Anurakti

34: Pain

"You can't even walk properly Sahaj. Give it to me!"
She yelled, trying to take away the broken glass pieces, but Sahaj pushed his hand above his head, making it impossible for her to snatch it while supporting all his weight.

"You'll...-hiccup-....hurt yourself."
He slurred, almost falling on her.

"As if you won't!"
She snarled, helping him sit down properly. Looking up at her he smiled.

"It doesn't matter if you break an already broken thing. I-"

"What do you mean?"
She interrupted rudely and Sahaj chuckled, making space for her to sit.

"That's one of the things I dislike about you."

"What?"

"You interrupt me a lot."
He said keeping the glass down and keeping his head on the desk.

"You don't let me or anyone divert things to another thing because you just ask questions like that. Not everything can be told right?"
He explained, smiling like an idiot. Samidha's heart was so loud that if she hadn't concentrated, she wouldn't have heard anything he said.

She didn't know if her heart was skipping some beats or was just pumping rather quickly when he was smiling.

"Why are you like this Sahaj? Why can't you just say things simply."
She asked looking at his beautiful yet sweaty face and earning a small shrug. Shaking her head she reached for the glass pieces and picked them up.

All she had to do was make sure he doesn't harm himself or do anything stupid. Then she'll be free. Thinking this she stood up and started walking. But Sahaj's hold on her wrist prevented her from doing so.

Looking back at him, she gasped.
He had a big frown etched on his face.

"Why are you leaving me? Am I......am I that bad?"
He whispered and Samidha's heart broke looking at him. He looked so vulnerable.

But his grip on her wrist was getting tighter.

"Please don't leave me. Please don't leave me like dad."
He begged, with tears streaming down his face.

Her own eyes were watering but something in her was just not letting her move. She didn't know how to handle him. She felt as he he had a lot of feelings at that moment and they could just overflow at any moment. She, who used to ignore her own feelings, how was she gonna handle him? How would she be able to help him?

"Please...................."
He whispered again and then yanked her towards himself causing her to stumble and fall on him and the cloth with the glass pieces to fall somewhere.

Sahaj held her waist and sat her down on the bench. But instead of leaving her, he leaned his head on her shoulder, holding her arm tightly.

"Sahaj-"

"I was seven when my mum died."
His quite voice interrupted. Is was so low that if he hadn't continued further, she would've thought she imagined it.

"I loved her more than anything. I felt as if my whole world had turned upside down. I used to cry myself to sleep. One day, I had a nightmare. I remember it clearly. It was a big frog trying to eat me. I woke up, scared and alone in my room. I went to my dad's room to find him. My grandma used to take care of me, but she had gone to a different city. My only option was my dad, whom I hadn't seen for almost twenty days."
He paused, taking a deep breath and tightening his hold on her hand. His voice felt bitter to her. She knew that there was something extremely wrong with the story. Something incredibly sad.

"Then?"

"His room was empty. My whole house was empty. I was totally alone in my big house. Extremely scared, I cried myself to sleep on the floor of the kitchen. Next day I woke up in my room, to the sounds of my grandma yelling at my father, because he was in his office, working and drinking like a maniac the whole night instead of being with me.
I got to know, he had been doing the same for the past month. Drinking and working. My father had lost his whole world with my mom. He became a workoholic and an alcoholic. I used to never see him, but whenever I did, I remember seeing a bottle in his hand and his eyes being red. He used to look at me as if he didn't know who I was, or that he never cared for me."