Chapter 52
As they entered the restaurant and settled on their table, she was relieved to be sitting opposite him and not next to him. But her relief was short lived when she noticed where his eyes were stealing glances. She chided herself for wearing something that fitting that her inner lining appeared to be visible. She placed her left hand across her chest as if resting on the right shoulder to bring about some control to the already damaged situation.
She had hardly eaten a few morsels of rice but already felt filled to her neck. He had been watching every move of her as she sat there in front of him...and she had tried to avoid looking at him to even acknowledge her discomfort. She had made no attempts to come out strong to let him know he was not going to get anything out of her...it just wasn't her.
She got up then with an excuse to use the restroom and walked away slowly even though she felt like darting out of there. He waited a few moments before getting up from his place with the same excuse. The restrooms were a bit farther, towards the entrance of the restaurant and out of sight from where they were seated. Instead of going into the men's, he stood by the door of women's and waited for her to come out.
He was startled when he heard from behind him "Thank you for the dinner sir. It is a pleasure to meet you.." he turned around and saw Rohan stretch out his hand with a smile. He turned and smiled back at him..while taking his hand into his own. Before he could curl his fingers around Rohan's hand in a proper handshake, Rohan tightened his grip so much that he was unable to bear the pain and let out a painful "aah".
When Rohan saw the confused look on his face, he spoke in the most gentle tone "If you make one more pass at her, I swear to God I'll scoop those eyes out of their sockets and chop off those hands. And please don't treat this as an innocuous threat Mr. Suri...I am not what I appear to be."
Before he could react to what he had just heard or experienced, the door opened behind them. He looked at her for a split second before turning again to look at Rohan who once again tightened his grip around his hand before saying "Thanks once again Mr. Suri". Although Rohan's eyes looked plain and expressionless, they pierced right into his.
Rohan let go of his hand then and he hurriedly walked away without giving them another look. Rohan looked at a shocked Keerti who was now clutching the top around her neck. He saw vulnerability in her eyes as she moved closer to him. They looked at each other for several moments during which tears filled her eyes along with fear and helplessness which finally settled with gratitude. She leapt forward and into his arms in a swift move taking him by surprise...
The surprise soon vanished as he wrapped his arms around her, concern and protectiveness now ticking in. He would have thought she was shivering in his arms because she was affected by his touch if it wasn't for the tight grip she held around him. He gently made to pull away by holding her shoulders...her eyes were closed and her cheeks wet from the stream of tears that was freely flowing now...incessantly.
He cupped her face and asked her "Are you alright?" He knew he had asked her a silly question but he didn't know what else to say or do. They had not talked in weeks and now that she was standing right in front of him, he didn't know how else to start. She hesitantly nodded and he instantly knew what he had to do next. "Let's get out of here" he said before he held her hand and pulled her to walk with him towards the door...they paused a moment to pick up their coats at the entrance before walking out the restaurant.
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