ONE LAST TIME (Discontinued)

CHAPTER 11

Songs of the Chapter:

In the End- Linkin Park
Final Masquerade- Linkin Park

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It all felt like a trance, a serene blissful trance that I didn't want to wake up from. Seconds, minutes, hours, years, centuries, melded together into infinity in which we stood together, below the stars and fireflies, two souls wrapped together like one.

I gazed up at him, for the first time in two months having to crane my neck to meet eyes with someone. He towered over me as usual and I had to look up, the gesture so familiar that doing it again sent a shiver down my spine.

It was all going back to the way it was. If my heart found anymore joy it would surely burst.

He was looking at me intently, studying every feature, every curve, blemish, mark, every freckle on my face, as if matching it all to the girl he knew and judging by the small smile that curved up his lips, I was his memory come alive.

The intensity in his gaze did things to me, small, little things which ignited a slow, scorching fire in my veins threatening to consume me whole if I spent one more second without the warmth of his skin on mine, without his embrace, his touch, his lips, him.

The power of my want, no, it was absolute need, that compelled me to pull myself closer to him, so close that I could feel his heart thrumming against my own and I wrapped my arms around his neck, clinging to him like a ship to its anchor.

I gasped softly when his one hand came down to rest on my waist, pulling me even closer to him, if that was even possible, till my body pressed against his, not even air remaining in between while his other hand cupped my cheek, his thumb caressing fire at the corner of my lips.

The feel of his touch on my skin, I had missed it, I hadcraved it so badly and now that it was mine again, my heart was thrumming with anticipation, a blush staining my cheeks red.

I stood up on my tiptoes and leaned forward till our foreheads touched. His warm breath fanned my face, setting the already heated skin aflame and as his thumb traced the contours of my swollen lower lip, tortouresly slow and tender, tendrils of pleasure curled in my stomach, and I bit my lip to hold back the sounds that threatened to escape my lips.

It had just been a few minutes and I was already consumed in him.

I didn't know who to thank for this moment, reflexively looking up the heavens, only to find the twinkling stars above us and the glowing fireflies, fluttering around us.

Maybe they were actually the ones I should thank.

"Manik." I whispered, afraid that a louder voice might crack the moment. It already felt surreal to say his name again. Surreal and fragile.

"They're glowing."

He smiled slightly before his lips gently brushed the corner of my lips, his hand tangling in my tresses so he could angle my head and whisper softly in my ear,

"Because you're here." His breath teased my earlobe and I trembled in his arms. What was he doing to me?! I was falling, falling and falling, deeper and deeper into this dream of a reality that I was afraid, one gasp, and it would end too soon.

He must have noticed my reaction because I felt him chuckle against me before he said, "Happy realisation."

I scowled, way to break the moment Malhotra! He was seriously teasing me? "That's because someone distracted me." I shot back, trying to keep my breathing even as he continued his ministrations.