Together Forever

Love blossoms

Time seemed to freeze as the terrorist pointed the bazooka at the car. The wind picked up pace as it prepared for a storm. The moment that the bazooka went off, Vikram braced himself for the explosion. But it missed the car by mere inches as it exploded next to the car. That gave Vikram the precious time he needed as he pulled Saanvi out of the car and carried her away while the guy was loading the bazooka again. Vikram entered a dark alley nearby and put her down gently behind a barrel.

Dialling Abhay, he whispered "I need an ambulance and backup right away. Track my location."

Just then a running sound near the alley alerted him to the terrorist closing in. He climbed the top of a barrel and hoisted himself onto the top of the roof of a shop opposite to her. The terrorist who came into the alley was surveying around, when Saanvi tried to divert him from the shop where Vikram was hiding, by throwing a stone at him with full force at him. It hit him on the forehead making him curse.

He came near her and smirked "Bad luck for you, lady. That coward abandoned yo..."

He didn't get to finish his sentence as Vikram leapt on him from the roof, knocking him unconscious with one blow.

In a little while, the alley was filled with ambulance and army personnel. They had arrested the guys from the jeep and confiscated the artillery. Saanvi was loaded into the ambulance and taken to the operation theatre for surgery on her injured leg. Post the operation on her leg, she woke up looking for him. But only Chaitra was there by her side, explaining that he was with Abhay for some important work and her father and Nidhi were unable to travel due to the storm, as the planes were cancelled.

When she reached home from the hospital, the storm showed no signs of relenting, pouring down as if a dam had just broken in the sky. She dreaded going in the house, wondering how she was going to manage on her own. Ehsan opened the car door with a giant umbrella. She was struggling to get out of the car, when Vikram scooped her up in his arms, effortlessly carried her up to the first floor and laid her on the bed.

After covering her with a blanket, He said apologetically "Sorry I couldn't be at the hospital. We were interrogating those terrorists. And we had to immediately move on all the locations you provided and arrested them. But now I have taken 2 weeks off. I am not leaving here till you are fine."

True enough, He moved into the adjoining room. Everyday cooking food for her, though with his limited cooking skills, it mostly meant Dosa, Maggi and Curd rice. He even changed the dressing on her injured leg. For Saanvi, it was a whole new experience. She had always been the caregiver, in the family. The last time someone had taken care of her so well, was when her mother was alive. Now when Vikram was taking care of her, like her mother, memories came back of how she had yearned for her mom, when she was sick. Now overwhelmed at seeing this nurturing side of Vikram, she knew that she had fallen in love with the right guy.

Once as he helped to put up pillows to support her, she held his shirt for support as he propped her up. Her hand was over the same hard chest, but unlike last time's steady clockwork, this time his heartbeat felt like a racing car. She looked up in surprise to see his penetrating gaze drilling into hers. All she wanted to do was cup his face in her hands and give a peck on his forehead and that long nose. Oh, that long nose of his, every time he stood over her and looked at her from a height, it had been her fantasy to reach out and pull his nose at least once. But alas, she hadn't gathered enough courage to do that. She thought of how he would react if she ever did that, smiling at the thought of his shocked expression.

As he sat opposite to her, drinking coffee, wearing light blue sweater over his dark blue T shirt, looking picture perfect, she thought that he looked so...

"Yum" she blurted out loud.

He raised his eyebrows "Yum??"

Cursing her stupidity, she replied "I meant the coffee is yum. Thanks for this and everything."