Mom and dad had come back home a few hours ago and since it was already late Elliot had been advised by them to stay the night here. Mom was cooking and I was with her in the kitchen having a mother-daughter moment which I had dreamed of in the initial years of abandonment but lately, I'd given up hope for this day. But life has its mysterious ways which are beyond human understanding.

Elliot was sitting with dad and they were talking business. I looked at both of them. It was impossible to tell that they were meeting for the first time. I know my dad is a great talker but today I have found out that Elliot is so amazing at chatting with anyone who is not me. They were lost in the conversation like old school batchmates. 

I heard a cough to see mom smiling at me with a mischievous glimmer in her eyes as if she knew something that I didn't. "You like him?" She questions.

I bite my lip as I glance at him again. My rosy cheeks get hotter when I think about what we'd just done in the bedroom, the proof of it was the feeling of fullness inside my abdomen, the electricity that was still there, reminded me that he'd been here before.

"I don't know mom. I like him, yes but I don't think he's responsible enough to carry a relationship with a girl like me." I answer her honestly.

"Why do you think so?" She leans against the kitchen counter as she faces me, listening to me keenly.

"I don't think he quite understands what he wants, as well as ....me," I replied, poking the inside of my cheek. I fold my arms in front of my chest.

"Then make him understand. Take control. Where he falters, you take the reins into your hand and voyage through your relationship." Her words, I truly want to believe but there is more than meets the eye with me and him that mom won't be able to understand.

I nod as I give her a calm smile, "yes mom. I will."

She removes the kitchen gloves and grabs a dusting cloth to wipe off the excess dirt from the granite. I start to walk out, the tray containing the food items in my hand when I hear her voice, "you know Charlotte, every girl knows inside her heart if she can straighten up her man. We all do it. None of them are men when they meet us, they're boys.

Women like me, you, we make them men honey," her wisdom makes me regret all those years I wasted disliking her. 

"Yes, mama. I will do everything in my power to make this workout," I give her a half-hearted smile. I know it was enough to fool her but my words don't fool me.

I wanted to say to her, how can I straighten a man who runs back to his ex the very first moment he gets? How can I straighten a man who's not my man, to begin with?

Trust Elliot, Charlotte. He asked you to trust him, I remind myself.

****

After we ate our dinner in peace with a little chatter here and there, some funny recollections and embarrassing stories, all of us headed back to our respective rooms.

"You wait here," I tell him as we reach my room.

I go inside and grab a blanket. I stare at myself in the mirror and notice a different me. That irritated and dead Charlotte had taken a back seat and was replaced by a glowing, happy one. There was a lustrous glow to my face, the kind of glow you get after your highlighter is on your face, but I hadn't used it today. It was all because of a certain someone coming back into my life who was standing behind the door.

I give myself another glance and walk out of the room. Elliot raises his eyebrow as he looks at the blanket in my hand. I grab his hand courageously and pull him with me. He follows me in the narrow hallway with our hands clasped. We reach a staircase. 

The staircase leads us to the terrace which overlooks the gorgeousness of Austin at night. Although our house was like a haveli, a fortress with big walls enclosing it but right here, from the terrace I could gaze beyond the closed walls. The dense trees gave a lavish freshness to the atmosphere. The night was melancholic as such and with Elliot by my side and all the things that had happened, all the things that had been settled, made me feel like I could breathe in such a long time.

A strange nostalgia hit me and I felt a tear roll down the centre of my eye. I sniffled. I wiped it off before Elliot could see it as I could hear his footsteps follow me. He came to stand by me with his hands on the tiles.

I looked at him hoping that he would not be able to catch hold of the moistness in my eyes but it didn't go amiss by him.

"Hey, come here," he cooed me into his arms and I laughed a little, feeling suddenly shy as I was guided into his embrace.

"What happened to my dearest Chernobyl?" His voice is soft and tactful as if he was talking to a baby.

"Oh shut up," I laughed and rolled my eyes as I laid my forehead against his chest. I felt the vibrations under my cheek.

He wrapped his arms tightly around my waist, giving me no space to move away, not like I wanted to go anywhere but this was so new and wonderful.

"So why were you crying?" He started to rock me from side to side, creating a rhythm and I found myself following him voluntarily. He nuzzled his nose in my neck and I threw my head back against him and closed my eyes.

"I ...am feeling like...this peace is volatile and that I am so undeserving of this," I tell him honestly. I keep my eyes closed. The tentaviness and fragility of the future was something that I couldn't avoid. I knew I was running the marathon of seriousness.

He places a kiss on the top of my head and since he is taller than me, I can feel the sharpness of his chin rested over there.

"Charlotte, I know my past activities may make me come off as a very unsortable sort of a person but trust me, I've seen a lot. And one of the things that I've learned from the experiences of life is that....peace is always volatile just like hurdles are. We can't just flip a coin on realities that oh! Now I choose peace, I want it to last my whole life time. No! That's not how it goes." Elliot's statements leave a mark on me. He's right!

"But...don't you think I should be able to feel like..that even if the hurdles came, I could still count on my support system?" I ask him, my voice cracks towards the end because where this conversation is headed, it's going to open up my bag of insecurities.

"That you can, Char!" He turns me around to look at him. His eyes are wide and so genuine right now, "you have your mom and dad! You have me! You have that one friend of yours you told me about...whose name I have forgotten" he adorably lowers his voice towards the end and that makes me laugh, "Blue! That's her name, you forgetful old bird," I tell him amusedly.

"Did this old bird make you fly high then?" He raised his eyebrow at me. I widened my eyes, "shut up," I blush. He smiles.

"So I was saying, you have so many people, honey, you have me." When he says that, I am forced to look up at him. Just the way he said and the way he was looking at me, I stood on my tippy toes and kissed him. He must have been anticipating that because his lips started to move with mine. He hugged me and pulled me closer to him, the space between our bodies vanished. The pace of our kiss was neither too fast, nor too slow, it was just the right amount. The perfect closure to our sealed promises.

"My career is ruined, Elliot. I am a failure at this point," I say after we pull apart. Gosh! I am on a roll today.

"Okay. That's got to stop. One, you are not a failure. Two, your career is nowhere ruined, you are a businesswoman, with the right tricks your comeback will be sooner and stronger than you expect and lastly, only a tree with deep roots persists in the face of a storm, not a freaking leaf. You are a tree, remember that. You will persist. So don't feed yourself this insecure bullshit. I won't let you break, Charlotte."

Oh my!

He slides his knuckle against my cheek, caressing my face. 

His words made me feel....protected.

I hug him because if I didn't, I would end up balling and who wants to do that?

"This is the third time you've knocked me over with your words, Elliot. Who are you and what have you done with the other Elliot?" I chuckle in amazement. I am so happy. He joins in my laughter.

"Who? Oh, that asshole! That dude was fucked in the head. Eh, I think he realised how much of a jerk he was and he's trying to mend his ways to woo a perfect maiden," he shamelessly flirts with me.

I untangle myself from him, "really? A maiden, have you been reading Elliot?"

"Oh yes. I'm learning tricks from those English bastards," he entwines his fingers with mine as we stand side by side against the marble counter with our backs toward the city.

"Tricks for what?" I laughed and ruffled his hair with my free hand, the wind was blowing fast, and the weather was changing. 

Just how fast the night changes...

"All that I need to do to keep a woman in my life forever." I hadn't expected him to answer me this honestly. But the fact that he was putting effort into it showed me that he was serious about this, even though I know he meant this as a joke. But it's the thought that counts.

I squeezed his hand and moved closer to him. I put my hand on his cheek and pulled him closer to kiss him on the lips.

"Thanks, Elliot," I peck him on the lips one last time after saying it and move back to my place.

"I am the one receiving all the kisses. Trust me, it's much better than all the slapping I would get just for being romantic," he tries to make a joke of it but I can sense the harshness underneath his words. Pain always shows through. Pain is understood by pain.

"Shh, Elliot. I know it's hard but forget about that chapter of your life. It's gone. Done and dusted. I am never letting her get closer to you again. No matter what happens, I am here till death do us part." His eyes widened at my words.

"I know they say 'death do us part' while marrying someone. I am not saying I want to get married right now, honestly, I haven't thought that far. I am just taking one day at a time," I talk at a fast pace, trying to give explanations so that I won't scare him away.

He pulls me closer to him. I strike into him, his hands go to my waist and he kisses me fiercely. This kiss is different. This one is needy, trusting and giving.

He kisses me hungrily which I grant back with equality because I am always hungry for him. He pushes me back. My back is against the marble counter. He kisses me gently and pushes me down, till my back rests against the marble. He moves his hands down my arms, all the while kissing me till I feel him raise my arms till they lie spread open on the marble. He entwines his hands in mine, covering me on top as he kisses me. He dominates my senses. I can't help myself from raising my hips. He pushes into me and there, I can feel his bulge against me.

It feels good to know that my body does the same to him as he does to me. I feel water droplets on my face. It has started to rain, again.

As it starts to pour down faster, he tries to move away and pull me along with him but I pull him back.

"Kiss me in the rain, again Elliot," I bite his lip and pull on it. He groans and pushes me back roughly against the marble.

But kissing isn't the only thing he does.

"You want to live the kiss in the rain cliche, baby, but has somebody made you feel good like this? On the terrace when it's pouring and it's just us, under the stars?" As he completes his sentence, his hand moves under the waistband of my jeans and panties, and without wasting any time he pushes two fingers inside my warm heart and I moan, so loudly. He kisses me on the lips, taking the moans from my mouth inside his mouth. He takes all my pleasure for himself. He is the owner of it all.

He opens the button of my jeans to give him easy access as he starts to move his fingers faster. This release is much needed.

"Say you'll trust me Charlotte," he rests his weight on one elbow above me as he fingers me with his other hand. I am so lost in the way that he is making me feel.  The fast winds, growling of the clouds, his wet narrowed eyes and water dripping down his lips is a scene I will never forget.

He connects his lips harshly with my chest on top of my flimsy cotton top and bites on my nipples, "answer me," he looks into my eyes hotly.

I shake under his assault. He links his eyes with mine, demanding the words he wants to hear from me. Water pours down on us, giving us no shelter and his fingers fill me again and again, binding my soul with his with every thrust taking away my every protection.

"Yes, I will trust you, Elliot," I tell him. I will trust him till he does something to lose it.

He nods.

"Say you'll try to love me again. I know you don't love me yet all this while you've been faking it, I know," he stops to insert another finger and I open my legs to give him more space, "good girl."

He slows down the movements of his fingers. My fading away orgasm forces me to look up at him only to see him looking at me like a lion looks at its prey. He is waiting for me to say the words.

"I'll try to fall in love with you again," I answered him. I'm just putty in his hands.

"Thank you," his face moves closer to me and he places a kiss on my cheek. Thunder roared in the background, rain poured down, his fingers rammed inside me and his kisses on my cheeks were a fairytale I believed only lucky ones deserved and tonight I was that lucky one. 

He moved his thumb over my clit and my hips buckled up, my back arched and he placed his lips against my neck, near my jugular, and bit on the skin over there. I am sure the skin would show the aftermath of his sensual attack tomorrow. He kissed it and soothed it with his tongue only to repeat the process all over again just some centimetres away from the older mark he gave me, "don't hide it." His order was a command to my already sexually aroused state.

He moved his hand to my ass and pulled it upwards. My ass was held tightly between his arm and his body. Itmade my pelvis tilt upwards, which made him move his fingers at a newer angle inside me. 

He asked me to look into his eyes and I obeyed everything he said. His eyes were so dark. I swear his eyes told me fables of all the dark things he wanted to do to me and I'm pretty sure mine conveyed the same.

As I found my release, he took his fingers out and put them in his mouth only to pull them out and later insert them in my mouth.

Fuck, why is this so hot?

"Elliot, I want to..," I start to say but I am silenced by his kiss.

"I know baby what you want to say. But let's not get carried away, I have to entertain the prospect that tomorrow we might get very sick. So you better listen to me now," he tells me strictly and the tone of his voice makes me shut my mouth.

"We're going to go down, get changed, and then when we're fully dried up, you are going to snuggle up closer to me and sleep like a baby. Am I understood?" He asked me.

"Yes."

***
Author's note

It's rainy season and I love the rain.

And I love this chapter.

Love, Leena ❤❤

Bye-bye, until next time.