Three months later
Madhu pulled out the new set of cushions and cushion covers from the shopping bags she had bought a couple of hours back and began placing the new, covered cushions in their place. It was a Saturday and she had spent most of the morning shopping the little things on her list that never seemed to be done, and then setting everything up. Setting up a new home takes forever!
Madhu finished the cushions and slumped into the now prettier couch with a cup of coffee. She was exhausted, but still pleased, by how her home looked now. Her home.
Her real home.
Huh! She actually had a home of her own now that she loved so much, Madhu reflected. She had never really believed she would have one, even in her nave, private, innocent dreams. It had always seemed so far away, out of grasp, like the moon. You could stare at it, you could dream of it, you could long for it, but you never actually believe you'd ever caress its surface. A home of her own where she truly belonged - now that had always been Madhu's unwatched dream.
Yet only three months ago, that dream had seemed more distant, more improbable than ever. Three months ago, a cruel stroke of fate had taken away both of Madhu's parents from her in one instant. For no rational reason, Madhu was left orphaned and broken. To top it all, her sister now hated her more than she always had. Despite everything Madhu had grown up, despite the constant pain of indifference that gnawed at her soul and made her relationship with the concept of love so complex, despite the fact that the people Madhu called her family had never really loved and cared for her as she deserved, despite everything Madhu knew and refused to believe, that had hurt. How could life have been so cruel and unjust? Yet, at the same time, for no rational rhyme or reason, she had been saved.
The memory of that desolation, that darkness she had felt at the lowest point of her life when she was grieving her parents' death brought fresh tears to her eyes that were falling directly into her coffee cup. Never in her life had she felt as guilty, as alone and as abandoned as that one moment. But the one saving grace, the one little mercy that Destiny had somehow left her was her Rishabh's love. She knew she wouldn't have survived if her Rishu had not been on her side, holding her hand, saving her from her own darkness. She fought him, she blocked him, she even tried to push him away overtaken by the darkness of her fears and guilt, but he had resisted. He had stood by her, in fact quite literally forced her out of her parents' house and taken her to his place. She had cried for hours in his arms, and he had wiped her tears and given her his own strength. And Ma - Rishabh's mom, but for Madhu she was Ma now - Madhu had slept in her arms cradled like a little baby, feeling protected like one only felt in their mother's lap. Life had taken away a lot from Madhu, but not everything. Somehow, she had found herself a new set of parents who adored her more than her own parents ever had. Rishabh's father spoke little, but even he never failed to check on Madhu while she was there.
Rishabh stayed with her, and asked his office to let him work from home so he could be close to Madhu. Eventually, his love, his care and his belief had gotten through her. She did not trust herself, but she eventually trusted him when he said it was an accident that wasn't her fault. She wanted to give up on life, on everything, but he did not let her. She had lost everything, but she still had him. And that was all that mattered. Now, more than ever, Madhu found herself grateful to Destiny for ever having met Rishabh and for being brave enough to fall in love with him.
She still remembered clearly the moment, less than two weeks after her parents' demise, when Rishabh had kneeled in front of her and asked her "Madhu, do you trust me?"
"More than myself" she had answered
"Then if I ask you for something, will you do it for me?" RK asked, looking serious.
"Anything Rishu. My life is yours. I will do anything you want me to do."
"Then Madhu, I don't want to wait any longer. I don't want you to be alone for even a day. And I want you to always know that I love you and will always be with you. So, despite the circumstances, Madhu, I want us to get married. Now. Tomorrow."
"But Rishabh..."
"I understand, Madhu. It's too soon. But I don't care. I don't want to wait five months."
Madhu looked at Rishabh's eyes and saw intense love as well as concern. Perhaps fear as well - he really was worried about Madhu being alone. Madhu hadn't thought of it that way until that moment, but she suddenly realized that her pain was causing Rishabh pain as well. He was living through the same hell as she was, and while she probably deserved it, he had done nothing to deserve the pain. She owed it to him to fight it and defeat it. For his sake if not for herself. For the sake of the only person she had left in her life. She loved Rishabh, she really did, but at that moment she believed that Rishabh's love was probably much greater and much purer than her love for him, bestowed as it was on a less worthy subject, and even then had always been free of insecurity and petty neediness like her own. He had always given her everything she asked for, and more, had he not? So didn't she owe it to him to give him what he asked for, whatever it was? To at least try her best? Because after all, he loved her and was asking for it for her happiness! Nobody else had ever done that!
At that moment, Madhu resolved, more than ever, to always, unquestionably put Rishabh's needs and Rishabh's happiness above hers for the rest of her life. No questions asked. Rishabh would get whatever he wanted, and she would do whatever she could to give him that. It would still be too little, but it wasn't negotiable, from that moment on. In return, she will take what she got. Whether it was too little or too much wouldn't matter. And since right now he wanted her to be with him and marry him, she was going to do that.
"Madhu, you promised." Rishabh said, noticing Madhu's silence.
"Yes" Madhu said after a pause. "Yes, I promised. Yes, I will marry you. I am yours only. Whenever you say, wherever you say, I will marry you."
Rishabh gave a small kiss on Madhu's forehead.
"Thank you honey. I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, and I want the rest of my life to begin as soon as possible."
Madhu wrapped herself in Rishabh's tight embrace, overwhelmed by an emotion she couldn't identify. Was it joy? Relief? Gratitude? Indebtedness? Or was it simply the notion of finding an island of light while drowning lost in an abyss of darkness. Whatever it was, in that moment, Rishabh had assumed ownership of not just Madhu's heart and life, but her soul. And in return, he had become her strength.
And hope. Her only hope. Her Rishabh.
They had got married the very next day in a small temple. Rishabh's parents had blessed them, and brought their daughter-in-law home. Rishabh's dad had been a little concerned about what people would think, Madhu getting married within weeks of her parents' death. But Radha and Rishabh both allayed his concerns. There weren't any people who actually cared about Madhu, why worry about their gossip then? A week after the wedding, they returned to Delhi, as life, work and the necessity to keep moving caught on. Soon after, they had moved into this new home together - a small two bedroom apartment close to their offices that for Madhu was the most perfect place in the world.
Even though it had only been 2.5 months since they were married, Madhu realized how she had already found it in herself to be stronger and begin to live again. She still had a lot of pain, guilt and her inner battles to contend with, but somehow RK being near had made all the difference. His mere presence, the littlest of smiles, made Madhu 100x stronger to fight that darkness. His arms were her sanctuary, and she hid there whenever her agony became too great. Her past still beckoned at her, but RK had taught her to live in the moment. Somehow, that worked.
How lucky had she been to find a life partner like Rishabh! How lucky she was to have found him and to have found a love that had endured so many onslaughts of life! Too many people in this world go through life and never find a love that pure, that powerful, that invigorating. Too many people never taste the raw passion and the intense devotion that Madhu now felt for Rishabh. A love that made her stronger. A love that bound her to Rishabh permanently, yet in another way set her free. A love that made her actually want to live, and was now the only reason she lived.
Madhu kept her coffee cup aside. By now it had turned completely salty from the adulteration of her tears. She wiped her tears and looked around the house one more time. This was her world now. This was her home. Hers and Rishu's. Their home. Their life. Their love. This was worth everything.
The doorbell rang. Madhu looked at the wall clock. Rishabh had gone out of town for a couple of days - his first outstation trip since their marriage - and it was time for him to come home. Madhu ran towards the door, and with a huge, bright smile, opened the door. Rishabh stood outside with a smile on his face.
"I am home, biwi." He said even as Madhu jumped into his embrace. They both stole a quick kiss as RK came inside the house with his beaming wife.
Live in the moment, Madhu repeated as she went inside to get some water for RK, who hugged her one more time before going to change clothes.
Maybe this was what happily ever after felt like, after all, Madhu told herself.
