A Lot Like Moon & Stars | ✓

14 | almaaz

xiv.

A L M A A Z (precious diamond)

"Nothing papa." Tara replies, biting on her lips nervously. "We were just discussing something."

"Geez, I have no problems with you two doing something but please close the door next time. It doesn't seem ethical enough to run into your daughter's room when she's kissing her boyfriend." Uncle laughs, giving us a sly look.

Tara shoots him a critical look, "You're supposed to try to not embarass me in front of a boy." she puts him off, rolling her eyes at him.

Uncle gives him a smug smile before poking the bridge of her nose, "Ooh... a boy." I mentally facepalm at their banter while Tara gives him a weird look. Tara and Uncle's relationship within the limits of sanity didn't even closely resemble that of a father and daughter. They acted like they were in third grade.

"Dad, I'm not in highschool anymore. You don't have to say, 'Ooh... a boy!' Act like an adult." 

"What? You fucking with your boyfriend? You're grounded for an entire week, Tara." Uncle scowls at her.

 "Okay, dad, you're right. I liked 'Ooh... a boy!' much more than that.
Let's stick with 'Ooh... a boy!" Tara groans exasperatedly, while I grab on my stomach to stifle my laughs.

"Okay, I better leave before someone murders me and buries me in the backyard." he winks at me, giving a slight pat on the shoulder, then leaves the room.

"Oh my God." I laugh boisterously, "Where's your dad and what did you do to him?"

"Oh, was I supposed to laugh? Because it wasn't even close to funny." She looked so mad and annoyed, and the devil inside my eyes wanted to fuel her anger and fury.

"Your sense of humor needs some work, then." I chuckled sardonically, "Most girls find my jokes charming."

"Those girls must have IQs low enough to trip over." Tara shoots back, before she flusters on the bed with her cackles and laugh. We laugh and laugh, and nothing can ever be sad, no one can be lost, or dead, or far away: right now we are here, and nothing can mar our perfection, or steal the joy of this perfect moment. Tara mums up after a while, and looks at me in wonderment, then asks, "Why are you with me?" The way she speaks me makes her sound like an inferior.

"Because I realized, Tara... it's better to be immensely happy for a short while, even if you lose it, than to be just okay for your whole life. And, you, Tara Dobriyal, you make me immensely happy."

Leaning back against my chest, Tara tips her head back and reaches up, cupping my cheek. "But I won't be there forever, Virat."

"Love is only intensified by absence, I've realized when you left." I say, my eyes moistening a little, "And how much ever you try to reason it out, I would never leave you, even though you're always leaving me"  

"I would try to never leave you, Virat. I repeat, try." she says, rubbing her eyes with the palm of her hands. "Can you hold me to sleep. Virat? Please?" she asks, a wide smile stretched across her face, making her dimple sink into her cheek  

I nod at her, wrapping my arms around her, realizing home is never a place. It is a person.  

And this is home. The two of us.

•••

"It's just that I'm scared because today she is there, and one day she won't be there." I sigh, sipping on my black coffee.