FLAWED | √

¶ CHAPTER 20 ¶

SID

"Jhalli..." I was amazed, sounding so cautious, as if I increased a pitch. The delicate soul before me would break into pieces. My words had no effect on her. She was crying, cursing herself. I hate the view before me. How could she claim those words towards her? Her face was the most beautiful, breathtaking view I had in my life. One glance at it and I go all soft. I couldn't even fake anger. "Jhalli..." I repeated my words, assuming at least she would notice it. I attempted to touch her face, hesitating. I knew she was horror-stricken. I needed to provide her with space. It was a result of my huge outburst. But I couldn't leave her in such a condition. How would I feel at peace?

My rough hand soon connected with her soft, wet cheeks. She was so delicate that if I pushed a little harder; I felt as if I could break her. I waited for her to be comfortable as I cupped her face. To my surprise, rather than jerking my hand away, she leaned in my touch. Pushing away all the thoughts of her running from me. At that moment, I felt as if she longed for me as much as I longed for her.

Do tarfa ho toh ye sanjog hai...

"Shehnaaz..." I let my tongue roll down the words smoothly, pronouncing each word as if it was only my right to call her in such a manner. The voice depicts authority, care, love, longing, pain if it was even possible to express too many emotions with one mere word. But in my case it wasn't a mere word, it was my world. Her eyes slowly opened on their own account, as if she experienced all the emotions as if she could understand what that word meant to me.

"Shehnaaz..." brushing tears off her cheek, staring straight into the dark brown orbs... the one radiating pain. I inhaled preparing myself to see few more tears making their way out once I conveyed what my heart was urging. "Your face..." A smile swept on my lip as the word played in my mind. "Yeh chehra bus ek chehra nahi hai..." her eyes brimming with unwanted flashes revisiting her mind. "This face is of the world's most beautiful human. Yeh koi kalank ya curse ho hi nahi sakta, is chehre ne mujhe andhre se ladna sikaya... yeh chehra mere liye woh Roshni hai jo mujhe kisi bhi andhre se kich la sakti hai... meri takat meri kamzori... meri Roshni... meri khushi... meri hassi... meri dua... meri zaroorat... mera lucky charm..." She was shedding tears but I knew it wasn't conveying pain the way it earlier did. It wasn't filled with guilt, agony, ashamed but rather wonder, amazement, disbelief. As if it was difficult for her to believe my words, I couldn't blame her either. She had faced worse than I could imagine, worse in her life yet all I did was shower anger on her for leaving me. How was I suppose to calm myself down? I could never control my rage, it wasn't in my personality and due to it faced many consequences.

I moved up, so I could press a kiss on her forehead. My lip stayed a little longer around her soft, cold skin. Her eyes closed I had glimpsed her doing it as I moved towards her, hands grabbing my shirt lightly as I pressed my lip on her skin. Her breath turned heavy, a sigh of relief. She calmed down in my touch, stopping herself from worrying about the world around her. Though I gave not a damn about the world, she was so engrossed in thinking about it all. Her life revolved around her aunt and Sushi. She never attempted to please her but respected them enough to ever hurt them from her actions. That was the reason I wanted to be beside her, to let her breathe freely not worrying about anyone. Allow herself to be happy even if it meant hurting others.

My hands were fixed in her cheeks, slowly stroking them. I could feel her breath on my thumb. As I was about to push away, she clutched my shirt further pulling me closer and resting her head on my chest. "Tusi na javo..." she muttered. It would be an understatement if I define, my heart jumped out of my ribs. And was dancing before my eyes, because surely it was. She asked me not to leave! Was she kidding me? Or was it another of my hallucination and I am driving in alcohol? The girl never got enough of asking me to leave her alone had... had... Okay! I was losing my shit! I had no idea, how loud my heart was beating as I could hear it.