𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐯𝐢𝐚 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐝𝐢 (#1 2023)

53- Break Down

AUTHORS' POV

"Hum toh aapko humesha yaad kartein hain(I always miss you), Begum."

For a moment Nimmi got still. Everything around her just froze, her heartbeat felt as if it has stopped in that moment. Her eyes got wider, her nerves got erratic. Every bit of her body was screaming that her Ram is here but she refused to hear them.

"No he's not. He doesn't want me.", she let her tears flow, sitting there like a dead soul. "Then why do I feel...why do I feel he's here?", she asked herself on the edge of breaking.

"Begum?", a low broken, painful voice called her. The same voice that held authority and power around the world, love and devotion for her.

Nimmi couldn't accept the fact that he was here. She was scared to even move, to turn and find that it's just her mind playing tricks on her. But for once she wanted to, she wanted to believe, put her trust, she wanted it to be real.

Taking a deep breath and the tiniest ray of hope, she stood and turn. The moment Nimmi turned, her world stopped in those eyes. Her body left all the strength she was trying to hold for 2 months. Her heartbeat was beating as fast as the river flowing behind her. All her emotions came to the surface. Her eyes forgot to blink, she just stayed transfixed.

The man she wanted to be with, the man she ran away from, the one who was her first and last love, was standing right in front of her. This time she didn't stop the tears that welled up in her eyes.

"Ram is here. My Ram is here. He's here. For me, he came for me. My Ram.", those were the words that were screaming in head on repeat in emotions of joy.

Vikram was no different, it looked as if this was the moment that he was holding up all his strength for. All those days that he showed being strong, those days when he tried being strong, when he stood strong. It all flows away in that moment.

His Nimmi, his Begum was standing in front of him. But she didn't look the same. She was lost, gone, hiding from everyone. She looked too fragile and broken. Still she was THE MOST beautiful woman in the world in his eyes.

Vikram didn't remove his eyes from her, he didn't want to look away, he couldn't look away.

He took slow steps towards her. Like a man walking towards a tiny little bird that's in a trap, scared of the cruel world. Their eyes were still looking only at each other .

Involuntarily Vikram's hand moved towards Nimmi and finally he felt his wife first time in 2 months. He caressed her cheek softly with his thumb. The familiar touch that they both felt, brought back all all the emotions they held for each other.

The moment Vikram touched her, all the walls that she built around her collapsed. She left all the last bit of strength in her. She gave up on being brave for that moment.

Nimmi's tears were flowing non stop. Her silent tears turned into sobs and then she just couldn't take it anymore and cried her heart out. She cried screaming out loud. All Her pain and misery came out in that one touch. Not even the noises of blowing wind or splashing and flowing of river could cover it.

Nimmi fell on the ground, her screams kept getting louder and louder. Vikram couldn't see her in this situation but he knew he had to let her cry her heart out. She needs to let it all out. She had it let it all out, let it all go.

Nimmi did cry a lot in these 2 months, but never did one she broke to this extent. Nimmi held her knees tight hugging them tight. Vikram didn't let her go. He didn't leave her hand not even for a second.

He held her tighter and tighter in his embrace. He wanted to reach her heart, where there was only pain and suffering at this moment. He wanted her to feel the warmth and love she needed.