The Clingy Fiancee

Chapter Twenty

I was extremely, incredibly nervous - so nervous that a looming silence fell over the car. No one spoke anything - even Neil, and I was sure he could notice how much I was sweating and biting my nails.

Just round the corner was the building where Neil and I had lived together. I wasn't even looking at Neil to see if he was recognising these familiar roads or not. I didn't care if he did recognise them - what I worried about more was what his reaction would be if he saw the penthouse we had shared.

I didn't even know if he had continued living there after I had left that place. I didn't dare ask Prakash uncle too, because any answer would have led me to only think the worst.

What if he remembered everything the moment we stepped into the house? What if he didn't? In one case, I knew I would flee the spot without any preamble - I didn't face Neil during the two months after our break-up. There was no way I was ready to face him now. And the second case would only lead to disappointment. A part of me wanted to keep believing that Neil held those things close to his heart that he had once shared with me.

"You are unusually silent, Myra." Prakash Uncle said, cheerfully, from the passenger seat, "You are surely excited to go back home."

"Yes," I responded, not really giving a thought to what I was saying, "I'm quite lost in my thoughts, Uncle. I have a lot of things to sort, now that I have been given a lot of responsibilities."

Uncle chuckled, "Ah, don't you worry. You'll manage, like always. And this time, you have Neil to help you, right Neil?"

"Of course, I'll help her, Uncle," I could hear the smile in his voice, "If I am going to stay with her for an indefinite amount of time with her, then I'll surely have to be of help if I want to keep the lady impressed."

I whipped my head around and narrowed my eyes at him. He just raised a brow back at me.

"So tell me, son." Uncle turned around, "How do you feel about coming here, in India, and that too living at this fiery demon's place?"

"Did you just call me a fiery demon?" I glared at Uncle, and then I remembered why he said that to me.

Long, long ago, when Neil and I were in the 'just friends' phase - that was what Neil had always called me. That name calling quite continued till somewhere in the middle of our relationship until he found new and better names to call me.

Neil did not respond to the question for quite a while. He was looking out of the window with a frown on his face. Uncle and I looked at each for a moment when he answered, "I don't know."

Well, that was a very informative answer. Way to make me more nervous.

"I honestly don't know what I'm feeling. It's like I've done all of this a lot of times but I don't remember when, where, how and with whom. I know everything, but I remember nothing. And all of it is making me more nervous about what's to come."

So he was recognising things, in a way. Wasn't that just what I wanted to hear?

"Don't worry, Neil," Uncle reassured him, "Whatever is fated to happen, will happen at the right time and the right place. Don't stress yourself, and go with the flow. We'll make sure that the best doctor sees you and you are comfortable in your environment."

Before I could notice, I felt a warm hand enclose mine, and thick fingers weaved themselves through mine. My heart skipped a beat when his thumb caressed my wrist. I looked at our interlaced fingers and then at him. He, however, was not looking at me, but just squeezed my hand tightly and kept his jaw clenched.

It made my heart twist.

How could I be so selfish and completely ignore his emotional needs? Here he was, completely dependent on me, and I was wasting my time on thinking about what-ifs that were not going to matter after a few moments.

"We are here." Uncle announced, but I didn't quite hear it because I was still reeling from the time he had held my hand.

The door next to me opened, "Myra, come on," It was Neil and he held out his hand and grinned, "Don't sleep on me, we reached your home."

I stared at his hand for one fleeting moment, and then put my hand in his.

His grin just widened and he tugged me out of the car, not leaving my hand as we made our way towards the back entrance of the building.

"This is not the front entrance." Neil stated as we made our way towards the elevator. A woman and her bodyguard holding hands was surely not going to look too appeasing to people at the main entrance - especially a bodyguard who suspiciously looked like The Neil SInghania.

It was when we were inside the elevator did I realise that Prakash Uncle was not with us - it was only me and Neil, and a familiar woman inside the elevator.

I froze.

She lived one floor below us, and didn't notice the two people who were standing in front of her until she moved to vacate the lift.

I immediately released my hand from Neil's.

Her eyes met mine and widened, "Myra!? It's been days!"

"Hello, Aunty." I smiled, internally praying that she didn't notice the bodyguard who was standing protectively behind with a now, indifferent expression on his face and a puffed out chest.

"You had just disappeared one day." She frowned at me. "If you had needed help, why didn't you come to me? I was just one floor away."

I scratched the back of my ear, "At that time, I was only thinking about being as far as possible and nothing else."

She paused, and then nodded her head in understanding, "I am so sorry about his death, sweetie," She kept a hand on my shoulder, "We will all miss him so much."

I just nodded my head and she smiled and walked away.

Was I going to hear that from everyone I came across?

I stepped into the elevator with Neil following close behind. Once again, when the elevator doors closed, I realised that we were very alone and Neil was standing right behind me, with my back only a few centimeters away from his abdomen.

I pressed the button to our floor and the lift jerked slightly when it started to move up. I stumbled slightly, crashing into Neil's back till his arms wrapped around me.

I didn't move.

His hands felt large and warm on my waist, and his breath felt hot on my neck. My back was completely pressed against his front and well, I was sure I was going to faint.

I felt the soft brush of lips on the shell of my ear, and that was the time, I realised, to move away.

I cleared my throat and muttered and awkward thanks. Gosh, why was this elevator ride so slow?

Just a few moment before the doors opened again, I felt Neil bend down, and then he whispered in my ear with what felt like a smirk, "It was my pleasure."

I blushed.

The doors opened to reveal the place I had called home six months ago, and the one I was going to call home for the next few months.

Neil followed me inside till we reached the living room and stopped moving when we reached right in between. He then kept turning around and studied the penthouse, again with an indifferent expression on his face. Here I was, dying to know what was going on in his mind, but he showed absolutely no signs of remembering anything.

The penthouse was nothing too ostentatious - it was just a perfect mixture of what both Neil and I wanted in our perfect house. A spacious kitchen with the counter at the perfect height so that we could make love on it, and filled with all the appliances that were needed when we both had the urge to cook something different.

The living room had the usual sofas, bean bags, a center table and a plasma TV, and had been once filled with numerous paintings and framed pictures of Neil and I together.

There was a grand piano on the other side, which we both knew how to play. We always sat on its seat together and played whatever we knew, before going to sleep at night. This was one tradition we had always followed, and had stopped only sometime during the week he had proposed me.

"The house..." Neil started, still looking around in confusion, "Why does it look so empty?" Then he shook his head, "Can you show me around the house?"

I released the breath I was holding in.