A Love Like None Other

3

"That is the least I can do," she heard him say and knew that it was in response to her question 'And what does Sanskaar do?' She had not realized that she had said that aloud. She looked at his face, noting for the first time the concern that reflected in his eyes, which was far more than the hurt at her words. She had hurt him, yet again and was surprised that it hurt her. As Sanskaar led her out, she looked down at her hand, to see that her fingers had entwined themselves in his, an act as natural to her as breathing was. She took a sharp breath and asked that question again, to herself, 'What does Sanskaar do?' 'Nothing,' thought Swara, 'nothing, except be there for me, always'. She was startled, that was stark truth. He was always there for her.

She remembered what her mother would say, "He could quiet you like nobody else, when you were a baby and would cry, he just had to hold your hand and you would stop, you so wanted him around that he spent most of his time at our house.

She remembered her thirteen year old self who wanted to learn to cycle. It was Sanskaar who convinced her parents and was the one who taught her, who helped her up each time she fell and even carried her home when she had skinned her knees one time too many.

He was the one who encouraged her to take up singing classes and the one whose praise mattered the most to her. He was not too free with it, he did not believe in simply praising a person for sake of being polite so when he did, it was the highest that Swara could get.

He was the one who was always at her house when the results would be declared so that her Baba would not get too upset at her dismal marks; she just did not enjoy studies. But with him around, she was not too worried either; she knew she could rely on him to help her out.

And last year, when she had suffered from a severe bout of viral fever, he had been awake by her side all through the night, because she found his presence comforting, not Sahil's. The fever had lasted for almost a week and it had not deterred him though he had just returned from a month long trip to Australia which would have left him quite jet lagged nor did the fact that he had quite a backlog of work. While she burnt out the fever, he had burned himself for her.

Her reliance on him had not wavered even when she had grown apart from him and had not died when she pushed him away. She realized that all these years, even when she thought she loved Sahil, it was actually Sanskaar who was the only constant in her life and her mind.

It was at that moment that the epiphany struck her, Sanskaar would not only move the earth and heavens for her, he would raise hell if needed and that even death would not stop him; he would rise from the dead if she called for him. And.... he was the only one she would call for.

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