That Night
664 Words
CHAPTER EIGHT
It hadn’t felt dangerous that night.
That was the first thing Ellora remembered.
Not the risk.
Not the consequences.
Just the ease of it.
A birthday gift. A three-day escape from her father’s shadow.
The air had been warm, soft with music and voices blending into something careless.
Isabella had dragged her there.
Of course she had.
“Relax,” Isabella had said, pulling her through the crowd.
“It’s one night. You’re allowed to exist outside your father’s rules.”
Ellora had almost argued.
Almost.
But something about the place, the
obscurity, the distance from everything familiar, made it easier not to.
Easier to let go.
She hadn’t been looking for anything.
Which was why she hadn’t noticed him at first.
Not when he walked in.
Not when the energy in the room shifted subtle, but real.
It was Isabella who saw him.
“Okay,” she had murmured, leaning closer.
“Don’t look immediately.”
Ellora had sighed lightly.
“I’m not interested.”
“Lie,” Isabella said under her breath.
“Just… wait.”
Ellora hadn’t meant to look.
But she did.
And for a second
everything else faded.
He wasn’t trying to be noticed.
That was the problem.
He stood slightly apart from the crowd.
Not withdrawn.
Not isolated.
Just… guarded.
Like he didn’t belong to the noise around him and didn’t need to.
Their eyes met
It shouldn’t have meant anything
It did.
Not dramatic.
Not overwhelming.
Just a change.
Like something had quietly aligned.
Ellora looked away first.
She told herself it was nothing.
But a few minutes later
she felt him beside her.
No introduction.
No hesitation.
“You don’t look like you want to be here,” he said.
His voice had been different.
Lighter.
More relaxed.
Ellora glanced at him.
Up close
he was stunning
Sharper.
keener.
“But I’m here,”
she replied simply.
A faint smile touched his mouth.
“That’s not the same thing.”
She should have walked away.
She didn’t.
The conversation had been… easy.
Too easy.
No questions that mattered.
No answers that tied them to anything real.
Just presence.
Time blurred.
At some point, Isabella disappeared.
Not far.
Just enough.
Ellora noticed.
But she didn’t go after her.
Because by then
she was already too close.
Not physically.
Not yet.
But a wall had moved, even if she couldn’t see it.
“Do you always stay this guarded?” he asked at one point.
Ellora tilted her head slightly.
"Better safe than sorry. Isn't that how the world works?"
Another smile.
Quieter this time.
“Maybe. But sometimes... taking a risk is worth it right?”
She laughed. Maybe a little too loud she had thought.
It wasn’t.
The music changed.
Slower.
Lower.
The space between them narrowed.
Not by accident.
Ellora felt it before it happened
the shift from conversation to something else.
“Ellora.”
He said her name.
She stilled.
Because she hadn’t told him.
Not yet.
“How—”
“You said it earlier,” he replied easily.
She hadn’t.
Or maybe she had.
Maybe her adrenaline was spiking, taking control.
Or maybe it was the rhythm of the music, the heat in the air.
Or the alcohol she had consumed was finally working its way through her system.
But she didn’t push it.
Didn’t question it.
Because by then
it didn’t matter.
her focus had shifted.
Not to what he said.
To how close he was.
The heat of him.
The way his presence didn’t crowd her
but pulled her in.
Her breath slowed.
Then caught.
And for a second, neither of them moved.
The night moved forward.
And so did they.
A room.
Quieter.
Warmer.
Away from everything.
Ellora remembered the way the world had narrowed, until it was just him.
Just them.
No expectations.
No consequences.
Just a moment that didn’t belong anywhere else.
His laughter
closer now.
His voice
lower.
His hand
steady against her skin.
- Writer
