D&S

Chapter # 26

Ester, I was lost and found myself in you. Now, what matters to me is for you to be mine.

***

Like every sadness and happiness have a halt- ours is near as well. I could feel it.

The full stop to our devastation is near. The setting of an endless gloomy night and the rise of a morning glory, the new day with no fear, no terror, no delusions.

Only the reflection of reality and the connection of our hearts. The everlasting moment we deserve. The emotion we missed out the most; love. Everything would be fixed. I am sure it's soon and we will be free from all the abhorrence.

The ending of this game; The dominance of one and The subjugation of the other.

I subjugated against Henry, Ester subjugated against me. In a sense, we both are a victim of someone's dominance.

Which embedded frights in our souls that are impossible to remove. The apprehension evoked inside us shattered us but in the end we found our liberation. I found her, she found me, our pain became one and turned into something memorable.

Her presence is enough for me to give me immense power to move forward, unafraid of the upcoming storm.

"Desmond.." Ester called me. I looked at her, she took a deep breath and began to say. "We will be together no matter what..."

"That's what needed to be done." She told me. I nodded and smiled, "I know... Thank you for staying with me." She gave me a feeble smile.

She put her hand over mine and gave it a gentle squeeze. I lowered my head, not sure about anything but all I could do was to believe in her and stay by her side because I know I am nothing on my own.

When we returned home, Ester 's parents hesitated a bit and seemed angry at first; they should be, after all I did to Ester and hide this from them but everyone can see neither I am like before nor Ester.

I am not insensible or pathetic like before and Ester is also getting out from her delusions, she is facing reality.

So they forgave me and gave me a final chance to redeem my mistakes and I am thankful to them for it as I am determined to not push my tranquility away anymore and love her with all my heart.

"So what now?" I asked her. She shrugged her shoulders and looked around. "We should leave this in the hands of the master puppeteer." Ester snickered. "Let him play his card and we will play ours."

"Hmm.. Seems like it." I laughed.

"Let him do whatever he wants. But before that, you need to keep one thing in mind." She turned to me and suddenly her demeanor turned strict.

"No matter what happens, you will not put the blame of Grace's death over yourself." She said seriously.

"But-" She cut me off by putting her index finger over my lips, "No buts, You are not at fault. The only answer you'll give is; Grace was pathetic. What she did was her own fault. Understood?" I gulped in fear and gave her a slow nod. I doubt I can do this but I have to and she continued, "And-" She leaned in and narrowed her eyes at me in anger, "You will not get angry at whatever he says."

"I never was-" Again she cut me off, "You will be calm and show him you are the boss but also, don't let him know, I know."

"Yes, Ma'am." I said, chuckling. She pulled away and smiled and yawned, "Anyways, I am tired, let's sleep and don't let it affect our minds much." I smiled and we went to sleep.

I am so glad to have you as my partner. Thank you.

The next day, Henry told me to meet him at the bar. I repeated what Ester told me in my mind like a mantra to put myself at serene and not make a mistake. I took a deep breath to bury my vexed form inside me and put up a strong front.

Since I have promised Ester not to drink because whenever I do so, It turned out to be my worst nightmare, I will not drink. I don't want to ruin anything because of my stupidity. I also didn't drink when Ester had her first drink.

I grumpily entered and saw Henry looking at me with his usual atrocious smirk plastered on his lips. I rolled my eyes from him and sat across from him.

"What do you want?" I asked rudely.

"So... how was your vacation?" He asked, hiding his sinister intentions behind his sweet words.

"None of your concern." I muttered.

"Don't be so rude. I am letting you make such precious memories with SG so when you part you have good things to remember." He sneered.

I controlled my emotions to the extent I could and laughed scornfully and looked at him with a smug look, "Why do you think we will part... Henry?" I asked.

"Because your fate is decided." He replied.

"And you are no one to decide it." Show him who is the boss.

"I am the one who decides every moment of your life."He smirked.

"Not anymore." I declared.

"Why?" He was amused by my change in attitude. And he would love to break it beneath his feet but this time, I won't let him. The circumstances have changed, I have changed and I won't let my devastation occur ever again. I have her.

"Because I have no intentions of becoming your slave anymore." I said nonchalantly.

"And can you live with the scar of being a toxic guy whose love can kill people?"

His smirk grew wider. My heart skipped a beat. I inhaled, trying to keep my cool and not let dread take over me.

Don't let it affect your mind. You have your fortune with you, you are not Toxic.

"Yes, I can." I replied sternly even though my heart was beating at an abnormal pace as my hands turned cold and intense fright bubbled up inside me.

"Now that's interesting. Who is teaching you such creative things? I am sure it can't be Ester." He mocked.

"That delusional girl doesn't even have enough strength to speak before you- let alone to help you." He taunted.

I swallowed my anger but the fury he evoked was intense as I wanted to hit him for speaking about Ester like this. I blinked and rolled my eyes from him.

"It's my own realization." I replied monotonously.

"So where was it in the past decade?" He inquired. The bastard knows how to twist questions and take answers out of them.

"Better come late than never." I replied derisively.

"Hmm... You are changing.. I can see that. Are you much confident about Ester's reaction?" He raised an eyebrow, I chuckled darkly and replied.

"If you remember, she is a queen of delusions and blindly in love with me. I can sway her on the snap of my fingers- my suicide is the proof of that." I boasted.

It made me feel low and degraded to talk about the person who is helping so much like that but I have to keep this facade up. For her sake.

Suddenly, all of his amusement faded into the air as a dire spread in the air. We both had a staring competition to see who is determined enough to win and we both had a tie because none of us were in the mood to lose.

"Try me Henry. I won't lose this time."