Along the Lines of Love | ✓

Epilogue

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tu hi to mannat meri, tu hi rooh ka sukoon

♪

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Nikhil entered the room to find Sharanya seated on the sofa with her head thrown back. She had her earphones, the ones he had gifted her, plugged in. She looked exhausted. Her hands were around her evident baby bump. The last month had been taxing for her. Her back aches had got worse. Now, she almost always had sore feet, if she stood for a lot of time. She even had to buy a new set of clothes she could fit into, she had been putting on weight and increasing in inches.

He sat on the bed removing his socks. He had now made it a careful habit to remove his shoes downstairs and place them in the shoe rack. Three weeks back Sharanya had literally shouted at him for not being able to follow something as basic as that.

He had felt bad, very bad. He was angry even. She couldn't talk to him like that. Not even if she was angry. They had ended up not talking for two days. Nikhil could make out she regretted shouting on him. It was even more embarrassing because Shreya was just outside their room in the hall watching television. And had been an unintended audience to the spectacle.

Her small gestures began melting his heart, like always. Cute notes in the lunch bag, messages of heartfelt apologies in his inbox and tiny notes around the room. Finally on the third day, when she had verbally apologized again, when he was getting ready, he had hugged her accepting the apology.

So it was decided then, that Nikhil would make it a habit to park his shoes in the rack before coming up and Sharanya wouldn't shout at him no matter how wild her hormones got.

He picked up the pair of socks and walked to the bathroom. Tossing them in the laundry basket he washed up and stepped out. He had had a bad day at work. He made his way to his wife and sat beside her.

It was then that she notice him. She sat up straight and turned to look at him, unplugging the earphones form her ears.

"I didn't notice, you came." She stated the obvious.

He gently caressed her flushed cheeks. "You look awfully exhausted."

She leaned towards him, looping her arms around his torso. "Because I am." Her voice was low. There were days when she would be in her best spirits and then there were days when she'd be at her lowest.

Nikhil turned towards her, taking her in a hug. Hugs were the ultimate comforters for her. He pressed a kiss on her hair. "What happened?"

"I am tired Nikhil. It's so annoying. Kitchen was my favorite place to be. Now I can't even bare the smell of some of the spices and things. If I stand for more then thirty minutes my feet get hurt. Some of my favorite kurtis don't fit me. I am so miserable. And we're only halfway there. We have five more months!"

Nikhil held her close to himself. "It's okay to feel not okay. The miserable feeling will go away. You need to be strong Sharanya. Now, let's fix your mood. Tell me, what do you want...a long drive, a long walk or you want to watch a movie, or maybe brownie from corner house?"

"I want to do nothing."

"Okay, let's do nothing." He said, putting up his feet on the table. His arm wrapped around her shoulder while she tilted her head onto his shoulder. His left hand found a way to her right. Their fingers interlaced.

"How was your day?" Sharanya asked after a long pause.

Nikhil took a in a deep breath and exhaled audibly before saying, "I would rather not talk about it."