Truly, Madly, Deeply- a Devakshi story.

Truth Was............

Hey my much treasured readers, 

here is the chapter I promised. Sorry it got delayed. Enjoy! 

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Every young couple in love goes through phases of intense absorption in each other, oblivious to the world outside. Understanding families are indulgent and give space to the couple. But what happens when the families of the couple themselves are unhappy with them? 

 Something similar was happening to Sona and Dev. Their five year long love story was full of false starts and separations and had never really taken off; Now that it was finally catching some speed and direction, they were battling with parental disapproval. The last time they had battled parental disapproval they had simply given up on each other and preferred to side with their parents.

This time they were trying to create a space for themselves, but outside of this space, the disapproval of their parents was a festering wound. They tried to present a united front, they tried to stand up for each other in the other's absence, they listened to all the ugly words and tried to save the other from them.

But even in the middle of all the strife, an oasis of calm and peace and love was growing in their home. When they finally shut the door on the world, they were able to temporarily shut out the anger and focus on each other and their daughter. Those few hours in the night till the morning were all they had to help them get through the day. Love is a wild rose that grows in the most inhospitable climates.

Every day, after work, Sonakshi went to her parents to pick up Suhana; even though Dev frequently volunteered, Sona never let him do that because she knew that any altercation between her father and Dev would threaten her relationship. And Dev went everyday to Ishwari Niwas after work and most days he would come back filled with hopelessness because his mother would be terribly disappointed with him. He could take Ishwari's anger. but her disappointment with him was something that hurt him. Sonakshi knew he was hurt because he would spend sleepless hours pretending to be asleep. They had decided to share all they felt and faced, with each other, but still there were some harsh words they had to live with alone, because sharing it with the other would hurt them too much. They both understood, little by little, that hopes of reconciliation were fast dwindling and that they would have to lead a divided life.

Sona, every evening, when she shut the door of the apartment behind herself, felt as if she had reached an oasis in the desert. Truth was this was fast becoming the best part of her day, coming back and entering the peaceful house. The house was taking on the color of a home, her, Suhana and Dev's home. The orderliness of a bachelor's pad had given way to controlled chaos as Suhana's bunk bed was firmly installed in her own room and her new paintings graced every bit of bedroom walls.

The balcony was full of Sonakshi's plants, climbers and creepers and the succulents which had to be treated with care all the time, to battle Delhi's dry heat. Her manuals and books and her Korean cosmetics were back in full strength. Searching for his aftershave amongst the lotions and potions was a daily event now; Dev grinned as he read the labels of Arsainte young bamboo shoots and Rice bright water which had taken over all the cabinets in the bath; "Why do all your Korean cosmetics sound like sushi or khimchi -all this rice, cabbage and bamboo, he teased Sonakshi "I thought you recommended food for eating, not make up." But the truth was, he had missed all this when she wasn't there and he wasn't going to protest at finding all his stuff relegated to the back of the bathroom cabinets.

Dev had always been taken care of by his mother and sisters except during the past five years when he had shunned all care from others. He had learnt to buy his own clothes, enjoyed his own selection of music and ate what he wanted to. But now there were two women in his life who wanted to indulge him. This indulgence was different from the relationship he had enjoyed with his sisters or mother. Truth was he had never allowed anyone to indulge him, preferring instead to be the Santa Claus in everyone's lives, buying people things they wanted or needed. He had never felt that he too deserved to be indulged. And was used to a spartan functional kind of life.