With You Until The End ✔️

Bonus Chapter - 5

(Bonus chapter when Rhea attended her New York workshop with Aarav)

Aarav's POV

How long will it take?

I texted Rhea as I leaned back against the couch, laptop open on my lap. The apartment was too quiet again—just the low hum of the city outside and the occasional buzz from my phone.

Talking about a collaboration. Will be there soon, she replied after a few minutes.

I sighed when I read it. Soon, she said. But she had left at eight in the morning, and now it was close to nine in the evening.

I ran a hand through my hair and turned back to my screen. Emails. Deadlines. Logistics. I responded to a few, checked a proposal draft, and right when I thought I could breathe, Rohan called for a quick meeting. It turned into an hour-long one. Discussions about next quarter's targets, the project roadmap for when I return to India, and a whole lot of corporate jargon I was too drained to care about tonight.

By the time I was finally done, it was almost 11. I shut my laptop with a loud sigh and let my head fall back onto the couch. My eyes burned. My shoulders were stiff. And Rhea still wasn't back.

I reached for my phone and tapped on her contact. It rang once. Twice. And before I could start with my usual worried lecture—

"I'm back, Aarav. Open the door," her voice came through the receiver, soft and cheerful, like a sudden warm breeze in the middle of a cold New York night.

I didn't even respond. I jumped up, crossing the floor in quick strides toward the door. My chest felt tight with relief.

This apartment—this place, used to hear me mourning after my mom's death, was filled with grief and sorrow—it didn't feel like that anymore. Not when Rhea was in it. Somehow, she filled the silences and softened the walls. Somehow, with her around, it didn't feel like I was running away from something anymore.

I opened the door, and the moment I did, her arms were around me.

Warm.

Soft.

Home.

She clung to me like she'd been holding her breath all day and could finally exhale. My arms wrapped around her instinctively, tightly, pulling her closer. Her scent—something sweet—washed over me, calming every restless thought that had plagued me all day.

"I missed you so much," she whispered, and before I could say anything, I felt her lips brush against my neck, sending a shiver down my spine.

I breathed in sharply, my fingers gripping her waist, and without a second thought, I pulled her inside. The door slammed shut behind us, but neither of us flinched. Her bag thudded softly to the ground as I dropped it, and she let out a small gasp—but I silenced it by crashing my lips onto hers.

God, I missed her.

Her presence.

Her warmth.

The way her hands instantly found their way into my hair, the way she melted into me like we were two halves that had been separated too long.

She had been gone just for 15 hours.

But that was enough to make this feel like a reunion after weeks.

I tilted my head and deepened the kiss, pressing her against the wall of the hallway, needing to feel every inch of her against me.

I didn't need words. Not tonight.

Just her.

Just this.

Just us.

She gasped softly against my mouth as her back hit the wall, but instead of pulling away, her fingers only tugged harder at my T-shirt collar—like she wanted more, like she couldn't get enough of me. Her heart was racing against mine, chest rising and falling rapidly, syncing with every breath I took.