Love Letter Written in Winter

Wound from past 2

When Steven left years ago, everything was fine. But with time, Sylvia’s condition worsened. She started getting anxiety attacks, had to go through medication, and had cut all ties with the outside world. But, in recent times, after suffering for years, she was slowly recovering. However, these kinds of incidents still occurred sometimes.
The first sunlight fell over her face like a God’s kiss. She frowned a bit at the exposure to light after long dark hours. But the curtain was pulled back by someone to avoid the direct sunlight so that she could sleep a bit more. However, her very shallow sleep was disrupted by then, and she said in an indistinctive voice,
-'Murphy!'
-'Yes, Missy!' he responded. He had come to her room just like the regular routine of waking her up, but seeing her pitiful face, he didn’t want to disturb her. Also, when the sun wanted to disturb her, he wanted to stop it. Nevertheless, he had failed.
-'Good morning, Missy!' he tried to look cheerful, as if nothing had happened the previous night, while his heart was broken into countless shards, till then aching seeing her suffering.
-‘Is it 6 a.m. already?’ she asked.
-‘It’s seven. You can rest a bit more...’ Before he could finish his sentence, she woke up and sat on her bed in a hurry.
-‘Oh! Why didn’t you wake me up?’ she asked.
-‘Because you were sleeping,’ he looked deep into her eyes, ‘And it’s rare.’
After breakfast, she was reading a book sitting in the garden. While Murph came and asked,
-‘Are we going to the market like other Sundays? Or if you’re not feeling well, then...’
-‘No! We will go,’ she replied shortly.
In the noon hour, she went shopping with Murph. Weekends were spent helping Murph with his household chores. She stayed at home the entire day and used to go shopping with him. After returning home, she would accompany him in cooking and then do gardening in the afternoon. Murph owned Missy's Sundays, and she happily approved.
It was almost evening by the time they were returning. All of a sudden, it started raining. Murph opened the umbrella. As Murph was quite taller than her, it was an unwritten rule for him to hold the umbrella, especially when it also denoted a sense of protection. He had been the protector of her throughout. His one hand holding the umbrella and the other hand carrying shopping bags, she felt he might be having difficulties. She had a very lightweight bag. She wanted to help, but he couldn’t allow her to carry heavy bags. He just said,
-‘Don’t get yourself wet in the rain and catch a fever…’
He ordered her as if she was a kid. She got angry because of his teasing. She pouted her lips and turned her head away from him. He was noticing all of this with a little smile and deep affection. They were walking under the same umbrella, together. Apart from the rain, they barely walked this close. Some drops of water had slightly dampened her. The soft scent of her perfume hung in the air, caressing his senses. He treasured all these little moments with her and always wondered if his Missy had ever felt the same!
The moment they baked a cake together, he stealthily looked at her with intense passion while she was totally engrossed in whisking the cream. When she gently caressed her hair away from her face with her right wrist, as a few strands fell onto her eye. Seeing her, he thought, 'Oh! What a beauty!'
During the time they were busy gardening, a patch of mud stuck to her cheek as she was being careless. He found her to be even more beautiful with that dirt on her face. She was like a diamond. No matter what or where you put it, it was destined to shine.
After dinner, Murph gave her regular bedtime medicine. Before switching off the light, just once he turned back and said, ‘Good Night, Missy,’ with a deep look and then left the room. Closing the door, he stopped for a moment, and remembering her face, he murmured to himself, ‘there are the Moon, Stars, sea, and Mountains. And yet, my eyes choose to look at you and never get tired of it. I wonder…how?’
While inside the room, Sylvia looked towards those medicines in her hand and thinking about Steven, she talked to herself, ‘that time, when you broke my heart ruthlessly and I didn’t even cry a bit, moreover smiled to the world as if nothing happened, that time itself I knew, this heartbreak will cost me a lot and for a very long… maybe a lifetime. And sadly, I was right.’