Separated Love

Chapter 11: Kartik Moves into Naira's Appartment

    I slowly start to wake up from the sun shining so bright in my room. I look at my surroundings with my eyes that are barely opened. I'm in Kartik's room. I slowly raise my head from Kartik's chest. I realize that he has been awake and just watching me.
    "Good morning sherni," he says as he kisses my forehead. I rest my chin on his chest and look directly at him. He looks absolutely adorable. His hair is all messy. He has his morning husky voice. Waking up to him was and I realize still is the best part of my day. I smile and lean forward and kiss his cheek. It catches him off guard. I'm not sure why surprising him with romantic gestures brings me such joy.
    "Good morning...mendak," I say teasing him. He has such a huge smile on his face. I always want him to be this happy. Thinking about how upset he was last night tears at my heart. I never want him to be like that again.
    "As much as I would love to spend all day like this with you, you have an exam coming up that you need to study for." Ugh why did he have to bring that up now.
    "Kartikkkk"
    "Nairaaaa," he says imitating me. "We need to get up so I can help you prepare for this exam. I told you I would teach you everything one day. I'm going to stick to it." I decide to purposely ignore him. I yawn and put the blanket over my head. This will surely cause some reaction from him! I wait but nothing happens. I slowly peak out of the blanket and see him deep in thought. He looks over at me and catches me peeking. "Please Naira. I meant what I said last night. I'm going to keep every promise I've ever made to you." Woah why is he so serious all of a sudden. I've noticed that Kartik isn't as happy going as he used to be. There is always an underlying pain in his heart. I'm here now though, and I will bring my old Kartik back.
    "Kartik, I was just joking. I'll get up but on one condition." He looks at me confused. "First, I want to see the smile that never fails to light up a room." Kartik becomes shy and smiles a little. Gosh Kartik, I can't imagine what these 2 years have done to you. I think this, but then also realize that I've change quite a bit myself. Is it this noticeable though? I decide to keep him happy and get up.
    "Naira, you can get ready first," Kartik says. Well this is awkward. None of my stuff is here.
    "Uh Kartik, all of my stuff is in my apartment."
    "Oh yeah..."
    "I'll go get ready, and then we can eat breakfast together here! After that, come to my place and you can teach me whatever you want."
    "Whatever I want?" He says teasing me. There's my Kartik. I wink at him and head for my place. Once I come inside, I see that Keerti di, Bhai, and Papa are all talking in the family room.
    "Good morning Princess!" Papa says super excited. I'm sure he wants to know whether Kartik and I are alright.
    "Good morning Naira" Keerti di says with a smirk on her face. I'm going to get Bhai and especially Keerti di back. Just wait you two.
    "Good morning everyone! I came to get ready and then I was going to eat breakfast with Kartik. However, if you guys haven't eaten yet, I can call him here! We can all eat together!!" I say super excited. I can't remember the last time we all happily ate together as a family.
    "Does this mean that everything is okay with you two now?" Bhai asks.
    "I mean we aren't like how we used to be." Everyone seems really disappointed. "But Kartik and I are determined to make our relationship even stronger than before." I smile seeing everyone's faces instantly light up. "We finally talked about all of our issues, and were able to apologize to one another."
    "Perfect! This means you can all come back home now. The family environment has been so sad with you, Papa, and Kartik." Bhai says with utmost excitement. He's not going to like what I have to say. I want to stay here to complete my first semester. Even though Kartik and I are back together, I still want to make a name for myself. I want my own career. I decided to study business because I realized that I need to make my dance academy a proper brand. I need investors to help pay for expanding the academy. I need to learn how business works, and what I need to do. What if Kartik wants to return home though? I need to talk to him about this.
"Uh Bhai, I think we should talk about this later! Should I call Kartik for breakfast?" I ask to change to the subject. They say yes and I shoot him a text.
Once I'm ready, I walk into the family room and see that Kartik is already there. He looks so attractive. He's in casual clothes wearing blue jeans and a white t-shirt. His hair isn't even gelled up. He looks like my cute Kartik. When I notice only he is looking at me, I put both my hands up to my heart, and pretend to faint referring back to old times. He sees this and begins to laugh. He looks down and acts shy trying to imitate me. I walk up to the dining table and take a seat next to Kartik.
"So beta, what are the plans? What is your next step now?"
"Naira I know I haven't talked to you about this yet, but Papa I was wondering if Naira could move in with me. If that's okay with both of you." Kartik seems nervous for our answers. My answer is obviously a yes because we need to spend proper time with each other to understand each other again.
"I think that's a great idea. I was actually thinking that you could move into this apartment Kartik. Naira, I want to head back home now with Naksh and Keerti. You two need time alone without any interference. Is that okay with you both?" Papa asks. Kartik and I look at each other and both nod yes. "Ok perfect so then that's settled. Naksh and Keerti are heading back home today. I can pack up my stuff and leave with them. I look forward at Keerti di and Bhai and notice that they're completely out of this conversation. Gazing into each other's eyes. I nudge Kartik and show him this. We both look at each other, ready to get our revenge. Kartik starts humming Aankhon Mein Teri. I continue on with him. Papa notices this and starts laughing. We're all looking at them. As soon as they realize no one is talking, they instantly look at us and then look down awkwardly.
"Keerti di, is there something in your eye?" I ask with fake concern. She is getting super awkward. This is too much fun.
"Yeah Keerti. I mean the way Naksh was looking into your eyes-" Kartik is interrupted.
"Shut up Kartik!" Keert di yells in embarrassment. Everyone starts laughing.
Papa's stuff is packed and we are at the door saying our goodbyes. I get emotional seeing him leave. He was with me for 2 years giving me constant support. I'm so used to being with him. I hug him and try to hold back tears. Next I go up to Bhai and Keerti di. Kartik and I thank all of them for constantly trying to show us that we're still so in love and need each other. I love our family so much.
Once everyone leaves, it's just Kartik and I making the house feel empty. We both look at each other in complete adoration. As if it's still so hard to believe that this is reality and not a dream. We are finally back together.
"So should we start studying? I want my wife to do the best in the class. After all, she's Mrs. Kartik Goenka." He says this with so much pride it makes me laugh. We begin studying.

***

Once we're done studying, and I feel confident in the material, Kartik seems super pleased with himself. I decide to make chai for the both of us. Kartik in the meantime goes to his apartment to pack his stuff. When he leaves, I realize that he's probably confused about whether he should bring all of his alcohol with him. I also think about whether I should address the fact that I know he's still upset about something. While I'm thinking about this he comes back into my apartment with a box of his things.
"Naira, this is going to take me foreverrrrr." He sounds exhausted.
"Kartik, take a break. Let's drink some chai and then I can help you too."
"No I don't want you straining your ankle Naira. I'm sure walking up and down the stairs between apartments can't be good for you." It feels weird talking to him about my ankle. "Also, I told Papa to call around to some doctors regarding your ankle. Could you send him the x-rays you have, and all medical records? That way he can get a consult." Is this what has been bugging him all day and keeps randomly upsetting him? My injury wasn't his fault.
"Kartik, I want to ask you something. Is that okay?"
"Of course Naira. Don't be so formal. You can always ask me anything!"
"Kartik, I've noticed all day that you seem closed off. Your mood switches within a matter of seconds. What's eating you up inside? You're not the fun loving guy I fell in love with, and if I'm the reason you've changed, I want to fix that." Kartik instantly gets tensed and looks away from me. I put my hand up to his face and turn it towards me. "Please Kartik, don't shut me out. You won't tell your Naira?" He looks at me with pain in his eyes.
"Naira, I'm still so worried about ma. I'm happy we are back together, but what if she doesn't accept you? I can't imagine living my life without either one of you. I don't want to have to choose. I'm afraid that if I get close to you again, and then ma creates circumstances where we are forced to be apart, I won't be able to handle the pain. I can feel myself holding back from you because I'm living in constant fear that something will break us apart again." My poor Kartik.
"Kartik, we promised each other that we would come back stronger. I have full faith in our relationship. Mending my bond with ma will definitely be difficult, but nothing is impossible when you're by my side. Kartik, I won't lie. I am afraid too, but the reason I have stopped holding back is because I've realized that there's no hurdle we can't overcome when we are together. If you put your full faith in me like I've put in you, I'm all yours. I promise you that no matter what happens, I will not leave you Kartik."
He begins crying and I kiss each tear away. While he's still sitting in his chair, I stand up and hug him from behind. I wrap my arms around him, resting my hands on his chest. I want my love to take all of his pain away. I kiss his neck and his jawline. I see him roll his eyes back and then close them. I run my left hand down his left bicep and keep going until I stop at his hand. I take his hand in mine and lead him into my, no, our room. I lead him towards the bed where he lays down.
"Kartik, I know I said I wanted to wait, but as I was talking to you I realized that I'm ready. You already know how much I love you. We don't need this to prove that, but I want to take your pain away. I want us to be one like before so you can remember what that was like. I want you to forget your pain and your worries." With that statement, Kartik pulls me into him and we remind each other what it's like to be one.

***

Author's Notes
All of you were in a unanimous agreement that the story should continue! As I continue to write, I will begin to show how Kaira slowly come together. As you can tell, there are times when both of them have their walls up -especially Kartik. At the beginning when I was writing this story, I had envisioned Naira to be this way. However, the more I wrote, it seemed to make more sense for Kartik to be afraid to let Naira in because of the fear of losing his mom in the process. I've always seen Kaira having the purest form of love and that having a physical relationship was never a necessity. However, in this case I wanted to show that them coming together symbolized that both of them were letting their walls down, and actually had full faith in the fact that they would always remain together. By giving themselves to the other, they were showing the ultimate form of trust in one another.

Preview for the next chapter
Kartik and I lay in bed, gazing into the other's eyes. We both know that we will never leave each other, and will continue to make our relationship stronger. I decide that this is a good opportunity to talk to Kartik about something else.
"Kartik, I appreciate it so much that you're getting opinions from other physicians regarding my ankle, but I don't want to go through treatment yet."
"What? Why?" Kartik asks shocked.
"Kartik, I know that my recovery period will be a long and painful process. During that time, I'm going to need you there. Not the version of you after a couple drinks. Before we even think about me getting treatment for my ankle, I want us to find treatment for your drinking problem." I say this hoping Kartik will understand where I'm coming from.