His face bends to meet hers and she feels her own lips curve up into a smile as he presses his wind-chapped ones against them. He tastes like the breeze on a cool, crisp day and she bites gently at his bottom lip, hoping to harness some of whatever nature has blessed him with; she wishes to save this feeling and this moment. She wishes to save it because she knows that someday she won't be so lucky as to experience these lips in person, someday she will have to part with them and though that will be a sad day to be sure, but it will come. When it does she wants to be able to remember every part of this. She wants to remember the way the heat radiated off of his body and the way his skin, though dry, still felt smooth and tender to her. She wants to think back and still smell the sweet smell of aged leaves and nature on him; she wants to be able to smell it the same way she does now. She wants it to encompass her, the way it does now… she wants to feel the weight of his arms wrapped around her the way they are now.
His tongue breaks through the fragile barriers that are her lips, and she is powerless to stop the gasp that escapes her; he doesn't remove it, though. Just keeps with his gentle exploration and before long her own has reached up in response, and, for whatever reason… she doesn't find it revolting. She had always thought that she would… after all, who really wants to have somebody shove their tongue into their own mouth? She had always thought that it would repulse her that; she would gasp, endure it for a moment, but then push back and run off only to never think of it again… but this is different. He is different. He makes her feel different; when she's with him she's no longer just a regular schoolgirl like Ann or Pippa, or even Felicity, for that matter. She is just herself, but it is a better version of herself; the version of herself that had run wild in India but had been lost somewhere in transit. He brings it out in her… the best of her.
"Kartik," She breathes when they finally separate, if it can even properly be called that. She can feel his breath against her mouth and all she wants is to press herself back up against him, but she can't. Already she can feel herself beginning to be pulled away, not from him but from this world altogether. If she doesn't hurry she will run out of time… she can't do that, not here.
"Kartik… I would have married you. I didn't used to think so… but I would have… I loved you." Tears prick at the corners of her eyes and his touch is gentle as he wipes them away; he nods. "I loved you so much, Kartik… more than I ever thought that I could love someone… more than I still think that it's possible to love someone… but I do. With all my heart, Kartik, I love you with all of my heart."
He nods again, and the sadness in his eyes is profound… in this world he is speechless, but she knows what he would say, and so she puts a finger to his lips… silencing him before pressing her own back against his. She tries to hold onto him for forever, but she is already ebbing away, she can feel it. Tears dribble down her face and leak into their kiss, rendering it salty, but it doesn't matter, because it is already gone… she is already awake.
"What's the matter with you then?" Ann mutters from her bed, still half-asleep herself, across from her she smiles, through her tears she smiles.
"Nothing's wrong, Annie," She gulps, "For the first time, in a long time, nothing's wrong."