The Path I Crave!

Chapter 18

Adi

Present

'Chandni' I murmur kissing her earlobes, nuzzling her neck. I pull her closer to me. I need to feel her. I need her closer. I stroke her back, kissing her on the cheek in my office. I have never appreciated my office space before today. Her presence makes my plain white walls vibrant. I lack decoration for the space with just a table, three chairs, a couch and couple of cupboards, I kept the place simple.

I push her on the couch, the couch I spent sleepless nights. She pulls me on top of her leaving no space between us. I press my lips on her forehead, wanting to cherish the movement with her. She guides me towards her lips. I kiss her harder this time with urgency, locking my eyes with her.

Its strange I can't take my eyes off her, though our kiss deepens every second. I'm scared If I close my eyes, she will be gone again. 'I love you' I murmur against her lips without parting our lips. Her silence bothers me. I close my eyes frustrated. And she is gone for real.

I snap out hands trembling and entire body covered with sweat. I toss the blanket off and sit on the couch trying to calm myself. I have had the same kind of dreams for two years now. Every dream is different except the part where she leaves me. She always walks out from my life in every single dream. I exhale, stressed out with my life.

After the welcome home party for Chandni, I crashed on the living room couch at Rishi's place and I most certainly didn't have a blanket. I never care to get a blanket, since I knew I would sleep only for couple of hours. I ran my fingers on the soft fur of the blanket, its Chandni's spare.

May be she walked down and took pity on me.

I drag my pity self to the refrigerator and pick up the water bottle. I almost finished a bottle, when I notice a shadow in the dining hall. I am startled 'What the —' Chandni!. She sitting on the chair, her eyes closed, head leaning on the chair head, her legs drawn out on another chair, sweat dripping from her face. She is just wearing a sports bra, showing off her curves and navel.

It's wired, when Rishi mentioned pregnancy, her hands traveled on her stomach.

I lean on the refrigerator crossing my arms against my chest, admiring her. I can't seem to take my eyes off her. A view, I wouldn't mind getting up every day, for rest of my life.

I check the time on the antic wall clock, it reads 5 a.m. If she had to drip in so much of sweat, she would have to run at-least for an hour. She certainly didn't sleep more than a couple of hours. I wondered what her reasons were. The Chandni I knew never sacrifices sleep for anyone or anything. And forget running, she hated stretching before a basketball game. 'That's going to make me tired and sweaty' she complained. Now, here she is tired and sweaty.

I like her sweaty.

When she opens her eyes, she finds me ogling at her, 'What the hell Adi?' she almost yells and removes her earplugs and drops it on the table. I clearly did scare her. She places her foot down and straightens her poster. My stupid gaze moves on her navel, while she is watching me. She grabs her hoodie hanging on the chair and covers her exposed stomach.

Occupying the chair in front of her I say, 'Couldn't sleep? Huh'

'None of your business' she is rude.

'You know, it's not like I haven't seen it before' I say pointing towards her hoodie. Wrong comment to make, when my status in her life is so complicated.

'Yeah! Before you ran after another women' she snaps.

That's it, I had it enough. I did lose my temper.