It was late afternoon when a worried Dhiraj came rushing inside the penthouse. Hysterically, he looked around for his baby. As every second passed, he had even worse thoughts popping in his mind. 'He MUST be mad at me. What if he stops talking to me? What if....what if he left?'
The previous interaction he had with Tanishqa just an hour ago had made him consider the worst case scenarios possible. Especially with the way she ridiculed Nakul in front of Dhiraj. Dhiraj was literally biting his cheeks from inside as a way to subdue his anger as he was talking with the woman. 'If she talked so much of shit in front of me.....I can't even imagine what garbage she must have made Nakul listen to. She didn't even listen to me when I told her Nakul had nothing to do with her.' was something he naturally concluded.
Even after frantically looking around when he didn't find Nakul, he rushed to his baby's room.
~Sigh. Dhiraj left a long sigh as he spotted Nakul sleeping. He lunged himself toward the man he cared so much and got on his knees. It was only then that he steadied his breathing and found some peace.
The afternoon sun rays fell on Nakul's sharp cheekbones. And Dhiraj unconsciously let out a smile as he saw his grumpy yet beautiful Mr. kitty, taking his afternoon naps. Even in his sleep, Nakul had a frown on his forehead. And that made Dhiraj chuckle.
With his chin resting on one hand, he touched Nakul's cheek with the other. From Mr Kitty's somewhat chubby cheeks to his high cheekbones, then to his pointy nose, Dhiraj gently stroked and admired those features. 'Why are you so adorable babe?!' It was when he moved to calm those furrows on Nakul's forehead that he woke up.
A startled Nakul sat up. It was followed by an awkward silence. Nakul averted Dhiraj's eyes remembering what had happened that morning. It didn't take Dhiraj even a second to know what was going on in Nakul's head. He sat next to him and asked with a concerned voice,
"You are a teacher right? Don't you tell kids not to open the door for strangers? Why did you open it?"
"I did not. She just entered. I think she knew the code"
".....knew the code" they both ended together. Dhiraj's eyes opened wide as realization struck upon him. Slapping his forehead he continued, "Yeah....she knew it. I didn't change the code. Fuck....I'll change it as soon as possible. You are fine right?" he cupped Nakul's cheek with genuine concern in his eyes.
But.....it felt odd. It felt as if Nakul felt..... 'do I deserve it?' Tanishqa's words still echoed in back of his mind. 'He left her.....she was hurt..... She needed him....but here he is...with me....' Nakul wasn't sure how he should feel about it. 'Why do her words make him feel bad? Feel guilty for some reason?'
'Why AM I thinking about it in the 1st place? I'm in no way involved in any of this. Then why does it feel like....I'm responsible to her in some way....' The convoluted Nakul thought.
"...kul...Nakul....." Dhiraj's voice brought Nakul back into reality. Why were Tanishqa's words bothering him so much?
"What happened?" Dhiraj wanted to know what was going on in Nakul's mind.
"Your girlfriend....I mean ex.....she..."
"Yeah. She came to my office earlier. And spouted some nonsense about you..." There was nothing more that angered Dhiraj than some person trying to hurt Nakul. 'That fucking woman. How dare she talk shit to Nakul?' Was all he could think of as he drove back to the penthouse.
"I'm so sorry for that. I don't know why she came here? It makes no sense of her doing this now. Plus why did she even talk to you?! We have broken off things long back....." Dhiraj tried his best to not curse Tanishqa.
"She told me that you slept around....despite being together...." Nakul HAD to ask Dhiraj that. He felt as if he owed it to that pitiful woman.
"We were never really serious to begin with-"
"Things seemed serious enough for her..."
"If she was serious about us, she would've told it to me , right? Why would I have done that if she told me we wanted something serious ...."
"So you did sleep around....."
Dhiraj wasn't sure how he should answer that. Things were never serious from his end, but never DID he try to confirm that from Tanishqa's end.
"Nakul....." Dhiraj placed his hand on Nakul's cheek, stroking it gently with his thumb, "You shouldn't believe everything people tell you. That's the reason why I think you are still naive. You trust her but you don't trust me?..." with a pained look in his eyes
It was the first time when Dhiraj looked at Nakul with such a hurtful gaze. It was as if they were asking Nakul if he trusts them or not? And for some reason Nakul wanted to put his faith in them. In the past 3 months, one thing he knew more than anything was that Dhiraj was the type of guy to give his all. He knew that Dhiraj was ready to go to such dire lengths for him. And if all, this man was asking from him was some faith.....how can he not do that? Nakul felt.....he should just let go off the topic.
Before he could say anything, Dhiraj's hand cupped the back of Nakul's neck bringing it closer to him.
"I'm not mad at her because she wanted some answers. I'm mad at her because she mistreated you when you had nothing to do with this. If she wanted some answers, she could've come to me, but why talk shit about....." deep furrow lines were visible on his face. It was as if Dhiraj was at the brink of losing his mind. He didn't even notice when he had slightly tightened his grip. The moment he became conscious of it he lightened it.
Regaining the control over his emotions, he pulled Nakul even closer. Now their faces were only a few centimeters apart. Nakul's heart picked up pace, becoming conscious of the man in front of him.
Dhiraj's voice had become softer than before. He whispered to Nakul, "Nakul, I can handle anyone talking shit about me. But not about you. It doesn't matter to me what she thinks, what I'm mad about is, why did she drag you into this. I can take anything in this world, but someone trying to harm you in even the slightest form? That's one of my worst nightmares ...."
Nakul was suddenly out of breath. His body was somewhat...burning. More specifically it was the nape of his neck. The place where Dhiraj was touching him. The man's intense eyes were something he had never witnessed before. Coupled with a strong arm and resilient voice telling him, they would do anything for him? How can his heart not waiver?
Nakul only grew more conscious of this man. He could feel Dhiraj's warm breath on his lip....lips.....Nakul's eyes unconsciously fell on those lips. They were less chapped than before. 'They look so...soft. Soft...?!'
Nakul snapped back to reality. WTF was he thinking? 'Let's take care of what the discussion was', he told his mind and heart to focus. And so Nakul pushed Dhiraj away. In a desperate attempt to change the trail of thoughts going on in his mind, he said,
"You at least had a talk with her when you broke things off right? I don't want an innocent woman's heartbroken because of you...she really.....did seem to like you..."
"Yes. We did" Dhiraj lied. He felt he had too.
"Okay" Nakul let go off the topic.
"Okay" Dhiraj left a mental sigh and only a second later showed off his classic smug smile.
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