Reconciliation

Chapter 9 : "Proceed."

It had been a month since Avni had declared that she had forgiven Neil. He was discharged after nearly a week there was a little infection due to the injury on his back. Avni uncomplainingly gave him company all this while. It absolutely pained Neil to see her sleeping on the couch at nights.

A greater portion of this emotional pain was due to the fact that Avni was comfortable while sleeping on the couch. It made Neil have pangs of guilt that Avni was so used to sleeping on the floor that a couch looked comfortable to her.

On the third day, he felt really emotional about it and called out her name in the middle of the night. "Are you okay? Is it hurting somewhere?" She asked, getting up quickly and sat on the stool beside his bed.

"You sleep here with me." He whispered, shifting a little to the side to give her some space. "Hey I'm fine there. You just sleep comfortably okay." She whispered back and gave him a quick kiss on his forehead. "Avi please." He pleaded, not leaving her hand.

"We can't fit in...okay I'll sit here. Fine?" She asked, patting his hand. "No you climb in!" He cried childishly and she gave in. Neil put her head on his shoulder and wrapped his arms around her torso. "You sleep now." Avni spoke, feeling at peace too when she heard the beating of his heart and his rhythmic breathing.

Avni was subjected to a scolding the next day by the nurse who ended up being scolded by Neil in reverse when he saw Avni feel bad about it. The nurse complained to the doctor in anger and the only peaceful solution that they arrived at was that Avni's couch was now placed right beside his bed so that they could hold hands.

Neil almost jumped in delight when he got discharged and didn't let Avni go away from his sight when she arrived home after work. She was blossoming in her job and the police personnel relied on her very much.

In one case a couple of weeks after Neil's injury, Avni had helped in taking down one of the murderers of an infamous series of homicides. Neil and his team along with Avni had only gone for inspection but her keen eye found a guy trying to slip away and she made a run for him. Her speed matched Neil's, if not more and she was able to knock that man down and hold him in place.

She half loved, half hated when Neil wrapped his arm around her waist and scooped her away from that criminal before he could hurt her to make a run. A few days later, the case was shut and the entire team was lauded for it. The media clicked a picture of the team which was published in the newspapers too.

Avni felt overwhelmed due to that and was staring at the image while sitting in the balcony for a long time at night. Neil had come there too and sat down besides her, trying to read her emotions. "I feel it's unfair that only I get mentioned." He spoke, tapping at the subheadline which said 'IPS Officer Neil Khanna and team blah blah blah'

"You know, I've been in newspapers before...once when I won this child modeling contest and got my first salary...Ayesha Ma said she was proud of me." Avni recalled, her eyes unfocused. Neil hummed gently and asked if she got some assignments after it.

"I did get an offer on the same day...We were supposed to talk about it the next day — the day she died." She finished and rested her hand on the newspaper image. "She's proud of you even today." Neil said, kissing her hair softly.

They did have subtle moments nearly all the time now. There were times when certain habits of Avni owing to the jail routine made Neil guilty to the point of sobbing inaudibly but they did manage, after all.

The banters between Neil and Neela Ma showed no signs of stopping. Neela Ma, after hearing them for a second time, decided to keep a bottle in the room. Deciding to give them more liberty afterwards,  Neela permanently shifted downstairs.