He is stood with his back to her. She feels something begin to break inside of her, as he refuses to even acknowledge her presence. He is seething with anger, but words are failing him so far tonight. Perhaps he was wrong about what she felt.Is this another test he wonders to himself. Surely not. Does she not know his heart by now. Know his truths and his realities.
She hesitantly places her hand on his shoulder. "Raman" she manages to somehow muster.
" please, don't turn away from me".
He removes her hand from his shoulder and turns to look her square in the face. She looks into his eyes, looking for him. But she does not find the man she was looking for.
Instead stands before her a mirage of the man she has come to call her husband. He has a steely look about him and the more she searches the more she realises that she is losing him again.
" Raman, we have a responsibility towards Shagun, I am just fulfilling that' she says to him in one breathe.
" I am more than aware of my responsibilities and obligations towards any woman and in particular the mother of my children. What exactly are you hoping to achieve by your actions? And in the process of "helping" others who are you intent on hurting?" He almost spits the words out.
The contempt with which he looks at her she almost hopes that he walks away. She has set him alight tonight. Taken a match to an already unstable entity without thought. He wore so many scars already, and they remained with him as a reminder of the battles he had fought. Both with himself and the world. Those scars no longer pained him like they did once before but he would not deny that at times he still felt twinges of pain but for the most he had come to peace with his past.
Though he detested his ex wife, he would not shy away from safeguarding her from harm. Just as he had done with that incredulous businessman at Ashoks place. He had not even thought twice of intervening. Just as he had taken her in his arms in the midst of the fire at the hotel. No matter what may come he was not the kind of guy who would leave anyone stranded. His own experiences had toughened him, enabled him to insulate himself from the world. The truth was though his heart was still bursting with love, he had so much to give yet even when he had once felt that he had nothing to give to anyone. Not even his children.
He could understand her reasoning in wanting to help her. But she had taken a step too far. Her actions tonight had singlehandedly left him wide open once more and vulnerable. The bedroom in which which he once shed his silent tears, had with time become his safe haven. It was no longer where he hid from the world. Rather it was their space. It was where his true world existed. His daughter, wife and him together.
She goes to place her hand on his wrist, but as she does he snaps his hand away.
" You went too far this time Ishita" he does not raise his voice, he doesn't need to. She has heard him. She steps back. It takes every bit of strength that he has for him to not move forward and cover the distance between. But he can't, not tonight. Tonight he is on the brink, she has brought him here. All he hopes and prays is that he is strong and able enough to stop himself from falling prey to the abyss again.
He can't bear to remain within the confines of this room, the suffocation he feels stifling him tonight. He goes to pick up his car keys, and makes his way toward the front door. She turns to look at him but he doesn't look back this time.
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