Posted: March 09th, 2018

♕ Annie♕

2.27 All Things Dark

          The events of last night come back to me. Hugging Aarav. Kissing his chest. Telling him I'm coming home. God, it does feel like home. Aarav. How did I not know before that what I kept looking for everywhere in this world was right there. I always loved him. I just had to stop running away thinking it was wrong.

Oh, and the feeling of not having to run anymore from those feelings?

It brings such solace.

Things I never imagined, told myself countless times would never be a reality, were happening.

Though I woke up five minutes ago with a smile on my face and now biting the inside of my cheek because I couldn't stop from grinning in happiness, when I heard the door knob turning behind me, I close my eyes and pretend to sleep.

If it is Aarav, I just want to know what he'll do.

I hear someone walking around the room and I wait in anticipation. Then, I hear a door click and seconds later, I open my eyes with forehead crinkled. I see the light in the washroom on from the tiny space between the tiles and the door and let out a huff.

Aarav.

He did... nothing! Didn't even try to wake me up. Just... went for a shower. Sometimes I have wondered, the way he is always so focused and on task, does he even know how to be romantic? Caring, yes. He nails that to the T. He says the sweetest things. All these years keeping to our friendship, he has been absolutely wonderful. I know he is capable of both grand and small gestures to let the other person know they are loved and cared for. And yet, even claiming he loves me and that I love him back too, romantically, he is somewhere wrapped up in still being my best friend.

As I wait for him to come out, I rest my eyes by closing them. Even though I probably just slept for 12 hours, I still feel like I could sleep again. It's just this tranquility inside of me. Or, the jet-lag working against me. Could be both too.

I wake up again a few minutes later on hearing the door opening. Even though it was softest, I still snapped out of sleep given I hadn't drifted off entirely. Since I turn my head towards it, he notices I am awake.

"Good afternoon," he greets in a teasing voice as if to express it's high time I wake up.

I pull the blanket to my shoulder, "Hmm."

He drapes his towel behind the back of the chair and approaches the bed from his side. Picking up the other end of the blanket, he moves it aside to start smoothing out the creases on the sheets and fixing the pillow. "Come on, up."

At his instruction, I gape. "Are you kicking me out of bed just so you can make your bed?"

I don't understand why he has to make his bed every morning and turn it into good as new. If you leave it as it is, messy, it's that much easier to turn in at night. Even warmer as the blanket won't be folded at the end of the bed leaving the sheets exposed.

He admits without shame as he walks over to my side and pulls the blanket down to my waist to prove his seriousness, "Yes, and because if you continue to sleep, you won't be able to sleep tonight."

Okay, that may be a fair point. Sighing, I sit up and take a moment to stretch. When I look at him, he's still waiting for me to get out. I push the blanket aside to let my feet on the ground, "Okay, geez. I'm up. Happy?"

He smiles at my quick irritation and kisses my forehead in gratitude. As he goes back to fixing the bed, I just have to point out while running my fingers through my hair so I can use the hair tie around my wrist to put my hair up in a ponytail. "You do remember what happened last night, right?"

He answers turning briefly to look at me. "Is that a rhetorical question?"

Crossing my arms over my chest, I clarify. "Okay, look, darling. As much as girls swoon over forehead kisses, we're not only friends now and you can kiss me on the lips."

He turns to me as if catching my meaning and walks up to me with a sheepish look. "Uh, sorry? It's just how I've always expressed my affection, you know?"

I smile wrapping my arms around his neck, "And I love that. It's adorable. Just remember, you don't have to be so decent with me."

He chuckles bringing his hands to my hips, "You're going to be a very demanding girlfriend, aren't you?"

I shrug my shoulder grinning myself, "Ah, you know me. Demanding friend. Thrice as much a demanding girlfriend."

He concludes, "So basically, I am going to have to bring on my A game," one of his hand leaving my hips to come to my neck and thumb rubbing my jaw bone.

I close my eyes sighing into the gentle touch. "That would be highly advised, yes." I quietly speak as I can feel him leaning in despite closed eyes. His jeans touch my bare knees and warm breath fans my lips before they are covered with his own in a slow kiss.

As he teases, giving only pecks instead of deepening the kiss, his hand on my neck travels down the side of my body. His thumb only for a bare second brushing over my breast as they continue their downward spiral to my hips again. My breath momentarily hitches at the contact, my body reacting almost instantaneously.

With his hands on my hips, he nudges me to walk backwards. I want to scold him when his lips leave mine but then forget to as they begin leaving a hot trail down the neck to my shoulder, any exposed skin he can find over the shirt. It does wonders to firing up my skin and making me question why I ever thought I would have to do a lot of convincing before this would happen.

He speaks between kisses, "Now, how about... you..." my heart leaps up with a gasp when his lips kiss over my sensitive spot. I feel them curl on my skin and he catches that and kisses me there again. My back meets something hard behind me. Wall, perhaps. Only, it seems to push back and my head turn sideways to realize it's the bathroom door. A moan escapes my throat when he leaves one last kiss, an open mouthed one over the spot. His lips move up to my ear as he whispers, "...go shower."

What?!

I blink furiously to open my eyes when he pulls back from me to focus. He is standing there with a smirk on his face and hands crossed over his chest, looking at me amused.

I glare at him for being a tease but when my eyes flicker South, I almost have to smirk myself at the proof that I wasn't the only one frustrated. The guy who was always composed was not so right now. "So, this is your A game? Making me shower?"

He smacks his lips, "Nah. You can meet my A game tonight. For now, shower..." his head begins to lean in again, "and wait to be dazzled." I don't get a chance to question as he presses his lips to mines again as if in a quick parting.

Damn him. No one quite gets under my skin the way he does.

. . . ∞ . ∞ . ∞ . ∞. . .

          As I'm eating breakfast, or better yet - lunch, considering the time, I notice Khushi trying to call someone but the person must not be answering given the frown on her face. "What's wrong?" I ask.

With a tired sigh, she pulls out a chair and sits beside me. "I'm trying to call the confectioner but the phone keeps coming as engaged and the sweets we'd ordered are still not here."

I question in confusion, "Isn't the next event in the evening?"

"Yes, but Eva and Jigar have to sit in a ritual before that. This is why I'd said we shouldn't trust a smaller shop with such a big order. They probably can't fulfill it now and so are avoiding calls."

I bite back a laugh at her rant and offer, "I'm sure it's not that, Khushi. You know Arnie wouldn't have just anyone taking responsibility if he didn't think they could handle it."

"Yeah..." She released some worry but not all as her shoulders sagged, "But I don't know what to do now. None of the guys are even here that I could ask them to go check."

"Why, where'd they go?"

"All getting different things done. Heck if I know." She answers and I assume it's just wedding things. Everyone having tons to do and none of the things completed till last minute. How does that even happen when there are so many workers hustling around the place?

"Okay, how about this? Tell me the address and I'll go check myself."

She forces a smile, "That's sweet, Annie, but this isn't Australia where you'll find the place with just an address."

"No GPS?"

She laughs, "The shop name won't even be on the map."

I try to think of an alternative, "Okay, uh... then tell me the shop name, street name, whatever you have. I'll ask around. I've picked up on atleast some Hindi over the years from you guys."

She makes a face and when I question what the problem is now, she informs. "Yeah, this isn't Mumbai. People here speak a different dialect. Rajasthani. Even I can barely understand it. Why do you think I'm not going to check myself?"

I groan, "Why does this country have to have to different language in each state? Seriously, Hindi is the national language, right? They should make it mandatory for everyone to speak that."

She chuckles at my irritation even though she is worried herself. "I'll just keep calling."

I shake my head, standing up with determination. "You know what? No. Give me the name. I haven't ever gotten lost in any strange city I have visited in all my travels. Today will not break that record."

And when I say travels, I really do mean travels. After all, I am only in Australia, my home country, for only a couple of months in the entire year. The rest of the months, I am always in one place or the other.

Now, I may have never gotten lost because I always had GPS. But, like I said, I wasn't going to let lack of it get in the way.

She warns, "You'll be back in the hour empty handed."

I challenge, "Do you not trust me? Just give me the address, lady."

She narrows her eyes, "You know, you should not be talking to your future mother-in-law in this tone."

I roll my eyes, "As if. You'll always be Khushi to me like you are to Aarav. He isn't your birth son or legal son, remember?"

She gives me a mocking look, though not offended that I reminded her Aarav isn't her son because she knows the equation she shares with him. She writes it out for me and handing the torn paper to me, says, "I am going to enjoy saying I told you so to you when you return."

"We'll see," I accept the challenge and run up to the room quickly to grab my things before leaving the palace.

. . . ∞ . ∞ . ∞ . ∞. . .

          Unfortunately, my Hindi is rustier than I was in the impression of. I kept being pointed in different directions or they would shrug their shoulders in confusion and just move on with their work, pretending to not know where the street was. Sometimes, I just wanted to yell at a few of them. Like, hello! You live in this city. You definitely know which street is where. You just want to be mean and could be least bothered to be kind enough to help someone out.

Forty-five minutes later, when I am ready to give up, a person speaks from behind me in English. "Need help?" A hope glimmers in my heart as soon as I hear the words, until I recognize the voice and my facial expression turns into a grimace.

I turn to face him and scowl, "Will you stop following me?"

As if tired of the redundant question, he takes it on himself to take the paper I have in my hand to read the address.

I roll my eyes muttering under my breath, "As if you can do better."

I doubt he has ever even set foot in India before to go on and pretend as if he knows the area like a local would.

Then, he surprises me as he looks up at me after a quick read of the address Khushi had written down, "It's close by. Come, I'll walk you there."

My eyes narrow at him in suspicion. How...?

He seems to answer my unasked question, "You may have been here for two days attending royal parties and what not's but I am not here to party. I've scoured the city."

Then, he turns to walk the opposite direction and leads the way towards the address.

I am almost tempted to go my own way but then realize I may just be prolonging my torture. Catching up to him, I challenge, "You couldn't possibly have figured out every street and corner in two days."

"Who says it's my first time here? Or that I have only been here for 2 days?"

"Then?" I ask curiously.

He remains silent - as I have come to learn about this man. He is mysterious. Ever after the vague details he has given me that day Aarush brought him out of the shadows, I cannot figure him out. There is only one thing clear: he is only after my safety... even as I still struggle to accept the fact that he works for my biological father.

I had told him bluntly the second he had given that knowledge that he could leave and that I had no interest in knowing or meeting that man. Initially, I had assumed he could be a private detective or something similar who had been hired to find me. But, over the months, I find myself challenging that assumption. A private detective would leave after his job is done: which would be to find me. But this guy continues being on my tail for months as if he has nothing else to do in his life. And when I try to dig for details - about him, not my father - I am met with a big wall of silence.

Refusing to let him do this to me again, however, I take a rapid step to block his path and stop him with a hand in between signaling 'stop'. "Answer me."

He opens his mouth, no doubt to scold me for giving him an order considering the way his eyes pull together in a glare, but taking a second to think it through, he exhales a sigh. "You really are his daughter."

It pushes the wrong button again as my own expression hardens as well, "Stop with these unwanted comments and tell me what I asked. Are you now stalking my friends as well?"

"No," he replies while raising his hand to wrap his fingers around my wrist. Making me gently drop my hand from between us, he walks around to continue walking, leaving my hand as he steps ahead. "You got this wedding invitation three months back and I assumed correctly that you would be attending."

"And?" I push just knowing that there is more which he is not giving up.

Sparing me a quick glance, he turns a corner before offering up the second piece of information as well, "And, I followed that friend of yours here."

"Who, Aarush?" I question... Aarush is from here?

He raises a brow at me, "Do you not know where your friends are from?"

I speak in my defense, sort of. "Well, he is a friend of a friend... And anyway, so what if he is from around here? It's just a coincidence."

And yet, I recall the words Aarush had spoken once of how he does not believe in coincidences.

He asks abruptly changing the topic and coming to a pause and causing me to stop walking as well, "Explain something to me - why are you so attached to this family and their people but refuse to listen to anything I have to say about your true family?"

My gaze turns cold again as I cross my arms over my chest defensively, "Raizada's are my true family; I don't care what lies you want to fabricate about anyone else who decided to give me away."

"But it..."

I put my hand up in a 'stop' signal again, cutting him off, "I don't want to hear it, Dmitri. And I also don't want to hear you badmouthing a single thing about the Raizada's. They have raised me as my own and..." I don't even know why I am telling him this but I feel the need to defend Arnav and Khushi.

However, he interrupts with a counter, "Oh yeah? As your own? Is that why they left you at that shelter? Are those the people you call family?"

Without thinking twice about it, I take a furious step towards him and my hand darts out to slap him. His head moves to the side in momentum but seems as shocked as me when our eyes meet afterwards. I should have known better... remembering our first meet where he carried a gun. There is no doubt in the fact that he is a dangerous man, even if I do not know just who he is. Yet, I could not help myself when he was jumping to conclusions about those closest to my heart without knowing the facts.

Before I can blink, I find myself twirled and my back against a hard surface behind me - a wall. His arm presses across my chest as his body looms over me, seething in anger. Despite the force he uses on me which keeps me trapped, I don't blink away from his eyes. "I'm not afraid of you."

He speaks through clenched teeth, "You should be."

I open my mouth, ready to tell him off or even just push him back when a third voice speaks that fills relief in my system, "We are going to have to stop meeting like this."

His eyes dart away from me towards Aarush even as his hold on me remains firm. They seem to have a silent battle of who would blink away first but neither do.

Aarush adds in a brief warning, "Let her go before you unintentionally hurt her."

Once the words click in his brain, he blinks away. Slowly, that anger fades and the strength of his arm keeping me to the wall fades with it. I slump slightly against the wall with rapid breaths. I may have said I am not afraid of him and maybe I could fool myself into believing it, but it does not mean I am not relieved being out of a situation where he could have hurt me if he wanted to and if Aarush hadn't interrupted.

He is right about one thing. He is dangerous, and I should be afraid of him.

"You okay?" Aarush asks.

After swallowing my heart which seemed to have leaped to my throat, I nod. "Y-yeah." I notice his hoodie over his head and mentally question it. The weather is burning hot and the air is dry as well, and this guy wants to don a hoodie rather than a thin, sleeveless cotton shirt or something along the lines. I stick by my initial judgement of him. Of both males in front of me.

There is a crack in their brains.

Aarush directs another question at me, "What are you doing out by yourself?"

"Oh. I was looking for this sweet shop which I can't find and he followed me all the way to India. Can you believe that?!" I exclaim to make a point, but alas, that point is lost when he replies seriously looking at him instead of at me as if the two know something.

"I can."

Okay, see. My question was also meant to be a rhetorical one. Does no one see the abnormality of what is happening here or is it just me? Looking between the two of them, I conclude on my own. Yup. I am the only one here who recognizes it.

Whatever.

Snatching the paper out of his hand, I forward it to Aarush while indirectly testing the theory if he is from here. "Anyway, do you know where it is?"

He only takes a second to read it before replying, "Don't know the streets as I'm not from here but... wait, I can ask."

As Aarush turns to ask a passerby speaking in perfect dialect, I give my stalker a look as if to call him out on being wrong about Aarush.

After the passerby leaves, he relays the direction and I compliment, "Your dialect seemed spot on, dude."

He informs as we walk towards the shop, "It's not so hard to pick up on. I've spent a good chunk of time at the army base here."

"Oh, Jaipur has one, huh? Wasn't aware." I reply and knowing this information, it does make sense why he was able to speak it as if he were a native. Plus, unlike me, he does speak Hindi fluently. As such, I would say that Rajasthani is not an entirely different language but simply a dialect.

He puts it briefly, "A good chunk of history happened here," though I am sure he is underplaying it.

This is the capital of Rajasthan and I may not know the history of the kings and queens or the forts and the battles fought here, but I do know it is rich in culture. Before the time of democracy, I imagine it is an entirely sensible decision as to why there would be a military base here created by the Kings -- I assume it was created by them as again, I do not know much. But, now that I think about it, I should do some research. It would be interesting certainly.

. . . ∞ . ∞ . ∞ . ∞. . .

          That evening, Jhanvi snaps her fingers in front of me, "Hey, what are you doing standing here by yourself?"

I force a smile, shaking my head. "Oh, just watching."

She gives me a careful glance, "Is everything okay? You look worried to me."

I nod, placing my hand atop hers, "Everything's fine."

She looks at me a second longer to convince herself of my words before asking, shifting Inaaya from one arm to the other, "Well, Inaaya is getting fussy. I'm thinking of taking her outside, away from the crowd. Join me?"

"Sure," I readily answer thinking it'd be a good idea to get some fresh air myself. No matter how hard I tried, I could not get the scene from this afternoon out of my mind. I was going crazy trying to decide what to do. I knew I had to tell Aarav, but just... how? He was going to get so concerned and I hate seeing him as such. But, I also knew how he felt about secrets.

We never kept any between us. We always spoke our minds to each other. So, I know. I don't plan on starting now. Especially, not our very first day of being in a relationship.

I've already kept this from him for months and I do not have a handle on it as I assumed I did. Ignoring it did not make it go away. Dmitri was still here. Confronting it did not go well either - considering the incident from earlier in the day.

As we are walking out, noticing my silence, Jhanvi pesters. "Are you sure you're okay?"

I make an excuse, "Ofcourse. I guess I'm still a bit tired, you know? It's been a crazy week so far."

She nods, "Yeah, Aarav told me. Oh, speaking of, look. There he is! Let's go say hi."

I narrow my eyes at how excited she sounds suddenly. She's seen Aarav, I'm sure, just an hour or so ago. What's with the sudden giddiness in her tone?

As we approach him, Aarav turns to us hearing our footsteps. Jhanvi gets straight to point, "As promised, here she is. All yours."

He answers to Jhanvi, "Thanks, I owe you one."

Jhanvi winks back at him before speaking to me, "Enjoy, sweetie."

As she turns to leave, Aarav places his hand on my elbow and I face him. "What's going on?"

He playfully questions, "Already forgotten? I promised you my A game tonight."

This afternoon in his room comes back to me and I scold myself to stop thinking about that strange guy already. "Right... so having your ex-fiancé... no, correction, ex-wife, steal me away from inside is your A game?"

What should I use to refer to Jhanvi? I know the papers were never submitted in court but they were signed, right? So... married? Just a ruse? Divorce on the way or what?

He squints pulling my attention out of baseless thoughts, "Oh, hush. You judge too quickly. I haven't even gotten started yet."

I laugh and wrap my arms around his neck, "Well then, I'm waiting."

He slides his fingers from my elbow to the back of his neck to reach for my hand and entwining our fingers, nods past my shoulder. He leads me away from the house and reaching the edge, pauses. I tease, "Don't tell me you're going to jump."

He lightly swats my arm before moving to stand behind me and pointing in the distance. It's all dark but one by one, lights starts coming on and I notice the tiny patch of land surrounded by water. I hold my breath in anticipation as the image continues to form from the lit candles. His pointed finger drops and his arms wrap around my front, his chin coming to rest at the top of my head and I am engulfed in his affectionate warmth.

"Wings," I whisper when the outline is complete.

He speaks softly, "For you've always been mine... Like an Angel wrapping me up in your wings and snipping all things dark out of me since the beginning."

I exhale, a fuzzy feeling filling up to the brink of my heart. "Aarav, darling, there is no darkness in you."

"Because of you, Annie." He unwraps his arms around me giving me the space to turn and face him. Eyes baring into mine, his index finger reaches to hook with mines as it has in countless light promises we've made over the years to each other, "You've always been by my side. You were always able to talk me out of any dark feelings I've ever gotten. I never said it but you knew... I couldn't give you my heart but you, you stole away with my soul. And now, they are both forever yours."

I reach for his cheeks and cupping his face, reach up on my toes to kiss his forehead. He's always been the one to give me these kisses but for once, I return them with a deep, lingering one. Then, I speak against his skin, eyes still closed. "I love you, Aarav." As I pull back to look at his face, I express, my hand sliding down to his neck. "Even if we had gone our entire lives and you never returned my feelings, that would have never stopped. Even if you couldn't ever give me more than friendship, I'd have lived my life happily with just that."

"Now you don't have to. We're free to express our feelings as they are," his fingers gently wrap around my wrist, bringing it to his lips and kissing the inside of my palm.

He is right.

There is nothing holding us back.

Inhaling deeply, he informs. "Come, there's more."

I couldn't possibly wonder what else he could have planned but still, I let him lead down a few steps to reach the shore where a boat is waiting for us.

As he gets in and offers me his hand, I ask sliding it in his. "Is this even safe?" I understand we are going to that island in the distance where the candles were lit up.

Putting my feet carefully inside, he answers. "I've heard there are crocodiles in these waters." My eyes widen in fear and he laughs. "Oh, relax, Angel. I'm kidding. There haven't been any for years. You know I wouldn't do this if it were anything less than safe."

Okay yes, as logic would have it, he would never put my life in danger. I do trust him with that. Always had.

I breathe in the fresh air, the cool wind and the feel of the water, the boat swaying in the water as a boatman takes us to the island. I inhale sharply when we reach closer and notice just how big that tiny island is compared to how it looked like from the distance. Yes, I know the concept of relative distance and perspectives from an angle but still... just how much time and effort it must have taken to arrange these candles to make the shape of angel wings and the number of them he must have had to get to fill the space.

These grand gestures!

I say as if in fake regret, "What was I thinking falling for a rich guy who spends money like it's nobody's business?"

He brushes it off, "Please, this is nothing. I want to do so much more for you. But, I know money can't buy happiness."

I turn to him, placing my hand on his chest. "No, it can't." I tap my index finger over his heart, "But this does and that's everything for me."

He smiles back in satisfaction and once the boat is aligned as close to the island as possible, he jumps out first before helping me out. The guy turns the boat around and leaves.

"We're not stranded out here, right?"

He assures, "He'll come back..." I drop my shoulders in relief before he adds, "in the morning," and my bosy tenses once again.

I point a finger at him, making it known, "I'm not sleeping with you on the first day, especially not out in the open."

With anyone else, I wouldn't have cared. But with him? This is the guy I have all the feelings for. If we were going to do this, it would be the right way. I am expecting him to ask me out on a date and everything.

He chuckles shaking his head and locking his finger with mine, tugging me a step closer and kissing my finger. I gasp inaudibly at how the simplest gesture turns me on.

"That idea was nowhere on my mind. Tonight, I just..." He moves aside to reveal the makeshift bed of flowers and the open canopy revealing the open night sky. "I just want to lay here and talk. Listen. Gaze at the stars. All the cliché, silly, romantic things. Just get away before reality knocks on our doors again, and take a moment for us."

Escape reality and all the worries out there.

Yes.

I can do that.

I bend my foot back to reach for the strap of my heel as I answer, "There's nothing I'd like more."

. . . ∞ . ∞ . ∞ . ∞. . .

∞ author note ∞

You guys were missing Annie and the vibe between the two. I didn't reply to the comments knowing this was coming up, and I hope this chapter brings back some of those initial feelings you had with these two? I do need to work on their storyline a bit more and you can say that I am just looking for some inspiration myself. It's lost somewhere in these hectic schedules and I'd hate to botch it by rushing to get the chapters out.

QOTC: Thoughts about Dmitri? (Ugh, I couldn't think of some unique/original name for a European guy. If you have recommendations, do give!)

Vote and comment <3