Chapter 15: Reasonings
With the knife clutched hard in his hand, sitting above her, Leander looked at those eyes that bloomed like a waterlily on a dark night. The slight beeping sound around him reduced and he could once again hear the sound of his heartbeat ramming against his chest alone.
He froze, not knowing what to do. The adrenaline which always helped him cope with extraordinary situations went on vacation right that moment when her eyes opened. His mind... if he was connected to a machine that could measure his brainwaves, it would have flatlined.
And just like that, he was abandoned in the company of his heart.
Maybe he was listening to his heart all along. Because one swift slit to her throat and a brief struggle for around ten seconds, she would have been dead five minutes ago. And yet, here he is...
’Everyone has a plan ’till they get punched in the mouth. Then, like a rat, they stop in fear and freeze.’
Leander fully understood Mike Tyson’s famous quote only now. Till now, he never had an experience where he faced fear.
He was the lion. When he roared, everyone in front of him trembled and kneeled in front of him. He was never scared of anyone or anything.
And for the first time, he froze in fear. What made him afraid, he didn’t know. But her eyes instilled fear in his heart.
Or...
It may not be fear. It was something unfamiliar to him—the way her eyes made him feel. Like how he was unaccustomed to fear, he was unaccustomed to the way he feels when he looks into her eyes.
Maybe, that’s what scares him—that uncertainty.
She started coughing. He kept on staring at her. The liveliness of her eyes. Although she was in pain and confused, it is much better than when she was lying motionless with her eyes closed.