CHAPTER FIVE
Sharon tried opening her eyes but one refused to open due to a huge gash just above her right eyebrow. . . Lifting her hand she tried to touch her head but found it heavily bandaged. With her other open groggy eye she tried to look around and found a faint figure standing in front of her chanting something which sounded like her name. With another heavy attempt Sharon opened her eyes and recognized the voice. It was Swayam's."Sharon! Is it hurting? How are you feeling now?" She heard him say. Concern and urgency dripping from his voice.
Why was he asking such a thing? Where was she? And why the hell her head felt so heavy? She tried to recollect and all the incidents came to her mind like loads of bricks falling together. . . Photos. . .Office. . . Swayam's silence. . . Accident. . .
"Aahhh. . ." She screamed in pain as her mind started aching.
"Sharon. . . Are you?" He was about to touch her when she jerked his hands off.
"Don't! Don't touch me."
"Sharon. . ." Swayam looked at her disbelievingly.
Sharon was about to retort when the door clicked open and her doctor entered.
"Hey! How are you feeling now?"
Sharon gave a weak smile to the doctor as he instructed Swayam to take care of her.
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"Sharon. . . Have some food" Swayam brought the food trolly upto her and started serving the plate.
"I am not hungry!" Sharon replied dryly.
"Sharon please. . . Atleast have some. . ."
"I said I am not hungry."
"If not for yourself at least for our child. . . You have a child inside you! Our baby. . ."
Swayam was cut in between.
"My baby! Me and my baby don't need you Swayam Shekhawat." Sharon shouted.
Swayam was choked. He was not able to take her coldness. She was rejecting not only as a husband but as a father too. He pursed his lips to control his emotions and looked at her
"Sharon please trust me. . ."
"Trust? After whatever you did you have the audacity to ask me to trust you?"
"Sharon its not what it looks like "
"Really? Really Swayam? Please please tell me it's not what it looks like please." Sharon broke into another pool of tears.
"Please tell me those photos. . .that girl. . . everything is a lie please" Sharon said holding his hand in hers.
"Its not. . . Its not a lie! But there's more to it. . ."
"More? Tell me. . . What is it? Tell me Swayam." Sharon said wiping her tears and holding his face in her hands asking him to just deny everything and take her back to her happy world.
"I cannot. . . Sharon its. . ."
Her hands fell from his face and all the hurt came back swamming into her eyes.
"You cannot. . . There is something you cannot tell me! Your wife? There is something more important than me. . .your family. . . Something more important than our relationship?" Tears made their way down her cheeks.
Sharon smiled a dry smile at her own state.
Swayam looked at her as tears ran down his own eyes. He stood and went out of her room. He wanted her to believe him. . . He wanted to tell her that he was not unfaithful. That he loved her but he knew it was meaningless right now. . . Nothing he would say was going to pacify her except for the truth. And telling her the truth right now was not possible.
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Next morning Sharon woke up on the hospital bed and stirred to find Swayam sleeping with his head on the edge of the bed near her and his hand holding hers. His face looked tired and tear stained.
How does life changes in the blink of an eye?
Just yesterday she was living a blissful happy married life, she was content with her husband, with his love, with the happiness of nurturing a baby inside her womb and today it all looked like a distant dream. Her whole world scattered in front of her eyes like house of cards.
She removed her hand from his grip and averted her gaze away from him. The movement made Swayam stir and he blinked a few times before finally opening his eyes. He found Sharon awake.
"Feeling better?" He asked but to no avail, she didn't answer him meeting his expectations. He sighed heavily.
"Sharon?" A voice from the door broke the silence of the room and both of them turned their heads to see the person.
"Dad?" Sharon looked at the man standing at the door and a relief washed over her face for a split second.
"Princess. . . how are you my girl?" He came running inside the room and sat beside her scanning her bandaged body.
"I am good Dad. I am. . .good!" Sharon's voice choked with emotions and Swayam closed his eyes knowing it was all happening because of him. He left the room leaving the father- daughter duo alone.
With Swayam gone, Sharon couldn't control herself and cried in her father's arms. At the age of fifteen her mother's died and since then her father doubled his love and cared for her like she was the most delicate flower in the world.
"Dad! I want to go with you. I want to leave all this. I don't want anyone." Sharon kept crying in his shoulders like a three year old.
Gautam was concerned seeing her daughter like this. He tried to soothe her as Sharon narrated whatever happened.
"I don't want to live with him Dad! Me and My baby do not need him. I cannot go back to that house." Sharon kept saying.
"Sharon! Sharon! Listen to me. . . I said listen to me. . . You need to go back with him." Gautam said softly leaving Sharon shocked.
"Dad. . . You want me to go back? After whatever he did to me you want me to go back to him? " She freed her hand from his hold. She could not believe her father.
"Tell Me Dad if me living in your home will cost you too much but don't say things like that I cant even recognize you." Sharon held disbelief in her voice.
Gautam cupped her face in his hands. He knew her daughter well and so he had expected this.
"Sharon You are my princess. . . My only princess! Whatever is mine is yours. You remember when you told me about Swayam and said that you wanted to marry him?"
Sharon stayed quiet. He had rejected him.
"Yes you do remember right? I did reject him. I thought he would not be able to take care of you. . . I thought he was just like the guys of today's generation who with time get bored and that it was just a matter of time when this whole love mania will be off his mind. But you told me that he was different . . .He would never let any harm touch you and I trusted you with your decision then."
Sharon looked at his face, her eyes welled up with the memories of past. Was she wrong? Was her Dad right?
"And you know Sharon after two and half years of your marriage I can say he proved you right. He loves you. Go back to your home with him. I do not ask you to forget all the issues. I will not preach you on what you should do. Sharon this is the time when you needs your husband most, and he will need his wife most, I am not asking you to give him a chance. I am just asking you to go back to your home and see if the home that you made with your love is that fragile to crash down so easily, if you think so then pack your bags and come back but if you think there is even one percent chance of not happening then stay. Sharon I had trusted your decision then; trust mine now."
A tear escaped her eye and she nodded softly. Her father kissed her forehead and smiled. The door of the room opened and she saw Swayam standing in a disheveled state. Their eyes met and he lowered them. A thousand things were running in her mind.
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Current Affairs
Sampoorna
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