“I’ll fix this, Aditi,” he promised her anyway.
“Okay,” she whispered, but the tension on her face remained.
“Okay?” he asked again, cupping her cheek. Before she could pull away, he leaned in and pressed a brief kiss onto her lips. “Comeback to me,” he requested, his forehead resting on hers before he straightened. “I’ll be waiting here.”
She nodded quietly.
“I love you,” he confessed yet again, hoping she would say it back. She watched him with an indeterminable look, eventually stepping closer for a hug. His arms wrapped around her immediately, his chest tight with the fear that if he let go, she wouldn’t return. If he could, he would have taken her back home and held her until they both felt better. Until he figured out how to give her whatever it was that would make her trust him again.
That would make her look at him like she used to.
As though she’d heard his silent plea, she leaned back to glance up at him.
“Love me enough to heal yourself,” she told him, her tone muted in sadness. “There is a part of you your mother still controls. That’s not okay.”
She cupped his jaw, a gloomy tilt to her lips.
“I wantallof you, Rian. I don’t think I can accept less.”
Without another word, Aditi walked away, leaving him stunned with her request. She’d told him, in no uncertain terms, what it would take to gain her forgiveness.
A complete and clear step in severing whatever hold his mother had on him.
He watched her approach the entrance, the stiffness in her movements a dead giveaway for her stress.
“Turn,” he whispered, observing her handing her ID card over for the guard to check.
“Turn.” He almost raised his hand partway to wave to her.
“Turn,” he wished quietly, his eyes glued on her person. He readied himself to smile at her, his gut twisting in disappointment when she walked through the guarded doors and faded into the crowds.
Aditi, the girl who never missed an opportunity to romanticise her life, had not turned back to wave at him.
He stood there, waiting, just in case she changed her mind, uncaring that the ushers around him were yelling at him to move his car. His feet remained grounded, wishing that she would come running out the doors, rush into his arms, and allow him to show her how much he loved her. That she would allow him to prove to her how sorry he was for having caused her smile to wane.
He waited, hoping that she would show.
She didn’t.
37
Distance
Bugs4life (10:07 p.m.)
Did you reach Bangalore? I saw your flight landed.
Sunshine Doc (10:10 p.m.)
Yes, I’m with my family.
Bugs4life (10:12 p.m.)
Are you okay?
Sunshine Doc (10:17p.m.)
Yes.