Silent Hearts

One

"She couldn't heal, because she kept pretending she wasn't hurt."

***

"Please, Tushar da, marry her."

The first drops of water dribbled down, frosty winds raced down the streets, howling with mischief yet cackling with equanimity as they gazed upon the miserable situations of the mortals, the glinting rays of the sun peeked through the dusky clouds of disdain and despair, making the city whimper with a desire to see the bright light, leaves dancing with the gusts seemed blissfully calm, the flowers of nature, smiling with peace as the first drips of moisture caressed them.

Looking at the beads of water that hit, and soon dripped down the glass panes of the window, Tushar could not help himself but feel his heart twinge with distress, the unusually harsh beating of his heart, the sudden feeling of dryness in his throat, the unknowingly clenching of his jaw and the tightness in his chest felt too foreign to him as he could not decipher the meaning of such emotions he was feeling.

The fingers were released from the fist he had not realised he had, Tushar averted his gaze from the window, drifting it skillfully towards the woman in front of him, he felt the clench in his jaw tighten as he focused his eyes on the same woman,  adorned with a white dress, who he had grown to love.

Eyes filled with anguish, that radiated the ache they held, draped by a layer of moisture all over the ebony irises, looked directly into his charcoal ones, that, unseen and unnoticed, had the same layer of pain in them. Trembling hands, festooned with no bangle unlike any other day, reached for his rigid ones.

Naitee, the woman he had loved since the very start, held into his hands, her soft eyes begging him to listen. However, instead of smiling and thanking the stars for his wishes, he had once made, Tushar felt devastated as he came to realise what was happening to him. He felt suffocated as he listened to the grave words she uttered.

"I beg you, Tushar da, I cannot see her like this, breaking and twisting every day-"

"What does that signify, pray tell me, Naitee", Tushar mumbled, dejection and hurt echoing through his heart, yet remaining unheard to the woman before him. He felt lonely once again as all he wanted then, was to scream his heart out to the woman who had refused to listen to him.

"-I will die...".

And, that was enough for Tushar's anguished, love-filled heart to stop him for a few moments.

A tear or two trickled down her beautifully, warm-dusky cheek, as Naitee continued to pour her heart to the man, the only one who could, as she believed, love her beloved sister, and bring back, Nandini.

Tushar seemed to stop as he gazed down upon the woman he could not see shedding tears. Oh, how he wished he could make Naitee understand...that Nandini had gone beyond her limits...that Nandini could never be sane ever again.

However, the heavens above knew, how wrong Tushar was.

"I cannot live without her, for she is everything to me, Tushar da, she needs to believe she is not alone, that we are here, that-that someone is there who can love her the way she wanted..."

"Naitee-"

"The way Nandini had been rejected since the past year, is too bad enough, please, do not reject this offer..."