She felt herself tearing up once again. She quickly dried her eyes and took a deep breath and chanted mentally "no more tears"

"I was around 11 years old and we all had gone for this trip. Even mom's side family had joined us. I was looking forward to the trip. With my cousins , aunt and uncle. I was very close to my uncle rather my uncle favoured me over his kids and wife for reasons unknown"

He did not know what she was trying to tell him but he wanted to listen to her before asking any questions. Her demeanour had changed by then. Her body grew rather stiff and her eyes looked so drawn and dead. He locked her hand with his and scooted closer to her.

"It was in the evening at the play area I suppose, when he surprisingly trapped me in a corner. Coincidentally, we were playing hide and seek and it only looked normal to me. Out of nowhere, he rubbed his finger on my lips"

She closed her eyes as she retold the incidents of that evening.

"The look on his face was some indescribable feeling that day but today if you ask me, I would call it pleasure. Lucky, I heard someone calling my name and I ran from his clutches. It was my dad who had rescued me that day. I would have been stupid enough to think otherwise, had my mother did not take the effort to teach me about all of this just to ensure I was safe. That was the last I saw him. But before that I used to get random calls from him every week how he wanted to hug me, how much he wanted to kiss me all over but I never understood all of that till my mother told me of things. I was that stupid and naive" she broke down. Tears fell down from her eyes relentlessly. She began hicupping but rubbed her eyes furiously.

"You wouldn't believe me if I said this, but he said he wanted to drink something off me but I did not know what it was till I knew about things on my own. Those memories still torment me. I had one of those related nightmares last night and"

He simply wrapped his arms around her and brought her close to him. She was almost on his lap and he did not mind it one bit. She suddenly looked so fragile and vulnerable. She was a victim of sexual abuse, yet she chose to pick herself up so gracefully and become in to something so beautiful. Had anyone asked him yesterday, how much did she mean to him he probably would have had no answers but today he knew. He couldn't keep quiet any longer.

"Let's get married. I can't stay away from you any longer" he said those words in her ears.

"I can probably never give you the kind of love you crave for. I thought it was easy but I know it is not" she said dryly.

"Do you want to know the kind of baggage I come with if you were to become my wife" he asked.

"You're an epitome of perfection" she said wiping her eyes.

"Reality is far from that" he scoffed and asked her to look at his face closely "do you see this bruised cheek of mine ? Do you think I deserved this because I was perfect ?" He asked her.

Her fingers automatically went to his cheeks and she let her fingers linger on his cheeks for a while.

"What happened" she asked still looking at his cheeks.

"I was a drug addict and just before coming to see you at home I had gone to meet the supplier" he said and looked at her. She looked at him closely. He expected her to react but she had remained neutral.

"Don't you want to know if I am under the influence of drugs or no ?" He asked.

"I trust you Avinash" she said. Those words out of her mouth definitely pulled some strings in his heart.

"I had graduated from school and my friend circle wasn't something I am proud of till today. I was one of those typical rich spoilt brats but good thing I managed to score numbers in all exams, other than that I was a pathetic excuse of a human. Initially, it was just whiskey, then locally brewed alcohol and stuff. Slowly, I was drawn towards them all and I had stumped across this peddler who introduced me to a world of new bliss. The addiction grew. My parents were busy dealing with other issue and Akhil was busy with his masters. There was no one who had kept a tab on me. It was one such weekend, when my grandmother saw me lying down aimlessly on my bed. She did not know I was high. I had no sense of what she talked and my behaviour scared her. I had literally pushed her out of my room. Something I am never proud of till today. Anyways, soon everyone got to know my ways and I had become the hot topic of discussion. I started consuming more to remain in a state of high and be unaware of all the discussion. That led to something more severe and I lost my consciousness. It was during that period, my parents managed to get rid of all the drugs from home, mama stayed away from me blaming herself for my situation. That was when both Dadu and Dadi interfered completely and took me under their care. We left India, and what followed that was months of rehabilitation, withdrawal symptoms and depression. I needed an entire year to recognise myself and only after that I could get back to studies. Rest is history" he told his past to her.

"Now tell me do you see yourself with me ? Sorry, I know I was selfish when I asked you to get married to me" he said feeling ashamed.

"More than ever" she replied and cupped his face and looked at his molten black eyes filled with sorry and guilt.

"Why is that ?" He asked.

"Because I know" she said.

"I am imperfect Aadhya" he told her.

"I am imperfect too Avinash" she replied.

She got out of his hold and he let her go. He did not want to hold on to her and unnerve her any more than what she was already.

"But amidst all this, I want us to have the wedding of our dreams. I am not settling for anything else. Let them write crap whilst we whip magic" she laughed at his cheesy reply and he found himself getting lost to that sound.

They entered her home past midnight and found the entire house silent. She walked towards the study and found her father awake. She rested against the door frame and observed him closely. How well he pretended to read some book on surgery. Ever since the incident, he never slept whenever she was disturbed with nightmares but nothing stopped the sleepless man from attending to his patients either. He was her inspiration in every way possible.

"Quit staring Aadhya" he said and put down his book.

"I see you haven't slept" she said as a matter of fact.

"Have I ever ?" He asked.

"Well you see I am good now. Also where is everyone ?" She asked making her way inside the room.

"All of the are supposed to sleep at this time of the hour I thought" he replied sarcastically nor did he fail to notice the twinkle in her eyes.

"What have you been up to young lady?" He asked quizzically.

"Well, I told him everything" and she expected her father to react.

"And" he asked calmly.

"Ugh nothing" she replied irritated and asked about everyone else's whereabouts. They were all here under the same roof in guest rooms. She walked to the living room and found Avinash in Rohit's company.

She slipped quietly to her room and sat down on the bed replaying the entire day's events. She felt thousand times lighter after sharing her past with him. She was going to share with him at the right moment and today happened to be that day. She felt something different for him. In spite of everything that had happened with him, he had come out so successfully. No one could ever allay a finger on him even if they had wanted. He did not sculpt himself to become ruthless either. He was still the alpha male in the room but that was for everyone else who weren't his family.

"I see you have sneaked in to your room" - Avinash

Her phone pinged with the above notification. She giggled. She did sneak in. She did not want to spend the next few minutes with her brother and him. She wanted this time to retrospect.

"Good night Avinash" she sent and walked to the bathroom for a warm shower. She had to wake up in a few hours but was sure that she would sleep well.

To be continued ~

The next part is up as promised. Hope you are all liking the story so far. Do drop your likes and comments after reading. They are important to a writer. Thanks a lot.