exchange of dialogues suddenly reminded me of how we played the role of Romeo and Juliet once. I had the entire play memorized and I turned it into a disaster by quoting Romeo. He had saved the day by managing with one of Juliet’s dialogue it was our luck that nobody had noticed the slip.

Seeing me smile he put his hands on his hips and tried to make an angry face which made him look more comical.

I burst out laughing and soon we were nudging each other and remembering little moments of out silliness. It was such a blissful moment that I almost forgot the problems at hand.

He caught my hand and dragged me closer to him. I rested my head for a moment on his chest as he held me tightly. Through that one hold I felt his fear, fear of the future, fear of losing me. I felt the sense of belonging. I realized that my heart was complete once again. This completeness, this peace and tranquility was what was lacking. I had been searching for it all the while.

But that one nagging fear, that one incident came back to haunt me once again and I drew back again.

He must have felt the fear and seen it in my eyes.

“You are worried about Jason, aren’t you?”

I kept quiet.

“Listen Rose, I am a celebrity now. I have security all around me. My home and workplace are all heavily guarded. If you are with me, no one can ever hurt you or me. Besides Jason’s reaction was under the influence of feelings which were strong once. Those feelings would have faded long by now. He couldn’t love you for ever. Such feelings don’t last Rose. Only true love like ours does. It transcends time into eternity.”

“And Jason was drunk that day,” I responded, “A lot of it was under the influence of alcohol. But…”

“You know Rose. Jason is no longer a threat. He was tried for an attempt on my life and was sentenced to five years in prison.”

“Tried? Sentenced? What are you saying? How? Who? Evidences?”

I was honestly confused.

“I myself gave my statement. And many of our friends supported me on the basis of his threats to you in that party. They knew all about the incident. It seemed that Jason had got on the wrong side of a lot of people. That’s a judicial matter, nothing that you need to worry about. The judge sentenced him to five years of rigorous imprisonment. He can’t harm us now.”

“Oh my god! Dmitriy, its bad news then. It’s been five years and he will come out of imprisonment any day and come straight for you. Only this time he will be a hardened criminal and a merciless killer. Oh! Your life will be in danger again because of me. What shall I do? What can we do? I don’t want you to get hurt again,” I started panicking.

I was shaking and close to tears. Danger would hound us again. I didn’t know why fate planned such things. Why him?

“Roza,” Dmitriy tried to pacify me, “Roza, he is not a threat. Roza listen to me.” He clutched my shoulders with both hands and made me face him.

“No,” I screamed, still trying to think of a solution, “Your body guards aren’t invincible. Security can be broken Dmitriy. Then no one can stop him. It’s all my fault…”

“Rosella,” he tried to interrupted me but I wasn’t the girl to listen. I continued screaming to which he started shaking me in his impatience, “Rose, he is gone. Jason is dead, Rose.”

I froze. “W…What?”

“He took to drugs before he was imprisoned,” Dmitriy averted my eyes, “He committed suicide in jail…I didn’t mean to tell this to you but I had no other choice…I am so sorry, Roza. ”

Nothing entered my head. There was only one thought. Jason committed suicide? He was no more?

All the childhood memories came flooding back to me as tears flowed uncontrollably. Maybe he was a killer, maybe he was bad, but still he was a friend. I felt so horrible. Why had I ever made friendship with him? I was the sole cause of so many lives being ruined, directly or indirectly. To say the truth, I was the one responsible for everything that happened. I felt so sick of myself.

Dmitriy sensed my feelings as always and drew me closer, wrapping his hands around me. I clung to him and cried my heart out. As always he was silent and let me get over the whole thing.

“I never wanted him dead. He was crazy but he was my friend, Dmitriy. I never wanted this fate to befall him. I feel so horrible,” I sobbed.

“Shhh, Roza, I know that. You never want anything bad for anybody. It’s not your fault, Rose. You can’t just blame yourself for each and everything that happens. Look at me,” he lifted my face and gently wiped away the tears from my cheek. Then he looked into my eyes and said, “It’s fate, it’s destiny and it’s life. Believe me, you could have done nothing to stop it. It would have happened eventually.”

I didn’t remember for how long I lay silently on his warm chest, feeling his reassuring hands around me.

“Are you sure?”

“I am sure that was his destiny. It’s the same destiny that wants us together, Roza. The destiny that brought you to me. I believe that destiny will never snatch you from me again.”

A/N That completes my 20K I guess. Thanks to all those who read this. So This year is coming to and end and tomorrow comes the new year 2018 with new hopes and aspirations. And well my story goes on.

So will this new year see the union of Rosella and Dmitriy? Or will their love push them further away? What dangers are still lurking? Read on to find out.

Thanks MaryFahey for being a guide. Thanks my friends teamhathaway Pipigrin wattpawormss joharateregeyo morema_m nana_gn meloheart
JWilliamsx98 DDALVES nicole_grey_25 DanshiHathaway KashishBelikov marthaeehathaway Shiningmoon09 mampty ShaileeBheda matt7133 jessinic95 TS__18 RozaDhampir ladypervell Thanks to all my friends who made this year special. Happy new year 2018 to all of you from.... Masquerade

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