Two weeks had passed since Khan had left.

Everything was almost the same as before, when Khan had fallen sick .

Each morning Nina and Gaurav prepared their meals and had them together. And then, they went on long walks into the forest. Sometimes, when the weather was beautiful, Nina packed the food so they could enjoy a picnic by the lake.

“Almost done,” said Nina, pulling the last flower through the needle and thread, and then tying a knot at the end of the garland.

They had just finished their picnic lunch by the lake, but Nina kept them waiting to finish making a garland out of the wildflowers that grew in the forest.

Gaurav had picked most of the flowers.

Each time Gaurav went to the lake for a bath, he came back with flowers for her. Nina knew he did that because she had told him about her affinity towards wildflowers.

During her childhood, Devi and she would pick flowers from the roadside or parks to decorate their small room. Even though the places they lived were tiny, with the beautiful fragrant flowers, they felt like home.

Nina was touched that Gaurav had remembered and tried to make their cabin like a home.

Smiling, Nina ran her fingers on the delicate petals of the flowers in the garland.

Gaurav was sitting on the grass, watching her quietly. Nina wasn’t looking at him, but could sense his gaze. She knew that as soon as she looked at him, he would turn his gaze away.

Raising her eyes towards him, “How do I look?” Nina asked, putting a lone hibiscus flower in her ear.

As expected, Gaurav looked away. And when she continued to wait for his response, he reluctantly turned and looked at her for a brief second before looking away once again. “Good,” he murmured.

Nina laughed. “Flatterer.”

She leaned towards him and put the garland she made around his neck. “I made this for you.”

Gaurav’s eyes fell on the bright colorful garland, and then, at her. His eyes lingered on her mouth as she smiled before he looked away once again.

“Let’s go,” he said softly, and picked up their picnic basket.

She got up from the grass, and grabbed his free hand, before twining her fingers with his as they headed back to their cabin.

Nina knew that even though Gaurav didn’t want to look at her, he didn’t mind her touch.

Or maybe he just didn’t want to be rude by shaking her off. But either way, Nina always found a reason to touch him.

Each night, Gaurav continued to bring her to his room. As soon as she lay on his bed, he lay next to her keeping a few inches between them while she talked about her past.

And as soon as she finished talking, just before she went to sleep, she always put her hand on his chest. She liked the feel of his heartbeat underneath.

She also touched him because she felt the need to connect with him with at least one of her senses. Either she had to talk to him, or listen to him, or touch him.

The compulsion only seemed to grow as days ticked by.

Was it a psychological thing one felt for a captor? Or something that one felt towards the only human around them? Nina didn’t know the answers.

All she knew was that she wanted a connection to Gaurav. A connection that went much beyond lust or desire.

She knew that on some level Gaurav understood how her feelings were changing. Because each time she placed her hand on his chest, he waited until he thought she had gone to sleep before he slowly picked up her arm and returned it to her side. But not before he gently kissed her hand first.

That only made her smile inside. And also, more determined.

Nina deliberately began to hog the bed space. And even though she was a quiet sleeper, she pretended to be a restless one, always placing an arm or a leg on top of him.

Despite her teasing, and his restless sleep because of her, Gaurav didn’t stop bringing her into his room each night.

And Nina no longer asked or spoke about why she was taken. Even when she spoke to him a little about her life in the past ten years, she didn’t talk about Suraj. And neither did Gaurav ask her.

It was as though they were both in denial of their true circumstances. They preferred to be lost in their self-made bubble where outside world didn’t touch them.

But Nina was well aware that what had initially started as a desperate plan on her end to escape and save Suraj’s life, was turning into something else.

The lines were beginning to blur between what was needed and what she wanted.