Only Yours - THE VOW | ✓

Chapter - 25

With only an hour of sleep after the packed craze of work, Nikshit was woken up by a burst of rain falling on the roof of the car. He could see street vendors pulling away from the rain, people running around with and without umbrellas, some drenched and some seemingly unaffected standing under a shade.

He'd fallen asleep minutely after getting into the car. The jet lag was probably added onto the piled up tiredness, he felt like his body was going to collapse anytime. Luckily the extremely humid weather has been tamed within minutes of the downpour. That made him feel much more relaxed.

He'd told Maithili he wouldn't be able to make it today, there's too much to handle at the office. He'd lied. He was definitely not going to miss their first marriage anniversary for sure. The rain has washed down the windows of the car, Nikshit could see the reflection of his own face in it, unimpressed. An exhausted and fatigued face. He was going to get an earful for sure.

Going on for more than a month over one proper meal a day had taken an obvious toll on his body. So much so that his clothes looked a size bigger than usual. Reaching home at an odd hour early in the morning was indeed surprising.

“Sleep deprived?” Maithili asked in a low voice as they sat together for breakfast on the dining table with everyone. Coincidentally, Kaushiki and Vidhart looked just as sleep deprived as Nikshit and Viren was sitting in a daze looking at the tea cup kept in front of him as if there was a fish swimming inside. Early morning meant either a great start or an annoying start of the day. Today seemed to be the latter.

“Look at you. All of you” Neelam gritted her teeth, glaring at them. The sudden slam of her hand on the table jolted them all awake, not daring to look away from their plates.

“It's seven in the morning, did you not have the whole night to sleep? As far as I remember you were snoring the whole time. And you, did you not have any access to food and rest over there?” Neelam’s gaze had shifted to Nikshit. Nikshit dared not answer back and quietly chewed on the food in his mouth.

“You husband and wife both look malnourished. We don't have food at home, Maithili? Did you two think nobody will notice and question your behavior? Can't you just share what's bothering you with any of us? What are we a family for if we're not reliable in tough times? And here I thought it was getting better.” Neelam wasn't planning to keep going on but she couldn't stop herself once she'd opened her mouth. She'd been bottling up so many more things she wanted to say but looking at their faces which depicted nothing less than an apologetic, made her stop.

“After breakfast, leave the twins with me and go to catch some sleep. I'll keep them engaged until then.” It was really stupid how babies could sleep all day but wouldn't sleep a wink at night. Waking up multiple times within a few hours of night had both their parents on the edge.

Home sweet home. That's the first thing that came to his mind when his body hit the soft mattress boundlessly. Wearing the clothes that were kept inside the same wardrobe as hers, they had a slight fragrance of her presence around. He could smell her on the bed sheet and pillows, the tranquility of being back to a place that was the most peaceful place in the world for him, was so calming that Nikshit drifted into a deep slumber for a long time.

Maithili hadn't come up to the room after eating and left without really even giving him a proper hug. She wasn't to blame though, it was time to leave for work. The house was oddly quiet. Neelam had taken the twins downstairs with herself and Kaushiki and Vidhart were given the much needed time to grab a few hours of sleep.

Ever since the twins were born, Neelam had decided to almost retire from her work and spend more time at home with her grandchildren. According to her and Viren, they've worked enough, now they want to relax and spend time at home with family and go on leisurely trips after sometime when Viren has handed over the rest of the work to his children.