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“Hey Sarge, remember me?”
Four words, eight syllables. In the grand scheme of things, it was nothing but a simple text, another data to be stored in my phone’s internal storage.
Except it was not. Infact, this message warranted my whole world turning upside down. No, downside up.
Ever since I decided the arrangements—no contact whatsoever—a nagging feeling remained persistent at the back of my mind; what if he had forgotten about me?
He had every right to, in fact. And if I were still a good person, I would truly believe that—but I'm not. Not anymore.
And he didn't forget about me. That much was clear enough after he texted me mere three minutes after the trial verdict.
So, my phone almost slipped from my hands as I attempted to message him back.
We needed to have a long, overdue discussion, that was for certain.
—————
My plan from here on out was to slowly, but not too quickly, get involved with my family and friends. I had been making sure to lose contact with my loved ones to ensure they wouldn't have been implicated should Max had been declared not guilty, but now that wasn't an issue anymore.
I was to join my old friends for brunch in the afternoon, but before that, I had to make a visit to a certain someone.
Ravi and I had planned to meet up near that pond we used to visit—and I'd forgotten how much of a walk it was. As the trees became sparser, the translucent hue of the water, reflecting the sun’s rays, became clear. But what I paid attention to was the figure throwing stones inside of the pond.
My smile impossibly widened upon noticing him. I picked up a stone and began walking over, throwing it in the pond and watching as the stone skipped a few steps, then submerged in the water.
Ravi immediately turned to the side, and straightened when he recognised me. As much as I found his widened eyes and mouth gaping amusing, I was certain the same expression mirrored on my face as I took him in.
He was here. In front of me. Physically.
We'd spoken before; not him the person, but a voice I created in my head. Just to cope with not being able to communicate with him outright.
Being away from him for so long also made me think quite a lot. Wonder what I would say if we were meet again.
But now, with him standing there… I lost every word and sentence I had prepared.
So I initiated the next best thing—practically jumping into his arms. Ravi took the hint almost immediately and held me in almost the same intensity, holding me so tight it became hard to breathe. But I didn't mind it one single bit.
Our embrace only loosened enough for me to look up at his face, and his smile made me grip his shoulders hard and try as much as I possibly could to avoid tears streaming out.
“Pip,” He whispered.
“Ravi,” I whispered back.
Suddenly we were kissing, my fingers tangling in his hair, and his hands bringing me closer to his body and all I could feel and think was him.
Him licking my bottom lip, to which I immediately opened my mouth, savouring the taste of his tongue as it slid in, the sensation setting off every single butterfly in my stomach which had been locked up for the past year.
Separating to catch our breaths, I tucked my head in the crook of his neck while idly rubbing circles on his shoulder, as he played with my hair.
And we stayed like that for a long while. Days, months, years, decades—maybe even a millennia.
I loosened slightly from the embrace, him cupping my face as a response.
“Do..” I hesitated, slowly dragging my gaze to his eyes. Ravi only smiled back, silently urging me to continue. Sighing, I continued. “Do you think anything has changed?”
He traced my cheekbone as he answered, “Between us?”
A tiny nod.
“From my side? Never.” He removed a lock of hair from my face and set it behind my ear. “I'll always be yours.”
My grip on his shoulders tightened. “I'll always be yours too.”
Relief tugged at his features, and so did mine.
We were together. In the beginning, until the end.
And we will continue to do so, even if someone stands in our way—because as a team, we're unbeatable.
And because Sherlock always needs their Watson.