Amor Fati - Our Love, Our Fates [COMPLETE]

Part 25 - Impassioned

Part 25

Nikhil's Bungalow, Ullal, Afternoon

Rohini settled down in the comfortable arm chair in her room and dialled her Dad's number.

"How are you, sweetheart?" Madhukar Nayak's voice boomed from the other end.

"Relaxed, but a tad tired. Roshan is here as well with his family. Had a jolly good time with the kid" Rohini smiled.

"I sense a but though ..." he intervened.

Rohini was silent for a moment.

"I told him Dad, I told him ..." her words floated away, as she stared at the sea, at a distance.

"And you did a good thing. I am sure Rohini you shared because he is worthy of it. Though he is a bit messed up, I agree" he was sombre and thoughtful now.

She sighed

"But Dad, I don't want any sympathy. I don't want him to feel bad about what happened to me, and bend extra backwards. I am just saying ..."

"Rohini, listen to me carefully" Madhukar Nayak's voice was now firm. "I understand what you are trying to say. Listen to this old man now. Life is much more than what we understand it to be.

We love you, we want you to be happy. But that doesn't mean that we encourage you or push you to make wrong choices. We are all here for you.

If you are feeling okay after sharing your past with Nikhil, then it's alright. Maybe it's meant to be. You don't have to nitpick about why you are not feeling otherwise.

If you feel good being around him, then soak in that feeling. Let that feeling guide you. It doesn't have to mean anything for now. At least."

Rohini nodded in affirmation and soon disconnected the call. She sat there for a while, lost in her thoughts. But she knew one thing - that she felt different, almost a bit liberated now that she had opened upto him; and it scared the hell out of her.

Why now? Why him? Why? Why? Why? The questions threw up all possible answers, some of which she purposely avoided considering.

...

A while later

Rohini woke up to find that she had dozed off in the armchair, her phone still clutched in her hand. She flicked open the Gallery and zoomed on a single photo. It was a click of all the seashells on his open palm - some of them glittering, some still sandy ... Rohini could see her fingers steadying his hand from beneath, for the click.

She smiled. She remembered him laughing wildly as she took the photo, promising her that he would clean the shells up and make her take another photo, for comparison.

This is how life is, Rohini thought as she wandered to the balcony of her room. We lose sight of the beauty and happiness that life offers, while bogged down in the quagmire of hopelessness and vexation.

Of course, life was not easy, Rohini knew. It would never be.

But, was it worth taking chances, again and again? she thought.

Somebody called out for her. She looked down. It was Nikhil

"Come on Rohini, save me please from this little demon ..."

Atharva chortled, as he tried to reach for Nikhil's moustache to pull, but his small hand banged against Nikhil's chest instead. He was in his Mother's arms, jumping up and down, while Roshan lounged in a chair nearby, taping the incident.