A Promise Forever

Elamaran *Ring* *Ring* Groaning, I stretched my arm out and dabbed my palm on the mattress to grab hold of the phone. Without bothering to open my eyes to check whose phone is making so much noise early this morning or to check the called ID, I hit the answer button on the phone screen. "Hello.." Came out my groggy voice with a hint of annoyance in it. "Ela? Why are you answering Mini's phone? Where is she?" Shit! This time though I was forced to open my eyes wide. It was Minmini's mom, Roja calling, and she sounded so suspicious, or was I just hallucinating things due to my panicked state? "Roja amma.." I gulped nervously, then looked down at my arm which was possessively wrapped around her only daughter's tiny waist. To my relief, Mini was fully clothed but that didn't mean I didn't do anything to her last night. I did many things to her that I am not so proud of when I think of it right now, things that I was not supposed to do as a man engaged to another woman, things that I was not supposed to do to a girl whose parents have so much trust in me to let her stay with me. However, I swear, it certainly was the first time we crossed boundaries but did that even matter now? What's done is done. Roja and Nilay are people who took me into their family when my mom died leaving me an orphan when I was only eight. And this is what I do to them in return? What does it make me, if not a monster? I cleared my voice, "Uh.. Mini is in the.. shower. She left her phone on the living room table.." "Ohh.." Roja shrugged with a cool laugh. "I'm surprised that Mini's gotten up so early on a Sunday morning and not lazing around like she used to do here. She's changed a lot after she's come to stay with you. Thanks to your military rules that we could never instill in her." I let out a fake chuckle. Military rules. My foot! If someone had changed, it's me. Being a soldier, the old me would be working out by this time of the day but here I was cozying around Mini's tiny warm body up to eight-thirty in the morning. I tried to peel myself away from her but she snuggled closer into my neck with a soft moan and then threw a leg over my thighs, holding my body frozen in place. "I will ask Mini to call you back.." I told her, my guilt starting to gnaw my insides. "Yeah sure, Ela. Hope this lockdown ends by this year and we can meet you two soon." "Yeah.. Take care, Roja amma." "You too, Ela.." I ended the call abruptly and stared at the white ceiling in front of me. "Was it my mom?" Mini asked sleepily. I looked down even though I couldn't see her face that was buried into crook of my neck. "You are awake.." It came more like a statement than a question. She hummed and started to place kisses down the thick column of my throat. "She could have caught us, you know.." Pushing away my cravings to touch and kiss her back, I gritted out at her angrily. "One day they will all find out about us, Ela.." She pulled back and I met with the rarest pair of black and grey orbs that were staring at me. "We shouldn't have done what we did last night. It was wrong at all levels, Mini." I tried to keep my eyes strictly on the ceiling as I uttered the words, "I shouldn't have kissed you when I should be taking care of you like an elder brother.." "Yeah, good luck with that, Ela.." With that, she got out of the bed and stormed out of my room, slamming the door behind her with a loud thud. I know I was being unfair by letting out my guilt-driven anger on Mini. If anyone had to be blamed, then it was me. I am a grown man and she's barely nineteen. I shouldn't have fallen into my temptation for her last night. I certainly shouldn't have kissed her like that but if I am given another chance, I will do it again and again and again, and I want to kick my ass for that. A/N: Hey guys, How are you all doing? I hope you haven't forgotten me. :) So, I am finally back with this new book. Tell me what you think of the prologue. I know the names are a bit tricky but I am sure you will get used to them soon. Let me also tell you that I have changed the female lead's name to Minmini which means 'firefly' in Tamil because I felt the name was more appropriate for her character. And the name Elamaran (Ela) means young and brave boy. Please add the book to your library and share it with your friends if you like it. Love, SwaRam