The Stigma Called Love - Chapter 96

Aparna did not know how to react. She kept on standing there so transfixed and dazed out that she did not hear Prakriti calling her. 

When she did not reply, Prakriti came running towards her crying and wrapped her arms around her legs. 

Jolted, Aparna picked her up and wiped away the tears.  

“Shhhhh! Sweetheart, it’s over, don’t worry.”

“What if he comes back?” Prakriti asked giving scared looks towards the door. 

“No, baby. He won’t. I won’t let him. Trust me.”

Nodding, her daughter wrapped her arms around her neck and buried her face in her throat. 

As Aparna hugged her back, a pang of loss started to settle around her heart. 

In the past 7 years, her life had taken a 360-degree turn; sometimes tears had drowned her and sometimes joy had overwhelmed her. 

But the past year, she had experienced something, she had never hoped for. 

“Aparna?”

Madhu broke through her thoughts and she opened her eyes. Slowly she lowered Prakriti to the floor but her daughter did not let go of her hand. 

“Sweetheart, I need you to stay with Madhu masi for some time. I’ll have a bath and then we will start planning for your birthday tomorrow. Deal?”

A long lost smile spread through Prakriti’s face and she heaved a sigh of relief as she bounded off with Madhu. 

Aparna slowly entered the room and sat down on the bed. 

“You okay?” she heard Harish ask as he came and stood next to her.

She just nodded and hung her head trying to appease the emotions running rampant inside her. Suddenly she felt Madhu’s hand pressing hers. 

“I am so sorry.”

“Don’t be, coz it’s not your fault.”

“No, it is. I should have stopped all this long time ago. I shouldn’t have let him do this to us.”

Sighing, Madhu just nodded not knowing what to say. 

She got up and started to leave. 

“Madhu?”

“Yes?”

“It was never his fault.”

Madhu’s eyes widened as she realised what her friend was talking about.

“What should I do?” Aparna asked looking at her mournfully. 

“Do what your heart desires,” Madhu replied.

Aparna closed her eyes knowing that no matter what she did, nothing would take away the pain. 

As Madhu left, she got up and went inside the washroom. Shedding her clothes, she stood beneath the shower and let the water wash away the anguish in her pores. But somehow it just increased it. 

Slowly Aparna slid to the floor and wound her arms around her. Seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years wasted just because she had thought herself to be a victim. No, she is not: she is a survivor. She had survived because she hadn’t given up on living a life, which she thought she had a right to. 

If 6 years of her life had been hell, then the past year was nothing short of a heaven. She had seen respect, found it in her work and experienced it every day. 

But she had lost something precious due to her trivial fears; something that she can never get back. 

Tears of regret streamed down her eyes and she sobbed her heart out. Suddenly a pair of arms encircled her in a much-needed embrace. She struggled but the arms did not let go. 

“Shhhhh! It’s me.”

And a serene silence settled inside her with the words. 

She kept on sobbing in his arms till there were no tears left. The only thing that remained was his heat inside her and his scent on her. 

**********************

Nishant woke up late in the afternoon a little better than before. Although his body was still aching in odd places but still there was a certain calm numbness inside.

As he sat up on the sofa, he pressed his palms to his face trying to control his thoughts. 

He has given it the last shot. 

If she has to come back then she will.

Otherwise, you have got to live with it.

If tears and this torment were his eternal companions and her memories were the only way of being with her, then he will cry with the joy of loving her and live every moment feeling miserable.

Nishant smiled as he remembered each and every dream he had seen while his mind was drugged with sleep. He remembered the feel of her arms, lips and body and yes, most of all he remembered her eyes, which kept on saying one thing again and again. 

I love you. 

Instantly, Nishant got up from the sofa and went inside the washroom. 

An hour later, he descended the stairs and looked around, and noticed an empty place. So, the lodgers have checked out. 

“Lakshman?”

As he saw him coming out of the dining room, Nishant said, “I am going for a walk. Don’t wait up if I am late.”

Nishant kept walking miles after miles climbing and then descending slowly toward the gorgeous Tosh River. Although the view was breathtaking, however, nothing touched his heart. He sat down on one of the boulders and looked at the calm and serene water. It almost reflected his state: calm and peaceful outside but turbulent and unstable inside. 

Everything around him reminded of her. Even the air had her scent. As he breathed in, he closed his eyes and felt her beside her. 

She rested her head on his shoulders and a wisp of hair touched his cheeks reminding him of the time when they had sat on these boulders and watched the day go by. The sound of her voice, the way her hands moved when she spoke and the way she looked at him every time he started to say something: he remembered each and everything. 

Tears failed him as he tried to hold onto the hope of seeing her again. He knew he would never ever love anybody like the way he loved her. 

“Move on,” he heard her say. 

A sad smile stretched across Nishant’s face as he heard her. 

How could he, when she was the reason for him being alive. 

Slowly he got up and started walking towards the guest house again. 

************************

Lakshman peaked here and there and let them in. 

“Where is he?” the man asked in a whisper. 

“He has gone for a walk.”

“Good! Time enough to get everything done.”

Copyright © Paromita Majumder. All Rights Reserved.