Meera

Meera's feet were killing her as they crossed the threshold of her hotel room. She groaned as she peeled her shoes off, revealing bloodied patches on the backs of her heels. Devansh immediately noticed as she tenderly removed her shoes and hobbled over to her bag to grab a t-shirt.

"Shit, Meera, why didn't you say something?"

"No big deal. Beauty is pain.“ she joked, but Devansh didn't laugh. Instead, he disappeared into his adjoining room and returned with first aid supplies from Nikhil's medical bag.

At first, Meera thought Devansh was irritated with her, but as he silently washed and bandaged her heels, she understood that he wasn't irritated with her at all. He was irritated that she hadn't told him sooner so he could fix it. He was a fixer in every sense of the word and wanted to control every situation so he could look after the people he cared for. It was endearing and made Meera feel cherished in a way she'd never felt before.

"How's that?" he said as he helped her stand from the edge of the bed.

"Good as new," she answered and placed a kiss on his cheek.

After washing her face and changing into a t-shirt and shorts, Meera left the bathroom to find a shirtless Devansh already in bed. The sight of his bare, broad chest and massive arms made Meera weak at the knees. Her eyes roamed his chest and took notice of each and every scar as she climbed into the bed and settled herself under his arm. With her head resting on his chest, she slowly traced her finger along a particularly deep and angry scar that zigzagged across his abdomen.

"Do they bother you?" Devansh asked softly.

Meera abruptly pushed herself up off his chest, giving him a horrified look as she spoke. "What? No! I've just never seen anything like them before, and it's hard for me to imagine someone... cutting into your skin."

The emotions Meera felt started to bubble closer to the surface as she continued to study Devansh's torso. Each scar was different. Some were short and deep, others were jagged and long, but each one represented pain. She couldn't imagine someone taking a knife to his flesh and the amount of pain he must have felt.

He lifted her chin with his knuckle and spoke to her as if he had read her mind. "They don't hurt anymore, you know." He tried to reassure her.

"Did you get all of these at the same time?"

"Majority of them, yeah."

She winced in response and imagined how incredibly painful that must have been. "Took about three months to heal. This one was the worst," he said as he ran his thumb over a long scar underneath his tattoo. It was deep and started under his jaw, snaking down and across his neck. Meera pictured him bandaging his own wounds the way he had just done for her heels.

"Who took care of you?"

"I did. I mean, Arjun and Mihir brought me groceries and helped out around my apartment for a few days. Karan ne mujhe doond kar meri team ko bheja tha uss waqt karan ko jaanta nahi tha, nahi tho Anjali paaka mera khyal rakhti. I didn't really need anyone's help."

Tears pricked Meera's eyes. "No one is that tough. I'm so sorry." She whispered. "I wish I could have been there to help you. I would have taken care of you."

"I have no doubt."

The sheer amount of scars on his body was appalling. Someone had put in a lot of effort to hurt Devansh, and Meera couldn't wrap her mind around it.

"Why would someone do this to another person?"

 “ bohot se log hote hai jine dusro ko pain dena accha lagta hai.”

One person in particular popped into Meera's mind. "The men who captured me didn’t ask me any questions, didn’t interrogate me, didn’t want a damn thing from me. They harmed me for their own enjoyment and nothing more. Torture for pleasure."

"I am so glad Karan found you," she said.

"Me too. It's one of the reasons why we're so close. After I had been back for a few weeks, he contacted me, and we started doing more contract work together for shadow Security. We've been thick as thieves ever since."

"Do you remember each of these, or were you...?" Her voice trailed off.

"I remember all of them. They didn’t bother torturing me when I was unconscious. Less fun for them, I guess."

Meera sat there, stock still, as she racked her brain for any possible way she could help Devansh. It was obvious that the mental and emotional scars of his time in captivity were much deeper and more painful than the physical scars on his body. She desperately wanted to take his pain away but had no idea how. Each scar was a horrific memory that was forever burned into his brain, which gave her an idea.

"What if I could replace the bad memories with good ones? Will you... will you let me try something?" She stammered, unsure of his reaction.

He raised up onto his elbows to get a better look at her. "Try something? I mean, yeah, but what do you want to try?"

"You'll have to turn over a little bit of control and trust me. Can you do that?"

"I can try," he said honestly.

Still stunned that he had revealed his scars to Meera, Devansh found himself unable to predict her next move. She had asked him to trust her, and though he did without question, the uncertainty gnawed at him. Slowly, she placed her hand on his chest and guided him back toward the bed. Following her lead, he sank into the sheets, lying flat beneath her gentle touch, surrendering to her unspoken request.

"Take a deep breath and close your eyes," she instructed.

He raised an eyebrow in response.

"Trust me?" she said, half statement, half question.

Closing his lids and filling his lungs with air, he complied yet again.

"Give me ten minutes. Just let me take your pain away for ten minutes."

The sincerity in her voice made Devansh feel warm all over.

"For every scar I touch, I want you to try and forget the pain you felt when you received it and think only of the touches I'm going to leave behind." She pulled the sheet back as she spoke, leaving his entire chest exposed. "You carry so much pain, but just because you carry it well doesn't mean it isn't heavy. Let me hold your pain and give you some relief. Even if it's only for a few minutes."

Her voice was calm and soothing, a steady anchor in the storm of his thoughts. He didn’t answer, only took a deep breath and relaxed into the bed, keeping his eyes closed as she had asked. The first thing he felt was her hand, gently resting at his side. Her fingers softly traced the ridges of his scarred skin, and for a moment, memories of its origin flooded his mind. He could still recall the sharp sting of the blade slicing through his flesh, the sickening crunch as it parted his ribs. The searing pain and crushing pressure started to overwhelm him again—but just as quickly, they vanished, replaced by a new, unexpected sensation.

Meera's soft, sweet lips had replaced her fingertips and trailed the length of his scar. The sensation was unlike anything Devansh had ever experienced. Her kisses were soft and sensual, and her warm breath peppered his skin with goosebumps as she moved across his body. Every bad memory faded as she massaged and kissed her way from each scar on his abdomen and moved all the way up his chest. Saving the worst scar for last, he felt Meera start her trail of kisses at his right collarbone and work her way along the scar across his neck to the left side where his tattoo resided. She gently kissed the angry, jagged skin as her lips followed the scar's path up to Devansh's jaw.

He was in awe that the one scar that should have killed him, the one he had tried to physically and emotionally cover, was now the site of complete ecstasy. He loved the way Meera's soft lips felt on his skin, and every horrendous memory that came with those scars dissolved at her touch. It was the single most intimate moment of Devansh's entire life.