Endgame | ✓

20. Faces and Masks.

20. Faces and Masks.

There's a face beneath the mask, but that isn't me.

- A.

20. Faces and Masks.

THIS DAY MUST'VE BEEN MORE TIRING for me than I had suspected because I had fallen asleep in that curled up position inside the car, until I felt someone stir beside me that jolted me up.

I was still completely out of it, stirring out of my nap for a considerable amount of time but after sorting myself out and taking one swift glance out of the window I noticed how dark it had gotten and how much it had been raining so heavily. I checked the time, it was close to 5 a.m. I wondered where Virat was. 

A few minutes later, I saw him through my drowsy eyes, standing outside the car in the pouring rain, soaked through and through, and my eyes widened at the sight. Bending to grab down his coat off the seat, then flinging the door of the car out, I clambered to my feet and instantly felt the fervent rain douse itself on me.

"Virat, what the fuck are you doing here? It's raining cats and dogs!" I yelled, trying to speak over the piercing torrents that brutally ambled on the ground, inhaling the petrichor emanating from the forests. "You're going to catch a cold if you stand out here for too long!"

"I'm fine," Virat replied smoothly, not reacting when my hands braced his biceps. I could notice the quiver of his lips and furrow in his brows. Undeniably, he looked handsome as ever in his white shirt which had turned transparent by now, but I couldn't help but think how cold it must be. "What are you doing?"

"I was trying to stay away from you. Apparently that's what you want, don't you?" he asked, holding my hand in his.

My heart thumped at a frantic tempo when he does it. "No," I replied this time. "Let's get inside the car first." I stifled a shuddering breath as I began to feel the cold seeping into my lungs -- the feeling was bone deep.

"Okay, I don't want you to catch a cold, Nush." The cool air nipped at any exposed skin of mine and I did my best to handle it. But one could only do so for long until teeth started clattering and extremities began to chill from inside out.

Virat escorted me till the car, and when we were inside it, I felt his hot breath on the nape of my neck, his cool lips pressing to the shell of my ear. "Are you okay?" he asked softly.

I shuffled in my seat. "I've to go home," I told him in a clipped tone before my voice softened. "Mom must be worried about me." 

Virat nodded falling back to his seat. "I'll drop you."

There's a static silence during the entire ride, and I know it has everything to do with us. Our lives had nothing constant except one pattern -- one step close, two steps back. 

Shaking my head, I blinked my eyes close to evade the tears that were brimming in my eyes.

•••

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?"

I closed my eyes, as my mom glowered in anger. I suddenly felt like a little child who was being scolded for being standoffish and not putting up a decent behavior. Except for it was all her fault. I sighed.