Chapter 24 - Was I really, ready for this step?

|Innaya|

"Innaya."

"Sweetheart?"

"Tesoro?"

'Go on. Call all the endearments in this world but that won't help you.' I refused to acknowledge him. I kept my eyes closed and head bowed, not willing to cooperate with whatever game he was playing.

"Don't be grumpy cupcake."

'God! Can anyone make him understand to not to use such sweet endearments with that ridiculously tantalising voice?' My subconscious glared at that thought. Merely seconds ago I firmly decided to not pay attention to his sweet tongue and now, my heart was flipping on his side. Great!

"Eshan, get to the point, please," I resignedly asked, tired of his growing questions. Actually, it was not his questions that were tiring but my own battle of these new growing feelings. I wasn't like this... ever. I never felt this way.

I found my palms being covered and that somehow calmed my heart little. I held back a sigh that was about to leave my lips.

"You are my wife." Eshan pressed my palms gently in his.

'Seriously? As if I don't know.'

"Yes, I am and you are my one and only husband and we have been married for last one month. Anything else?" Uncertainly I looked at him after I opened my eyes, waiting for him to finish whatever he had started. I knew he could witness frustration, irritation on my face as I was clueless about this whole ordeal. However, I didn't bother hiding it.

"Thanks for the reminder." Eshan gazed at me with an unknown emotion in his eyes— emotion, I was unable to decipher. He stood up from his kneeling position, making me stand along before he leaned forward with his one hand going back on my nape and other around my waist, pulling me closer.

"Wh...at... What are you doing?" I stammered as my hands landed on his chest, for pushing him away or pulling him closer, I was not sure.

His eyes had lost all the playfulness and now all I could see was bottomless pit of seriousness. That gaze of his rendered me speechless.

"You tell me," Eshan whispered as he leaned enough to place his forehead against mine. I did not what to do anymore. The loud beating of my heart frightened me. At the same time the jittery feeling of being this close to the person who had entered in my life like a tornado, messing every plan I had of turning down any proposal, evoked something in the pit of my stomach.

Eshan moved back but not much. He kept holding me within his arms. He brought his hand near my face, he slowly moved his fingers across my face, not actually touching just hovering in the air. His motion was surprisingly similar to the one I did in the morning. Once done with what he wanted to, his hand returned to its previous position.

"This is not wrong. We being close to each other, is not wrong. You do not have to feel guilty for touching or admiring something that is rightfully yours," he whispered, his warm breath mingling with mine as he continued expressing his thoughts.

I pulled back as soon as those words registered in my mind. 'He knew what I did. This was all for coming to this point. I rapidly blinked my eyes as they glossed with tears of mortification.'

"You were awake." Realization hit me like the ice-cold water on my face in the cold winter. Eshan pulled me closer with his hand that was holding me by my waist, and lightly brushed his fingers below my eyes, at that point, I realized tears were running through my eyes.

"That's not the point, sweetheart," he cooed softly, pulling me close as he smiled looking in my eyes after wiping the wetness on my face, "The matter of importance is, I am all yours. Yours to do whatever you want, just like you are mine. That being said, you don't have to feel uncomfortable before me, you don't have to avoid my gaze. I will never do anything that will make you uncomfortable... Hmm..."

He raised my palm by holding it from backside by his free hand to his face. Still keeping it in his grasp, he followed the exact path I had traced earlier in the morning, again. He stopped near his lips before he looked into my eyes as if waiting for some kind of reaction. I did not know what to do. His words were captivating and the fact was they felt right.

"Innaya, it's your heart exploring the new changem. Don't let your mind put the barrier across your wants. Let your heart and mind be united and follow the path you feel right. Don't deny yourself the happiness you deserve." He placed the soft kiss on the inside of my palm, his lips lingering there, and his eyes cautious as if waiting for me to pull my hand away.

How could I pull it away, when that was one of the things, I wanted to do in the morning. The fear, the confusion, concerning this newfound change regarding him that scared me in the morning, was now slowly fading away. Without me saying anything, he handled everything in a better way.

We stood there, simply drawn into each other's eyes. He brought my palm he was kissing earlier, to our side before he leaned towards me with his eyes flickering to my lips-

Was I really, ready for this step?