JAAN ( Darr 2 )

Life

"If I ask for something of yours, will you give it to me?" she asked, her voice low and steady, the intensity of her words cutting through the storm.

His head snapped up, confusion flickering across his face, but he didn't hesitate. and for the first time in that night formed a sentence. 

"Everything I have has long since been yours," he said, his voice hoarse.

Her chest tightened at his response, the sincerity in his words cutting through her anger like a knife. But she pressed on. 

"Then tell me," she said,

 her words deliberate, each one landing with the weight of a promise.

 "What right did you have to even think about ending your life? Isn't it supposed to be mine?"

His eyes widened, and she saw the exact moment her words shattered him. His entire body trembled, a broken sob escaping his lips as he collapsed further into her grip. She held him tight, her arms wrapping around him with a fierceness she hadn't realized she possessed.

"You don't get to leave me like that," she whispered, her voice soft but unyielding. "You don't get to decide something that isn't yours to decide."

He nodded weakly against her, his tears soaking into her skin. 

"I... I ...I .. wont" he choked out, his voice barely audible. 

"It's... always been yours."

Her lips curved into a faint, bittersweet smile, her own tears falling freely now.

 "Good," she murmured, her voice trembling but steady.

He felt her smile against his skin, a soft, bittersweet curve of her lips that made his heart ache. And then, with a voice barely louder than the rain, she whispered, "Then let's go inside... it's been raining for a while."

And with that, she slowly pulled him to his feet, their hands still clasped together as they stood in the pouring rain,

Stepping inside, Kiran suddenly felt an exhaustion settle over her. The events with Sunil flooded back into her mind like a distant dream, a haze of betrayal and heartache.

She couldn't let him die, not like this, not again. She didn't understand what had changed between them or within herself, but she knew one thing for certain: she was no longer afraid of him. 

That fear had dissolved long ago, near the lake, when he had absorbed all her anger, all her hatred, without resistance. 

And maybe even before then, and when she saw him standing there, shattered and on the brink, on that terrace at Edenfeld, it wasn't fear she had felt, it was something else entirely. 

She had wanted to hold him like she had done a moments ago. She just hadn't been able to understand it then, didn't exactly understood now but some how it was a bit clearer than it was before.

Her legs gave out as she collapsed onto the sofa, the weight of everything pressing down on her.

 The pain, the confusion, the exhaustion, it was too much. 

All she needed was a moment to breathe, to rest, to decide what to do next. But one thing was clear, she wasn't going back to Sunil. 

What happened tonight was the last straw to an already straining relationship. She felt suffocated and she wanted to get away.

She straightened up, reaching for her shoe, trying to undo the tight straps that had left painful red marks on her feet. The strap slipped through her fingers, refusing to budge.