Undying Love |✔

Chapter 35- Not Every Day Remains the Same

The funeral took longer than expected. By the time Amit reached home, it was already after midnight.

His exhaustion was blatant through how emotionally drained he felt. During the funeral, he couldn't stop his tears. But slowly, like those wooden logs burned along with his father's dead body, his body gave up on him too.

For him, everything was pitch black.

After he reached home, everyone worked in silence. His mother was busy in keeping everything in order- putting clothes aside for laundry and making sure that the house was warm enough to sleep in.

Amit, along with Aamir, bathed silently in his backyard with warm water his mother had kept it for them.

It was a long day, and he felt like he hadn't slept in ages. All he wanted was his bed, and a good night's sleep to forget the few hours of his life. He was going through the steps monotonously, making his way to his room, without his brain making sense of anything rationally.

In his tiredness, he didn't notice that Avni was sleeping on the other side of his bed.

When the bed dipped, Avni made her presence known by whispering her greetings in the silent room.

The sleepiness he was feeling, suddenly faded, and he asked, "Avni?" in perplexity.

"Yes?"

"What are you doing here?"

"Your mom asked me to sleep in here. Is that okay?"

"Yeah, I suppose."

But his voice wasn't confident. He was thinking as to why his mother would do such a thing? No matter what, his mother lived in this village after all. How could she be okay with them sleeping under one roof?

Avni sensed his confusion and stated. "I can go if there's a problem."

Amit was hesitant in his answer. There was a problem surely, but did he really want that? Now that he knew Avni was here with him, he wanted nothing more but hold onto her hand until he was away from the grief.

Just when Avni took his silence as an answer and got to move, he stopped her by whispering, "No. Stay."

And slowly, in the darkness, two hands found each other, just like an anchor that connected a drowning person to the life. Avni's presence was more than an anchor to him. For him, it was the last hope of happiness, and a comfort of warmth in this cold night.

Sadness mingled with grief connected, and both of them found solace in each other's presence. Despite the emotional chaos, Amit slept with his fingers tangled in Avni's, which provided him the much-needed peace.

*

Next morning was a different affair.

When he awoke, he found his bed empty. In the day's light, all his rational senses went active, and he made his way to his kitchen dejectedly when the smell of tea invaded his senses.

Of course, his mother would be up before anyone else. When he looked around, he didn't find Avni considering she wasn't beside him when he woke up.

As if on cue, his mother answered his unspoken question, "She's taking a bath,"

He nodded and sat down on one of those muddi chairs.

No matter how old we become, mom's kitchen always holds a significant place in our hearts. Amit thought to himself and devoured his scalding tea with toasts his Ma had just set in front of him.

His Ma came and sat in front of him too. There was a long pause in Amit's next sentence, but he asked nonetheless, "How are you?" without choking on his words this time.