love until eternity

chapter 7

Dushyant was drowsing away to a deep sleep, no longer resisting the inevitable dream that seemed to not stop following him. 

ishita was seated on the bed lazily, her head rested perfectly taking support of the back of the bed, with the white sheet covering her completely except for her bare shoulders that slipped out of them, as she turned to lay on her side, her bare legs too slipped out of the sheet. dushyant, who might as well have been completely naked if it wasn't for the boxers he was wearing, walked in with a box in his hand, only to take a seat next to ishita, making her notice what had he brought in. 

"aww...you bring food afterwards too..." remarked ishita snarkily, as dushyant gave a light chuckle, opening the box to reveal a pizza. 

"well, you know, usually you take a girl out on dinner, then you bring her back to your appartment, but i think we should reverse the order so that important things take place first..." retorted dushyant, playing along too, as he took out a slice for her, and offered it to her by placing it in front of her mouth for a bite. 

she nibbled a tiny bit off the slice, before taking the slice in her hands, to take another bite. he further picked a slice out for himself, promptly taking a bite. 

he too reclined back on the bed, averting his gaze to her, which she noticed immediately, gazing back at him, raising her brow.

"i was wondering if it would be too cheesy to say you are really beautiful right now?" pondered dushyant, as ishita took one good look of him before leaning forward to reply.

"it is cheesy, but it's still nice to hear, so that's okay...."  replied ishita, as dushyant nodded, while their glances were locked onto each other's eyes. 

"see, for someone i've known for only a few hours, you have taught me a lot..." stated dushyant, as they both shared a laughter. 

"hmm, so should i ask you like a deep sounding question, so that we talk about our feelings and pretend that this is not just a one night stand?" asked ishita teasingly, as he ended up leaning so close to her that there was only their breaths between them that created any distance. 

"sure, it's fun pretending like we are in a romcom with you...." accepted dushyant the offer, as she placed her hand on his arm, slowly moving her finger to his collarbone, rubbing around it softly, glancing at a tiny and easy to miss in a sight scar. 

"where did you get that scar?" inquired ishita, making dushyant glance at it, making him grow a bit uncomfortable at its mention. 

"it's a long, sad story...you sure you want to give this night to that?" asked dushyant, looking upto her, he couldn't help but notice luminous the glow on her face truly was, as she casually shrugged in response, as if saying, 'why not'. 

"well, when i was a child, i had dyslexia...it made it hard for me to be able to speak properly, or read aloud in class when teachers would ask me to, i would stutter a lot because of it...and you know, all the boys in the class would make fun of me for it, and it was really bad, they would not leave me alone...and one day, i had enough. i ended up in a fight with them, but i was only one, they were five, they pinned me down and beat me terribly...one of them, used a compass to make a cut here...that's the scar...i screamed so loud, some teacher who was outside came and next time i remember i was in the medical room with my mom crying." elucidated dushyant, the melancholy in his voice made it apparent he still found it hard to talk about that. 

"you got hurt really bad?" followed up ishita with a question, lovingly brushing his hair with her fingers to comfort him, as he nodded. 

"i had to get stitches on my face too, they punched me a lot there..banged my head on the table so many times...the scars remained for like two years...i remember anyone who ever looked at me either felt bad for me or just was scared of me...i even changed my school later, i, i just couldn't look people in the eye knowing what they were thinking of me." stated dushyant, his head down, as he had tightly clasped his hand onto ishita's, brushing his thumb across the back of her hand, as she lifted his chin up, only to lean forward to plant a soft kiss onto his lips, which somehow made him feel slightly better. 

they seperated, their eyes still fixed onto each other. 

"i think you should be happy that the little boy got a happy ending..." stated ishita, in order to comfort him, as he had a sheepishly tight-lipped smile on his face, arising from an odd sense of warmth he felt. 

dushyant woke up as his eyes opened in a split second, he looked over to his side, instinctively in a way, still yet expecting her to still be there, not used to the reality of she won't now. his head wasn't throbbing in pain anymore, he felt oddly comforted by the visceral memory of her touch, it made him feel better instantly. 

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dushyant opened the door and gave side for ishita to enter into what seemed to be a comfortable and warmly welcoming environment, not lavish or even well-furnished, yet cozy. she was understandably feeling awkward and uncomfortable in her bridal attire, and how it made her look completely out of place. 

he closed the door, and signaled her the way to the bedroom, which she walked to, finding a surprisingly neat bedroom considering it was owned by a bachelor guy. 

"uhh, meri cousin aayi thi pichle hafte, ria di, kapde bhul gayi thi, abhi ke liye tum yahi pehen lo." stated dushyant, as he placed a set of a kurti and palazzo on the bed, which she accepted graciously. 

"thanks..." expressed ishita her gratitude, as he only smiled cordially in return, closing the door to let her change. 

she looked carefully at the clothes, seemingly quite familiar, as one long glance was enough for her to recognize, they were her clothes...from all these years back, he still kept them safe. 

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