Becoming Sweethearts [✓]

Part Sixteen

Gauri woke up in the middle of the night, feeling thirsty. Her body was aching already and she wouldn’t have even moved a muscle if she wasn’t so thirsty. She slowly shifted onto her side. In all the tension that had taken place a few hours ago, it had completely slipped her mind to fill the jug with water and place it on the bedside table. She stared at the empty jug, disappointed.

Gauri looked at her mother. She seemed to be fast asleep and she had no heart to wake her up just for a glass of water. As it was, her mother was worried sick about her, and had stayed up late till she dozed off due to her painkillers. So, without making any sound, Gauri slowly got out of bed. A sharp pain shot up her ankle and she had to purse her lips to prevent any painful groan from escaping her mouth. A moment later, she felt slightly better and quietly walked out of the room.

Gauri was carefully limping down the stairs, one step at a time, when she saw some light coming from the kitchen. It had been almost three in the morning, and her Papa usually wouldn’t stay up this late. Who else was in the kitchen, she wondered? Careful enough to not make any sound, she limped around the corner. Her heart broke at the sight. For there in the kitchen, seated at the counter, was her Papa. He was staring into a blank space, and had tears in his eyes as he rested the heel of his palm against his forehead, while his elbows were on the counter. It didn’t take a genius to figure out he was terribly upset and could not get a wink of sleep. She walked to the kitchen; she knew the incident had shaken him up, and rightly so.

Arvind wasn’t even aware what he was thinking. He hadn’t been able to fall asleep at all. The image of his bruised daughter walking into the house with Omkara’s help was still fresh in his mind. The way she had screamed out that Ajinkya Agnihotri had attempted to rape her was still ringing in his ears. In addition, Omkara had dropped that bomb saying that if he hadn’t reached on time, then something even more terrible would have happened. ‘He had his pants undone’ Omkara had told him. He involuntarily shuddered, not wanting to think anything further. She had come home wearing a different set of clothes. He didn’t want to even know the reason behind it, for it was too painful. Then he wondered, was Gauri actually feeling alright? He looked at his empty cup of coffee and then looked at the clock. He had been sitting here for nearly two hours. Wanting to check on whether Gauri was asleep, like he’d done two hours ago, he got of the seat and turned around, only to see his daughter standing there.

Gauri said nothing. Instead, she gave him a soft smile, limped slowly up to where he stood rooted to the ground as he saw her, and hugged him tightly. Arvind wanted to comfort her and say something, but emotions choked him up and his throat closed up. He simply pulled his little girl in his arms and patted her head. Stealthily, he wiped away the tear that just fell off his eyes. Omkara had told him she might not be sleeping tonight. He didn’t want to guess why. The entire ordeal was not just frighteningly traumatic but also exhausting in many ways. She pulled away to look at him and saw his misty eyes. “Main theek hoon, Papa” she said softly, assuring him as well as herself. Arvind helped her sit on the seat before he nodded.

“You couldn’t fall asleep?” he asked, not knowing what else to say. She put on a brave smile, shaking her head in a no, “I took a painkiller that doctor gave me earlier. So, I slept due to that. Then I was thirsty, and I forgot to fill the jug with water in my room. So…” Gauri saw Arvind quickly get up from the seat, and bring her a glass of cold water. She took the glass from him and quickly gulped the entire glass down. “More?” Arvind asked, and she nodded. He fetched her yet another glass and she drank again. “Enough, thank you Papa” she said when she was done, placing the glass aside. Arvind took the glass to the sink to rinse it, making her smile. Both of them knew Shalini absolutely disliked it when glasses were left around, without rinsing them in the sink.