The Kashyup Redemption

ix. Echo

It was even worse when she did not turn up with his lunch.

Ankit came instead.

For one, it made him uncomfortable to have his temperature checked by that man he barely knew. The fact that he was Vidushi's husband made him even more uncomfortable than it would normally have. The other man's hands were anything but careful. Ankit's hands were clumsy and his fingers were clammy. Parth did not like it at all. Sanyukta was considerate of his comfort. And Vidushi's hands were soft and small.

Vidushi. Now that he had seen her, he couldn't stop his thoughts from turning to her.

She was a major reason for him starting to find the spacious Agarwal mansion too small. It was like he was being smothered by the formal atmosphere and the silence. Like he was unwelcome.

But she had been nothing but polite to him in the morning.

He knew that the true reason for his discomfort was that he was expecting Vidushi to come. And her not turning up had shaken him a little.

The Vidushi Kumar he knew would never let go of an opportunity to be close to him.

It was with a sharp pain in his gut Parth remembered that she was not Vidushi Kumar anymore.

She was Vidushi Agarwal now.

Vidushi Agarwal. It did not sound quite right.

And she did not seem quite right either.

Parth made himself recollect how she'd looked when she'd come to see him in the morning.

Her hair was slightly disheveled. She was wearing a kurta.

He'd actually expected her to be decked up as fancy as she could. Flashing all her wealth in his face. Mocking him.

But she'd looked simple yet elegant. She'd treated him like a guest who had to be made comfortable. The ideal bahu.

Parth's teeth ached with the memory of how Vidushi used to be. It made him feel like he was in some alternate reality. Like his coma had whisked him off into a strange world he had not lived in before.

He was lying in bed all day with nothing to do. TV had never interested him. The novels Sanyukta had got him were on the sidetable. None of them were the psychology books he usually liked.

He flipped through the small pile. Stephen King's Carrie. A battered copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone. He'd read them all before. He finally opened 'Gone Girl' with interest after Sanyukta told him it was a blockbuster movie. She'd left for ISRC, hoping to get into the Mission Mars programme. Chuckling at the fact that the book's name was Gone girl and Sanyukta had just Ran out, gone.

But the book's first page had an inscription on it that wiped his smile.

'Dear Vidu. I know that this is far from a romantic gift. The couple in this book are really messed up. But it's a nail biting read. And to be honest there is no way you'd cut off those nails of yours. So I'm hoping you'd bite them.

Love, your husband's shoulders ( which are acutely suffering from nail marks)'

There was a little winky face.

There would only be one reason why Ankit's shoulders would be marked by Vidushi's nails.

And below that, in Vidushi's familiar writing:

"Dork. But that's what I get for marrying a man with a Masters in Literature. That and the cheesy romantic lines. (...)< this is me rolling my eyes. I'll read the damn thing provided you start taking your work more seriously. Or you'll have to be a house husband and I'll have to handle the office."

And under that.

"I did bite my nails. You are not getting any love until they grow back. And no. Pouts won't work."

It made him feel more unwelcome than he'd ever felt. To dispel that feeling Parth dived right into the book.

He read it like a man possessed. Trying to wash away the inscription he'd read.

Luckily, the story had psychological aspects and he was immersed in it.

He was almost at the last page when there was a knock at the door.

"Come in."

It was Vidushi. Carrying a bottle of alcohol.