Falling in Love - A Shivika Romance ✔

49. A Second Chance

Annika hugged him like that for a long time. Even when he tried to come out of her embrace, she pulled him closer. Their eyes remained close as they felt each other's warmth refusing to let a second pass without each other. She now understood why the novels she read as a teenager claimed to bring the world to the protagonists when they were with their soulmates. She was with hers. And now he was her world.

"I am sorry," she sobbed.

Shivaay took a step back, breaking the hug, and cupped her face. Annika placed her palm on top of his that now cupped her face and placed a lingering kiss over there.

"I won't say it's okay, but I am ready to forgive you," Shivaay stated.

I am unsure though that I will forget this incident in our life.

She recalled her words from a few weeks ago. She understood what Shivaay might have felt during that time. Mistakes they both didn't intend to commit yet succeeded to hurt the most important person in their lives.

She wrapped her arms around his waist saying, "You have to hear it all. I don't want to hide anything from you for another moment."

Shivaay wiped the tears from her eyes realizing how badly his indifference and anger affected her. He went through the same recently. He could tell how desperate one felt to tell the other person his side of the story and how bad it felt when the other person kept refusing. He realized he was behaving just how Annika behaved a few days ago. He couldn't afford the same to happen once again. Thus, he nodded. He was ready to listen.

***

"I met Dev when I escaped you to get to the bar—"

"Wait, you knew Dev?" he asked before she could finish.

"Yes," she replied meekly. His voice didn't sound like he was angry. Still, she was afraid of the same. Yet, she realized how important it was to maintain open communication, to tell the truth. So she did.

"How? What why? I mean if it was so, why wouldn't you tell me?" he felt out of words.

"At the bar," she whispered. He realized what she talked about.

"Did he take advantage of your drunk state?" he was holding her in a more possessive manner than usual. If he were a dragon, balls of fire would have been spitting out of his mouth any moment. Annika gulped a lump down her throat. Her usual trick of rubbing to and fro his chest didn't work at the moment.

Annika closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She needed a lot of patience to get through tonight. As much as she knew him, he could accuse her of telling another lie or get Dev arrested for a deed he didn't commit, or both.

"Cool. Hear me out first. He didn't do anything wrong. You were with me for the later part of the night. If anything wrong happened, you would have known," he seemed a bit more relaxed than he was a few seconds ago, so she continued, "He was there. As much as I can remember we both didn't have a good opinion of you. So in the drunk state when I found him ranting about your ideology, I joined in badmouthing your rude and selfish behavior." Annika closed her eyes as soon as she threw such things on his face. Well, it was the other way around, but Shivaay didn't need to know the minute details.

"Rude and me?" he mocked her as she was being rude this time around. She couldn't just say everything on his face.

"Shivaay, please it was only three weeks after our marriage, you can't blame me for making a perception of you based on how you behaved with me back then. Now I—" she lacked the courage to tell him how much she loved him. She decided to leave her confession for another time.