Silent Hearts

7| Seven

"The more he continued hiding away his feelings, the more he kept falling for her..."

***

Nandini rushed towards the backyard of her house, a small and old-fenced piece of land, grassy and quite shabby with dangling creepers on the faded walls and trees of mangoes and bougainvillaea in the dark corners, some flower plants were grown on the other sides, roses adorning the greenery, the white blooms, jasmine shining beautifully through the lush leaves. In the corner, an old mango tree was rooted, where Nandini found solace from the time she could not think of.

She ran towards that old tree, which was seeded by her grandfather and her when she was a third-grader. That one tree was very close to her heart of all the three trees in there, it instilled cherishing memories of her dear grandfather. Her palm touched her left chest where she could feel her beats of heart, trying to lessen the speed to normalcy.

Tomorrow, she recalled.

Tomorrow was the day she would be married again. Tomorrow was the day she would be his. Tomorrow was the day she would get to wear the red wedding saree once again. From tomorrow, no one would ever bother her...she would get what she sought...peace. Tomorrow she would be free from every taunt yet being caged in a union of two silent souls.

Once again, a new life would begin for her. But, was she ready? Was she willing to start a new phase with Tushar? Would she be able to forget him just yet? Would those memories be wiped away from their existence? Would she be free from those remarks? Would she be free from those haunting nightmares? Would Tushar ever help her with anything? Would he ever accept a nuisance like her? Would Tushar ever understand her?

Nandini did not know nor could she discern why she was thinking all those. She knew she could never give him anything more than the respect he deserved as a human, she knew she could never understand him, she knew he was different from her, oh, so very different. Nandini knew she could never see him as her husband.

Then why? Why did those thoughts frighten her? Why did they knock on the entrance to her disturbed mind?

Nandini looked away, biting her dry bottom lip, as her heart felt heavy with different memories flooding through her mind; deliberately her wandering gaze settled on those rose bushes in a tiny distance from her. Those roses lured her in towards their mystic, asking her to pick them and touch them with her fragile hands as if they wanted to be the ones consoling that beautiful woman with a bitter past.

Without her knowledge about what she was doing, Nandini found her small feet pushing past the grass that tickled her, her heart asking her to keep those red blooms to herself...and only herself. The bitter memories of the dusk of her life mocked her for her mindless thinking of having another life with someone else. The swiftly flowing winds nuzzling in the nooks of her body, making her shiver with their sensation as her steps took her further. Her mind roamed with anonymous problems, startling her senses.

Kneeling by the side of the bushes, Nandini peered at the roses, stared at the way the petals danced with the wind, the way the redness hugged the lush leaves, the way those blooms shook their heads as if welcoming the woman before them. Wonder masked her calm face the more she continued to look at the flowers. Roses had always been enthralling to her, the way they had so many different meanings, how their different colours always symbolised unique ideas. It was just fascinating to her.