Stubborn Love (Volume 2)

Chapter 1

Raghav swiftly picked up his phone at the beep, his heart unnecessarily skipping a beat.

It was only an email notification...

With an irritated air, he tossed the phone onto the bed and returned to the research paper on his laptop.

Minutes dragged by, the silence in the room disturbing his every attempt to refocus. Swearing under his breath, he got up from the chair, retrieved the ill-treated phone from the sheets, and placed it next to his laptop. Satisfied that he wouldn't miss any notifications or calls, he resumed his work.

Fifteen excruciating minutes later, the phone finally buzzed with his favourite name on the screen.

"Took you long enough!" he taunted, failing to hide the weird blend of complaint and relief in his voice.

"Good morning!" Sia greeted sweetly.

"It's close to midnight here," came his grumpy reply.

"But your day only starts with my voice!" she said, as if it were a matter of fact.

Grinning, he pushed aside his laptop and propped his legs on the table. "One of these days, I am going to make you wait."

"You wish!"

With the phone in one hand, he shut his laptop, grabbed his coat, and stepped out into the chilly night. "You're too confident, Miss Kashyap."

"Well, all I know is that you can't go a day without hearing the sweetest voice in this universe."

Raghav winced at the deliberate reminder of an embarrassing night a few weeks ago. During her exam week with a goal to make her focus on her grades, he had thoughtlessly declared that they wouldn't talk. Later, the resolve proved to be far more challenging for him than he had estimated.

When the cursed week finally ended, in a vulnerable moment, he had made the blunder of telling her just that.

He heard her giggle at his silence, then grudgingly refuted, "People say all kinds of bullshit when they're drunk."

She laughed. "Oh, you meant every word that day. Now that you're trying to deny it, let me think. What else did you say—" she pretended to recollect exaggeratedly.

Raghav groaned disregarding the loveliness of snow covered trees surrounding the well lit road. "Will you stop it?"

"Oh yes! You had said it was unbearable to get through a day knowing that you wouldn't get to hear my voice," she continued, barely containing her giggles.

Why did he have to confide his feelings to the devil incarnate herself?

"Why Raghav? Why are you quiet now? These are just your feelings." she supplied helpfully and then laughed at his predicament.

When he didn't retort back, she continued, "Good, let's see what else had you said? You had said miss, you miss —"

"Kissing you," Raghav completed, making Sia stop at once.

Chuckling to himself, he continued, "Did I tell you that? I didn't?"

Sia shook her head momentarily forgetting he couldn't see her.

Guessing her answer, he continued mercilessly, "Let me tell you now then. I miss your soft lips against mine. And so many other things we couldn't do."

"Shut up! Shut up!"

Raghav grinned, picturing her beautiful face flushing crimson. This could be really enjoyable. "Actually now when I think about it, you are right. Let's talk more about our feelings, Sugar." he added with a peculiar seductive tone which was too exaggerated to be sincere.