I'll Love You Longer Than Forever

Chapter Thirty Two

Riddhima spent the entire day with Armaan, never leaving his side. She tried to tell him again and again that it was fine, that she understood and that she wasn't going anywhere. By some twisted notion that he had in his head, he had formed a warped theory that now she was going to leave him for good because he didn't want to get married right away.

As if she could ever go away, she scoffed.

He had held onto her tightly, begging and pleading with her to not leave him. He had broken down and literally cried for hours.

When the sobs had subsided after sometime, there had been silent tears and promises of doing better and never disappointing her again.

Riddhima had just let him get his feelings all out and held him tightly, murmuring comforting words to him.

She was surprised at the sudden reversal of roles. Usually, it was her who was a blubbering mess with Armaan comforting her. Armaan was always so confident and so self - assured that she never thought that he might have had insecurities of his own. Sure, he had had girlfriends before, but per his own admission, he had never felt so strongly for any of them. So, it was kind of unchartered territory for both of them and not just her. It was only now that she was realizing the fact. She hoped that she could make it better for him as he did for her.

"I love you, Basket," Armaan murmured in his sleep. It was only today that Riddhima found out about him talking in his sleep. She thought it was adorable.

They had been in bed for a long time. After their talk in the fire escape, Riddhima had gotten them back to his apartment, where they had talked for hours. They lay everything out in the open - their doubts, insecurities and their fears. They comforted each other in any way they could, promising to never leave each other. Riddhima aired her own doubts from the very beginning of their relationship when she thought that he was just playing around to when she thought that he didn't love her as much as she loved him and always being scared of what would happen if one of his old flames came back into his life. She was scared that he would leave her for them. She told him at length about their first break up after she found out about Anjali's bet and used she felt. She told him how heartbroken she was when they broke up after Muskaan. She told him how hurt she was and how stupid she felt because of all the misunderstandings due to Pari and she shared her pain on finding about his amnesia.

Armaan was stellar through it all. Though he had been shaking like a leaf only moments prior, still reeling from his confession in the fire escape, when he heard Riddhima's broken and small and unsure voice, his instincts kicked in. He held her tightly to him, kissing every part of her he could reach as he repeatedly told her how much he loved her and how precious she was to him.

After Riddhima had calmed down, he had talked about his own insecurities - about not being good enough for her, how he thought she might actually fall for Rahul, about being afraid that she might leave him if Dr. Shashank didn't want them together, how he thought he'd never have her back after the fight over Muskaan, about being insuffiecient due to his amnesia. His biggest fear though was that Riddhima might have ended up hating him for the rest of her life after what he did to her after the shootout. Granted, it was what he wanted, but still, the fact that Riddhima hated him was too hard for him to digest. And then he told her how afraid he was of losing her in anyway and that he was scared that she didn't love him anymore because he wasn't ready for marriage.

Riddhima held him and told him that she couldn't hate him even if she tried and there was no way in Hell that she couldn't not love him. Armaan's breakdown had been fairly more intense and boisterous than Riddhima's had his body shook with sobs. Riddhima never wavered for a second and spent the entire day showing Armaan just how much she loved him and how she wasn't going anywhere, not even if he ordered her away.