Anurakti

73: I love you

Samidha slept for five hours after she almost lashed out on Sahaj. She had been driving for eight hours straight since 2 in the morning.

And when she woke up, she couldn't recognise the house. The old furniture was freshly painted, borders were painted freshly, everything was clean, new electricity connections were made where they weren't earlier or where the old switches weren't working.

She furrowed her brows. She wasn't that deep of a sleeper.

She looked around for Sahaj and instead of him, found a note.

'I am going to the grocery store. I'll be back in thirty minutes.

Love you.'

"This man! He isn't safe and yet he goes to the store alone!"
She gritted and kept the note down. Ignoring everything else written below.

Keeping a hand on her head she took a deep breath in.

That village was safe. Safer than any other place. He won't get hurt.

Releasing her breath, she went back inside to take a bath.

__________________________

Sahaj came back thirty minutes later and when he came back, the house was decorated with flowers, toran,  and a small white dotted Rangoli in the front courtyard.

Looks like she woke up.

He looked down at his hand and smiled at the lotuses.

She's gonna love them.

On the way back, he saw a lake and it was filled with a humongous amount of lotuses. So he did what any sane person might do.
Jumped in.

"Samidha!"
He yelled and made his way inside, dripping and wetting the whole ground.

"Coming!"
She yelled and came out of the kitchen wearing a red saree with a golden border and black blouse and looking like a goddess. And her godess-ness was being enhanced by the vermilion and mangalsutra she was wearing which he had never ever seen before.

"God Sahaj! You are dripping! Why are you wet? Did someone attack you?"
She asked and ran towards him.
His eyes dropped to her ankles as the sounds of the Ghungroo of her Payal resonated in the whole house.

"What's tha.......lotus?"
She asked as her eyes fell on his hand and she pulled them out of his hold.

Her eyes furrowed in confusion and then widened in realisation.

"You jumped in the lake?"
She asked but he didn't reply.

How would he? He wasn't able to hear anything other than his heart who was beating like Samidha wasn't herself but a tiger who was ready to tear him into pieces and eat him.

He was mesmerized. All the scars on her body, her bruised neck, everything was visible. She wasn't looking like a porcelain doll. She was looking like a real woman. And she didn't seem to care about those marks. She knew she was beautiful.

"Sahaj? Is everything okay, love?"
She asked and he nodded, coming back to the world.

"Yeah. I jumped in the lake."
He said and cleared his throat.

"Wh-"

"Why are you wearing mangalsutra?"

"We are married for the people here, right? And this is a village. People will talk. I'll remove it once everything settles down."
She mumbled and he nodded and handed her the groceries.

She wasn't removing the mangalsutra ever. He won't let her. He'd make sure she's his till the very last birth they have to take to get salvation.

He leaned down and pressed a kiss on her cheek.