It is a world of those who know what they want and will do anything to have it. It is also a world of those who don't realize what they want, even if it's right in front of them.
However, this lack of self-awareness does not mean they feel nothing. They do feel! Like a termite slowly eating their core. It eats them until their outer layer starts to crack, leaving a hollow structure of bones behind. So, how do they live? Do some of them end up realizing it? Or do they just live a hollow life?
Among these unaware souls was Leena, a twenty-year-old student who had recently rented a single-story house to pursue her studies and embrace the challenges of adult life, as her father had suggested.
She had spent countless serene nights in her rented house since she moved in until that one fateful night.
Wrapped calmly in her blanket, she was nestled into her pillow, her breathing steady and calm. However, the tranquility of her slumber was abruptly shattered as her darkened vision was morphing into the delicate face of a stranger straddling her.
He acted serenely, bearing insatiable eyes, silent, yet his lips seemed to be seeking for something. Thrilled, she flinched at his sudden hands gently pinning hers beside her head and his lips inclining closer and closer to hers.
His body had stirred so adjacent to hers, urging her to accept the lustrous act with heavy breaths and a wriggling body. It was like a dance of slithering snakes, chafing bodies with each other, in a beautiful melody of their varied breaths.
He nuzzled into her neck, trailing his skippy breaths an inch away. Their faces brushed together, like the breeze flowing in from her window, as he moved back and forth from the left side of his neck to the right, creating a forming heat between them.
"I want you." He demolishly exhaled, almost a cry of desire, from her collar to her torso, causing her to whiff in the strong air, and her eyes to recognize him.
He breathed further down to her abdomen, taking a seat in between her legs. "I know who you are." She whispered, examining his face leisurely inclining to her thighs.
"You don't even know my name?" He seemed hurt as he said that, causing her to sit up and regard his gloomy face inching closer to her inner thighs. Astonishment had clouded her and before she could feel his lips graze her skin, she fell back. Waking up to the reality.
Her eyes unbolted in the quickest of motion, widening as she saw nothing but the ceiling of her room above her. Her limbs pulled her up to sit up and observe nothing but her wriggled-up sheets, her beeping alarm, and her messed-up body.
She was wearing clothes, covered in a blanket, and was alone with nothing out of place, unlike her dream.
A state of frustration could be seen on her face as she rubbed her eyes to process her peculiar dream. A strange occurrence in her language.
"I had a weird dream last night." Rubbing her eyes again, Leena whispered solely to Vritti alongside the chatter of her friends grouped around her. In the middle of the cafeteria, she added, with a bit of puzzlement in her tone. "It was a sex dream."
Vritti, her closest friend of the same age, had always been with her. A young woman of a light skin tone with a tall and petite physique. "A sex dream? With whom?" Vritti questioned, letting it ponder on her face, her black eyes peering right into Leena's brown ones.
"I don't know." Unsettled as she should be, her eyes wandered around in frustration, quickly finding the source of her unsettlement. "Him! It was him." She speedily pointed him to Vritti adding, "It's stupid, I don't even know his name."
"Do you like him or something?" Vritti's eyes observed the quiet guy in a blue shirt, sitting so anxiously on a table ahead of them. His friend, sitting with his back facing them was hiding half of his features, not letting them perceive his supple skin shine in the sunlight.
"What no! I just told you I don't even know his name." She responded quietly, watching his eyes smile at something. His cheeks puffed up, sourcing her eyes to his lips, forming quiet words and they led her to his neckline.
She trekked further without realizing and tightly grasped the cup of tea at the sight of his collarbone getting exposed to the warm air. His lips swiftly took a sip of water, clumsily allowing the water drops to slip to his neck, drying her lips without realizing.
Abruptly, a vision from the previous night started playing in her head, filling her ears with his hefty breathing noises, causing her to copy it. Her heart was burning again, like the feeling of the last night. "That's weird. Why would you dream about him then?" Vritti's calm but questioning tone swiftly blocked her from envisioning further, pulling her eyes back away from him.
"Maybe I'm just sexually frustrated." Leena, parched and dried up to her throat, licked her lips and added in a bumpy tone, "Whatever. Have you got your book from Saanvi?"
"Oh! I forgot." A response from Vritti further added, "I'll do it when our classes are over."
Vihan clutched his water cup, sneaking at Leena's composure, lost in his indie self. "Don't you think you should talk to her?" Ridhan, the guy covering half of Vihan from Leena's eyes caught him once again, ogling at her with his hopeless eyes.
Vihan jolted back, peering at Ridhan's black eyes with his same ones, and shrugged anxiously, "I don't think that's a good idea." Ridhan, Vihan's best mate, had been seeing him head over heels for Leena.
He's one of his few friends who helps the poor anxious boy with anything not casual for him. Tall at heights and excellent in physics they both had almost everything that looked the same, but the personalities clashed every time.
"That's what I was thinking when I was ogling Saanvi, but it turned out to be so much better than I expected. You should try too?" Ridhan suggested, noticing a trampled look on Vihan's face. His face looked as if he had already given up, his eyes fixed on the cup.
"Okay. Don't worry. We'll think of something." Ridhan caressed him with his soft tone, adding at the sound of the bell, "Let's go! It's time for the class."
"When is she coming?" Leena questioned, standing at the gate of the college, huge and wide. "She should be here by now," Vritti answered, squinting her searching eyes into the crowd of students leaving the campus.
After a while of waiting, Vritti could be seen waving in a certain direction, assembling Leena to look mindlessly in the direction of Saanvi. She had eyes at peace, and stiffness in her body until she saw a familiar figure walking with Saanvi and with one more guy.
"What is he doing with her?" She questioned, pouring her astounded eyes at him and not giving any attention to Saanvi, who swiftly stopped before Vritti.
Vritti was puzzled as well but was not letting it surface on her face like Leena, who was just glaring at Vihan. "Hi!" Saanvi boomed with a warm smile and playfulness in her temperaments, handing Vritti the book accidentally exchanged by them and moving on to introduce the two boys standing beside her.
"This is Ridhan." She beamed with a tint on her cheeks, mischievously giving an eye to him, and later added, "And this is Vihan."
Unlike Ridhan, confident and carefree, Vihan seemed to be hiding his eyes away from them, shy as he shook Vritti's hand and shyer as he proceeded with Leena.
"Vihan?" Leena said, interested at the sight, driving Vritti to interrupt in a hurry. "Um yeah, Vihan and Ridhan, we don't recognize you?"
"You don't?" Saanvi, a bit astounded, questioned, adding, "They are in our English class."
"Just English?" Leena questioned ahead, constantly peering at Vihan who was rubbing his fingers and hands together, looking at his shoes. "Yeah. You're not in the other classes we attend." Ridhan answered, slipping his hand on Saanvi's waist, which drove more blush on her face, catching both Leena and Vritti's eyes.
"So, you know us?" Leena went again, gazing at Ridhan with boldness. Her bold eyes made him shudder and respond in stutters, "Yeah, kind of."
"Hmm." Leena's eyes wavered back on Vihan, finding their way again to his lips. He licked and nipped them, driving a sharp sword into her heart. Not realizing, she again caressed him with the same gaze of need, slithering her eyes down to his sweaty neck, fisting her hands.
"Oh, we're going home, you enjoy." Vritti suddenly pulled Leena out of the spell enforced by Vihan, who had stolen a sentence of invitation to hang out with them from her. Catching Leena's eyes on herself, Vritti added, this time catching Vihan's eyes, "Leena's not feeling well."
"What happened?" He suddenly questioned, showcasing his tensed features, surprising everyone. "I just didn't sleep well." Leena answered, softly meeting the eyes of her watcher, adding, "There's nothing to worry about." He quickly flinched back at the softness of her tone, swaying his fluttering eyes away.
"Take care." He stuttered, not showcasing enough but enough to cause turmoil in the nights of Leena.
"Did you notice that?" Vritti raised a question, sitting in a cab to Leena's house, gazing at Leena, who was just as astounded as her. "Yeah. It was weird." Leena whispered, turmoil inside and out, repeating the thought of him in her head.
It was like a hurricane forming in her head as well as in her body. Her heart was burning, making her body feel the heat of it as well.
"I think we should have gone with them. That way we might have been able to learn more about that guy." Vritti's words formed confusion in her and planted a bit of calmness as well. "What are you talking about?" Leen questioned, driving Vritti to crackle.
"What? Were you so busy looking at that poor guy with your jabbing eyes that you didn't hear they were going to hang out together?"
"What?" Leena's head filled with all those thoughts counted one another thought. "Did she tell you where are they going?"
*****
END OF THE CHAPTER
His face was now blushing red, his lips palpitating, his eyes fluttered onto hers, his ears burning hot.Yet, even though he felt bashful about kissing her, he puffed up his chest with courage, clutching the bag strings tightly, and softly began inching to her lips.She could not name such an expression on his face other than beguiling and with a soft smile, she softly interrupted his lips as she pressed her palms around his cheeks and whispered. "You have to hold my face in your palms first."Another jolt of astonishment sizzled through his nerves, prompting him bashful more than ever. How dumb could he be? He thought in his head and instantly planted his palms on her cheeks, making her snicker even more."Why don't you be a little gentle?" She whispered and slipped her fingers from the back of his neck, into his hair.He promptly softened his palms, sending chills down her spine while she was gently drawing him closer.It felt as if she had been grazed by love and affection, a warm feeling taking over her senses.If his hands felt that good, how good would his lips feel? She could not wait any longer."Now, kiss me!" She boomed, peering into his eyes for another few seconds before he sealed his lips onto hers.He remained still for a second. He was taking in the feeling of kissing and once he had taken that feeling, he began running his mouth, opening it, and closing it with tenderness.Their lips created beautiful music that softly echoed in the room, their tongues joining in to enhance the melody.He hummed in between the kiss, pressing his thawing body closer and closer to her. That was the feeling he could not stop. That feeling always took over his senses and turned him weak before her.Because even though he was kissing her, she still had her claws deep into his skin. And that feeling grew strong with each passing second, ready to turn him weaker when she suddenly pulled her lips back."I didn't realize being kissed by you for the first is a better feeling than sleeping with you for the first time." He wasn't looking into her eyes just because he had kissed her, but when he heard those words, he couldn't help but lift his head and gaze into her eyes with realization.First time? Is this what she meant?"By first time, you meant the first time we had sex?" He questioned, ready to seal his realization with the print of agreement and she answered, "Took you long enough to realize."That is when he drew a breath of relief, which she could not ignore, and questioned, "Are you troubled with something?""No- no." He quickly denied the accusation with a stutter, shaking his head as well, and added, "I'm just tired."A smile curled her lips as her brain traveled back to the things that they did the day before. "Of course." She simply smirked, and grasped his face in her palms, "Why don't you come to my place, we can relax."The look in his eyes shifted from troublesome to full of perception and astonishment, like he knew what would happen once they were back alone.She quickly read his eyes and chuckled at his dazed face. "I will not do anything, I promise."Her words lead him to bite down his smile, unaware of her upcoming words, "unless you want me to." And there he was, hiding his eyes from her once again."Okay, go, classes are about to begin." With a blissful smile, she said and gingerly opened the door for him, watching him smoothly slip from her adjacent body to the door. And before he could dis-sapper, she added, "I'll wait for you by the gate."throughout the whole day, he kept revisiting the classroom in his head, smiling by himself, thinking about her words and the warmth in between them.He could still feel her so close to him, while his lips were palpitating with the remanence of the kiss. And each time he looked at her, he'd find her smirking or teasing him through her eyes.Later that day, they were in her apartment, sitting on the couch where she had teased him to the point where his brain had stopped working: they were sitting beside each other, watching tv like any other couple would. But they weren't a couple yet.Her focus was fixed on the characters' choices on the TV, while there was a hurricane brewing inside his chest, making him feel like he'd throw up.He kept stealing glances at her and thinking of what would become of him that night. He kept thinking of that lingerie and wondered where it had gone too, for she did not think he'd want to take the lingerie.He kept thinking about more and more stuff when suddenly she stood up from the couch and left for her bedroom.His eyes at that, fell wide open and kept staring at the door of the bedroom, thinking what would be the surprise now and could he take it without soiling himself into a mess?Then suddenly she appeared from the bedroom with a blanket in her hands. "It's getting colder." She said and sat back on the couch, covering him with the blanket along with her."Come here." She added as she stretched her arms for him to lie in. Hesitantly he did, unable to deny - not wanting to either.He was once again in the same position, except for the lingerie and the cold air chilling his skin."You're still scared." She sensed it through the stiffness in his body, her hands resting on his abdomen. "Don't worry, I promised. I will not do anything."It was yet another new side of her, which he did not assume existed. She was acting like a normal girlfriend with a nourishing character."Just calm down and rest. We will cook something to eat or maybe order something." Her hands rubbed his abdomen with care and gentleness, prompting his mind and body to calmer.As much as he was astounded by yet another one of her characters, he adored it the most. He loved the care he was receiving from her gentle hands and gentle tone."You know, my mom used to massage my head every time I had a headache. She still does every time I visit her." A new piece of information, which made her seem like a normal being."And she also cooks nice food." She added, while he rested his head on her chest and turned his eyes up at her.She seemed so different - beautiful and pure which made his heart sink deeper into his chest. He was feeling warmth and a tingly feeling rushing into his veins like a drug, making him addicted."Your mother seems so nice." He spoke with a slight dullness in his tone. Because it was the type of guardian he never had."Yes, she is. My dad is the total opposite of that. He is tough and strict. But he's also very nice." She responded as she slipped her fingers into his hair, prompting his eyes to close and numb at the sensation, like the cold air in the summer."I think I take after him the most." She went on, massaging his head while her passionate and burning eyes were gazing at his slumbered eyes like he was a statue of perfection. He was beaming purity like the rays of the sun."I think that is why I like you."_______________END OF THE CHAPTER----- Love, author!Connect with me and early and exclusive work: https://queenbeewritess.carrd.co/----Love, author! ❤️