"I Love You," Namrata said with a bated breath, her whole body vibrating like she was set on fire.
"What?" Sameer exclaimed shockingly, trying to reconfirm if he erred in hearing the exact sentence.
Namrata stared at him, baffled, tightly fisting the side of her kurti in response, her heartbeats dancing to the tunes of trepidation when Sameer kept staring at her in utter suspicion.
It took her enormous courage and strength to say what she had been hiding from him but unfortunately, he didn't hear her or perhaps acted to misunderstand her words. She averted her moist gaze to the balcony showing glimpses of gentle raindrops and suddenly her heart felt like crying hard.
Sameer wasn't able to comprehend why it was taking her longer than usual to clear his doubts. She looked mentally disturbed and afraid of sharing something significant with him. He might be wrong but he heard I Love You escaping her shivering lips.
Namrata inhaled a sharp breath and rectified her blunder with a small smile - "As a friend. You're such a good man."
Sameer wrinkled his nose in sheer bewilderment, endeavoring to join the missing piece of the complicated tale Namrata had put him into. He wetted his lips, his chest puffing up with smokes of disbelief and confusion, and she squeezed her eyes tighter.
"Tum itna darr kyu rahi ho?" He asked her in a soft voice, and she lightly shook her head.
Namrata took a few steps toward him, staring into his confounded eyes in utmost remorse. She gulped down arduously and said in a meek tone - "Main darr nahi rahi, I just don't want you to misunderstand me. I genuinely adore you, but I am loyal to Arnav."
Sameer was looking at her without showing any sort of weird expression which could dwindle her confidence to confess whatever was pricking her. He decided to listen to her calmly before judging her by her words.
It would be too unfair and wrong of him to point out her mistakes instead of trying to understand her feelings.
Namrata felt slightly confident when Sameer showed silent support from his side and began to speak again, though a little feebly this time with a rueful expression - 'Mujhe nahi pata main unse pyar karti hoon ya nahi, par main unki dil se respect karti hoon and I won't ever do something jiski wajah se unhe bura lage. For me, he is my top priority and he will always be the one, but main is guilt me rehke bahut thak gayi hoon."
Shutting her eyes because of her lack of courage to face him. She finally revealed in a frail tone - "I just wanted you to know that I liked you in the school, aur tumhara mere dil me bahut hi special place tha."
Sameer was taken aback by the thoroughly unwanted disclosure from her end. It shook him harder, it left him clueless and blank, making him feel like it would have been better hadn't he heard the important confession Namrata had just made in front of him. The loud noise of a thunderstorm coming from outside felt relatable to his current situation, his entire body shrinking in eerie. He peered at her with nothing but unalloyed hollowness in his orbs when he attempted to recover from the terrible shock she just gave him, and Namrata immediately rested her weak gaze on her toes, tears rolling down her cheeks.
For him believing her was out of the box because he genuinely observed her the entire time at the classroom or playground, and she never spared a glance at him. No matter how hard he tried to steal her attention from the books in her hands. She was always seen reading and writing down notes to excel well in studies, and he literally praised her dedication, but sometimes it ached him to see her admiring the notebooks instead of him. Sameer outrightly refused to accept the fact that Namrata used to adore him during their school time, and before he could pour unanswered questions at her.
