Forever Yours

Chapter Thirty Two

"I saved her Siddharth." Shehnaaz whispered, looking up at him, surprised-- happy but most of all relieved.  

Siddharth nodded, again. He was sitting with in the medical room, trying to understand how to proceed. He knew that what Megha had been through, and what Shehnaaz had witnessed was not an easy thing to get out of one's mind.  

"I'm proud of you, Superstar. I'm so proud of you baby." Siddharth told her, a small, encouraging smile on his face. Shehnaaz blinked, a tear slipped down her cheeks. He wiped her eyes and placed a soft kiss on her forehead.  

"It's over now. Megha is safe and so are the other kids." Siddharth said softly. 

Shehnaaz flinched, his words had brought back memories that Shehnaaz had been trying her hardest to bury in the corner of her mind. Siddharth hadn't referred to the incident directly, he had barely told him that everything was okay, that it was all over. That was supposed to be a good thing, it should have made her feel better, not worse but her mind was already looking for a chance to bring everything forward. Make her think.  

She didn't want to. Up until now, Shehnaaz was desperately keeping all visual reminders of the incident at bay. Of course she knew what had happened, but to think about it or to be pulled back into it, one more time felt much too painful to bear.  

She wondered what good it'd do to her, to keep a part of today under a lock and key and vow to never think of it again. She wondered if she could even do it. 

She didn't know.  

Shehnaaz knew that delaying a confrontation ljke that would do her no good, but somehow she couldn't bring herself to understand that. She gasped softly as another few tears spilled down her cheeks. 

"Hey.. little bird--" 

She couldn't.  

She needed to deal with it. She needed to think about it, look back at every little detail of those few minutes, relive them. She looked at Siddharth helplessly as a sob erupted from her throat.  

"I'm here baby. I'm right here with you."  

Another sob 

"You need a hug?" He asked softly.  

Shehnaaz looked at him surprised. She looked so innocently adorable in that moment that Siddharth was half-tempted to pull her into a tight hug, before she could respond, and never let go but he knew that this was a moment of vulnerability for her and thus, thought it wise to wait for her to make her mind up.  

Shehnaaz did say yes, obviously and Siddharth pulled her into his arms, kissed the top of her head, pulled her closer still, kissed her head again and told her that she was okay. They were okay.  

Shehnaaz nodded into his chest. She could never quite fathom how he could understand her so well, listen to her silences, see through her darkest dreams.  

"Not the darkest dreams." She thought, snuggling deeper into his arms. A few minutes later, Siddharth felt her sobbing quietly against his chest.  

Siddharth sighed. He hated to see her that way. He had always hated her tears with a passion, but today an instinct told him not to interrupt her. Maybe, crying would help her a little 

"Baby.." Siddharth caressed her hair gently, a few very long minutes of heartbreaking sobs later. Siddharth's shirt was almost completely soaked in tears. "Kucch nahi hua meri jaan."  

"I'm sorry Siddharth.." She mumbled, loud enough for him to hear. "I'm sorry.." 

"Shhh.. It's okay. Sab theek hai baby." Siddharth said firmly. "Dekh mujhe, believe me my little bird, everything is going to be fine."