Matters of heart

The king-sized bedroom of Sabherwal mansion presented the image of a man in his early thirties, absent mindedly staring out of a wide window frame.Holding a cup of hot coffee in his right hand, he stood there with his body partially leaning against the wall.His once attractive and eloquent eyes no longer held the same aura.His body looked tired and worn-out.

Shaurya Sabherwal was never a person who believed in wonders till he met his lady love.She changed him from his head to toe and in the last six months, not a single day passed without him expecting a similar miracle.Never in his entire life he prayed for something this hard.He stared at the clear morning sky as his thoughts trailed further.

How he wished to travel back in time and mend some broken things in his life.These days ,it seemed as if his nature is going back to the one he possessed when he had no idea that a girl named Anokhi even existed.His arrogance,attitude,weakness, vulnerability slowly started settling back in him.His room ultimately became his favourite holiday destination.A lot of things changed in his life.He started talking less,he barely went to college.Teaching which was once his passion doesn't evoke any sense of interest in him today.

'I won't break' was something that he swore to himself when he stepped out of the hospital that awful day.But he is a human - flesh and blood.

Shaurya thought about how pathetically he gave up the previous night.After 180 creepy days of loneliness,he cried his heart out for the very first time.

"Shaurya..."

He jerked a little as Shaan pulled him out of his bubble.He didn't turn around but patiently waited for his father to start.

"She is coming to college today."

A deadly silence occupied the room for the next five minutes.He squeezed his eyes shut and tried not to cry again.He didn't dare to respond.

'Anokhi...'...his heart whispered.

Only he knew how hard he worked to stop uttering her name every now and then,how badly he wanted to save himself from another major breakdown.For a brief second he felt a sword passing through his chest.Everything relating to her triggered a strange pain deep inside him.

"Shaurya.."...Shaan shook him lightly.

He opened his eyes at once .

"Hmm..."

"Aren't you going to the college?"

Shaurya turned around.Shaan's heart sank the moment he saw his son's eyes red and puffed.

'He cried yesterday.'

After rubbing away a bead of tear that  threatened to come out of his orb,Shaan looked straight at Shaurya.

"You should go and meet her."

Shaurya sighed looking at his father.

"Then?..."...he asked after a minute almost breaking half of Shaan's confidence.

"Try and talk to her."

"And then...?"

Shaan noticed a strange calmness in  Shaurya's face.He gazed at his son with a heart full of concern.He stepped forward and held his shoulder.

"She can never forget you."

Shaurya gently placed the cup down on the table and walked towards the cupboard.He pulled out an outfit for him and went straight to the washroom without uttering a word.

Shaan waited for him outside.
That accident which turned their lives upside down flashed through his mind as if it happened yesterday. Anokhi was bathing in blood when they took her to the hospital.They gave her the best treatment possible.It was only after ten days of pain and agony in the ICU that she was finally shifted to the ward.