AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I have done nothing but give you chances, Agastya,” she said, sounding too tired for someone so young. “Please leave this alone and let me sleep.”
The light on the bedside table winked out, leaving them in darkness. Agastya continued sitting there, his mind whirling as he wondered how he’d ever find his way out of the darkness and to the light she’d always been for him. She shone a little brighter at the sight of him and that simple fact lit up his world.
Twenty-Eight
VEDA
She woke the next morning feeling tired and listless, a terrible combination for a day packed with dance rehearsals. She’d made a conscious effort not to drink the previous night knowing today was going to be a busy day at work for her. She’d hoped to wake up fresher than this though. She’d also hoped to not wake up to the sight that greeted her.
Agastya sat in one of his high-backed chairs, one leg crossed over the other, the ankle resting on the other’s knee, his favourite pose. He looked pensive and uncomfortable.
“Good morning,” he rumbled the moment she opened her eyes.
Veda closed her eyes again. She knew she was acting like a spoilt brat who hadn’t gotten her way, but she couldn’t help herself. Right now, she wanted to pout to her heart’s content.
“Okay,” he said. “You don’t have to look at me. But you can listen to me.”
She resisted the urge to slap her palms over her ears like she was three years old.
“I’m sorry.” His relentless voice kept up the monologue. “I forgot about our plans. It’s unforgivable.”
“It’s really not that big of a deal, Agastya.” Veda smacked her inner pouty child and sat up. “You’re a busy man doing big things. You forgot some silly, unimportant plans you’d made early in the day. It happens.”
“It shouldn’t happen.” Agastya leaned forward, his arms resting on his knees as he watched her. “You shouldn’t forgive me so easily.”
“But I do,” she answered, pushing her hair out of her eyes and swinging her legs out of the bed. “You’re forgiven. Can we get on with our days?”
He didn’t say anything, just watched her with those disconcertingly incisive eyes.
“I have back-to-back dance rehearsals, Agastya.” She stood and wandered towards the bathroom. “I’m going to get ready, okay?”
“Veda.”
His quiet voice filled with such implicit authority halted her in her tracks. He walked over to where she stood, eyes wide and wary.
“Don’t do that.”
“Don’t do what?” she asked, looking away. It was a little hard to maintain eye contact when the other person’s eyes seemed to be boring into you like an electric drill.
“They were not silly and unimportant plans. You are not silly and unimportant.”
Sudden tears stung her eyes and she blinked furiously, forcing them back. “Could have fooled me,” she said brightly, backing away from him.
“Veda.”
Again, she stopped, her legs seeming unable to ignore his utterance of her name.
“I value every moment we spend together, every plan we make together, every hope we share, every goal we work towards. I value it all. I value us. But most importantly, I value you.”
He wrapped his arms around her drawing her resisting body close. “I value you,” he repeated. “I am sorry. Please forgive me.”
She nodded, her face smashed up against his hard chest, words clogging her throat and refusing to come out.
“I leave for Delhi today. I was wondering if you would like to come with me. We could combine work and pleasure.”
Regret warred with the simple joy of being invited along. “I can’t,” she told his top button. “I can’t miss practice so close to performance day.”
Agastya nodded, his chin colliding with the top of her head and making her wince. “Then we’ll go out when I come back?”
