Chapter 128 - As Long As You Are Around, I Know I Am Safe.

| Eshan |

By the time I was back, Innaya was already awake. Her tired eyes told the tale of her weak system. How did I not notice it earlier? How did I not?

"How are you feeling, Tesoro?" I reached the bed after I kept the soup on the side table. Helping her straighten up, I adjusted cushions behind her back before I made her comfortably lean against the headboard of the bed.

"I am okay, Eshan," she whispered in a low tone as she tried weakly smiling at me.

"Yes, I can see that very well," I snapped and almost immediately regretted. Damn it. How more ridiculous was I really going to be? How could I use that tone with her when she was already so low and it was my carelessness that had landed her in that state?

I sat beside her and pulled her in my arms. "I am sorry. I am so sorry." Wrapping my arms around her, I held her closer. "It is my fault. It entirely is my fault."

She pushed me lightly on my chest and looked at me with her those confusion filled eyes. "What are you talking about, Eshan? Come on. Stop it. I am fine."

My sweet wife. I could never get enough of her. How innocent she truly and absolutely was. She was assuring me of being okay when I could clearly make out how weak she was from her pale face.

"I need to know something but first drink this." I lifted the bowl and dipped the spoon in the soup. "Come on. Have this." I pushed the spoon in her mouth and she did not deny, which I know she did it because she did not want me to worry more than I already was doing so she was silently obliging to whatever I was saying.

"It's delicious," she mumbled while taking the spoon from my hand, insisting that she would have on her own. She kept the spoon in the bowl momentarily and put it on the other side of the bed. She took my hands in hers, staring in my eyes. "Relax. Breathe."

I slightly bent my head as she looked through my façade and saw how disturbed I was. She knew me too well. She just did.

"I am fine, Eshan. I really am. Trust me." She attempted to assure me again and again.

My eyes were staring into hers for several long seconds and I just enveloped her in a tight hug. "I can't lose you, Innaya. I can't lose you. Even a scratch on you terrifies me. It seriously does."

Her hands slowly rubbed my back. Her touch was actually so soothing that my heart was at peace in no time. Only I knew what I went through when she was lying unconscious in front of me. Having her awake, and alive in front of, caressing my skin, feeling her hands on my back, hearing her voice was something I needed to live, I learned that day.

Innaya was too precious to lose. She had become my life in the literal sense. She did not have an idea what and how much she meant to me. Perhaps, I myself did not know the extent to which she was important to me. I could survive without her, but I would not be able to live without her, I realized that day.

"I am never letting any harm touch you. I promise you that," I promised her, dropping a soft and affectionate kiss on her hair.

Her hands patted my back. "I know. I know." She pulled apart a little only to scoop my face in her palms. She pulled my face closer, letting our foreheads meet. "As long as you are around, I know I am safe."

"Alright. Alright. Have the soup now." Although I hated breaking the moment, her health was my priority. I had to feed her. I waited until she finished the soup and kept it aside.

"Where are you going?" I asked on seeing her trying to get down the bed.

"Washroom," she replied, chuckling at my overly-hyped stuff.

"Wait." I got down, picked her up and carried her to the washroom, completely ignoring her shocked eyes.

As I put her down, I told her that I was going to wait outside until she came out and also passed her the instruction to call me in if she felt the fainting sensation again.

She placed her hand on my shoulder, with a smile plastering on her face. "Do you not think you are overreacting, my dearest husband?" She rose on her toes and kissed on my right cheek.

"No, I do not, my sweetest wife. You go in. I am waiting here."

* * *

I anxiously waited for her to come out. I was so worried that I kept talking to her all the while she was inside, to know that she was okay in there.

"Eshan, give me five minutes, will you? I am taking a shower to feel better."

My eyes widened as I heard her. "What? No. No shower now." I banged my hand on the door as I strictly denied her a shower. "You lack energy right now." I hoped she would listen to me. I really wished to take no risk until her reports came. What if she fainted inside? No. "Come out, Innaya. Please." My palm was sticking to the door, as I called her.

I heard the sound of the doorknob and took a sigh of relief seeing her, but watching the frown on her face had me realize that she was really, really annoyed by my behavior. Was I being a little too annoying? Was I being too overprotective? Er, whatever. I could take no risk when it came to Innaya. Period.

I handed her a towel to wipe her face and gently pecked her lips, leaving her stunned by my sudden action. "I love you," I confessed, to have my wife forget her anger on my irritating behavior and it worked. She blushed a deep shade of love – red and I stole the opportunity to give another quick kiss on her forehead before lifting her again to the bed.

***