The Girl With the Red Scarf | ✔️ [DriKshit]

Yeh Nazdeekiyan

RAKSHIT'S POV

The warm morning sunlight fell on my face, warming my cheeks and disturbing my sleep. I rubbed my eyes, trying to avert the blinding light and focus ahead. I turned casually and immediately felt the bed shift beneath me - yeah, Rakshit, you are sleeping on the sofa. It would definitely take me some time to get used to sleeping on the grey sofa, which was extremely uncomfortable. But all my discomforts faded away when I saw Drishti sleeping peacefully on the bed, curled up like a small kid under the blankets. It had been two weeks since it happened, but none of us have been able to move on. Divya starved herself sick and I had to call in a doctor, she has been ordered bed rest now for another week. Drishti was disturbed by horrible nightmares in her sleep and often woke up, haunted and crying. And then there were the phone calls - the phone calls from Aakash with random threats of killing and harming us, I took out the sim card from her phone and snapped it into two halves. I got her a new sim the next day.
Maasi and Romi were given a small memorial service at home, but Drishti and Divya did not come down, they cried silently in their room.
But even amidst all of this, Drishti never forgot to fulfil her duties as a wife - my room looked much cleaner and organized, I found everything that I looked for. She even helped mom and chachi ji with the cooking, cleaned the living room (they would not allow her to do more) and when she was done with her chores, she settled down in my study and read books. I knew that she was alone and maybe opening up to someone would help her, but I was afraid of invading into her private space. That is why, inspite of wanting to help, I had kept quiet. She had stopped talking, only uttering the few words necessary, even when with Divya. It was as if she had recoiled to a place I couldn't quite reach, but still, I tried my best. I asked her regularly about the romance novel she was reading, how much progress she made, if the protagonists had a romantic scene and if the scene could have been any different in her opinion. This was the only time of the day she talked to me openly and freely, telling me her opinions and ideas, I listened intently and made remarks to encougrage her. But everything remained the same, she never opened up to me about herself, how she was feeling, if she needed assistance.

I sat up on the sofa, the furniture groaning under my weight. She was still curled up on the bed, her expression slightly disturbed by the stream of sunlight now pouring in through the open windows. I got up and drew the curtains, light shadows falling over the room. She buried her face in her pillow and continued to sleep.
I smiled to myself. Our relationship had nothing of the typical husband and wife stereotypes, and yet, I was cherishing it, every moment of it. She was special for me and I would make sure that she feels so.

I freshened up and went into the study, avoiding mom's calls for breakfast. Drishti, today, I will make you smile, and I was determined on it.

~

DRISHTI'S POV

I woke up with a slight headache. The room was still dark and cast in shadows, it took me a few moments to realize that someone has drawn the curtains. Rakshit. I sat up on the bed, but he was no where in the room. The door to the washroom, too, lay open and unoccupied. I pulled my phone and checked the time - 12:10. Shit! I have overlsept. But nobody had come to wake me up, why? I freshened up and took a shower and then went downstairs. Mom (yes, I had moved from calling her Mahima aunty to calling her mom) and Ash chachi were sitting on the kitchen table, mixing something in a big bowl.

Both of them turned as I stepped into the kitchen.

~ "Areh, Drishti - come - sit."

~ "I am sorry I overslept. Why didn't anyone call me?"

~ "I was about to call you for breakfast but Rakshit told me not to."

Rakshit told not to wake me up, but why?