Kiss

Today is the day when Tara will make her decision about whether to join Lucky shelter or not. Dev had full confidence that she'll say yes but he was still nervous. He was not a blockhead, he could see that Tara also had some feelings for him.

Dev decided to ask her out if she said yes to the internship.

The lucky shelter has completely changed from the past month, the shelter wasn't very big. It could shelter about 100 or 200 small animals. There wasn't any vacant land around the shelter, otherwise, Dev would've expanded the shelter. He bought only the best things the market offers for the shelter. Only the construction of the shelter was left, as they didn't have very large space, so the inner construction was done slowly, outer construction was already completed.

Tara arrived on the time she usually has in the last few weeks, Dev was waiting for her at the door of the shelter.

They did the handshake but didn't continue holding their hands. Dev smiled and asked, "So, are you ready for the tour?"

Tara too smiled and answered, "Yup, I'm ready. You look pretty confident today."

A grin came on Dev's face and he said, "I was born confident."

Tara scoffed, "I can see your confidence from the last few weeks."

The grin which was on Dev's face disappeared even faster than the speed of thoughts, his face became awkward.

Tara didn't want to make fun of him, so she said, "Let's go and see your world-class shelter."

"First let me see your food supplies, then we'll check others," continued Tara.

He took her to the shelter storeroom, where food supplies were stored, a smile came on Tara's face after seeing the food supplies, she gave a thumbs up to Dev. The food supplies were directly ordered from the world's largest animal products company. The government also wanted people to help animals as the biodiversity of the Earth was almost ruined, so they gave subsidies to shelters for such purchases.

Then Dev took her to the storeroom where toys, collars, and leashes were stored. She looked happy after seeing this collection too. He then took her to washrooms specially built for the animal's bath and their excretions, she didn't find any problem with it either. He then showed her all the things related to shelter, she didn't have any complaints regarding the shelter supplies. She chose veterinarian as a course so she was of course interested in saving animal's lives, she looked very happy with the materialistic things the shelter could provide to animals for their better future. Now it's up to the trainers/veterinarian/groomers to give animals a mentally and physically safe space.

She then turned towards Dev and said, "Let me ask you this last question, and then I'll give you my answer."

Dev looked serious and said, "Ask whatever you want to ask."

"Will you be opening up this shelter to the public and how will you select the people who want to adopt pets?" Asked Tara seriously.

Dev answered, "No, I don't think I'll be giving up any animal for adoption, I'll only give up the animal for adoption to the people who have lost someone very close to them because Lucky helped when I was at my rock bottom."

Tara asked seriously, "Don't you think it's selfish of you to not let them get adopted? They could get a happy family."

Dev stood silent for some time and only looked at Khushi playing with the trainer. He then said, "Look at all of them, how happy they are. Many of the playing animals you see here with the trainers or anybody, when they were brought here, wouldn't even let anybody touch them. Why do you think they were scared of us? Why do you think I bought this shelter? Lucky healed me, but I couldn't heal him, even when he died, I was the only one allowed to touch him. He wouldn't even let the veterinarian touch them even though he knew they could save him."

"So What If I'm selfish? Isn't Selfishness a characteristic of us? I would rather let them live happily here without any family than give them up to others where there is a chance that they could face the same thing from where they've moved on."

"I've always been selfish, I've only saved one person in my life because I liked you. If there would've been someone else in place of you I wouldn't have even cared about it. I've never done or thought bad for others, but I also haven't done any good things for others. I will stay the same even in the future. I'm selfish that's why I bought this shelter, I don't want to see another Lucky, I couldn't heal him, but I'll heal many others in place of him," Continued Dev.

Tara looked silently at Dev for sometime after his monologue, While Dev was still looking at the animals in the shelter playing happily, a smile came on his face when he saw a kitten slapping a German shepherd continuously, yet the dog didn't do anything and just licked her after she stopped. She hissed at him and started slapping him again. Dev couldn't stop himself from laughing after seeing that scene, he went over to the kitten and picked her up, and started scratching under her chin, the kitten enjoyed the scratching, and she purred.

He then looked toward Tara and said, "Why would I lose this happiness, they'll always be genuine with me. I already have enough money that I could make thousands of such shelters, yet my family won't complain about money. It's up to you now whether you want to help me or not in giving them a peaceful life. I would rather be selfish than lose this."

Khushi barked after Dev's statement like she agreed with him over his statement.

A smile appeared on Tara's face and she went up to Dev and answered, "Sure, I'll help you. Let's give them the best home anyone could've ever wanted."

Dev put the kitten on the ground, At the spur of the moment he embraced and kissed Tara without thinking about the consequences of his action. Tara was stunned and wasn't ready for the kiss at all. Her eyes were wide open and face got red.

Dev noticed that what he was doing was wrong, he released her from his embrace and moved his eyes down the ground, his back started sweating thinking about what would she say, It was a sexual harassment. He could face criminal charges if she didn't have any feelings for him.

He tried to apologize, but before he could ask for an apology, Tara glared at him with her face all red and said, "At least, ask me out first, before you try to Kiss me."

Dev was stunned, he never expected this response from her. He didn't know what to say, so he nervously said the thing which came to his mind, which he should have never said that "If I ask you out, would you let me kiss you."

Tara glared at Dev angrily, he noticed what he said was wrong. His face became red like a tomato due to shame because he heard a chuckle from somewhere. He had forgotten that the trainers were there training the animals, he wasn't alone there at this moment.

Dev decided to first solve his situation with Tara rather than thinking about his embarrassment. He looked at Tara and could see a hint of embarrassment and anger in her eyes, he ignored it and asked, "Would you become my girlfriend?"

Tara didn't answer anything and just looked at Dev, his face was becoming redder as time passed without Tara's answer due to embarrassment. She didn't stand there for long and started leaving toward the door on her own.

Dev followed her, he grabbed her hand and pulled her towards him where no one was there to see their actions. Their faces were close to each other, both of their faces were red, they both were breathing heavily.

Dev moved his face close to her, and said, "What I'm going to do is wrong and criminal, but I don't care, If you don't love me, you won't kiss me back. I would never talk to you, and you can file a complaint against me."

He felt a heavy breath on his face when he said that, he forgot everything at that moment and pushed his lips on hers.

What Dev dreaded didn't happen? She started responding to his Kiss. They kissed like this for more than a minute. They both had an expression of satisfaction on their face. They both looked at each other's eyes for a few seconds, and a smile appeared on their faces. He embraced her after that smile.

While she was in his arms, he started singing a song,

"Somewhere in the night,

Somewhere in the morning,

I remained a wanderer,

Stay on, stay on,

Says your eyes,

What's wrong with me?

My eyes are seeking for you all over needlessly,

Is it me or Is there someone else like me,

How did it happen, how did it happen,

How did you become so important?"

{Author's Note- I didn't write this song, It's one of my favorite Hindi songs.}

She kissed him on his cheeks after hearing the song and giggled. It took time for their relationship to start, but finally the relationship started with this passionate kiss.

Will Dev pass the test?