Unbidden Longings : The Saga of Desperation

42.

42. Ravishing.

Avneet didn't even know where Siddharth would take her, but she honestly didn't expect to find herself in one of the biggest libraries Mumbai. She sends an inquiring raised eyebrow towards her boyfriend when the latter holds her hand the moment they step through the gigantic double doors. Siddharth grins at her in reply, tugging her along in silence. Avneet can't say she's ever been here, considering back in college she used to simply visit the library on campus when needed. And as much as she enjoys reading a good book, she can't say she's a big reader herself.

She stares at the rows of books with her lips parted in reverence. The shelves run high; they're so tall and beautiful she has to crane her neck to allow her eyes to squint at the titles. The library is so big that some parts of it are full of people while others are empty and look almost liminal in its expansion. The lights are a bit too bright as they shine against the brown bookcases. There's a series of tables arranged here and there for people to sit down and read in comfortable-looking cream chairs. Everything is just beautiful.

"Mind telling me what we're doing here?" She questions Siddharth anyway once he takes them to a pretty empty part of the library. she reads the shelf at her left and realizes it's full of gardening books. Figures.

"I love this place," Siddharth simply shrugs, eyes sparkling as he stares at the thousands of colorful books that surround them. The high ceilings make them feel small, just like the endless glass windows that allow a bit of light from the full moon to pour through. And yet Avneet feels cozy and almost at home with the faint murmur of hushed whispers from a few meters away as background noise.

"It's beautiful. You come here a lot?"

"Yeah. Mostly when I was young...whenever I got mad at
my parents, I'd just sneak out of the house and come here," he replies, his eyes focused on the random book his hands hold like a treasure, even though the title reads something about how to properly grow petunias in your garden. His fingers caress the spine and the white pages before his eyes look back up at Avneet.

"This may bore you," he chuckles but the brunette shakes her head profusely.

"I like reading too, you know? And this place is obviously important to you so...it's nice," she smiles before quietly adding, "Though aren't we dressed kinda...you know, for this place?"

"You look absolutely ravishing, baby," Siddharth answers with a smirk tinting his pink lips and Avneet feels her heart skip a beat at the sight. She opens her mouth to throw him a witty reply but all she hears is a sound between a snort and a huff. Siddharth laughs when he hears it. "What was that?"

"Nothing. Anyway, let's go read something," she suggests, already trying to squirm away frravenette . She didn't realize she was standing with her back against some bookcase until now.

"Avi? Are you...are you okay?"

Siddharth chuckles as Avneet's cheeks continue flushing like a tomato. She shakes her head and her boyfriend laughs, hand still next to the brunette's face as he leans even closer yet, his delicious perfume making Avneet physically ache.

"Do I really make you nervous?" he whispers then, nosing his jaw and practically nuzzling her neck, the tip of his nose teasing her skin. Avneet is getting aroused just by this and it's embarrassing and lame as fuck, but the action is just so intimate and natural that it has her teeth digging against her lip, completely smitten.

"I'm...fine," she forces the words out, almost choking and tripping all over them, eyes struggling to stare right back at the two zealous dark orbs. And Siddharth notices, because he knows his girlfriend so well by now, has spent months looking at her and studying her body without realizing it that he could hear her pulse even while standing three feet away from her, could blindly draw Avneet's eyes and her expressive eyebrows, could pinpoint the exact spots in where she likes to be touched...and could, undoubtedly, tell when she's a nervous wreck.