The evening settled quietly around the room, the only light coming from a small lamp near the bed. Shadows stretched along the walls—soft, dim, almost intimate. The kind that made everything feel closer than it should.
Aavya sat beside Akshat.
She hadn't left.
Carefully, she unwrapped the bandage around his abdomen. Her fingers were steady, but her breathing wasn't. A faint tremor betrayed her focus. The bruises along his ribs had darkened, spreading across his skin like ink.
"You should've avoided the last punch," she murmured.
"I wasn't counting," Akshat replied dryly.
A faint curve touched her lips, but her eyes stayed fixed on the task.
She moved lower, wrapping the bandage around his thigh.
And something shifted.
Not loudly.
Not visibly.
But enough.
Her touch lingered just a fraction longer than necessary. Not bold. Not inappropriate.
Just… aware.
Akshat's body reacted before his mind could restrain it.
A subtle tightening.
A shift he couldn't fully control.
Aavya noticed.
Her hand paused.
Just for a second.
Her lashes lowered, and a soft warmth rose to her cheeks. But she didn't say anything. She simply continued, slower now. More careful. More conscious of the distance between them.
The silence thickened.
When she finished, she didn't stand.
She stayed.
Close enough that their shoulders brushed. Close enough that his breathing wasn't just his anymore.
"You know…" she said quietly, a faint playfulness in her tone that didn't fully hide the sincerity beneath, "there are… other ways to ease pain."
Akshat glanced at her.
Her eyes weren't teasing.
They were searching.
She leaned closer, her fingers brushing lightly against his wrist.
"If I wanted to kiss you right now," she whispered, "would you stop me?"
His pulse answered before he did.
She moved slowly.
Not rushing.
Giving him time.
Giving him a choice.
Their breaths mixed.
Her lips hovered just a breath away.
And for a moment—
He wanted to let it happen.
But his hand lifted.
Not harsh.
Not rejecting.
Just firm.
"Aavya."
That was all.
And it was enough.
Something in her expression cracked.
Not dramatically.
Just a small fracture.
She pulled back slightly, confusion flickering across her face before something deeper took its place.
Self-doubt.
Her fingers tightened against the bedsheet.
"…Is it because I'm dark?" she asked softly.
Akshat frowned.
She swallowed.
"Because I'm chubby?"
Her voice wavered now.
The earlier confidence had dissolved into something far more vulnerable.
"Is that why you don't want me?"
The question landed heavier than anything else that night.
Not teasing.
Not frustration.
Fear.
Akshat felt it settle in his chest.
"I didn't say I don't want you," he said, his voice lower now.
"Then why did you stop me?" she pressed, her eyes glistening. "You reacted. I saw it."
She wasn't wrong.
Akshat exhaled slowly.
"You're confusing desire with timing."
A tear slipped down her cheek despite her effort to hold it back.
He leaned forward slightly, ignoring the dull ache in his ribs.
"If I cross that line with you," he said steadily, "it won't be because we're alone and emotionally charged. It won't be because I just fought someone and you're worried about me."
She searched his face, as if expecting something harsher hidden underneath.
"It'll be because we both choose it clearly," he continued. "Not because you're trying to prove something to yourself."
Her breathing faltered.
"I'm not proving anything," she whispered.
"You are," he said gently. "You think I stopped you because of how you look."
Her silence answered him.
Akshat held her gaze.
Not distant.
Not pitying.
Grounded.
"You don't get to reduce yourself to that," he said quietly. "Not in front of me."
The tears came more freely now.
But they weren't frantic.
They felt… released.
Aavya leaned forward, resting her forehead carefully against his chest, mindful of the bandages.
This time—
Akshat wrapped his arm around her.
Not tightly.
Not urgently.
Just enough.
Steady.
She stayed like that for a long time.
And neither of them spoke.
Because some lines are crossed in heat.
And some—
Are protected by restraint.
---
He didn't know how long they stayed like that.
But eventually—
She moved.
Slowly.
She looked up.
He looked down.
And for a second—
Everything paused.
Her cheeks flushed pink.
His probably did too.
She stood quickly, brushing her hair behind her ear, avoiding his eyes now.
"I should go back to the girls' dorm…" she said, her voice quieter.
"Yeah… you should," Akshat replied.
Smooth.
Very smooth.
She paused at the door.
For just a second.
Then she looked back.
That small smile.
The kind that made something in his chest shift again.
"Good night."
"Good night."
And just like that—
She left.
The door closed softly behind her.
The room felt different immediately.
Colder.
Quieter.
Akshat lay back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. His body ached, the bandages pulling slightly with every movement.
But his mind—
Wasn't tired.
Her blush.
Her voice.
That almost-kiss.
He exhaled slowly and shut his eyes.
Forcing himself to sleep—
Even though part of him knew…
Sleep wasn't coming easily tonight.
End of ch 14
To be continue...
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