Two months had passed since Nina was found after her kidnapping, and life was back to being as before.

Nina was miserable.

“Ready, sweetheart?” Suraj’s voice called from their bedroom.

Nina looked at her reflection in the mirror. “Not yet,” she whispered to herself. She didn’t know if she would ever be ready or even feel happy.

Taking a deep breath and raising her chin, she went out of the dressing area and to her bedroom where Suraj was waiting for her.

Suraj had tried to cheer her up by spending most of his spare time with her. But Nina spent long hours of the day, continuing to do her charity and volunteer work and collapsed on the bed during the nights.

Charity work gave her peace of mind. She had spent the last ten years similarly and was somewhat content with it. Now, she became greedy and craved other things in life as well.

She wanted to be in love. She wanted color, and she wanted passion. And she didn’t just want those things from anyone—she only wanted it from Gaurav.

She knew she might never have any of it.

“Radha is waiting in the car.” Suraj’s voice was gentle. He kissed her forehead. “Sure you are up to this? It’s only been a couple of months since you returned. People will understand if you can stay home.”

Nina was tempted to take up Suraj’s offer to stay home. But she knew that, lately, she had reverted back to drowning in self-pity, and she was shunning a lot of social interactions because of it.

She knew she couldn’t go on like that. She had to get back to the land of the living and do whatever best she could.

Suraj still needed her. Elections were only a few months away. In the last month, so far, even though she didn’t socialize or accompany him to any place, people forgave her, because she had gone through an ordeal.

She had even heard that there were rumors being spread about her which would work against Suraj’s political ambition. So she had decided to join him tonight in her first social outing since her kidnapping.

“I’m fine.” She forced a smile. “What’s the occasion?” she asked as she slid into the car.

“It’s the annual function that Ganesh Verma hosts. Harika said she tried to reach you, but you didn’t return her calls.”

“I was busy,” she said.

Soon, the car parked in front of the Verma’s house.

It was a huge, showy house that screamed of wealth and power.

“Nina!” Harika greeted her with a smile. She was standing on top of the steps at the entrance greeting the guests.

Although Harika didn’t live here, she hosted the parties on behalf of her uncle.

Harika’s husband, Raghuveer, shook Suraj’s hand. “Glad Nina could join you today. How are you doing, Nina?” he asked with a smile.

Nina forced a smile at the man. “I’m fine.”

“Your parents are already here, Suraj,” Harika said with a beaming smile.

It didn’t fill Nina with dread. Maybe because Nina didn’t care anymore, the senior Bhupati hadn’t really been obnoxious to her lately. He had barely visited them in the last two months and even during visits, he barely spoke to Nina.

Nina knew it must have mostly been because of Suraj. He must have strictly warned his father about upsetting her.

Clutching Suraj’s hand, Nina took a deep breath to face rest of the evening. As soon as she entered, she was dragged away from Suraj and people began conversing with her.

 

“Belize was just awesome. You should visit that place sometime, Nina. You’ll absolutely love it.”

 

“God, Nina. Ninety days! Weren’t you terrified?”

 

“Did you really not see any of your kidnappers’ faces?”

 

“What did they do to you for three months?”

 

“How did you escape?”

 

Two hours into the party, Nina realized that having the familiar circle of people whom she knew for nearly a decade, only made her even bitter and lonelier. Either people were lost in their own lives to bother asking how she was doing or there were probing questions about her captivity.

She was sick of fielding both.

Some of them even looked towards her stomach. Since she had lost a considerable amount of weight and looked fatigued, they thought she was pregnant. They had excited looks in their eyes, imagining the juicy drama that would ensue if she was pregnant. Would the baby belong to the husband? Or the kidnapper, they all would probably wonder.

The rude looks at her stomach only made Nina devastated. She badly wished Gaurav hadn’t been so careful with her all the times. She wished she had fallen pregnant from at least one of the times they had made love. Then she would have had a part of him inside her to cherish forever.

Nina knew she wasn’t thinking straight. Before she slipped into another bout of self-pity and depression, she excused herself, and went towards the powder room to pull herself together.

As she passed the well-lit hallway, she stared blindly at the expensive paintings hanging on the wall.

Suddenly, she felt an arm grab her and a hand closing on her mouth. Before she could react or do anything, she was pulled into a bedroom.

Nina froze.

She couldn’t see much due to the darkness. The hand on her mouth was removed slowly, and she felt the person stepping away from her.

Her heart pounded wildly in her chest as she stood waiting.

“Why aren’t you screaming?” a deep familiar voice asked.

The sound of the voice, the one that haunted her dreams for the past month almost brought her to her knees.

A choked sob escaped her. Slowly her eyes began to adjust to the darkness, and she could see the outline of a tall, broad shape.

“Gaurav,” she whispered.

She felt the tension radiating off of him.

Fumbling for the light switch around the door, Nina turned on the lights.

Her heart contracted as her gaze swept over him. She drank in the sight of his familiar features, feeling like it had been forever since she had seen his rugged, handsome face.

“Gaurav,” she repeated his name again before closing the distance between them.

She reached a hand upward to brush a wayward lock that fell on his forehead.

His short lock felt soft and lush on her fingers. He looked different. Very different. Two months ago, he had been in a buzz-cut. And now, with slightly longer hair, he looked even more handsome and also less dangerous.

“It’s really you…” she whispered once again, running her fingers over his face, tracing each and every dear feature of his.

The PI’s following Vikram since the past couple of weeks, did not yield any results. Despite that, Nina still held hope that she would somehow find Gaurav. And that she would not spend the rest of her life without seeing or touching him.

Gaurav was standing still and watching her with a closed-off look. But when she ran the pads of her fingers on his stubble, he closed his eyes. And as though he lost an internal battle, he opened them again and grabbed her close before covering her lips with his, in a deep, heart-wrenching kiss.

The warmth, the taste, and the feel of his kiss felt entirely familiar.

A tear rolled down her cheek at the overwhelming happiness that took over her.

They kissed each other deeply and longingly, until they had to pull back to breathe.

“I thought I’d never see you again.” Even though her tone was breathless, the accusation and devastation was evident in it.

“I thought so, too,” he confessed, gently rubbing his thumb on her lips. “And I also thought you would have led the police to me by now.”

“Never,” she vowed.

He kissed her once again until they both became breathless.

This time when they pulled back, his eyes ran over her body. “You look more like Nina Bhupati than my Nina,” he said softly.

Nina’s hair was longer, and she wore one of her older creations. She knew it was far from how she looked while she was in the forest cabin.

“I will always be your Nina, no matter what.”

His eyes flared. Something ugly and painful passed through his face. “I hated these last two months, Nina. One part of me was worried sick, wondering whether you recovered completely from the bullet wounds. And the other part of me was going insane that you recovered enough, and the bastard was touching you.”

“Gaurav…” She touched his cheek, offering him comfort.

He placed his hand on top of hers. “I can’t bear it, Nina. I know I have no right. But I can’t bear the thought of him touching and kissing and making love to the woman I love.”

Her face fell, unable to offer him words he wanted to hear. Suraj’s secret was not hers to tell. Even if withholding the information hurt the man she loved.

Although Nina trusted Gaurav with her life, she did not trust him with information that Gaurav could possibly use to destroy Suraj.

“I love you, too. I’ll follow behind you to the ends of the earth at any point in time. I’ll even come with you right now. But I can’t do that if Suraj’s life is at risk because of you. If you promise me—”

“How can you say that!” he spat.

A choked sob escaped her.

“Even though you claim to love me, and are telling me you’ll come away with me, why are you bargaining for that bastard’s life!”

“Because Suraj told me he is innocent,” she said. “Please, believe me. Suraj is willing to cooperate fully if he knows what he’s being accused of. And once his innocence is proven and his life is no longer in danger, I will free myself from my marriage and be with you.”

That didn’t seem to comfort Gaurav. “And if I refuse to believe in his innocence? What will you do?”

“Gaurav, please. All I’m saying is not to do anything rash. Just give him a chance first to—”

“Nina?” A voice called from the outside of the room. It was Harika.

Nina froze, unable to think of anything or react in any way.

“Nina? Are you in there?” Harika asked once again.

Gaurav was watching Nina quietly as though he didn’t know whether or not she would alert Harika and others of his presence. It broke Nina’s heart that he didn’t trust her.

“Yes. I’m in here. I… uh had a headache and was taking a short nap,” Nina answered.

There was a pause. “Oh, okay. Sorry about that. Would you like medicine sent up to you?” Harika asked.

“No. I’m fine. Just give me a few minutes, and I’ll join the party.”

“Okay. I’ll let Suraj know as well. He was looking for you.”

“Thanks. Tell him I’m okay.”

Nina could hear the footsteps as Harika walked away from the room.

Gaurav continued to watch Nina with another of his closed-off looks.

“Please, tell me what you were investigating,” she requested softly. “We’ll find out the truth together. And if… if… Suraj is guilty, then we’ll let the law take its course.”

“If he’s guilty?” he asked bitterly.

“Please. We need to get to the truth of what happened first—” she broke off in a gasp when he pulled her close and kissed her.

It was a quick, hard kiss, intended solely to rob her breath, killing her words and her thoughts at the same time.

“I had the truth even before I kidnapped you, Nina,” he said in a hypnotic voice. She felt his fingers brushing the peaks of her breasts through her dress in a slow back and forth motion. Each time the pads of his thumbs made contact with the hardened peaks, it was as though a bolt of electricity passed through them.

With great difficulty, Nina dragged her heavy eyelids open and tried to shake away the sexual haze he was drawing her into to avoid an argument between them.

Even though it was a circular argument between them—with her saying Suraj was innocent and him saying Suraj wasn’t—she was still determined to put her argument across. Suraj’s and Gaurav’s fate lay in making him listen.

“Gaurav please—” she froze when she heard footsteps walking outside in the corridor.

She looked at Gaurav in panic. “It’s dangerous for you to be here. There is always a lot of security here. Please, leave quickly before you are discovered. I’ll come to you, and we can talk then.”

He hesitated.

“Please. Promise me you won’t do anything rash in the meantime. I’ll meet you soon.”

He didn’t say anything. Pulling her close, he kissed her softly on her lips before letting her go. Watching his face and capturing it inside her heart once again, Nina slipped out of the room.

She didn’t get back to the party. She walked outside the house and sent a message to Suraj to let him know she would be leaving because of a headache.

 

LATER THAT NIGHT, Nina told Suraj and Radha about Gaurav’s visit that night.

“Nina… sweetheart. I feel he might be dangerous. He might hurt you if you meet him again by your self—”

“No, Suraj. I know he won’t hurt me.”

“How do you know he won’t hurt you?” Radha softly asked. “If he’s not willing to trust you enough to tell what investigation got his family killed, then why would he not hesitate to hurt you, if he thinks you will be in the way of his personal retribution?”

Because he loves me, Nina wanted to say. But she didn’t.

“I just know,” she said, instead.

Radha and Suraj looked at her with pity before leaving her alone in the master bedroom suite.

Nina lay on the bed and stared at the ceiling as though it had answers to her questions.

Radha’s words pierced Nina’s heart.

Why didn’t Gaurav want to trust her? How can love sustain without trust?

She knew what Gaurav perceived as her blind support towards Suraj was stopping Gaurav from revealing anything to her.

Now that he was back, she just hoped, she could convince him to trust her.