"Kya hua adi?" Naina came to ask her best friend.
"Do you have sanitary napkins?" Aditya looked at her with a shy smile.
"Sanitary napkins?" Naina repeated his question with a puzzled look and affirmatively nodded her head after a while, saying - "Haa haina, kiske liye chahiye hai?"
Sameer rolled his eyes at his wife and said sarkily - "Yeh kaisa wahiyaad sawal puch rahi ho tum yaar? Obviously Radhika ke liye chahiye hoga Aditya ko, warna itni raat ko woh yahan kyun aayega?"
"Oh haa yeh bhi hai, hehe, aisi situation me na mera dimag itna kaam nahi karta hai." Naina giggled, running to grab the packet of sanitary napkins from inside the handbag. She always carries essential things with her for emergency purposes, and thankfully for the first time, it came for use.
"Dimag hoga toh kaam karega na," Sameer muttered under his breath and saw his wife giving the packet of napkins to the nervous boy who was feeling weird for asking for such a girly product from his friend.
"Thank You yaar, and sorry for disturbing you, actually itni raat ko kaha yeh lene jau samjh me nahin aa raha tha, and Radhika ko bahut pain bhi ho raha hai so I can't even leave her alone." Aditya said in a soft voice and Naina asked him with a concerned look - "Oh, medicine hain tere paas? Nahin toh jake leke aa jaa store se, tab tak main uska dhyan rakhti hoon."
"No, I'll give her medicine, aur dekhta hoon agar hotel wale hot water bag ka arrangement kar ke de toh," Aditya replied to her gently, nervously looking here and there around the vacant corridor.
"Sorry I don't have a hot water bag, agar Radhika ne mujhe bataya hota uske periods aanewale hai toh main rakh leti," Naina said apologetically, feeling tremendously rueful for not being able to help her poor best friend.
"Koi baat nahi, uski date one week baad ki thi but thoda jaldi aa gaya," Aditya spoke normally.
"Oh, zyada kuch lage toh please mujhe batana, don't hesitate." She said in a feeble voice, and the curly hair boy nodded his head for yes.
"Okay then, I will leave now, good night." Giving a small smile Aditya walked away to reach out to his unwell wife as soon as possible.
Sameer closed the door and turned back to look at his doleful wife.
"Kya hua?" He asked her calmly.
"Bechari Radhika, aaj hi ki raat yeh sab hona tha, kitna dard ho raha hoga usko," Naina said with a frown stroking her shiny visage.
"Hmm, you're right. I just hope use jaldi se jaldi neend aa jaye taki itna pain tolerate na karna padhe." Sameer spoke in a gentle voice.
"Yea, mujhe toh milna tha use but she's already in pain, toh jake kuch matlab nahi. She needs to rest, toh kal dekhti hoon." Naina replied to her husband after exhaling, and he nodded slightly.
"Tumhein change karna hain toh karlo," Sameer suggested, knowing that it was past 2:30 Am now and there is no chance of them getting intimate with each other. His wife has to wake up early and complete the rasam of Grihapravesh later followed by making a sweet dish for everyone as a Bahu of the Raut Family. Sighing slowly, he came out of the line of his continuous thoughts and saw his woman taking off her ornaments while silently wincing in pain.
He walked to her and saw a dark bruise on her neck which was hidden over the golden lace of her neckpiece. His heart sank lower to his stomach when he remembered how much heavy jewelry and zari work outfits damaged her soft skin with bruises, and his eyes felt watery.
