Vows of Misfortune

53.

A/N: sorry if there are mistakes, unedited as always.

***

I couldn't believe this was happening to me. Romir was here, confessing to me like those cheesy film stars in movies.

He was in love with me.

What was I supposed to say to that? My brain was like static. There was nothing going on in there right now.

Everything that I had felt when Anjali had told me the truth had disappeared. All I could think about was Romir being with her. I tried so hard to convince myself that it was for the best, that he was better off with her anyway.

I didn't want to listen to him when he liked my sister. Or so I had thought.

He was in love with me.

"I can't believe it," I found myself saying. My chest was blooming, on the verge of exploding.

I love you too! Tell him that! But my body was frozen stiff and my tongue laid heavy in my mouth. I wanted to feel him touch me again. I wanted him to kiss me. There were so many things I wanted to do but couldn't.

This wasn't a dream, was it?

"I'm afraid," I blurted out, feeling caged in again. I wanted to take that step toward him so badly but...so many things could go wrong.

"I'm not like Varun," he reassured, coming to stop right in front of me. He hesitantly reached out and ran his hands down the length of my arms before taking my hands. "The last thing I would ever do is hurt you."

"Do you...really mean it?"

"I wouldn't have said it if I didn't." He placed the briefest kiss on the tip of my nose, one that sent tingles down my spine. "I want this. I want you."

"What if you're...you get bored of me? Like Varun did? You were right, Romir, about me not being the one he wante—."

"I was wrong," he whispered, his features torn. Today had been the most expressive I had ever seen him. I'd seen him laugh and get angry, but...the expression right now was something I couldn't pinpoint. "Varun didn't leave you because you're not the one he wanted. He left because he wasn't good enough for you."

"Not good enough?" I scoffed, mumbling to myself. "And what am I? Royalty or something?"

"You have the biggest heart than anybody I've ever met. You try to hide it by being the brat you are sometimes, but you don't fool me. Why else would you take care of me when I had that accident? When we hated each other? Why would you take care of my uncle when you had no obligation to?"

My heart stuttered, skipping a few beats but I tried to push it down. "It was what anyone would do."

"No. It was what you would do. He doesn't deserve you."

"And you deserve me?" I whispered, secretly relishing in the way his grip tightened on me. There was dark determination brewing in his eyes that only burned brighter the more I hesitated.

"If you give me the chance," he began, "I'll die showing you that I do. You won't ever be anything less than happy."

I couldn't help it. It was what I'd been wanting to hear for the longest time and to finally hear it...my face crumpled and I bent my head down to bury it in his chest. My shoulders shook as I let out cry after cry.

It was as if I was carrying two buckets of water on my back for months on end and I could finally just put it down and let myself rest.

This was real. Feeling the fabric of his shirt fisted under my hands and the heat of his hands on my back, everything was real.