The Beloved

Flashback

SK grabbed a bottle of water and went back upstairs without giving a second look to anyone and no one stopped him. Aisha was thrilled, Aman was shocked and Amisha was confused. As soon as SK was out of sight, Nisha went to their assigned room and quickly grabbed her stuff and stepped out. She glared at Sameer, "Why are you still standing here? I would like to leave with or without you. Choice is yours." Sameer looked around to see if anyone had anything to say but no one did. He grabbed his things and stepped out. He walked up to Aman saying, "I came only because you invited me. You let your guest treat me like this?" Before Aman could reply Aisha responded, "Sorry Sameer but you invited yourself. If you think about it Aman was inviting Ansh to our family get together. You "assumed" that you were invited too and we were just being polite. Ansh and Arohi are more than friends to us."

SK gently opened the bedroom door. Thankfully Arohi was still asleep. He decided to take the sofa in the corner but just when he was about to settle there, a huge thunder hit and Arohi began to tremble. SK quickly went up to her and lay beside her patting her head gently. She was still asleep but she quickly grabbed on to his shirt pulling him closer. He wrapped his arm around her and shushed her while she continued to sleep.

It was dark. Arohi was walking all alone. It was raining heavily. She was cold and was getting wet. There was no one around. Suddenly she found herself walking out of a closet. The house was finally quiet. No one was looking for her. She climbed down the stairs. It was dark and the house seemed empty. She wanted escape but could not find the door. She heard footsteps behind her. Her heart was pounding. An arm covered her mouth and picked her up. She tried to move the hand. She wanted to see who it was but this person was leading her towards a big door. She gasped and woke up sweating profusely. SK was right there. He whispered, "Onnum illai onnum illai. It was just a dream. You are safe. Naan inge irukken paaru." She turned around to look at his face. He saw fear and helplessness in her eyes. She hugged him and burst out crying. He held her tightly and gave her a few minutes to settle down.

When she realized what she was doing, she slowly pulled herself away from him saying, "Sorry. I am so sorry. Ellarum serndhu enjoy pannalaamnu vandha edathula naan... ippidi... Aman chetta and Aisha paavam. I spoilt it for everyone. I think I should just leave." As she was about to get up, SK pulled her back and hugged her. Holding her, he said, in his calming base voice, "No. None of this is your fault. Yup did nothing wrong. You need to heal and I am here to help you. We all have issues. Sila perukku diabetes, hypertension nu irukku adhuve unakku mind la irukku. That's all. You are going to be perfectly fine. I promise."  For some reason, his words and his hug made her emotional and fresh tears started flooding down her cheeks.

She slowly pulled away from him and said, "Thank you SK for everything, for staying with me during one of my darkest days. I know I am very difficult to handle but you stayed, unlike others in my life. I think it is time for me to share some of these with you now. Ippo sollalena ennala solla mudiyuma nu therila." He looked into her eyes, held her hands and said, "Arohi, I will always be there beside you as a doctor, as a friend or anything else. You can trust me with your deepest and darkest story and I will help you through it." Arohi smiled at him feebly.

Arohi started, "My mother realized soon that she was not in love with my father. She was infatuated by the man and had enjoyed the attention he gave her. She enjoyed his physical touch and lost herself in him but it was too late when she realized that. One day, when he was on an outdoor shoot, she packed her bags and left to my grandfather's house. She was upset about the rumours of my dad and his co-star. She could not stand the thought of him treating his costar like he had treated her. When dad returned, he found a note from my mom saying she was leaving him. I was barely two when my mom left with me. My dad loved me and couldn't stay without me so he came to us pleading to my mom to come back home with him but she refused."

Arohi continued, "Dad tried everything possible and finally, per mom's orders, he even moved to grandpa's house to try to make things work. In those days, an actress lost her career when she got married. Here mom had a baby too. She had lost her figure and so called beauty so she wasn't getting any offers. So she asked Dad to make a movie for her which he refused to do. She was angry and asked him to leave accusing him of cheating. She claimed that he refused to make the movie on,y because he wanted a much younger actress to play the role. Although he tried to convince her, she kicked him out of the house and filed for divorce under grounds that he was a cheater. Court sanctioned the divorce and gave him limited visitation with me. I was raised by a nanny. My mom hated me. She felt that I was the reason for her downfall. She could not even look at me. She was miserable and during this time she made some bad choices with some wrong people and she started to party."

"She started consuming alcohol and soon became an addict." Arohi's hands started to tremble and her throat felt dry. SK realized that her trigger point was from here so he held out his hand for her to hold. She looked into his eyes. She saw immense warmth and genuineness there. He will never betray her trust, will he?

Brinda Subramanian