Winner of Wattpad India Awards 2020 (Judge's Choice) in the New Adult category.
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"The lights are cheeky, you can't live without them, and yet if you get too close, they'll blind you. Darkness? Well it doesn't cheat. It's cool and soothing. It's r...
a/n this is a two-part bonus and collaboration with Shubhodiya, the platonic love of my life. Explicit Dil Beparwah content starts from part two of this bonus that'll be uploaded in the evening but this part provides context. Happy reading.
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Several years later
Twenty – five years on the birds remained a bane for Madhu's sleep.
She winced while leaving the bed, an airy four-poster which had replaced the ancient queen-sized one her mother had used all those years ago. A muscle had pulled in her left calf a week ago, while addressing a conference for Motiya—the gala for Jasm Inn's silver jubilee. Staying in heels for six hours after that only worsened her Orthopedic's expression the next day as he ordered bed rest for a week.
Naturally, it was either let her husband burn all her footwear or let him book a flight to their village.
Visiting Bhabra after a year was a welcome respite. Between twenty-five years of Jasm Inn and sending Mahima and Nitya on their ways to school, the past year had been hectic to say the least.
Taking her kit from their unpacked bags, she limped on her good leg to the courtyard, brushing her teeth near the handpump while Nakul fed rice to the insomnia inducing birds. He didn't smile when she spat on the floor but pushed her hand away from the handle of the handpump, heaving it himself. Its water drained the toothpaste to a corner pipe, sending sparrows flying in a flurry, hasty to avoid the wet floor.
Madhu settled on the steps of the courtyard as Nakul left for the old kitchen. The courtyard, its steps, its handpumps and little red bricks that made its surface was one of the few unchanged spaces of her house here in Bhabra. Renovations had left much of the structure unrecognizable. Changes to her house and the village overall had mostly been good over the last decades, making both places easier, even ideal to live. Yet a part of Madhu loved this space more than the newer ones and was glad it remained untouched.
"Here," Nakul surprised her with his first, unprompted a word to her in two days.
Her fingers wrapped around the mug of chai he was holding out, feeling its warm steam as she brought it to her nose, inhaling the flavour of liberal amounts of ginger brewed deliciously with a pinch of black pepper, classic for her old cook. "I missed Champa."
"She came by when you were asleep, said she'll send a couple of people to clean the place."
"Hmm, she looks okay?"
"Healthy yes, and she was cheerful. Apparently, Kamal doesn't know he's getting married soon."
Madhu laughed, taking her first sip. "Poor kid."
"Poor kid because his mother is taking his decisions without his consent?"
Madhu took another sip, taking her time with swallowing it, burning her tongue a little. "So you think that's what I did?"
