One Day At A Time

Chapter 46 - When We..

Standing between them was a roaring silence, a tension that constricted the air columns around them, and a few feet of the wooden floor dappled by the sunlight filtering in through the trees from the side window. The way his eyes held hers made every nerve ending inside her body short-circuit by awareness. She tried to hang onto the anger she'd felt earlier, but it was abandoning her like a coward traitor. She was nervous. And she hated feeling nervous.

She held her breath for a long moment before she expelled it. "But I would like to talk. You said you would explain."

He was burning. And he felt it in every cell of his body. A hunger, a maddening need, a desire to touch her was rushing through him, so strong that his head spun. Would it be wise to talk to her instead? He groaned at the thought inwardly as he stared at those shy, honey-brown pots of love which were looking at him as if they were testing him while trying to control the soft swirls of desire that had begun to spark inside them. His heart pitched and rolled. She looked stunningly, achingly beautiful with her hair glowing in the morning light.

"So tell me." Khushi urged and surprised him by breaking away from his gaze that had pinned her to the spot, away from the tension gripping both of them, by moving across the room to stand staring out of one of the side windows.

The rumbling beginnings of the next battle he didn't wish to fight began rolling around the room, and he sighed. "Tell you what?"

"What was going on down there a while ago, Arnav?" Her voice was firmer than before.

"You know what was going on, Khush. We were talking, and Naaz was a bit surprised that you and I have—"

"Surprised, disappointed or shocked?" She felt a surge of anger, remembering the dispassionate way Naaz had been throwing words about her behind her back. "She doesn't even know me but had so much to say regardless!" She bit out, glaring at him.

"Okay." He sighed, lowering his head to run impatient fingers through his hair. "I understand how it looks when you put it like that. But she did what friends would generally do, Khush." He said, walking towards her. With great difficulty and only because they were trying to have a serious conversation, he kept his distance and stood beside her near the window. He cast a glance at the garden outside to gather his thoughts and then turned his head to look at her. "Friends, who need to show us both sides of a coin because they feel we can't see them. There is this compelling need in them to ensure we don't tread the wrong path for fear of us falling and getting hurt." He looked away from her. "But sometimes they don't realise that they could be making a major error in judgement themselves or might be straying far away from the truth." He let out a deep breath. "I choose not to look at what they say or do, but their feeling or their intent." He said, turning to face her. "I heard only care and concern in her words, Khush. And I respected that, and perhaps that's the only reason I didn't walk out of there while she was talking. What she thinks about you and her interpretation of the whole episode between us will always be unidirectional because she doesn't know you or us yet. But she will soon, and I know she will change her mind." He lifted his hand to hold hers and looked into her eyes. "But this isn't about Naaz or any other person having issues about you and me being together. This is about you and me and how we will deal with such situations from now on. As long as nothing affects us or what we have between us, whatever anyone says or does shouldn't matter at all. This is good enough for me. The question is, is it good enough for you?"

She kept staring at him and then finally sighed, shaking her head. "You will talk your way through anything and everything every bloody time. There is no defence left. It's so bloody infuriating!" She said, her eyes flashing in irritation or appreciation she wasn't sure anymore.

He watched her with a slight curl to his lips. "I thought you loved that about me."

She gave him a grim smile. "I always did. I still do. And despite that, I failed to—"