Ritu ought to have panicked and left by this point. She ought to have pushed him away and yell at him for something unreasonable and make a fool out of herself. She ought to have been on her way to a safe place, crying and hating herself. She ought to have been petrified of this moment. But as his hips showed her how much he wanted her, stamped and sealed by his mouth, Ritu found her defences melting.
Maybe this was it. Her moment to break free. His mouth pulled back from over hers and she felt her lips like they were brand new — swollen, panting, drenched.
“Only tonight,” she found herself saying.
He stared at her, silent. A long second passed. Then he gave a nod.
“We forget it tomorrow.”
“It might be a little impossible for you,” he smirked. And it made her mouth stretch. She wanted that. For it to be impossible to forget him. Because a memory was about to be made. A good moment was coming. She knew it was. One that she had fought with for so long, through dark nights. She would be a fool to forget it in the light of day.
“It is beyond my understanding how you can still be so obnoxious after behaving so nicely.”
“Let me show you.” He grabbed her hand and pulled back, taking her with him and into his arms, twirling with her squeals and dipping her with a kiss to her mouth. “Want me to make it worse?” He asked, with her still dipped over his arm. She couldn’t manage words through her thrilled laugh and he took that as her ascent.
“Nilay!” Ritu laughed incredulously as he brought her back, took her hand in a dancing pose and twirled the other way around, kept twirling, her hair flying out with them, her laughter loud, his grin louder. “Stop, stop, stop, stop!”
He finally brought them to a halt and pushed his face into the crook of her shoulder. “I have more levels to cross if you need,” he whispered there with a laugh and laid an open-mouthed kiss on her skin.
A car splashing through the rain broke them apart. Their town car, with their driver. Ritu immediately pushed back from him but he grabbed her waist before she could venture farther. “Where do you think you are going?”
“We… uhh… the car is here.”
“So?”
“So, behave yourself. The driver is watching. Oh my god! Did anybody see us? Oh my god, you kissed me in the middle of a village in a closed house!” She began to look around frantically at the deserted rainy road as he guided her down the steps and into the open door of the car. He didn’t stop there. He pushed the bangs stuck to her cheek behind her ear before closing the door and walking around the car in the rain to get in from his side.
“Doctor?”
“Huh?”
“Come here.” He held his arm out.
“Shut up,” she pushed it off, making him break into a laugh. The driver was chuckling too.
————————————————————
The car glided through the atrium of the small haveli-turned-boutique hotel and the interiors of wet sandstone and drenched rose bushes greeted them. Ritu had thought and thought incessantly about snapping out of this haze. She had tried to tether herself before flying off into the wind as her body, her mind, her soul had felt lighter. She had failed.
Their drive had been silent, feeling heavy but not weighted. No gazes were exchanged, no words spoken. And yet, this space felt safe, positive, embracing. With him by her side, for the first time, this thought did not feel daunting.
And now they were here.
Her door was pulled open and that’s when Ritu realised that he had gotten off from his side already. It was the gatekeeper holding her door open but the hand that pushed into her field of vision was a familiar one. Long, carved fingers, broad palm, the one that had rested on her waist today more than it had on any surface. She swallowed the ball of nerves and took it.
The gatekeepers, the guards, the receptionists — all were honed in on them. Not two people damp from the rain. But Nilay Patel. NiP. She was sure none of them knew who he was, but everybody knew he was worth staring at as he led her to the small lift installed in the ancient haveli-hotel, shielding her damp body with his own.
“Wait.” She circled his forearm to stop him.
“You can change your mind,” he intoned. “But let me take you up. You need to dry off.”
“No… I mean… we can’t do it tonight.”
“Why?”
“Your heart.”
His face paled.
