The sound of the door opening slowly scared her even more.

Assuming the person entering the room as the hotel staff she shouted,

"How can there be a power cut here. Why have you come without a torch or anything? Where is the emergency power backup?"

But that person kept marching forward without saying a word.

"At least for God's sake if you have a phone, then can you please switch on the flashlight? I don't want to stumble and fall. I literally cannot see anything".

Her real fear was something else. She was scared of the past that haunted her. The past that always gripped her around the darkness. The past that made any blackout, scary as hell.

His footsteps were approaching closer and the sense of fear in her was growing in manifolds.

"Don't you dare come any closer. Why can't you speak a word? Are your lips sealed or something?"

She said and started taking her steps back. Something inside her told her continuously that it was not going to end well.

As she took a couple of steps back but she stumbled upon a chair which was behind her. But before she could fall, that random someone gripped her tight, wrapping his arms around her waist and her back. He then gently swayed her back to a standing position. She could hear his loud breath and his beating heart in that acute silence. But suddenly that was broken as he spoke.

"Are you ok?"

It was the same raspy and husky voice that used to make butterflies roam inside her stomach. It was the same voice that reverberated through her body, every time he called her name. It was the same voice that she had been dying to hear for so long.

Gulping her spit, she raised her hands trying to touch his face, but before she could lay her hands on him, she found his palm slowly grazing on her neck and then moved to support the nape of her neck.

All that she could do was to release a deep sigh, for she was melting under his touch.

The touch that she had been deprived off since ages, the touch that her heart was longing for God knows how long, the touch that only he knew how to give.

Forgetting the present, forgetting the past, she withered in his arms under his touch. She didn't have the faintest idea as who was this random man, but right now she had no intention to even think about it.

He moved close to her and asked her again, this time breathing on her neck as he spoke.

"Are you ok?"

"Don't be afraid, I am here".

Her eyes were wide open, but she couldn't see him. But in her head, she was imagining his face in front of her. She imagined his eyes staring at her with nothing but unconditional love. Slowly she raised her arms and touched his face, gently at first but then she hugged him tight with her arms like she didn't want to let go of him.

"Is your foot hurt anywhere?"

It was only after hearing his question, that she came back to her senses and she meekly mumbled,

"Mhh..."

"Can you stand on your own?", he asked and loosened his grip around her.

Scared that he would leave her, she said,

"Please wait for a minute for me. Don't leave me alone here".

Saying that she removed her hands which was wired around his neck.

"I am not leaving you alone in the dark", he said and slightly bent down and pushed the chair behind her to the side.

He was scared that she would tumble again !!!