The Exchange

Threshold

As he carried her up the stairs, he heard her breaths finally start to calm down. She stared down the hallway, tears filling her eyes...remembering every time she had walked this path before, holding her Abhi's hand in her's. But, this time, he carried her...it was as if this time she was here forever...about to enter their room as she should have on their wedding day if he had not been called away for an emergency surgery...

"Akshu, jab humari shaadi huyi thi toh tumhe akele andar jaana para tha na? Liken aaj ke baad tum khabhi bhi akeli nahi hogi...tum jaha bhi jao gi, mujhe apne saath payo ghi...tum meri bhahon mein jao gi..." he whispered, almost as if he had read her mind. 

She looked into his eyes and smiled, believing every word he said without hesitation, knowing that as long as she had him, she had everything. 

And over a year later, they crossed the threshold of their room together, ready to face the rest of their lives as two halves of the same whole. 

But when they entered their room, her heart shattered into millions of pieces all over again. What was once full of color, full of their memories was now an empty white box...a prison cell. The walls were entirely barren, the drawers empty, the warmth gone. 

"Abhi...."

"Akshu", he said softly, resting her down on the floor. "Sorry, Akshu...I'm so sorry...liken tumhare bina is room mein kya, meri zindagi mein ek bhi rang nahi tha...mein yahan ata bhi nahi tha Akshu...kyunki yeh kamara tumhare bina kamara nahi, jail tha..." 

It hit her yet again...how much she had hurt him, how much her absence had killed him...how badly she had destroyed him. She cupped his face into her palms, forcing him to look into her eyes, forcing him to let her see his pain, to let her make it her own... "Abhi tum kyun sorry bol rahe ho...I am sorry Abhi... meri waje se...."

"Akshu...bas...aur kuch mat bolna...sorry toh bilkul bhi nahi..." 

"Abhi, liken..."

He put his finger on her lips, and slowly took her towards the bed, helping her lay down when she felt the room spinning around her. Right as she was about to speak, he shook his head, gently pushing her hair to the side, stroking her forehead, wiping her tears. He saw the tiredness, the pain in her eyes and asked her to sleep...telling her that they would figure out the rest together, that everything else could wait until tomorrow...telling her that nothing else mattered in this moment. She resisted at first, but slowly dozed off, feeling his arms around her, feeling safer, more at peace than she had in the entire last year. 

And once she was safely asleep, he slowly got off from the bed, knowing there was something he had to do. Knowing that his wife had been deeply insulted...so deeply insulted that nothing would ever make up for it...never could there come a day when he would be able to forgive what had happened downstairs. 

And with those thoughts, he quietly left his room, ready to present his ultimatum to his family. Either him and his Akshu would stay in this house or Mahima...and Mahima would have to pay...he would make sure she paid even if it was the last thing he ever did...