Vodka on the rocks

Part - 2

"Pallavi please! Main.. tumhe koi justification dene ki zaroorat nhi hain. I don't want any explanation. I just.. I don't know. I just felt like something broke inside me yesterday. Irrevocably. Main tabse use jodne ki koshish kiye jaa raha hain par... to no avail."

Pallavi felt her tears finally break free from the surface of her eyes and slide down her face as Raghav walked towards the glass doors of their room which opened in the gym. He kept a hand over it and shuddered a liquid sigh.

"Yesterday I.. I didn't want to go there. Amma told me you will give me the award. So I... isliye gaya tha. Main stage pe khada tha Pallavi.. tumhe dhoond raha tha.. I just kept staring at the door till I felt the announcer might have exploded in embarrassment. That time mujhe... aisa feeling ayaa na ki main bata nhi paayega tumhe. Woh expectations tutne walaa dard bohot bura chubta hain Pallavi. Bohot bura...

Aur phir tum ayaa. Mandaar ka justification leke.. maine dekha use wahaan. Par tumhe laga main usse hallucinate kar raha hun..

Tum.. tum mera guroor tha Pallavi."

His voice broke even as he struggled to keep his emotions, his pain in check. Pallavi pressed her hand to her throat to dissolve the rock inside there probably. The pain in his voice was choking her.

"Arre mera jaan hi maang leta Saree ka dukaan. Main de deta tumhe khushi khushi.. lekin tumne toh mera guroor hi tod diyaan."

Pallavi let out a sobbing gasp at that and before he could say anything he felt the weight of his wife attach to his back like a limpet. She buried her face in his back and sobbed apologies in his burning skin.

"I am sorry... I am sorry. Please Raghav meri baat ka bharosa karo... Main jaana chahti thi.. phir tum ghar aaye the.. main bahaar jaana chahti thi.. bhaag ke gyi bhi thi.. but baba ne darwaza lock karke chaabi rakh liya tha apne paas... I pleaded, cried.. literally begged him to let me go to you.. but... he thought tum mujhe leke chale jaoge..

Main usse pehle ghar bhi aayi thi but Keerti ne.. mere muh pe darwaza band kar diyaan tha.. Amma ne bhi kahaan ki abhi mat milo.. tum gussa ho.. main aayi thi Raghav... please.. I am sorry.. mujhe maanf kardo please."

Raghav turned around shocked at the revelations. She clung to him immediately as he turned not letting him get out of her desperate clutch. He hugged her back crushingly. Her proximity was an immediate balm to his burning soul. He kissed her on the head trying to stop her crying. But Pallavi couldn't stop. She kept hearing his words feeling them pierce her heart like poisonous arrows. All she could think at the moment was that he was hurt. He was so hurt. Because of her.

Raghav felt tears stream down his face too. Her pain always ached him. No matter what. He patted her head and back soothingly murmuring sweet consolations in her hair. She finally calmed down and separated. Her face was red and blotched and it made him ache for her.

"I am sorry.."

"Bass.. enough. Ho gaya.. yaad hain na.. raat khatam baat khatam? Don't cry sweetheart."

"Nhi.. hum isse aise khatam nhi kar sakte. I didn't want you to get humiliated like this. I never wanted to hurt you. But aisa lag raha hain.. jabse Mandaar lauta tabse main wahi kiye jaa rahi hun.."

Raghav shook his head and held her close to his chest again letting her bury herself inside him. He knew she was tired. As tired as him if not more. She needed rest and they could do this tomorrow morning. So he silently picked her up in his arms and she wordlessly cuddled into them.

He was her home, her haven, her safe place in this cruel world. She wanted to say so many things but his lips silenced her moulding themselves softly around her mouth. She sighed into the kiss and felt herself getting lowered on the bed. And then he got into the bed beside her and kissed her forehead before snuggling in.