The entire italics part is FLASHBACK that Liana recalls. Don't get confused. Enjoy!

Dedicating to Teddycraz for the banner on the side. Thank you. :)

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CHAPTER - 24

LOVE IS... AN IRONY

"The greatest irony about love is letting go when you need to hold on, and holding on when you need to let go."

FOUR MONTHS AGO - THAT NIGHT OF BETRAYAL

Everything was moving. Spinning. Rotating.

The smell of cigarettes hit me and I inhaled it with a huge smile on my face. Opening my eyes, I tried to capture everything around in my memory. My blurred out vision processed the scenario and passed it to my mind at an injured snail's pace.

People around me were laughing, dancing, smoking, drinking, and teasing the hell out of each other and what not. But not even a single person was unhappy, or depressed, or scowling, or any other sad adjective. And of course, I didn't fall in the second category as well. A giggle escaped my lips when I saw a bottle of cheap liquor calling me. It wanted us to be friends, I could tell that.

Each and every person around me was in the same category as me tonight - people who land up at a bar to drink their sorrows away.

"What do you want next?" My head snapped towards the two bartenders who had asked me this question. Both of them looked awfully alike. Upon having a close look at one of the bulky guys, I spotted his dimpled chin and his big black eyes. He was the nice bartender named Bob. He had been serving me since I entered this place, and the other one looked like his twin.

"Hi. Are you Bob's twin?" I asked his twin, resting my chin on my palm.

Both of them looked around and back at me as if I was really drunk. It's a different matter that I was really drunk.

I giggled again because... well, I didn't need a reason to giggle. But those giggles were cut short when Bob snapped his fingers in front of my eyes. "I don't have any twin. You're hallucinating." My eyebrows scrunched together in confusion as I tried to focus at them and saw that it was 'him' not 'them'.

"Hello's son eating?" I giggled again as I broke the word 'hallucinating' as per my drunken self's comfort. Drunken Liana was not a writer. She couldn't even see properly; saying big words or even thinking them was a task better left for sober times. "Who is Hello's son? Is it 'Hi' or 'Hey'? And what is he eating?"

"Nobody." He huffed. "I don't think you should have anything else."

My eyes widened at what he said as I was not content, yet. I shook my head, which made me dizzy. "But I want to have s*x with the bartender followed by a screaming org*sm!" I cried and the nice bartender hushed me.

I pouted at him and heard a loud chuckle from beside me. "Never has these cocktails sounded more appealing."

Bob looked towards the owner of the deep voice and informed him, "She just had s*x on the beach. Thrice."

"Yup!" I laughed and turned to look at the stranger who had very conveniently disturbed me from investigating about Hello's son after having screaming s*x and screaming org*sm. "And let me tell you that it was out of this w-wo-world." I managed to finish as I ended up stuttering when my eyes landed on the handsome stranger beside me. My breath hitched as my eyes roamed from his sculpted face, sharp jaw and finally, landed on his piercing grey eyes that were looking back at me. "Wow!" I breathed, which made him smirk at me with his perfect full lips.

He wasn't wowed by me as he turned towards Bob and ordered something for himself. I didn't bother hearing the name of the drink as it didn't sound interesting like any of my drinks. Bob served him his drink and I asked, "Bob, where are my drinks?"

He glanced towards the guy beside me before looking back at me. "It'll take some time to make those cocktails. Wait. Okay?" I pouted due to the delay and started playing with the long sleeve of my over-sized sweater.

"Why is she calling you Bob when your name tag says you are Kevin?" the stranger asked Bob.

"I stopped asking her the exact same question when she threatened to call me 'Shrek' after her sixth drink." He sighed, making me laugh and look at him as he smiled at me. Bob was a nice man. I could tell that despite of the lack of my judgment powers at the moment.

The gorgeous stranger disturbed me again as he asked, "What is a girl like you doing here? You don't belong here."

Laughter escaped my lips as I looked towards him and then at Bob, who was shaking his head with a knowing smile on his lips. "What's the count, Bob?" I asked with wide eyes and a proud smile.

"Thirteen." He laughed at my enthusiasm.

"Oops! Unlucky thirteen," I mumbled and dragged the stranger's drink towards me. But before the glass could travel the little distance between us, the huge barrier in the form of stranger's hand stopped it. I pouted a bit and told him in a meek voice, "Sharing is caring."

He narrowed his eyes at me and said, "Who said I care?" With that he looked back at Bob and asked him, "What thirteen?"

I interrupted before Bob could answer. "Thirteen! You don't know thirteen? Eleven, twelve, thirteen..." I trailed off trying to make him understand and giving him time to have a grip of things.

He rolled his eyes at me, while Bob chuckled and answered him, "You're the thirteenth guy who has said the exact same things to her since the last three hours that she's been here."

"Wow! I am in demand. Don't I feel special? It calls for a celebration." I giggled as I, again, tried to grab his drink but failed. "You're not even letting me celebrate my popularity. What's wrong with you? No, first tell me, who are you and why are you here to spoil my fun? You're such a spoil sport." I complained with a sad frown on my face.

He again narrowed his gorgeous eyes at me as if warning me and asked Bob without removing his gaze from me, "What happened to the earlier twelve?"

"She sneezed in their faces." Bob laughed, making me laugh at the memory.

The stranger, too, smiled as he stared at me. His intense gaze made my laughter stop and I stared back at him. He was... wow!

"I'm going to sneeze in your face, too." I started rambling. "I have severe cold. Nolan was going to give me medicine but he gave me betrayal, which let me tell you, is a very bitter medicine. Have you ever had it? You won't like it. I'm telling you. I know everything." He tilted his head to the side and kept staring at me, making my throat dry. "Where is my s*x and org*sm?" I breathed out and looked towards Bob, who was looking between the stranger and me.

He mumbled something to the stranger, who nodded in reply. "Don't go anywhere," he ordered me. "My shift ends in an hour. I'll take you to my home. My wife will take care of you tonight. Is that clear?"

"Aww," I cooed. "You're so sweet. I love you, Bob." I declared to the entire bar at the top of my voice. "But, don't worry. I'll go to my friend, Steph's apartment. She lives... somewhere." I frowned as I tried to recall her address. But given the state I was in, I was glad that at least I remembered her name.

I heard people laughing, chuckling, and cheering around. But I didn't care as I kept laughing. Bob, after looking at me one last time, started doing his work.

"What's your name?" My head snapped towards the hot stranger who had his eyes fixed on me. And it didn't take even a split second for me to reciprocate the gesture. Instantly, I was staring back in his eyes. They were beautiful. So grey!

"You've beautiful eyes," I mumbled, too lost in staring at them. He blinked, slightly taken aback at my confession and diverted his gaze from me. But, I continued, "So grey, grey... and grey." I giggled as I stared at his face. "Just like Christian Grey."

"Oh please!" He groaned, rolling his eyes at me in annoyance.

"But Christian was a nice man. He never cheated on Ana. Nolan cheated on Ana." I kept on rambling.

"So does that make Nolan a bad man?" he asked, interrupting me, looking me straight in my eyes.

"Yes," I answered instantly in my drunken state, but my own answer sobered me a little. "No." I changed my answer in a mere mumble.

He chuckled at my turnaround and said in a bitter tone, "F*cking love. He gives you the bitter medicine 'betrayal' and still you call him a 'nice man'? Are you usually this crazy or is it the alcohol effect?"

I was too drunk to be offended by the slight insult thrown my way. The mere mention of the words 'love', 'betrayal', and 'alcohol' made me look around and get my hands on any form of liquor. I picked up a bottle of whiskey the moment my eyes landed on it, when one of the bartenders had just kept it aside after making a drink. This time the stranger didn't stop me as I took sips, one after the other and let the liquid burn my throat along with whatever sense was left in me."Why are you here? You don't belong to this place." I asked, as I looked at him from head to toe since the first time he had been standing beside me. His rugged body was clad in what looked like a very expensive and well tailored suit. Despite of my blurry eyes, unfocused mind and drunken state, I concluded the fact that he was probably the most handsome man I had laid eyes on. He radiated an uncaring charm about him as he leaned against the bar in a lazy manner with the support of one elbow and his drink in his other hand. And after checking him out for probably a few hours, my eyes travelled back to his flawless face.

His lips were twitched up in a smile. "You're the first girl to use this line on me tonight. Is this your way of hitting on me?"

I frowned at him. "Why would I hit on you? I'm heartbroken." With slumped shoulders, I diverted my attention to the throat burning liquid and took a few more sips. I could feel his gaze at the side of my head and after taking one more sip, I looked back at him. "What?"

"Spill it!" He ordered.

I hugged the whiskey bottle close to my heart and with my eyes wide open in panic, told him, "No!"

He shook his head as slight laughter erupted from his lips. "Not the whiskey. Spill your sob story."

A smile made its way on my face at the irrelevant order he had just passed. With the amount of alcohol in my system, the insanity in my mind and the hurt in my heart, I would have most probably started doing exactly that in a minute or so. "He cheated on me and impregnated a hooker," I summed up the entire story with a laugh in exactly eight painful words.

"And you still love him?" My head snapped towards him at his absurd question.

My first instinct was to say 'No' and I did that. "No," I told him in a voice as firm as my drunken state could handle. But as my mind wandered to every little moment I had spent with him over the years, every little thing he had done for me, and all the lovely things he had said to me that had melted my heart, I couldn't help but take another turnaround and mumble a depressed, "Yes."

He rolled his beautiful eyes at me and after taking a sip of his drink, commented, "If you still love that a*shole, then you are an idiot."

"I am. Aren't I? You know, when I was meeting an old couple for a week, taking their interviews, writing their story for the world to know, he was cheating on me, in our apartment, in our bed." I took another sip of the whiskey and a smile made its way on my lips as I stared at the table in front of me. And as if I could see everything he had told me a few hours ago, after Kelly's appearance in our apartment, I added, "When I was busy picturing Nolan and me as the old couple that we would have been after so many years, and thinking about how we would be like that, so in love even after years; when I was so f*cking sure of my future with him; that bastard was f*cking someone else in my bed." A breathless laugh escaped my lips and I ran my fingers through my hair. "I am such an idiot." The tight bun at the top of my head didn't allow my fingers to run smoothly, and in sudden irritation, I tried to pull the band out of the tight bun. My head had started aching and that stupid bun was not helping at all. "Oh just pull out," I hissed in irritation as my eyes started burning with tears.

Suddenly, I felt slight touch at the top my head and a few seconds later, my hair were loose. The stranger handed me my band, and I looked at him. "Thanks," I mumbled and ran my fingers through my messy hair. "Messy hair, messy relations, messy night, and messy life." I shot him a sardonic smile.

He smirked and added, "Messy love."

I nodded with a chuckle and observed him as he removed his gaze from me and stared at the crowd in the front. "What's your sob story?" I asked. A man as well dressed as him truly didn't belong to a place like this. There had to be a sob story.

With a lightly clenched jaw, he stared at me for a few seconds as if contemplating whether he should share his sob story with me or not. After all, I was merely a stranger. But wasn't that the best part that I was nothing but a stranger to him, just like he was to me? In a city like New York, it was difficult that our paths would ever cross again. So wasn't it a safe bet to cry your heart out in front of another broken stranger who wouldn't care and most importantly, wouldn't remember you after that night?

Maybe, he thought the same as a few minutes later, he shot a sardonic smile at me and mumbled, "My drug addict parents died when I was six and my mother's sister adopted me. We all tried to be a 'happy family' but then I grew up and everybody assumed the worst about me." A bitter chuckle escaped his lips as he paused for a few moments, staring ahead at nothing in particular as if remembering his past, just I had done a few minutes ago. He looked back at me and said with a smirk, "Messy childhood, messy relations, messy party, and messy life."

Smiling warily, I asked him, "Messy love?"

He let out a deep, throaty chuckle and faced me. "I'm not naïve to fall in bullsh*t."

"Bullsh*t?" I echoed in confusion.

"Uh.. huh!" He smirked as he took a sip, keeping his grey eyes fixed on my green ones. "Even my parents didn't love me at all. They loved their addiction more than me. Why do you think I would believe in a f*cking myth?" I stared at him with wide eyes. I couldn't even imagine what he must have gone though. He didn't give me time to think about it and asked, "You were in love, right?" I nodded as I stared at him in sheer confusion. His smirk deepened and he continued, "And what exactly did you get out of love?"

I thought of an answer, but at that moment with the amount of pain in my heart, all I could think about as an answer was, 'hurt, pain, and betrayal.'

My lack of answer, made him chuckle and he continued, "All you got in return is pain, heartbreak, betrayal, and lies. Nothing but lies. Because, Miss Ana, love is a f*cking lie. Why love somebody when you know that it won't last for even a few months or years, forget about 'forever'? Why fall in sh*t when you know that it will dig you deeper and deeper in insufferable pain? Love left you with nothing but self pity. Love is a useless and senseless emotion that only weak feel. Love is nothing but a waste of time. Erase that f*cking emotion from your heart and you'll live a life much more happily and without any pain. Love is bullsh*t, Ana. Nothing but bullsh*t."

"Love is bullsh*t," I echoed, nodding my head in agreement. I couldn't help but think about how perfect and meaningful his words were. This was exactly what I needed to hear that night. "You are right. So right. Love is bullsh*t. Love is bullsh*t. Oh God! I have to pee."

He laughed at the sudden change of topic. And I started saying a bit too loudly, "Where the hell is the bathroom? I have to pee... pee." A few people around us starting giving me odd stares and I yelled at them, "Love is bullsh*t. Pee."

"Q, R, S, Tea!" The stranger shot an apologizing look to the people around and I laughed. He held my hand to drag me out of the stool I was sitting on since I entered this bar. Walking was not an easy task to accomplish. And I kept on thanking the stranger for dragging me till the bathroom. He opened the door for me, I entered to do my business and he held the door closed. "Thank you so much." I smiled at him a huge, drunken, thankful smile. "You are a darling." I added while he just rolled his eyes at me with a little smile tugged at his lips. He dragged me back to the bar and I sat down on my designated seat after stumbling quite a lot.

"What did they assume about you?" I asked, tilting my head to the side. Either my drunker state wanted a distraction from Nolan or it was actually curious to know his story.

I watched as he gulped his own spit and stared at me. Again, I found myself getting lost in his beautiful grey eyes and I forgot about the question that I had just asked. "Did I tell how beautiful your eyes are?"

His eyes widened and his lips curved up in an amused smile. "Not that I can recall."

"Really?" I grabbed his collar and pulled him towards my face slightly, so I could gaze in them again. "You have beautiful eyes," I told him in a whisper. "So... wow." My eyes travelled from his hypnotizing eyes to his inviting lips that were curved up in a warm smile. I ran my tongue over my lips as whatever last shred of sane thoughts left in my mind flew away.

In a flash, his eyes darkened and in another flash, I pulled him towards me, kissing him. He didn't waste even a split second in responding to my lustful and desperate kiss as he cupped my chin and angled my face to deepen the kiss. I leaned against him, leaving no space between us. His hands travelled from my waist to my back and eventually, slipped inside my sweater and the thin singlet I was wearing beneath it. My skin burned when his warm hands made contact with my skin and I gasped in pure pleasure. He took that very opportunity to slip his tongue in my mouth and let the war between two very hot and eager tongues start. A moan escaped my lips and a grunt escaped his lips. Biting my bottom lip, one last time, he parted away, looking at me with his smoldering hot gaze. I was the one to start the kiss, but he expertly dominated it.

I could feel myself turning the brightest shade of red, but I didn't remove my full of want gaze from his penetrating ones. We both knew what we wanted. We could see it on each other's face, in each other's eyes. And the best part was that none of us was ashamed of it.

But, I needed one more drink; one more drink to let this awful night go away. And oddly enough, I wanted it to go away in the form of pure lust... not love, because love was nothing but bullsh*t.

New discovery - Drunken Liana was horny as hell.

"Do you have Blue Balls?" I breathed, gasping for air.

"Oh, you