Tani kissed him one last time, long, slow and sweet before pulling back and asking, “Coffee?”
CHAPTER 43
KABIR
His gaze followedher as she pottered around in her little kitchen, brewing coffee in a fancy machine that looked like it belonged on a spaceship. She filtered it into a cup and then set it before him.
Black, no sugar, just the way he liked it. For some reason, the sight of it brought a lump to his throat.
“How is Zara?” she asked, her back to him as she fixed her own coffee.
“She’s adjusting,” Kabir exhaled. “We both are. It’s a long road and we’ve just gotten started on it.” Warmth filtered through his voice as he added, “She’s a firecracker. Just like you.”
Tani’s hand shook, a few grains of coffee powder spilling from the spoon she held on to the countertop. She gripped the edge of the kitchen counter and took a deep breath before cleaning it up and making her coffee.
“You left me,” Kabir said, still staring into the inky depths of his coffee. His voice was quiet but he couldn’t hide the hurt in it.
“I did,” she agreed softly.
Silence stretched for a beat as he asked what his heart had been demanding to know over these last few weeks.
“For good?” He forced himself to look up from the coffee and meet her eyes. It took all the courage he had left.
Tani held her cup between her palms, letting the warmth seep into her chilled fingers, grounding herself. When she finally spoke, her voice was gentle but sure.
“For as long as I live, Kabir Kashyap,” she murmured, “I will only ever love you. I could leave you and run to the far ends of the earth and I still wouldn’t be able to leave you for good.”
His breath hitched.
“I wrote to you,” she said. “I sent you an email every day telling you everything. You never replied.”
“An email?” He stared at her. “I don’t think I’ve checked my email in years. I have people who do that.”
Tani looked horrified. “Who has been reading my mails?”
Kabir shrugged. “Varsha? Rahul? I don’t know really. But it doesn’t matter now. Tell me what you said in the emails. Tell me what I need to hear.”
Tani shook her head, colour high in her cheeks. “I left,” she murmured, “until we could get our heads on straight.”
He didn’t respond. He just watched her like a man who’d been starving and had suddenly been given something he wasn’t sure he was allowed to touch. His eyes devoured every line of her face, as if memorizing her anew, as if making sure she was real.
“It was too much, Kabs,” she said softly, her fingers tightening around the mug. Her voice wavered.. “Just… too much.”
She lifted her eyes to him then, and the raw honesty in them sliced through him more effectively than any anger ever could.
“There was too much noise and I…I needed to be heard.”
“I heard you,” he said. “I’ve always heard you.”
“You listened,” she corrected, “but you didn’t hear me.”
That hurt but he supposed the truth would hurt. He hadn’t heard her when she’d tried telling him what her problem was. He’d been too convinced he knew what was good for both of them.
“Talk to me, Tani. I’m here and I’m all yours. Tell me what you want.”
Her breath caught and a single tear slipped free, catching the light as it slid down her cheek.
“You,” she said with raw honesty. “All of you. No secrets, no fears, no insecurities. I don’t want half of you or the parts that you think are safe for me to love. I want the whole man.”
