CHAPTER NINE
When you feel you are trying to hold your world in a fist but that just keeps slipping away slowly from your hands, like watching a wave crush your sand castle and you could nothing about it but just stand and stare, that is what Sharon felt like at the moment. Swayam's yells were echoing in her head. She wanted them to stop but they just grew louder and louder till the point came when she screamed like a maniac as tears came out of her eyes. She knocked the lamp kept beside her as the room became dark."Sharon" Swayam voice entered the room; opening the lights he saw the shards of glass scattered everywhere and the metal piece lying at a corner still dwindling. He rushed towards Sharon and saw her hands bleeding. His mind was shut at the thoughts but somehow his subconscious mind knew he had to do something. He ran towards the closet and pulled out the first aid box. Taking out cotton; he started aiding her bleeding hand and she just watched him with her eyes pooling tears. He looked up at her for a second and she saw pearls threatening to fall down. No matter how much she ignored, how much she denied, the truth was he was her everything. He was her world, the sole reason why she exists, why she lived. Without him there was emptiness, a hollow which cannot be filled by anything else but him and to her it seemed like he was going away. Away from her reach.
"Swa. . .yam!" His name came out of her mouth and just as he looked up she threw herself in his arms clinging on to him, as her cries grew louder.
Swayam hugged her tightly in an attempt to give a rest to all her fears, all the doubts of her mind. He knew he was scared. He always knew what he meant to her but the extent of it was something he had recently known. She loved him more than he ever thought about. She needed him at the moment more than she ever had. She needed him to tell her that he was with her for the rest of his life and there was nothing in this world that can keep him apart for long.
"I am sorry Sharon. I am sorry. I shouldn't have shouted on you like that. It was my fault. I am sorry. Please stop crying I am here baby." He kept whispering in her ears slowly as she wet his Tee and he didn't stop till he felt her hiccups subside and her breath became steady.
She came out of his hug and looked at him. She knew this man sitting in front of him. She knew at least in the moment he loved her like he always had.
"Swayam. . . Please. ." Sharon tried to talk but was cut off tenderly by Swayam. He held her hands in his and
"Sharon, please if you cannot trust me please do not ask questions, I would not be able to give you answers. I would that myself when I feel the time is right. Please stop stressing yourself. I know you have too many questions. I am keeping too much from you but please Sharon I am not going anywhere. I know after whatever you have seen, whatever you have heard it must feel like a joke to you but trust the man you chose to spend your life with, the guy whom you call the man of his words' and if even all this does not make you feel better, I must tell you that my princess doesn't like you weeping so much. She gets hurt." Swayam said trying to make her smile and he wasn't sure if he was imagining or did it actually happen but he saw a faint trace of smile on her face.
"Now sleep Sharon. It's been too late." He said softly and she nodded wiping the tears from her face as he watched her silently. Only he knew how content he was feeling right now. She lied down and closed her eyes and he sat beside her till he felt she was asleep. Watching her sleep was one of the best things of his life and it felt like ages that he had done that. After a long time he had a just not normal but a conversation with her, for the first time since that incident, probably after two months. And she hadn't corrected him when he used the term My Princess'. He leaned down and kissed her forehead tenderly. He loved him; he truly did, only if she believed him.
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There wasn't any drastic change between Swayam and Sharon after that night. They still talked very less. But Sharon hadn't mentioned Amaira since then. It wasn't like she had stopped bothering her or she didn't care but Swayam's words from that night came back always and they gave her a hope that maybe she was just a girl who needed medical attention But there were too many whys and there was a memory of stack of photos which she wanted to erase from their being.
"I must tell you that my princess doesn't like you weeping so much. She gets hurt." Swayam's words come back to her now. She was just not a wife but she was also a mother and she had a baby in her womb to take care of. She wasn't letting her baby get hurt at any cost. So she kept herself distracted with Stephie, with her favorite movies and with a book on How to take care of a New Born Baby', the last one thanks to Stephie who managed to convince her to buy it and which was proving to be informative for her. And then there was Swayam who even after being at a distance managed to keep her engrossed in him with his antiques. He had come back early from office and looked excited even though Sharon could tell he was trying his best to hide it. Sharon was trying to play a mouth organ which Stephie had bought for herself and its weird sounds was having her in fits much to Sharon's agitation.
"You can definitely attract dogs with that sound to bark at you! Lol! Hahahaha!" Stephie was laughing aloud and Sharon swore she could have eaten her alive in that moment'.
"If you have a wish to live a while longer then maybe you should stop. A hungry tigress is never a really good catch for that you know Stephie" Swayam's voice made both of them startled and Stephie giggled watching the sulked face of Sharon.
"You early?" Stephie asked as they got done with teasing Sharon.
"Yeah. I thought of giving you a break. So maybe you can have an evening out with your friends." Swayam said.
"Or maybe you just want to have Sharon all to yourself this evening." Stephie replied winking at him leading to a rare blush rising on his cheeks.
"Oh my God Sharon! Your husband blushes too. This is so adorable." Stephie said totally in awe.
"It's nothing like that." Sharon tried to save the situation from getting any more embarrassing but failed as the next remark made both Sharon and Swayam turn red like a tomato.
"Really? Tell that to Swayam and I bet he is not going to buy your nothing like that today." She said and laughed looking at their faces as they caught glances of each other.
"Okay fine! I think I should go or otherwise I will be on the verge of losing my job for embarrassing you so much." Stephie said getting up as Swayam shook his head at her craziness.
After Stephie went, Swayam asked Sharon if he would like to come with him for shopping.
"Umm. . . You'll have a change. I am going to shop for baby so I thought maybe you too would like to. . ."
"Baby? How are you going to shop for baby? I mean you don't know if it's a girl or a boy?"
Swayam frowned at her and scrunched his nose.
"I don't know about you. . . I know it's a girl. So I am going to shop for her." Swayam said flatly like he was telling her the most obvious fact.
Sharon looked at him and sighed. Even though she tried to act indifferent towards him most of the time regarding both, herself and the baby but there were times when his excitement was something to watch for and it made a part of her heart flutter. She stood up and Swayam forwarded his hands to which she stared, she was at a better space maybe but it wasn't just good enough.
"I will not need it. I can walk." She replied making the excitement in his eyes falter but he chose to stay quiet. She made way towards the door and he trailed behind.
The shopping spree of Swayam made Sharon realize she was already having a baby from all these years in her home. The guy shopped for all the possible things which he could think of for a girl and what he couldn't think he took help of Sharon.
"Red dress or Yellow?" Swayam tried to decide which one to go with as Sharon stood beside him watching his madness.
"Sharon can you help?"
"I don't know about her taste Swayam, she isn't even born yet you know." Sharon said sarcastically forcing Swayam to make a face at her which she equally flared.
"Fine. . .I will go with the red one. Even you like red color so even she will like it. Simple." Swayam said to more to himself than to Sharon and she rolled her eyes at his logic.
By the time they came back home he was carrying bags of dolls to pink curtains to red heart shaped pillow. Swayam had shopped for every damn thing.
"I think we should have bought the yellow dress too. . . I will go and get it tomorrow. It will be so good when she will run around the hall in a yellow dress looking like sunshine." Swayam said dreamingly to Sharon. She stayed quiet as she ate the soup and she wanted to stay quiet but while Swayam's dreams were making a party of her heart happy, there was s much in them which was making her uneasy.
"You just don't know if that is going to happen or not." She said calmly. Swayam unfortunately didn't weigh the quietness in her voice and asked still busy in weaving the dreams of their family
"What do you mean?"
"You don't know if I am going to be here or not for you to see that happen." Sharon said and Swayam fell on earth from moon. His smile faded and he for a moment became speechless. His heart constricted as his eyes left her face. His head nodded in the affirmation of her statement unknown to him, as his mind knocked the reality into him once again.
He couldn't sit at the table anymore; he feared the adrenaline rush inside him would swell his tear glands.
"I. . . I have some work to do. I will come." He excused himself without looking at her and left for his study.
Sharon watched him leave.
Was it important to ruin the evening for him? Her heart asked.
Yes. He had ruined her life. Her mind answered.
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Sharon was eating hot chocolate sitting on the couch in her drawing room. She had developed a strange liking for it since a past few weeks. The hot chocolate melted in her mouth and she savored the taste of it feeling ecstatic. Sitting alone she was missing Stephie and her banter; she had taken a day off due to her exam. Swayam was at home but their current equation didn't help much to prevent her bored state. He had been spending a lot more time in his study when he was at home after their conversation the other day over dinner. He chose to stay away from her, it wasn't like he was close before but now he himself wanted to stay at a distance, even though she didn't want to admit but this bothered her.
She was lost in the thoughts when the doorbell rang. It knocked her out of her reverie and she stood up to open the door. Slowly walking she opened the door to be greeted with a pleasant surprise. It was Rey standing at the entrance with a huge smile on his face.
"Rey???" Sharon said pleasantly shocked.
"Sharon. . . Oh My God! How are you woman? Long time!" Rey said hugging her.
"You suddenly look too fat babe!" Rey said looking at her baby bump and chuckled.
"Shut Up!" Sharon replied at once faking anger and joined him in the laughter that followed.
"Come On! Sit! How are you?" Sharon said smiling full.
"I would love to have a long chat with you Shar! But the way your husband is dying to see me I suddenly feel he has got some hots for me." Rey said raising his eyebrows and make a face like he was pretty serious.
Sharon looked at him shocked.
"Oh! Come On! Don't tell me you are already jealous!" Rey said and laughed hard taking Sharon in a side hug and she giggled.
"So where is he?" He asked not finding him around.
"In the study." She said pointing towards it.
"Okay. I will just meet him. Let's catch up later in the day" Rey said and stood up to go to study.
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Swayam was working on his laptop when Rey entered.
"Okay, Mr. Messed Up! How are you?" Rey announced looking gravely at him.
Swayam looked up from the screen and sighed a heavy breath and immediately hugged him.
"Where the hell were you Reyaansh Singhania?" Swayam said looking frustrated at him.
"Sorry brother! You know I was out. So I thought you just had one problem but turns out you have a full bag of them in your stride." Rey said and chuckled.
"I know and it's driving me crazy." Swayam said as they sat on the chairs.
Rey nodded seriously as his eyebrows narrowed.
"Only if you had told Sharon about Amaira before." Rey said and Swayam sighed.
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