The way you love me <3

Nitya was standing still for a moment, unable to react at all. As she was frozen in place, not even uttering a word for a few minutes, it scared Meisha, who had been hoping for an entirely different reaction. She quickly stood up from the couch and tapped her shoulder, asking, "Di, you okay? Is something not right? Are you not feeling well?"

Her panicked voice brought Nitya back to the present. She snapped herself into the real world, thinking that she really needed  someone to zap her out of her sleepy haze- she was supposed to be seeing with her eyes open! She reassured Meisha that she was alright and turned her attention back towards the screen, thinking that it must been some kind of illusion. Nevermind, this time, she would surely see the real faces of these Idols. But the reality was still standing there, holding the dragger upright and ready to poke her again. The figures on the screen were still the same, exact copies of the boys she had been dreaming about for a while- what kind of witchcraft was that! She hadn't ever seen them, not once in her lifetime, so how was it possible for her to have dreams about them in the first place?! But now, the more important question was, if they really existed, what were their real names? Were the things she had been seeing about them actually correct, or was her brain just making up imaginary things? She pondered that question, totally forgetting that Meisha had just referred to the youngest member as 'Ho-jin' : the same as in her dreams.

She handed the phone back to Meisha, asking her about the name of the band and that of the members. Finally getting the desired reaction from Nitya, Meisha replied with a sparkle in her eyes. "Here, let me tell you everything about them! The group consists of six members, and the leader's name is Kim Kaoru. The person I had been showing you earlier is the maknae of the group, and his real name is Kim Ho-jin, but everybody in the fandom calls him 'Honey' as he is so cute! Speaking of cuteness, here is the second youngest member, Kim Ji-hun and he is also cute, then we have-"

Nitya stopped her in the middle of her sentence, "Um, what exactly is the name of the band? Back when I stopped listening to K-pop, I don't think there was such a band!?"

She was still coming to grips with the fact that somehow, the names and the hierarchy also matched the one from her dreams, but there had been no trace of them eight years ago when she had stopped listening to k-pop and started watching Anime instead, as she had shifted to learning Japanese after Korean; eventually she had moved on to Mandarin, then French and Spanish and then the list goes on. 'She hadn't found the time or reason to look back, but she did have some songs saved in her playlist that were by her favourite band from the past; rather,  one of her persisting favourites- due to the members' army recruitment, there hadn't been any sort of a comeback for quite a few years now. But still, it was highly improbable and yet true, that she had never even encountered them once during this entire time, whether intentionally or otherwise! And when she had finally been made aware of them, it was all through her dreams?! What the heck was wrong with her brain, heart, subconscious, soul, body- whatever you want to call it!?' She was lost to the world once again, thinking about all the probable scenarios that might have led her to seeing them on screen some time and then her subconscious had come up with those dreams...that was when Meisha snapped her fingers in front of her face.

"Di, something is definitely not right with you, please tell me what- or else, Surbhi di and Mehul bhaiya will kill me!"

"Arrey! Relax kiddo, there is nothing wrong with me, I think I am just sleepy. I should go back and sleep and so should you, so go to your room now. But wait- before you go, at least tell me the name of the group?"

"Wolves."

Meisha smiled sweetly, after unknowingly dropping another bomb on her head; Nitya had never heard the name of this band before and had no idea- not even a clue about their existence. But now, she sure did need to find out! And before that, she needed to get back into the role of an elder sister and drag Meisha by her ears to make her sleep, otherwise the little satan would remain awake the whole night! 

Nitya grabbed her ear, seeing that she was going to sit back on the couch once again, "Into your room, now!" 

"Di, it hurts!"  Meisha whimpered from pain.

"I know, this is why I am doing it. Go to your room, and go to sleep! Come on!"

"Okay Di!" Meisha relented.

Meisha walked into her room and Nitya also returned to hers- now it was time for her to do some research.

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Jasper was looking at the chaos unfolding around him with confused expressions, and Ivan was trying to convince himself that whatever he had just heard could not be possible. Aldrick was trying, with all his might, to hold Reneé back from killing Zacharie, meanwhile Amélie and Zacharie were busy fighting again! The correct way to phrase it would be that Amélie was fighting, while Zacharie was still trying to confront her with the reality and make her understand that a relationship is always made of two people and she couldn't always take all the decisions on their behalf!

Amélie shouted at him again, as it was her way of hiding her insecurities, her fears, her pain behind her yells; trying desperately to prove to everyone that she was not as adorable as they thought, she wasn't loveable at all, having many dark demons inside her. But everytime she did that, she tended to forget that she always put this act exclusively in front of the people who knew her better than she knew herself.

"I am telling you all to leave Nitya alone, as she already has her own plans of living a happy, single life. Then why do you people insist on bothering her now, hasn't she gone through enough? She's already been pushed down to the ground, and all of you people want to drag her further and hit her harder. Please stop here, it's still not too late." Amélie pleaded with all the strength left in her.

This time, Zacharie also shouted back, "Can you please stop pretending to be strong and evil when you are not! Yes, you heard me right- you are neither as strong as you imagine yourself to be, nor as conniving and manipulative as you try to portray yourself in front of us. And now, tell us the truth on your own- that you are not trying to protect Nitya, but Ji-hun. You know what their fate holds; and know for sure that Ji-hun is the vulnerable one of the two. He is unable to handle the ups and downs, unlike Nitya, he is the pitiable one in your eyes- just like I am. Now I have really been forced to question my perception of things- have you ever loved me, or have you merely taken pity on me?" 

Zacharie added the last sentences to nudge her to the edge, knowing that hearing this would definitely cause her to break out into tears and be honest with herself. And when she fell over the edge, he was there, ready to catch her; he was always there to catch her, but she rarely let herself go and that was why he had to opt for the most hurtful way to reach her.

Tears rolled down her face, just as he had anticipated. 'She definitely loves him, what did he think of himself? She loved him more than she loved herself. For the sake of his happiness, she was willing to go to any extent. She would walk back and restore the sands of Time if possible, in order to reverse the time-wheel, if this would make him happy. How could he say this, and doubt their relationship?'

She murmured through her tears "How can you-how can you…" Zacharie stepped closer, hugging her tightly and saying "I know you love me, that you love me more than you love yourself. And I know that this is why you are trying to keep them apart as well, but let me tell you- we are parts of each other. We stand, mirroring each other. I also love you way more than I love myself, so even if you get a chance to reverse the time wheel, then I will also find a way to make it move in the same direction as it had done previously and will choose to meet you again and again. I will fall in love with you- only with you, every single time, not caring how painful the end might be, because I know that my journey is beautiful. And it is beautiful, just because you are on that journey with me. The hope of meeting you on my journey was there, the destiny of getting to walk together with you for a while, will be there. And trust me, I will happily choose your love, your companionship over heaven any day. Please try to understand that I love you the way you love me!"

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