Deciphering His Love

73 | The One With The Return of Madhav

Uday and Madhav successfully managed to get out of the forest and into the yacht just before twilight. Madhav was relieved and so thankful he finally was out of the terrible jungle that had him trapped for several months.

In twilight, the beach was like tinted sepia, the sand burned like blood-red orange, the water a had deeper hues of blue. Soon, the twilight would fade into darkness.

Uday anchored the yacht a few meters of the island's coast as per Madhav's request.

Madhav spent two long hours in the yacht's bathroom, taking a soothing warm shower. He hissed loudly as the scars and bruises all over his body came in contact with the warm water.

He brushed his teeth and shaved off his long unkempt beard. He shampooed his hair twice, reminding himself several times to get his hair trimmed really short when he went back home.

Madhav finally got out of his torn, tattered and stained clothes. He was happy to slip into the warm and sweet smelling cotton pyjamas laid out on the bed.

After getting dressed in the pyjamas he looks at the reflection of himself on the mirror in the bedroom. He was not sure if he was staring at his own reflection.

Over the months he had gone darker and thinner. There were several days when Madhav had lived without proper food - seeing his thin and famished reflection did not surprise him. He looked skinny - the way he used to as a teenager.

"Eat well. Load up on the protein." He chants inside his head. "And workout - those muscles need to return as well."

Of course, he was astonished seeing the number of dark lines underneath his eyes.

"I need more sleep." He says as he lies on the bed. He groans as he stretched himself on the bed. He was happy - or rather elated, to finally lie on a soft and cosy bed. The floor of the little cave behind the waterfall did not make a smooth and comfortable bed. Even the many number of dried leaves didn't make it any less uncomfortable.

The Majesty 066 was indeed a majestic and elegant yacht. Uday kept on saying it could accommodate 6 people easily. Madhav looks around the small ajd low ceiling bedroom that had two singles beds with under-bed lighting. The window was covered with blinds.

"Careful! It's warm." Uday says walking into the room as he gives Madhav a warm mug of coffee.
"I opened the corn soup can and it should be ready to eat in another few minutes."

He sits on the edge of the bed that Madhav was lying on.

"I see you had a good shower and clean shaved your beard." Uday says sitting on the foot of the bed as he gives Madhav the coffee mug. "You need some help with the first aid?"

Madhav nods as he takes a long sip of the coffee. Madhav keeps the mug on the bedside table and starts to unbutton his pyjama shirt.

"There's wounds all over." He says pointing to the gun shot wound on his arm.

"Is that a-"

"I got shot in the arm." Madhav says. "It was really bad since I had to yank the bullet off my arm later after I got washed away into this island."

"We should take you to a hospital or some clinic when we stop in Indonesia for fuel and supplies." Uday says wrapping the long bandage around Madhav's arm. "I'll just do a little wound dressing on your arm and on your palms for the moment."

"That'll be great. I have so many blisters on my palms from breaking twigs for fire wood. Can you do the same for my feet? I lost count of the number of times I stepped onto a thorn or a sharp rock."