𝐓𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓

𝟒𝟐. 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞

DHRUV'S POV:

"I'll give you time to think," she said, her voice barely steady, as if the words were breaking her apart.

But I didn't need time. Not when it came to her, to us. The thought of letting her walk away was unbearable even for a moment.

"I'm sorry. I'll go."

She rose to her feet, turning to leave, and in that instant, the thought of her slipping away filled me with a panic I couldn't ignore. I couldn't let her go—not now, not ever. Before she could take a step, I grabbed her wrist, tugging her back toward me. She collided with my chest, and for a heartbeat, her eyes were wide with surprise, while mine were filled with the unspoken resolve that I wasn't going to lose her.

Without another thought, I cupped her face and brought my lips down on hers, sealing everything I felt in that one kiss.

As soon as my lips met hers, everything I'd tried to bury, every emotion I'd tried to deny, came crashing to the surface. The anger, the hurt, the longing—it all surged through me, but beneath it was something I couldn't ignore: I still needed her.

The kiss was aggressive, a collision of raw emotions that we'd bottled up for too long. My hand slid to the back of her neck, gripping her tightly as if I could anchor myself to her. Our lips clashed in a fierce dance, almost violent in the way they moved against each other. I kissed her with an intensity that bordered on desperation, needing to convey everything I hadn't been able to say in words.

I could feel her trying to keep up, her hands fisting in my shirt as she kissed me back with equal fervor. The taste of her, mixed with the rain and the salt of her tears, fueled the storm raging inside me. My lips tugged on hers, demanding more, needing more, as if the only way to heal the hurt between us was through this wild, untamed connection.

I bit down on her lower lip, not hard enough to hurt, but enough to draw a gasp from her, and I took the opportunity to deepen the kiss. The sound only spurred me on, my lips moving against hers with renewed urgency. It felt like forever since I had held her in my arms and kissed her like this. She responded in kind, her body pressing against mine, surrendering to the intensity of the moment. I could feel her melting into me, her resistance giving way to the emotions we were both drowning in.

When we finally broke apart, our breaths came in ragged gasps, our foreheads resting against each other. The rain continued to fall around us, but we were both oblivious to everything except the pounding of our hearts and the lingering taste of each other on our lips.

She looked up at me, her eyes wide and filled with a mix of emotions—fear, and regret, but also a flicker of hope. She was hurting, just as much as I was, and it tore at me because, despite everything, I still cared. I still wanted her.

She gently touched my face, wiping away the rain—or maybe it was a tear—and whispered something that shattered the wall I'd built around myself. "I never stopped loving you," she said, her voice barely audible, but the words hit me like a punch to the gut.

I tried to look away, to distance myself from the truth of what she was saying, but I couldn't. Her eyes held me captive, forcing me to confront everything I had tried to bury. "I wanted to forget you," she admitted, her voice hoarse with emotion. "I wanted to hate you for what happened... but I couldn't. I never could."

Her words hung in the air, heavy with the weight of our shared pain, and then she asked the question I dreaded, the one I wasn't sure I was ready to answer.

"Do you hate me?" Her voice was fragile as if the wrong answer might break her completely. "After everything I said and did?"

I took a deep breath, the answer forming on my lips before I could stop it. "I won't lie..." I began, and I saw her eyes darken with sorrow as if she was bracing for the worst. I gently cupped her face, making sure she could see the sincerity in my eyes. "I never tried to hate you. I was hurt, definitely, but even then, I knew you were it for me."