The moment she had seen him standing with the burning piece of wood in his hand, she ran like a maniac, refusing her brain even the time to process the sudden momentum of her actions. All she knew was that the man she called her husband was in this moment behaving like an absolute dumb head. What would a burnt hand do other than create a fresh set of problems or rather inconveniences for everyone, his personal work most importantly.
As soon as she reached out to his palm and held it between hers, as gently as she could and dragged him along to provide the quickest first aid she could think of. He would flinch every now and then but his eyes, they were solely transfixed onto his Bhabhimaa. For the first time in her lifetime, she felt questions rising in her head about the decision the woman her husband so devotedly worships had taken. After they all were gone and when he had retorted as to how it seemed she felt more pain than he himself, she swallowed the lump rising in her throat. Were eyes really mirrors of the soul ? Did he also know about the inner turmoil she was going through at the moment ?
And that was when another realization dawned upon her - he was always the first to read her eyes, her mind, her heart and her soul. Wait, wait, hang on! The last two points were really over the top, her mind clarified. Or maybe she was too high headed to accept the truth. These chain of thoughts were again messing up with her mind as she decided to halt them and concentrate on the task at hand for the moment.
She couldn't help but recall the day he had tied his handkerchief onto her cut finger and had burdened her with his ehsaan. Well the score was settled for now, not that she wanted it to happen this way! The realization was painful that it hurt her to see him this way. She said a quick prayer to Somnath to remove all his miseries that were the cause of his unshed tears at the moment.
But again, in a matter of few minutes, they had exchanged a few words and were back to the origin. He had dragged her to his level with his hands on her shoulders, pressing them with such intensity that she was sure there would be marks left for her to see later on. Her transparent pink, polka-dot chunni was a mere excuse in the name of a duppatta she realized, as she felt the heat of his palm radiate onto her skin. His eyes were filled with rage, anger coursed through his veins, she was sure as he hurled every word at her, hurting all of her in the process.
She couldn't help but wonder which burn hurted more at the moment, the one she'd tended to or the one her heart felt right now. She just said what she felt after seeing him in such pain. But he had stormed off before she could say another word. Not this time ! Her words stopped him midway as she told her the words she had actually wanted to hear. She had already decided the previous night that now she would leave nothing unsaid between them, because if this had to work, then they needed to learn to communicate, beyond the taunts and sarcastic retorts that their tongues slipped with ease onto each other. And this time she wouldn't let go off her resolve so easily!