When You LOVED Me...

72.

*Unedited*

Arav's P.O.V.

There was no point in being happy but there was no point in being sad also.

Arav had never let someone diminish his strength, his smile, his laughter. He has always loved being the person who was cheerful and laughing even when the times were difficult.

And there were difficult times, but he had passed through them with a smile on his face and with the support of his loving brothers, his mother and the love of his life, Manvi.

But this time what he was passing through was nothing less than a storm, which has altered the reality he was living in. He realised that he was happy and the important reason for that was the people who protected him from sadness, who just protected him.

He was not able to see any wrong in his father. He couldn't able to see his abuse towards his brother and mother. He didn't not see him as the fallen man that he was and that he was hurting his family. No, he just loved him through it all.

He felt shattered when his father was found guilty. Not just for the accident, but also for abusing his mother and brother. His mother was the gentlest soul, she didn't deserve the pain she went through. And his brother, Arnav couldn't see him for a while, and when he did, Arav was blaming himself for being so ignorant and for not seeing before that his brother was not happy, was not safe.

From the day when Arnav was admitted to the Rehab to the day when he was released after one year, Arnav couldn't forgive himself. Everytime he saw him frightened, reflexive or on guard, his heart shattered some more.

It would have been so difficult, if he wouldn't have the one person, who was a rock to him, through thick and thin and was able to love him, when he couldn't love himself. He couldn't look himself into the mirror but when he looked into her eyes, he didn't see the failure he was, there was love and only love.

Manvi. She was with him, and for a while he let his grief and regret take control and tried to be distant so afraid of see into her eyes and see the rejection or regret so much so that he didn't saw the hurt he was causing her.

They have been together since they were kids, they were lovers even before they knew what that word meant. They were never apart, always there for each other and they had never hit the rock bottom like these, their relationship had never been tested, Arav had given up but Manvi didn't and he was so fucking glad that she was with him, even when he was continued to being miserable, she just continued to being the comfort that Arav need.

*

Today was not different when he woke up. He already knew Manvi was up and working in the kitchen making him breakfast, she would also bring his morning coffee to wake him up, and he would continue to lie there pretend to be asleep, knowing that she knew that he was not.

Manvi knew him better than he knew himself. When you were in love, you would do things to make your love happy even if it sometimes seem silly and he had been in love for a very very long time. He look it at differently now though, earlier it was fun but now it was more meaningful. A silent communication that there love was still there, even when it has become a routine.

He laid there waiting, but he didn't had to wait long before she entered, looking like every bit of etheral beauty that she was, in pink salwar-kurti, freshly showered smelling of honey and vanilla, a scent he was so familiar with and it suprise him, every time he laid her eyes on her that this angel was his.

"Your coffee." She said simply, unbeknownst of the storm she was causing. Arav waited till she placed the cup on the bedside table, before tugging her arm causing her to fall on him. Her eyes wide as she stabilized herself just a breath away from him. He can't deny that things had changed between them, he had been cruel to her and while he was trying to amend that, he got a feeling that she didn't expect him to show his feelings like he did before. Especially his love for her, how could someone except that and stay was beyond him.