Seungcheol
I haven’t seen Nishi crying till date and there was an unknown feeling inside me when she was crying like this, I didn’t know if I would say it was hurting or I wanted her to smile back to make me feel better. The way she was holding Noor tightly and crying, I was feeling guilty for taking her away from Noor; she didn’t even cry when her parents teared up and her mom started crying. I am glad she stopped now and mom took us to the private room to break our fast. It was a few minutes past three on the clock.
Someone brought hot food for us and I took a glance at Nishi. She was quiet and I couldn’t understand what was she feeling. “Seungcheol, Nishita if you need anything specifically let me know because I was thinking it would be better if you had something simple right now because you’ve been fasting since morning.”
“Thank you” her voice was almost a whisper to me.
It reminded me of how bua reacted back then and Nishi was sorry. It was me who thought to give her water to calm down because she was probably having a panic attack and I had no idea what else I could do there back then. It was the first time I saw someone having a panic attack and I didn’t want her to take the whole blame when she just took one sip of water barely and pushed back the glass of water, it was probably because she realized and got reminded of the fast.
I saw maa coming near Nishi and cupped her face, “Nishita, you’re really precious and don’t let anyone say otherwise. I am so happy you’re finally the daughter-in-law in our house. And let me tell you, you might be the daughter-in-law for the whole family but for me, you’re my own daughter” and she kissed her forehead. She kept her hand on her forehead and said, “Hope you stay happy and eat well then you can rest up. You must have been tired today.” I wondered if mom knew about the incident. She looked so happy when she kissed Nishi’s forehead and then I wondered if anyone else knew, but one thing was sure, I needed to inform mom before she got to know from anyone else because whatever happened wasn’t right. And mom always hated when she got to know things from someone else when something happened inside our family.
“Seungcheol take care of her, okay?” I nodded at her words, “If you need anything just call me, okay?” I nodded and saw her leave.
The moment she left I turned my head to look at Nishi and I was about to say something but then I noticed the water drops on her hand which was resting on her lap. And one after one I heard her sniffs and I was too surprised and taken aback to even react. “Nishi” and then I saw her crying. No matter how pretty she looked right now, but I wanted her to stop crying.
I didn’t even know why was she crying, but there was an unknown pain inside me. I wanted her to stop and at least tell me what should I do so she would stop crying. “Nishi, please don’t cry”
I didn’t know how to calm her down, I couldn’t hug her out of the blue, knowing the reserved person she is, although my heart wanted to pull her into my embrace, and I had no idea what to do in this situation, I didn’t know the reason of her cries and I didn’t know if I should hug her tight or just let her cry. I wanted her to cry out so that she would feel better but each second her cries were getting harder.
I didn’t know how much time passed and I kept my hand on her hand, not knowing what to do next, “Nishi, please don’t cry”, “Nishi please” She had no response to my words but my hand was caressing hers. I had no idea how much time passed and I was feeling helpless. I wanted her to stop and wanted to know the reason but I didn’t know what to do, if it was Heesung then I would just sit by his side and pull him into a hug and if it was my mom then I would just pull her into my arms but Nishi? I didn’t know how would she feel comforted when she was crying and how am I supposed to comfort her when she was crying. And me feeling helpless at this point was making everything awkward for me.
I was about to say something and I heard the door open and I turned to look at the door. Before I could say anything, maa closed the door and came inside with the plate “Nishita”
She hurriedly came to her side, she kept the plate on the other side. “I heard you love Gulab Jamun from Noor and thought to bring some for you but here you’re crying” I saw her wiping Nishi’s tears, maybe… she needed maa right now?
“Nishita… don’t cry.” She turned to look at me in disbelief, “I just left you for barely half an hour and you made my daughter cry?”
“I didn’t, trust me.” I was about to say something and saw Nishi shake her head, “He-He didn’t” Her voice was literally a whisper, and she was having hiccups. Mom handed her a glass of water, and she was hesitating to take it, and somehow, it made me feel that it might be because of bua’s words. I was just barely assuming. “Nishita… drink water atleast, aise roote rahogi toh kaise chalega?” She wiped her tears again, “You’re like my own daughter Nishita, and if he did something, just tell me right now.” she turned to look at me, and I was surprised because maa wasn’t believing me. “He didn’t do anything” her voice was low, “if he didn’t do anything, then what happened? You’re my daughter Nishita, and if something happens, then you’re supposed to tell your mother, tell me what happened.” Somewhere it felt right to tell maa about the incident because I have no idea what would happen if someone else told maa about it and I would never know what extra would bua tell her.
I was about to say something but then Nishi’s voice cut me off “Nothing happened” her voice was almost a whisper and once again I was sure Nishi didn’t want to tell me what happened back then.
“Okay then, for now, eat first then we can talk about it and stop crying” She hugged her tight, and I saw Nishi hugging her back. After a few minutes, maa took the plate, and she was about to feed Nishi, “it’s already late Nishita, and eat something or you might fall sick” and finally she took a bite, “Seungcheol, do I have to tell you separately?” I almost forgot that I should break my fast as well. I was thankful to mom for feeding her because I had no idea if mom hadn’t fed her then what would’ve happened.
The moment maa started feeding her, I heard her sniffs and turned to look at her, “Nishita…” my mom whipped her tears using her left hand, “Don’t cry, I am here. Your mother is here” She nodded barely and started eating again when maa fed her. Once we were done, she looked at us, “Chalo, now since you’re done get some rest.” Nishi nodded, “and do you need any help Nishita?” she shook her head, Mom was about to get up but she stopped her, “yeh-” she stopped and she looked at maa, “chunri?” she nodded, and maa just smiled at her “give me a minute” I saw her going to washroom and coming back with clean hands, and the way mom removed the chunri from her head gently, it just reminded me how mom is so gentle with all the kids in our household and the way she treats my cousins as her own daughter. “do you need any more help?” Nishi shook her head, “No, thank you” Mom smiled and kissed her forehead again, “I will say it again, if you need any help just let me know, okay?” and then I saw Nishi smiling at her. “Yes” Mom was about to leave but turned to look at her again, “Also don’t even think twice before telling me if he does something, okay” Mom looked at me playfully and then I realized the small smile on Nishi’s face and somehow it felt warm all over and I felt better and relieved.
I saw mom walking out of the room, and that was the time for me to go and talk. “Maa” and I just followed her, once we were outside the room, I stopped her, “Maa”
“Why was Nishita crying? Tell me what did you tell her so that my daughter was crying?” I sighed, “I didn’t do anything maa” She looked at me, “Trust me also… I wanted to talk something”
“Now?”
“Yes, and it’s about bua…” I paused thinking how to phrase the whole thing, I was the oldest in our household and there were things my mom needed to know; knowing she is also the oldest daughter-in-law in our household and whatever happened back then I could just let it go, I never know what will bua tell mom so it’s better to come out clear “Bua abruptly came into Nishi’s room earlier” I took a deep breath before telling her what were the things she told us, it felt like I could remember everything very clearly and each word I told her meant everything to me.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Mom was pissed and it was so rare to see her pissed, “Why didn’t you tell me at that time and why would she say these to you both and specially Nishita” She almost raised her voice and was about to turn back and go inside our room, “Maa, don’t tell Nishi right now, she got no idea that you know now and-
“But that was wrong, Seungcheol even you know and I can’t do this to her, even before she stepped inside our house as our daughter-in-law, she had to hear this from our family member? And when she is like my daughter how could I do this to her? Won’t this be unfair for her? And what was her fault? She pushed back the glass as soon as she realized and even if she didn’t we can’t say it was her fault because it was the whole situation. Seungcheol…” I can’t see my mom stressed but looking at her like this, I didn’t know how to respond anymore, somewhere maybe I knew how was she feeling, maybe like me, guilty at some point but she was true, it was unfair to Nishi.
“Maa, I don’t know who else knows this but I wanted to tell this to you and I didn’t want you to hear this from anyone else.”
It made me realize I needed to talk to Nishi about the whole thing and clear out everything because after that we didn’t get a chance to talk and she needed to know I would be by her side and that’s why I took seven vows today.
“Okay, but if something like this happens, you need to tell me right there only and take care of her, okay?” I nodded, “get some rest, we need to go back to Delhi in the afternoon” I nodded. “Now, go get some sleep” Mom kissed my forehead, and I smiled at her.
Author’s Note:
Any guesses why was Nishita crying? I wanna know your thoughts~
Also I was supposed to update this on Saturday but got late because of some submission and tomorrow I got Viva and you can see what I am doing, lol I don’t feel like studying T^T but BUT I am going to study after I update this <3
ALSO THATS WHY I COULDN’T DO THE PROOFREAD
Happy Reading :)