The Elite Bride ( I was enchanted to meet you, princess )

《 42. The Crash and The Burn 》

Stop, you're losin' me
I can't find a pulse
My heart won't start anymore
For you'Cause you're losin' me
Stop (stop) 'cause you're losin' me

You're Losing Me by Taylor Swift

J A N A K I

I looked at him, eagerly waiting for an answer from him. He was not looking at me at the moment, instead he was staring blankly at something on the floor.

I gripped his jaw between my thumb and forefinger to make him look at me , "I am asking you again, Raghavendra Singh Rathod, did you rape your ex-girlfriend, Tanya Malhotra? You didn't do it, right?" The last question came put as a plea, like I was hoping for it to not be true.

At the mention of his full name or his ex, I don't know what exactly, Raghav's eyes blazed as if had just stomped on his ego. 

On not getting any answers from him, I was just about to let him out of my hold, I was about to let him go, when he held my hand firmly. I looked into his grey eyes still waiting for an answer.

Then I heard him, "W-what... do you believe?" he asked in almost an inaudible voice. A voice which I had never heard him speak in all the while I had known him. It almost hit me like a bullet to my chest, his question about whether I believe him or not. 

I didn't know what to answer to that and now I was the one being pinned by his penetrating gaze, the tables had turned. 

"Its a yes or no question, Raghav." I voiced in a neutral tone, ironically as only I knew that my heart was yearning for his proper answer, it was ready to sink and drown in the river of grief, betrayal and loss if...if he had done that heinous thing.

His eyes snapped to mine, and clenching his jaw, he stood up and leaving my cold body on the chair he snatched his warm hold from me and turned his back to me.

I could see his ripped back muscles stretching with tension in his white shirt, almost tearing through the material and his broad shoulders lined and squared like an iron sword that could cut through the tension in the air between us.

I chose to continue the conversation, "T-the rape kit test done on her... s-says t-that they found your" I choked on a sob and looked away from him or else I would have to dash out of the room, but I can't, I needed answers. "The r-rape kit test done on her says that they found y-your semen in her bruised v-vagina. What does that mean? And what should I conclude? And you better answer me while looking me in the eye." I spat.

He slowly turned towards me and trudged in my direction, he again knelt in front of my sitting form and I saw his throat working, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down with each swallow of air, the same air that was no longer charged with our sizzling chemistry or staring contests or longing gazes but the poisoned air between us, lurking with questions of deep and gutting betrayal.

"W-would you...believe me if I say t-that I did not rape her or sexually abuse or assault her in any form, b-but the rape kit test is also not false?" He asked me in a sincere voice.

"Meaning?" I managed to say.

"Meaning that, my semen found inside her body was true, but I didn't rape her." he replied in an almost begging tone.