Sweet Nothings

𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐓𝐰𝐨

༘⋆🌷🫧💭₊˚ෆ

𝐈𝐤 𝐕𝐚𝐚𝐫𝐢 𝐇𝐚𝐚𝐧 𝐊𝐞𝐡𝐝𝐞

तू मेरी जिंदगी है,
तू मेरी हर ख़ुशी है,
मेरी रूह ने कबी तुझको,
हां कह दी है

📓

V A N Y A

07:13 p.m., 31st May, Saturday, Oberoi Mansion, LBZ, Prithviraj Rd, New Delhi, Delhi

"Vanya beta, we're leaving first. Come down once you're done getting ready."

Maa's voice comes through the closed door of Mahir's room, and I look up, rushing ahead to open the door. "Yes, maa—hell!"

My heel gets caught in silver, and I look down, finding my payal has unclasped again. This damn thing. Reaching down, I pick it up and head back to the bed. Sitting down, I tug the clasp tighter with my teeth before bending to clasp it around my ankle, only to wince when my waist chain digs into my side.

I adjust, bouncing on the bed to find a better and comfortable position to clasp the payal without hurting my waist and just to my luck, Mahir chooses that exact time to enter the room. He pauses, so do I. We both stare at each other. Until he clears his throat, smirks and raises those god-awful, thick eyebrows of his.

"What are you doing, Vanya?" He muses, crossing his arms, and I huff, dangling the payal in the air.

"Don't look at me like that. I was just...trying to clasp this."

"Uh...huh," he hums, nodding as if what I was saying sounded ridiculous. "Sure. That's why you were testing the tenacity of the mattress."

"I was not--"

I pause when he takes the payal from my hands and gets on his knees in front of me. His eyes rake down from mine, down towards my ankle, and I swear, even with the AC on, I felt like I was sitting on top of the sun.

I gulp as he puts my foot on his thigh, before tightening the payal around my ankle. "Done," he whispers, as his eyes travel back up, his hand lingering on my ankle, slowly travelling up until it rests on my calf, warm and calloused.

His eyes. God, his eyes.

The way he gazes up at me makes my heart still in both temptation and anticipation. There's something about the way he always looks at me. Like I'm something precious, something fragile that he intends to either protect or devour. It always makes me wonder. How can a person love someone more than themself?

How can he love parts of me that even I don't like to face? That even I cannot love?

My insecurities, my anxiety, my overthinking, how does he manage to deal with all of them? Is this what love is supposed to be like? Loving someone to the point you become blind to their flaws? Or is love the act of noticing someone's flaws and choosing to stay together despite it all?

I've read about it a thousand times. Dreamt about it while tears soaked my pillow. But as I face it, the love I've always craved for, I don't understand how someone can love me without wanting anything in return?

Love is consuming. Love is pain. Trust is betrayal. And promises? Meant to break.

Yet in those eyes, I see nothing but devotion. Nothing but bliss as if I'm his whole world and he'd gladly sacrifice everything just to be a part of it, even for one mere moment. And this time I want to believe it. Believe him. His love.