The Blemished And Scarred

3. Paying Back

Dedicated to

Dreamless_Slumber
user04825906
Suvarnalatha

Thanks for your continuous support.

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The reports were running on the screen aimlessly. Kabir just could not concentrate on a single digit present in the presentation.

His mother's words were the only thing ringing in his ears.

Kabir had came home late, after the dinner meeting he had to attend in absence of Vihaan. He was not in the favor of this contract and was clear with his intentions. Though Vihaan had a skeptical attitude towards this contract,  Veer was in complete denial.

He was already in a foul mood, when Vihaan had been persistent and asked the opposite party to give them some time, before the final decision was made.

His day was already very exhausting and the dinner meeting stretched. To test his patience, it started raining heavily, when he was driving back home. All he wanted was to crawl in the warm comforter and sleep like there was no tomorrow. But much to his annoyance, he had to look into the presentation and reports and was supposed to submit his observations the next day. This meant, his hope of a tight sleep was procrastinated by a couple of hours.

It was a heavy traffic on the roads of Mumbai. His speed had already slowed down. There was slight headache slowly developing in the background and that intensified the necessity to sleep.

He was stuck in the traffic and happened to look around through his rolled up window. His eyes caught a glimpse of a girl merrily chatting away with the man sitting behind the wheel. What caught his attention was,  her long beautiful hair that she had collected to her front by her left shoulder.

The hair gave him a reminder of a certain someone, who too, had beautiful or may be more beautiful hair. He smiled at a fond memory when he wanted to collect the hair and put them on the comforter, while she was asleep. There were a multiple times when he wanted to entangle his fingers in them. He had, a few times, wanted to pull off the small clip that had the audacity to bind them. He remembered, how upset he was with her, when she had tied them in a bun during the festival of Navratri.

Car's honking brought him to reality. He begrudgingly, chidded himself for his not so appropriate thoughts and moved his car towards his home, threading through the traffic.

He had bashed himself multiple times whenever such thoughts of the certain someone looted his peace of mind. But then his heart would argue that there is nothing wrong in thinking about someone. After all,  she had his pictures for so long.

Though his heart would sink at the feeling, that he snatched her important thing, he would then calm himself saying, it was inadvertent.
But then his brain would forcibly take him to a guilt trip.

He came home and it was still raining heavily. He had been presented with an umbrella by the staff to reach the main house from parking.

He went to his room and had a relaxing hot shower. All his muscles screamed in pleasure as the warm water cascaded down his body. He came out wearing a full sleeved button down shirt and grey sweatpants.
He sat on bed and contemplated if he should work or give in to his body's request of a deep slumber. He decided to give in to his need of sleep and was about to put off the small lamp, so that the already dimly lit room could drawn into complete darkness, when there was a knock on the door.

He opened the door and came face to face with his mother. She had a small tray in her hand. He invited her in looking at the tray. However exotic dishes he eats at the five star restaurant, he would always relish the food his mother cooked for him.

She had brought warm Gulabjamuns. Happiness danced in his eyes as he looked at the sweet topped with finely chopped pistachios. His mother smiled at his eagerness as he picked up one, and put it in his mouth and closed his eyes while he slowly chewed on it. The sweetness burst on his tongue,  filling his mouth with the aroma of cardamom.

It took him no time to gulp down all five pieces and he handed over the empty plate to her which she took back with a content smile.

"Tired? "  she asked him as he gulped down the water.

"Very. I wanted to come home early, but the meeting extended. And the rain did not help." he said placing his head in her lap.

She lovingly massaged his scalp and he closed his eyes to feel the pleasure.

"Is it cold outside?" she asked looking at the  comforter he had kept ready to sleep.

"Yeah, I came from out, so was feeling a little colder."

She kept quiet for a moment and then slowly spoke up, "Sunaina cannot stand cold...."

He suddenly got up from her lap. His heart filling with an unwanted emotion. Sheela too, felt the change in his demeanor. She suddenly felt guilty for dragging Sunaina's topic.
Looking at his hard face, she just wished him a good night and showed herself out.

Sleep was long gone. The content was short-lived and it's place was taken by the never ending cycle of guilt.

Her pale face was haunting him.  He had made her stand in the cold weather when she was completely drenched with heavy clothes. That, if not main, then was the partial reason that she landed herself in the hospital.
She had to endure cold because of him.

He tried to get rid of the budding and developing unwanted inhumane feeling, but when it was impossible, he booted his laptop and opened the presentation and reports that he was supposed to look into.

The digits were dancing on the screen, but all he could see and imagine was a pale sick face.

'Sunaina can't stand cold. "

He would trade every thing to stop the ringing. He then did what he could do at the time for some peace of his mind.

He stormed into the bathroom, opened the shower to cold temperature, and stood under it,  drenching himself.
He stood there until the cold reached his every bone.
He came out of his bathroom and marched to his balcony, slided the glass door open and stood in the open air.
The cold air chilled his body, numbed his every muscle.
But it could not numb the pain that emerged in his heart as a pale face danced in front of his closed eyes.

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Another chapter up.

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