OUR OBSESSIONS - FATE of LOVE

Chapter 12

AUTHOR POV

"At least not now" Dhruv sighed, his heart heavy with the familiar weight of helplessness. He stood up and walked away to give her space, though his mind felt anything but clear. A few moments passed, then he returned, holding a bottle of oil in his hand.

She glanced at it, then quickly tried to hide the pain, pressing her hand tighter to her abdomen as though to keep it from surfacing. He noticed, but he didn't comment on it.

"Lie down," Dhruv said, his tone soft but firm as he took a seat beside the bed.

She blinked in surprise. "For what?"

He didn't waver. "Trust me. Whatever I'm going to do will ease the pain more than any medicine or heating pad could."

For a moment, she hesitated. But eventually, her body gave in, and she slowly stretched out on the bed, though her tension remained. 'Why I'm not able to say No to him?' the question raised in her mind but she pushed the thought aside as she was not in a situation to search for that.

"May I?" Dhruv asked, his voice dropping to a near whisper as he reached for the hem of her t-shirt.

She nodded, her throat tight as her gaze locked with his, but her eyes were full of uncertainty. She is struggling but Dhruv's touch made her relieved from her previous nightmares, at least at that moment.

Dhruv took a small amount of oil into his hands and began massaging her abdomen with slow, circular movements. The warmth of his hands, combined with the oil, seemed to ease the sharp edges of her discomfort, and she found herself relaxing despite herself.

Her emotions flooded again, 'Why?' a question... 'Why when I'm running away from you Dhruv, you are coming close to me?'
To be out of her thoughts... "Where did you learn this?" she asked, the pain beginning to fade as his touch grew more confident.

"Internet," Dhruv replied with a casual shrug, though his face remained serious, his focus entirely on her.

She shot him a skeptical look. "Don't tell me you just watched this on your laptop."

Dhruv didn't answer right away, but the silence was telling. She could feel the unspoken truth behind it.

"Why?" she asked, her voice thick with emotions which she desperately wanted to hide but the situation was making her give in. The question felt more vulnerable than anything else she had asked in a long time.

Dhruv's hands stilled for a moment. He was trying to find the right words, but they didn't come. After a beat, he spoke softly, as if trying to figure it out for himself. "I'm figuring it out."

Her heart tightened at the uncertainty in his words, and the room grew thick with the weight of all the things they couldn't yet say to each other.

The air seemed to grow heavy with their thoughts, and the only sounds that filled the room were the distant howling of the wind outside and the steady ticking of the clock. She fought to control the tears that threatened to spill, unsure of what to feel—whether it was relief, frustration, or something else entirely.

Finally, Dhruv broke the silence in his usual calm way after finishing the massage. "I've already called your manager and sent a leave request for the whole week, saying it's a family emergency."

Esha shot up from the bed, her eyes wide in disbelief. "What? Why? And how did you—"

Dhruv simply shrugged, his tone nonchalant, though there was an underlying seriousness in his words. "I asked for leave. Because you're suffering. And the last part... well, you know how well I handle technology."