Hello everyone 🙂
Link to previous episode: Episode 26
PRECIOUS: EPILOGUE
SHIVAAY’S POINT OF VIEW
The calm before the tempest is the worst kind there is. Since we can’t control it though, we are simply supposed to make the best out of it. Troubles have a way of coming when we least expect them too. Who would know that better than me? But one thing was sure. I would fight time and death too till my last breath, if that’s what I have to do to protect my people. There wasn’t hope in that assertion. I tried to avoid hope as much as I could.
All my life, I’ve seen people desperately cling on to hope even when there was no chance of things getting back to the way they wanted. But now, after a really long time, I’m seeing my family come together; although the process was slow, it was happening. All it took was for me to change my perspective. And all the credit went to Anika. She brought with herself a new ray of positivity. But was it the only thing she brought with herself? That question remained to be answered.
In any case, my life had changed. I don’t know to what extent the change spread, but it was significant enough that my priorities hadn’t been affected much, with the exception of one addition. The ways I sought after to handle my issues were the majorly affected parties! The reason for this new life of mine walked to me, all beauty and grace cast in a perfect mould. She smiled up at me as I reached out to hold her hand and pulled her next to me. “Thank you, Shivaay”, she said simply.
“No. Thank you. For everything”, I corrected her. There was intoxication in the air as the cherry blossoms perfume diffused around me, merging with my cologne perfectly. I reached up carefully to caress her hair, leaving my hands in the shape of her face. As if in a trance, we came closer. I felt her soft palm trace the contours of my neck as we were pulled towards each other. All my earlier worries of being careful around her went out of the window as a new hunger took over me. My skin burned beneath her touch as our lips met. I kissed her gently, before catching myself. I pulled away with effort to look at her hesitantly, checking her reaction. She had turned as red as a tomato while she smiled bashfully at me. I secured her face between my hands and let my senses take over.
Our kiss felt like a kind of cross between forest fire and the shifting of tectonic plates. My thirst for her raged as we explored uncountable soft secrets while losing ourselves in a kind of fog. Even through the cloudiness in my head, I was aware of one of her hands twisting my carefully set locks into indefinable patterns. Her skin was delicate against my rough beard. I let her crumple my shirt to her heart’s content while encircling her slim waist and it wasn’t long before we were falling.
We lay entwined in our passion for a long time, before either of us thought of breaking away. Something inside me shifted then; my very basic configuration changed. For her. I held her close to my heart while we both steadied our pulses. She scrambled to her feet first, a new wave of red coloring her. “I… should… should be going… um…. See you later…?” she ended with a questioning look at me as I felt myself breaking out in a smile. “What are you smiling at?” she asked bewildered, doubting my sanity. This had the reverse effect on me as compared to what she had imagined. I chuckled at her embarrassment. It was clearly the first time she had let anyone as close to her as I was a few seconds ago. “Anika, do you know how cute you are?” I managed to say between fits of laughter threatening to break out.
“You’re laughing at me!” she was totally baffled that I would do something like that after we shared a moment of passion! Well, it wasn’t entirely my fault that she was being so funny and cute! She stalked off and I called out to remind her that I’m the one dropping her home. That gave her pause while she turned to look at me in a mixture of mortification, arrogance and awkwardness. Managing to hold up her head in whatever idea of pride she had, she stomped away saying, “I’ll wait downstairs”, and leaving me bemused as always.
I couldn’t believe it myself! My world, which only had a place for the clever and the cunning was turned around by a naïve yet strong girl. I stopped overthinking for fear of going crazy myself. As much as I had affirmed to myself for all this time that she wasn’t anything remarkable or extraordinary, I had always known the crazy appeal she had from the first time we had met. I was incredulous at the current scenario too, but the imperfections of the world did not personally concern me now.
I feel like I can finally be free from the golden cage I’d lived in all my life. I picked up my coat and setting my hair back to its normal state, I walked out of the door with a light step and a happy heart.
That was an epilogue on special request from my dear readers 🙂 most of those special readers were so mad at me that they didn’t comment at my last episode! But no worries. I’m still happy with the others 🙂 so, until we meet again…
Bye Bye… keep smiling 🙂 love you guys