MY AVERAGE LIFE

Part 43

Sharath Pov:

"I like you," Shivani said, and I forgot what I was saying. I immediately looked up from her neck and saw that she was also looking at me while smiling. "What did you say?" I asked, wanting to hear it again. "What did you hear?" she asked teasingly, raising her eyebrow. "Shivani, this is not the time to tease me. Say it again," I insisted. 

This time she smiled, cupped my face, and looked straight into my eyes before saying, "I think I like you, Sharath." I frowned at her. "That's not what you said earlier." "Oh, really? What did I say then?" she said, making a thoughtful face. If I was not desperate to hear her again, I would have admired her cute expressions, but I was dying to hear it again so, I asked "Shivani, now say it again without 'I think,'" I said sternly.

 She chuckled and said, "I like you, Sharath," and kissed my cheek. "Is this enough?" I smiled and said, "No, you should do justice to the other cheek also." She smiled while shaking her head and kissed my other cheek. "So?" she asked. "What?" I asked. "Where is the response, Mister?" she asked, signing. "What response?" I frowned. She rolled her eyes. "Mr. Sharath Raavi, I just said I like you, so you should respond with 'I like you too' or 'No, I don't like you,'" she said, pinching my cheeks.

 Then I looked at her face, our position, and back to her face. "Do you really need to ask after we are in this position?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "Then why you looked so shocked when I said I like you when we are already in this position?" "I-I've never been in this stage, so I don't know," she chuckled and said "No matter what stage we are in, it's important to communicate about our feelings. That's how we maintain a healthy relationship. It doesn't matter if you are confused about your feelings or anything, you just need to be honest with me. I promise I will also be honest with you and will be there to hear you, okay?"

When her words started to sink in, I thought I didn't exactly know what to name my feelings, so I did what she suggested. I untangled us, even if I wanted to be tangled like this forever. It needed to be done. I made her sit straight, held her hand, and started creasing her hand.

"Shivani, I am new to all of this, and let me tell you, I don't believe in love or marriage, and you know the reason already. But I know that I want you to be mine and only mine forever, and there is nothing in this world to stop me from making you mine. I will do anything to keep you with me forever, even if it is marriage, which I don't believe in. I will do it if it assures me you will be lifelong with me. You can name this anything you want, like love or even obsession; I don't care as long as I get you in my arms. I am fine with everything. If you want, I can even say I like and I love you, even when I don't know how exactly they feel, if that makes you stay with me. You want me to be honest, and here I am."

She just kept staring at me, and a fear began in me. What if she doesn't want me anymore? Before I could completely acknowledge the fear, she freed her hand from my hold, cupped my face again, and said, "Thank you for being honest with me and I don't need you to say 'I like you' or 'I love you' to me because what you just said means more than those two words. I just want you to be honest with me whenever I ask something, just like now. Even if you don't want to share something, just say so. I promise I will listen, but please never ever lie to me and break my trust. I know i shouldn't say this when we have not even started our relationship, but I've always wanted respect in my relationships. If you ever feel that you don't want me or like someone else or feel like I am a burden to you, just tell me. I promise I will never judge you for anything, but just tell me," she said, tears flowing from her eyes.

 I was shocked to hear Shivani, would be an understatement. Her tears were hurting me. I wiped her tears, hugged her, and said, "I know that will never happen, but if you want assurance, I will always be honest with you and never break your trust. I will prove it with my whole life Shivani." She cried more in my arms. I rubbed her back to calm her down and gave her a peck on her forehead from time to time. She calmed down in 5 minutes and backed away from the hug and i already miss her warmth.

 "So, everything is sorted out?" I asked. She nodded her head. "Do you have a headache?" "A little bit, but I am fine," I chuckled at my cute girl. "So...?" "Huh?" "So, can we cuddle like before?" I asked. But before she could answer, I jumped on her and adjusted us to the same position as before. "What was that?" she asked. "You only said to be honest, I just asked for formality and did what i really wanted to do," I said. 

She laughed and started playing with my hair. "Can I ask you something?" "You can, Shivani," I said, slowly breathing on her neck, making goosebumps arrive on her neck. I observed it earelier also, she is so sensitive to my touch that I want to keep teasing her. She gulped before asking me, "Why do you always ask me why I'm not asking you anything?"

 "Because I wanted you to care about me. My father and that woman never cared about me or asked me if anything was wrong. Even my grandparents didn't because they knew they didn't have answers to the questions. But when I got to the age of understanding things, I never gave them a chance to ask and act like they cared about me just because I was useful to them. But you are different. I want you to care for me and feel the warmth of being taken care off and ask me, 'Am I okay?' like you asked in the car. I want you to be demanding with me and ask me anything without saying, 'Can I ask you something?' like you just did. I just want to become yours, like you are mine, Shivani."