The Boundaries of Love

●24●

Shravan holds my hand as we stroll towards his room. He looks quite intimidating when his thinking mode is on. Gathering that it's better to not poke him with my unnecessary questions, I stay quiet. But the moment I step into his room, a small shriek slips from my mouth. A vase is lying on the floor into pieces. 

"I was angry." He says. I roll my eyes, as I step forward carefully. Another shriek comes out of my mouth when I feel his arms around me and he is holding me up in his arms as if I weigh not more than a five-year-old. 

Shravan places me on his bed, “I’ll ask someone to clean this mess up first.”

I sit there as he walks out of the bed with confident steps. I look around and sigh out loud. His room is very neat and clean apart from the lying pieces of the vase. Every single thing in his room is set properly. From his desk to his bed, even the bed sheet has no crease on it; the photographs on the wall are aligned in a straight line; the mat in front of his door is as straight as it’s possible.

Looking at it, an evil idea to mess with him clicks; I walk towards the door carefully, slightly jumping over the glass shards to make the doormat a little out of place. With an intriguing smile, I come back to sit on the bed again.

“I have asked Kamal to pick this up.” Shravan comes in, as his brilliant smile graces me. But suddenly a frown takes its place and he turns around to look at the mat. He gingerly walks looking at it, tilting his head as he observes it and then he makes it straight in its previous position, when he is satisfied with it, he nods to himself.

“Now I am worried.” I grin, as he stares at me, “You actually noticed the doormat that it was not at its proper place.”

Shravan sits beside me, “And that made you worried!”

“Well, you haven’t seen my room.” I laugh, “I guess, this can lead to many unending fights, in near future.”

Shravan laughs along with me, “I am truly amazed you know,” interlinking his fingers with mine, he looks at them, “You can still crack jokes, when everything is,” he sighs as he gazes towards his feet, “Am I being too selfish, that I am unable to let you go?”

“Shravan . . . You are perfect . . . Perfect for me, at least.” I let slip a chuckle.

He closes his eyes, “No, Sumo, I am not as perfect as you think, I guess, I am finally losing it.” he frowns, “I was angry, that you looked good with Saahil.” I groan, not again, I am about to reply but he continues, “Saahil is a good man, Sumo. I know him, he is nothing like his father. Maybe he likes you, then who wouldn’t! But again, when I should have been thinking about how to come out of this mess, I was thinking about how Saahil was looking at you. That was so childish of me. Actually, if I knew Saahil was not good enough, I would not have reacted the way I did. It’s like, you won't leave me, and go to him. Then when you took his side, something snapped inside me and I reacted.” He heaves a nervous sigh, "And look at me, now I am confessing something that I didn't want you to know." Shravan chuckles looking at me, "I hope this doesn't make me abnormal."

Shravan says everything in a go, “You simply are overthinking, you know.” I pat my free hand onto him, “I may not say it enough, but I actually do love you. Love you enough to stay by your side for the rest of my life. I have never been in love, Shravan, leave love, I have never been in any relationship; everything is so new to me, like sitting in your room - on your bed, holding each other’s hand, it feels so surreal. I have seen you in the hospital, I know how I felt when I heard of your accident, from that very moment, I knew, you are the one with whom I shall spend my life. This relationship is equally important for me as it is to you.”

A soft smile lingers at the corners of his lips, “I did something,” he pauses while a faint red hue colour the tip of his ears, “I was stunned, as well as embarrassed,”