"Say that you will never leave me."

As she looked in his eyes, the softness in them and the want in his words unleashed in her several feelings and emotions that were indescribable. Immeasurable.

"It was you who left me." she complained, "And you never even bothered to give me a call and -"

"I'm sorry." he apologized quickly as he still held her hand in his.

"During all this time I was sitting here trapped within these walls not even knowing what to do next and you were nowhere to be found. You didn't even tell me where you were."

" I was in my office all this time. I worked and slept there. If you want I can prove it to-"

Before he could complete the sentence she placed a finger on his lips and he went quiet.

" I trust you and every word you say but listen to one thing very clearly, Mr Ashton king. I can forgive you if you break my heart even a hundred times but if you ever tried to trample on my dignity or if you ever try to disrespect me then I will leave in that very instant."

" I will never do that," he says quickly. "Since the moment I met you it was just you Lilly and no one else. And there was no one even before you. All the secrets that I am scared of even admitting to myself I have said them to you. I have never allowed any woman in my life but you got under my skin. You became someone who started to matter."

He looked at her with so much adoration that her heart started twisting with pain and joy at the same time.

"You are so much in all the aspects of my life that I don't even know where I end and you begin. When I open my eyes every morning, the first thing I want to see is you." he says as he gently brushes her cheek, "And during this past week I missed it so much. I missed your eyes, your voice. I missed you."

Snaking an arm around her waist he brought her even closer as he continued, " I have never told anyone about the deepest and darkest secrets of my life. No one knows that I suffer from... PTSD." he said with difficulty as if the word was just too heavy on his tongue. He still looked embarrassed and uncomfortable about it and it was then that she realised how difficult it must have been for him when she pushed him so hard emotionally and mentally. How difficult it must have been for him to calm himself when all those bad memories returned to him because of her. She regretted pushing him like that.

"Other than Grace and my doctor no one knows that I am suffering from this. Grace knows because she was the one who took me to a doctor after I suffered from frequent nightmares and panic attacks in childhood."

Lilly lowered her gaze ashamed and guilty at her behaviour from before but Ashton made her look at him as he continued, "I will give you anything and everything that you want, Lilly but I will never allow you to leave me. I can place the world at your feet but I can't let you go out in that world again. Not without me. I want you beside me so that the world would know you are mine."

She had wanted to smile at this but she controlled those overwhelming emotions. At this moment he sounded like the 6-year-old version of herself who was so possessive of everything she had and she realised she was still the same. They both might be different in quite many things but they were still the same in at least a few. They both were very possessive of their beloved ones.

"So Lilly, ask me anything you want and I will give it to you without a second thought but I'll never allow you to leave me. You are not allowed to do that."

She gulped down the thick lump of emotions that formed in her throat and looked at him. "Today when I saw you with that woman I died a hundred deaths in that moment. If I saw you with any other woman again I am not sure what I would do."

"Something like that will never happen." He quickly interrupted, "And I wasn't even talking to her. She just came to my office 5 minutes before you. She said that she had wanted me to invest in her fashion industry and as I said earlier she walked to my side, lost her balance and messed things up."

"Make sure no other woman lose her balance around you," she said giving him a stern look which made him smile.

" I can't control other women's equilibrium but you will be the only one I would catch."

"Hmm... better." she nodded approvingly. With Lilly still on his thighs he started removing his jacket.

"What are you doing?" she asked frowning.

"I just thought that you would want me to throw this jacket since someone else besides my wife had touched it." Lilly laughed at that.

"That went a bit far." However, she wouldn't mind if he thow it because as long as that jacket is in front of her she wouldn't forget the scene from earlier. So maybe throwing the jacket was a better option.

" I'll just buy a new one because-"

"You are freaking rich." She laughed and he smiled as he got rid of the jacket.

Then wrapping an arm about her waist he pulled her to him once again. Closer than before.

"So never leave me," he said looking into her eyes as his fingers tugged gently into her waist.

She looked into his beautiful eyes which were making her heartbeats a mess again.

"I wasn't joking when I said that I love-"

Before she could even complete the sentence he covered her mouth with his hand. "Never say those words again."

She looked at him , heartbroken. "I am not someone who deserves love. Neither yours nor anyone else's. All those people I have loved so far in my life, I have lost them. My mom died right after saying those words. I was separated from my brother for so many years and when I finally got a chance to get close to him he too left me. I've already lost a lot in my life. I don't want to lose anything more. Especially, you. I want to hold onto you till eternity. So please, don't say those words again. You shouldn't love me. Never do that."

One incident from his childhood had scarred him so deep that he was now scared of the word 'love', Lilly's heart ached at the admission. This fear in him was just so strong that she knew it would be hard to free him from those bounds but still, that didn't change the fact that she loves him. She loves him so much that she wanted to climb to the rooftops and shout to the whole world that 'I am in love with Ashton king' but the person she wanted to hear this the most were just not ready to listen and it wasn't his fault either.

"You can ask me for anything, Lilly and all I need from you is that you stay by my side and never say those words again."

She looked at the man in front of her and wondered if his broken heart and trust could ever be repaired.

'It's hard to mend the broken feelings when they are crushed by someone who is your closest,' an inner voice quipped.

At that moment she felt so mad at all those who were around him when he was a child. It wasn't just Elsie who was responsible for this state of Ashton. His dad and his biological mother were equally responsible for all this. How could his mother leave him like that right after saying that she loved him? How could she use a child's innocence and trust to free herself from her sufferings? How could Arthur make a five-year-old think that he is the one responsible for his mother's death?

Ashton was just a child who was at the wrong place at the wrong time. She felt so mad at them that she could lecture them on parenting if they were standing here in front of her at this moment.

Just then they heard a knock at the door. Ashton got up and placed Lilly on the bed and looking at her he said, ''Stay here and don't pull any stunts this time."

Well, she wasn't thinking about running. How could she with the door closed and Ashton standing on guard and jumping from the window wasn't a good idea either? That's why the thought never even crossed her mind, she smiled.

He went to open the door and she heard Grace's voice.

"Yeah. I know." She heard Ashton speaking and then he closed the door behind him.

Placing the tray of food given by Grace on the side table he looked at her as she asked, "What did Grace say?"

"She said I am so stupid that I left you alone for a whole week."

"She is right." Lilly agreed as she asked again, "What else did she say?"

Bending down he placed his hands on either side of her and looking into her eyes he smiled, "She said that I would be a fool if I let you go." Bringing his mouth closer to hers he continued, "So I have been instructed to do anything and everything in my power to make you stay."

He smiled against her lips before finally taking her mouth with his. When he finally let her go she was heaving out of breath.

"Are you hungry?" she asked.

"Very." he gave her a wolfish grin as he took her mouth once again.

"I was asking about the food!"

" I was answering for you." he smiled and she laughed.

"You are very clever, Mr King."

"Thanks for the compliment, Mrs king." he smiled as he crawled on the bed on top of her and took her mouth once again.

After the long and sated lovemaking, she rested her head on his chest as he kept her closer to him by wrapping an arm about her waist.

" I'll never let you go, Lilly." He said kissing the crown of her head.

'Never let me go.' she had wanted to say but was way too tired to voice the words out. And like that, slowly she drifted off to sleep.

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