Love or Retribution?

Chapter - 33

"You did come looking for me?", Bhargav's voice startled Indira, who was sitting with her eyes closed.

"How did you find me? ", she asked, as he sat down next to her.

"I didn't see you leave the house, you were not in the back yard, so terrace is the obvious next choice.

Indira did not object to him sitting next to her at the same time did not shoo him away too.

"As I said before, you did come looking for me, I was the fool who did not recognize", he said, moving closer to her.

"I.. what... when.."

"Subhashini told me", Bhargav interrupted her.

"That blabber mouth", Indira hissed under her breath.

"I am not sure what she blabbered, but it is all a lie, I did not..."

"Either Anarkali or a knee length kurta, mostly pastel color", he said and turned to face her.

"A cute little ring in the ears that had a small droplet with a blood red stone", his fingers now followed the curve of her ears, sending chills down her spine.

"A small black bindi between the eyebrows, mild kajal, the glasses you wore then did try to diminish the beauty of these eyes a little ", his hands traced her face from her forehead down to her eyes.

"A very subtle lipstick, actuating but not attracting attention", his fingers moved across her lips and somehow froze there, his eyes moved from her lips to meet hers which was filling up now.

Every cell in his body craved for him to replace his fingers with his lips. But his brain gave him the right warning. "This is not the right time Bhargav..."

He cleared his throat, steadied himself and continued.

"Hair was natural then, wavy and frizzy, not colored or highlighted like now, a small clutch holding a bunch of hair at the top but rest free flowing to your hips, I can see now how a haircut, coloring, contacts and styling can change a person so much but this strand of hair that frames your face, it's the same then and now", he said and slowly pushed the strand away, while his finger traced the side of her face.

Indira closed her eyes and tried to take in the feel that came with being close to him, but then suddenly all that he said hit her.

"What... how...", she stammered.

"I know I made a promise to you when we hardly knew what marriage even meant, somehow it stopped me from being interested in any girls, but very rarely few girls caught my attention..." he dragged and got a stare from her.

"Hey, I am not a saint, I am human too, but never felt like pursuing any such interest, and now I realize I have avoided you in order to stop myself from breaking the promise I made to you, if that even makes sense", he said and locked his fingers with her.

"When I saw you for the first time here, I felt like I knew you from before and I somehow connected to knowing you from the childhood and not to this brief encounter. In all of my adult life I have felt guilty about betraying that promise only twice, once with that Anarkali chudidhar girl and other with Indira, but hey, it was my stupid brain that had always been confused, my heart knew what it wants always and it had always been only you, ALWAYS!!", he said and slowly placed his lips on her forehead, she closed her eyes and touched his forehead with hers and they stayed there, not wanting to move away from each other.

"Subhi ma"

She lifted her eyes, moved a little away and looked at him.

"You did come for me, but something stopped you from talking to me..."