Part 87: In plain sight...
"I don't
want you to travel today" Maan sounded solemn as he came to sit by the edge of
the bed. He raised his hand to her hair, moving it around a bit as she continuously
flapped her eyelids to adjust to the light coming in. She was not sure if this
was a dream, for how else she could explain her brother talking to her out of nowhere.
The bed was sinfully warm and she was swaddled in soft blankets like she was only
born yesterday. There was no distant memory of her coming into the house after
she had run off to the barn last night, then...this must be a dream, she
concluded.
Although,
her burning throat and the soreness she experienced in her limbs were telling her
another story. The coziness tickled her senses to close down her eyes and enter
a state of sheer numbness. Did people really experience pain when in their
dreams? It all felt real, however the scene that greeted her eyes, failed her
coherency.
She
almost wanted to believe that he had said those words, which she was failing to
register as part of her reality. But Maan, according to her, would never give
in. Not until, he felt she had respectfully paid her dues. Then again, nine
years was a long time to assume he had not changed, except, she had already
decided she was dreaming, didn't she?
"Rishabh
will be dropping you off at the airport whenever you feel you are hale enough
to travel" He said sounding as normal and composed as possible. Only he knew
the wave of emotions ebbing and tiding inside of him which threatened to spill
out in the open and so he decided it was time for him to leave.
With
what seemed like a smile, he held onto her hand tight for a second and left the
room with the parting words "Take care Naini"
Right
after she sensed she was alone in the room, her eyes drifted close and those
moments in time had turned vapid. Not leaving her to think or process any of what
her senses had filed.
After
a good five hours of snoozing under daylight, she woke up to the late
afternoon sun. The dryness in her throat didn't seem to have disappeared with
that dream of hers, although, the room conditions, resembling the same blurry
images of her reverie, were now setting up an alarm in that slow head of hers. Maan
had really spoken to her? Her face scrunched up into a question. Soon enough
though, a low ringing sound, accompanied by a hoarse wheeze rocked her body. She had a bad case of cough and without doubt
a fever too. That was all was needed to have him rush into the room from the
hallway, where he had gone limp, slumped on the floor ever since the time her
family had left that morning.
She
fell back onto her pillow, not caring he was coming to sit by her side. It was
unlike him, she thought, when she noticed his calm searching eyes. Apparently
he thought the same about her, given that she had not barked at him to leave
her alone. For now, he only could owe it all to the illness that had her hold up
to her silence, he assumed conveniently.
Catching
her head up, her brow grew together in confusion as she cringed in pain. He at
once leaned in, taking his arm over to the other side of her body and removed
her palm from her forehead with his other hand.
"Do
you want to go to a doctor?" He paused as she gave out another cough "How are
you feeling?" He questioned her again. She didn't answer, which he had expected,
and instead just turned around to her side with her back to his gaze.
He
waited for a while, as he if he was contemplating to say something, but soon
left with the same suddenness he had come storming inside the room. In reality,
he wanted to say so many things. Things that could come across corny to her
now, but they were indeed the same words he had spoken almost a decade ago, the
very night he had first kissed her after sneaking into her room. The memory
brought a hopeful smile to his face, as he arranged her food tray and took it
back upstairs.
He
saw that she was trying to get out of the covers she was bundled under. Almost
as if expecting her to scream the next minute, his eyes narrowed instantly
and his head tilted back, like he was avoiding an outburst of words.
"Where
are my pants?" she screamed and broke into another cough. The reaction was just
as he had anticipated when he had dressed her up in one of her old kurtis that
was missing its bottoms. It ran up to the middle of her thighs and fell short
of her knees by many inches. The slits that towered up to her waist on the
sides was what she was trying to piece together furiously and leaning forward
slightly, she cried "Where is Geet?...I want Daadima"
He
coolly placed the tray on the dresser that faced the bed and strode towards
her.
"No
need to cry now...they left this morning" He said opening up the closet "I tried
to find your churidhar...but I couldn't" As if inviting her to take up his
challenge to hunt down the long lost bottoms.
Turning
to face her, he relented "Let us make you all better, then I will give you a
ride to the airport myself" he smiled as he came closer to her. She took a step
backwards for every one of his step that he took towards her. Giving a disbelieving nod, she now
began accepting the image of Maan that was oozing into her consciousness. So he
really had talked to her? She couldn't help shake the seed of doubt within her.
"Take
me to the airport now...I want to go home" She said suddenly, looking raged and
confused all at once. Her hand pulled back a stray strand, blocking her view of
him, and yelled yet again "I want to go...I know this is all a trick to..."
He
cut her off the same instant; he heard the word 'trick', hoping she wouldn't
strew words to damage any further than what was already done.
"There
are no tricks here...I just want you to be well and then anything...anything that
will make you happy" he said with sad eyes. The black in his iris dissolving
away something that she had seen there a moment earlier...Was it hope? She asked
herself.
"Good
so you will sign the divorce papers" She said with disturbing confidence as it
was neither a question nor a statement.
"If
that will make you happy..." he looked away for a second and then once again
taking on her gaze, he said "And if you can strip away everything that is
rightfully mine"
She
sat back on the bed, realizing this would be a long conversation. Wheezing
first and then she added "So you want a settlement?" She asked not sure if that
is what he was hinting towards. It was unreasonable, she felt, when he had
everything and more than what she was worth that second.
He
couldn't help laugh up at her question. "You think so?" he raised a brow at
that and then came to kneel in front of her.
"Promise
me you will never think of me after I sign those papers" He tried to lower his
head to meet her eyes just as she had.
"Not
for one minute...not for one second...you can't love me...ever" He said raising his
tone with firmness.
"See
I told you this was a trick" she said, raising back her head with anger "You
have some guts to think I love you now..." And just like clockwork, at the very
mention of the last four words, her eyes started tearing up. A horde of memories
came back to her, seeing him kneeling like that. She had married him at an age
when she was far from knowing what the word 'marriage' had meant. But with time she had come to realize that it perhaps never meant anything to her. She
didn't need to be married to him to start loving him. And ending it wouldn't
make any affections for him go off like they were only driven by a switch. It was driving
her crazy when her mind urged her why she was obsessed with wanting him to sign
the papers she had filed for. Nevertheless, she knew if he really did sign the
papers, it would only see to the end of her. Reeling in a fit of conflicting
emotions made her wheeze more. The
coughs wrecked her chest and throat like they burning down in flames. Her
breath was struck somewhere down her lungs from the congestion.
When
he saw her struggle with the wild sobs, he picked her up in a jiffy and dashed
to the bathroom. He turned on the shower and with no time it changed into a
steam room. Settling by the foot of the bathtub, he had her on his lap.
Ignoring that she was still not dressed from the waist down, she
rolled into a ball in his arms, like it was the only way she was going to
survive...from all those thoughts that were sucking the life out of her.
Fifteen
minutes later, she was beginning to breathe normal and slowly uncoiled in his
arms whimpering that she was hungry. He gave a smile, taking well notice of her
subdued resistance and got her back to the bed. Once there, she noticed the
food tray, with a neat bowl of soup and crackers. Just the way she liked it,
she mused. A single red rose, by a glass of hot tea with honey was arranged in
the other corner of the tray. She looked back up at him momentarily, and the constant
pleading look on his face, threatened to give a voice to the silent cries
inside of her. When she felt it could go out of control, she slowly turned away
and drank her soup.
A practical frenzy was building into her small movements
out of hunger or wanting to get better and get out, he didn't know. Of course
he hoped it was only the former and that she could perhaps may be stay back a
while, even after she was fit enough to travel.
After
she was done with the soup, she took to the tea and ignored the rose like it
was invisible. It was only fair; he accepted and went to get her some cough
syrup. The bottle, she nearly grabbed from the clutch of his arms and took in a
mouthful; perhaps a dosage much more than necessary. But she thought the coughing and heavy heaving for all the time he was gone, had justified it all the same.
"Watch
it" he spoke in a hurry, but she was already half way through gulping down the
bottle before he could snatch it back from her. The severe whooping cough
had made her crave for anything that could lessen the havoc that rumbled in her
chest spasmodically.
Her
silence that ensued from the time he had taken her into the bathroom, was
stirring an arrogant hope that she might stay a while. He couldn't believe that
he was ready to cling onto any positive reaction from her as a sign...but he
couldn't concur that the presence of non-action could not mean the absence of a
need to escape from there. Just one sign...he keenly waited for.
Leaving
her alone he went back downstairs, taking with him the food tray to clear up
the dishes. On the way down, he heard the TV in the bedroom turn on and traces
of ad jingles waft in the air. He kept away from the room the longest possible
he could, which was only 16 minutes precisely and then ran up the stairs to
reach the room once again. She was already slumped on the pillow, with her head rested in a dazed stupor. He helped her settle into a proper sleep posture and
switched off the television as he slid down next to her, leaning back against the
headboard.
It
was impossible to ignore his presence beside her. When she felt so vulnerable
with the proximity stripping her wounds raw, she was unable to stay down pretending
as if in deep slumber. Despite his touch, instilling warmth that she was
yearning for, her mouth wanted to say things that did not agree with the
plummeting fancy in the seams of her. At that point of contention, she felt it
was better not to act upon her impulse. Lying down still, with her back towards
him, she tried hard to fall asleep.
He
attempted to escape the realm of consciousness too, although sleep was still
evading him. Thinking it was best to float in the moment; he picked up a book
and gave it a read.
After
three hours the clock struck 8.00 PM and he was the least surprised that he was
still trying to understand the contents of the page he had initially started
with. The words on the page were jumbling up together and going apart all at
once, playing catch with his mind's eye. She did seem asleep, but involuntary
shivers often rocked her, like now, she was shuffling around, while still on
her side. This time he felt, it was a tad bit abnormal when she shook like
tremors were coursing her body. When pulling up the sheets and tucking it to her
sides didn't calm her down, he decided to turn to his last resort.
He
pulled off the sheets, while quickly unbuttoning his shirt and hauled himself
closer to her. His hands went around her, wrapping her in a blanket of his
bodily warmth. Almost just as instantaneously, she turned around to nuzzle into
the crevice of his neck. Her labored breath, stopped him in the middle of his
movement, but her arm encircled him and slowly climbed his back. Like only a
small whirl wind was needed to disturb the order of things, the juxtaposition
of their bodies, had broken the thin film of defense she had from reaching out
to him. He doubted if she sought comfort in nearing him, but she was proving
him right, as seconds passed by. Gradually her shudders had died out, and yet
she was tugging his collar tight...so stiff was her hold that her wrists trembled
from the rigidity.
"Baby...are
you ok?" he muttered as he tipped her chin up when he saw her eyes scrunched up
as if she was ruefully struggling with something. Brushing aside her hair from
both sides of her face, his hands cupped her face. As she turned to lie on her
back, he, as a matter of course came on top of her gently. Her head went lax into
the curve of his palm on one side, as a single drop of tear slip down her eyes.
"No...I'm
here...I'm never leaving you...and I will..." He stuttered as he brought the words
out his mouth in urgency "I will die before I will ever do that to you again...just
trust me..." He urged her.
"I'm
sorry baby..." he pleaded as he placed a kiss on her forehead while her eyes
eased to set itself in a way welcoming the aid of words he was now offering her. Seeing her like that, a tornado of emotions overtook him. But in
that troubled instant, she betrayed the turbulence she was fighting within and
took his lips in hers. He slowly fell back to the bed, in profile with her and
placed a kiss by the corner of her lips. Like rain on parched land, she was soaking
with the calm he was infusing viscerally in her. She wondered if he had powers
to raise the dead, for what she thought was lifeless inside her, was taking shape
of a desire she thought was long dead and gone. As she felt his lips press and
brush against the corners of her mouth in sweeping tenderness, her toes
curled up in response. Her body plastered to the contours of his body, making him
shudder with bittersweet ardor for her. They were swept into a trance almost
immediately, as he lowered his hand underneath her kurti... the tips of his fingertips
grazing her soft skin, leaving tingles erupt as it came in contact with it. Her
need for breath seemed second to the want of his lips on her. And the smoothing
kiss sparked a fire of dark desire in them...
10
hrs later...
He
woke up with a smile on his face. The same one he had worn many a morning after
their nights of passion. And just like all those mornings, with his eyes still
closed, his hand traced the sheets in search of her cozy body. To his surprise,
he found the bed next to him empty. He turned around to spot her in some corner
of the room, but his shock persisted as he found himself alone not only in bed,
but also in the room. He rubbed his eyes to clear out the film of haze through
which he saw the space around him and found a rectangular sheet of paper left
beside him. Taking it in his hands, he noticed it had two folds along the
length of the sheet, which was at the far right of the center, if folded right.
The writing was hers and it neatly read "Let's ignore the effects of cough
syrup" in the first line. Right below where the first line ended, the second
stanza of words started "I can't let you get away with it so easily" with two
folds before and after the word 'can't'. With the initial concern of her well being, still lingering in his eyes, he unknowingly fiddled with the paper.
Amidst the frustration that was growing in him, what he saw now made him grow
wide eyed with wonder. The paper between the folds had pulled back and now the
second line read as "I let you get away with it so easily". That is when it occurred
to him, that she was using their secret way of passing hidden messages in plain
sentences that dated back to their school days. Certain folds at the right places would reveal
the message intended, which when plainly read without the folds, always
misdirected the reader. And the one she had written this time was too easy even
for him, although the job that it quoted was only far from it...
She
was indeed hiding in plain sight...
Edited by 6thElement - 12 years ago
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