Dear Husband, yours only [on hold]

✥ 24 | Family

Sidharth felt a flood of light. It was almost blinding. He opened his eyes and turned to his right, the source of the bright light. It took a few seconds for his eyes to get settled to the brightness. He could now make out the window and the sun outside. 

The events of the night came rushing back into his head one after the other. He had absolutely no clue how he had fallen asleep. He lifted his hand to see the time on his wrist watch. It was close to eight. 

He was awake until the early minutes of four. He remembered that Sanjh had woken up too when Raunak was up. She had fed him something and then they had given him the medicine. After that he was talking to Raunak about the animals in the zoo. 

It was blank after that. He turned to his left. Raunak was fast asleep beside him. Sanjh was missing. He sat up, raising his hand to massage his neck. He had slipped into sleep in a rather awkward position. He looked at the blanket that was over him. He didn't remember when he had laid down, when he had worn the blanket and when he had dozed off.  All he recollected was that he had been sitting and Raunak was beside him. 

A soft yawn escaped his mouth. His bladder begging for a draining. He got off the bed and walked to the bathroom. Before he could grab the door knob it was pulled away. He blinked. It took a few seconds to realize that the door had been opened from inside. 

His gaze lowered on Sanjh's face. She looked up at him surprised, her eyes opened wide. Her hair was wet and cheeks glowing. His heart skipped a beat. Sidharth's gaze lowered to her slightly parted lips and finally lower, to her neck that had a layer of moisture on it. He gulped. 

She cleared her throat stepping back. He realized what he had been doing and stepped back, clearing her path. She quickly walked out, Sidharth took a deep breath taking in her fresh fragrance as she passed by him. He momentarily shut his eyes and opened them before stepping in and shutting the door. 

Sanjh took a deep breath. After all these years having him around so close was messing with her mind. She dabbed the towel onto her neck. His words from last night looped in her mind. She couldn't quite get herself to forget them. Maybe she didn't want to. 

She hurriedly made an exit from the room. She wasn't ready to face him. Not after that awkward moment few minutes back. Not after their confrontation last night. She felt undecided. She needed time, time to process it all. 

Sidharth walked out of the washroom after making himself presentable. He checked on Raunak. The boy was still warm, but seemed better than last night. He sat on the bed beside his sleeping son and picked up his phone. He put in a leave for the day. He was definitely not in the right frame of mind to work. He gently ran his hand on Raunak's hair and kissed his forehead. 

He stared at him. Gosh, it pained to see the usually energetic bubble of joy so drained of energy.

A few minutes later he looked around the empty room. Should he stay or leave? It was weird. He was in his own house and yet he felt so out of place. But he had no clue when his parents would return. He didn't want to leave Sanjh alone. She couldn't even drive. She wasn't certainly well equipped to deal with an emergency if it presented itself. 

He looked at Raunak. He wanted to be around. 

He decided to go talk to Sanjh. He walked out of the room and his steps slowed as he reached the dining table. Sanjh who was setting up the breakfast table looked at him. Soon the other two people at the table looked at him too. 

Oh, so they were back. 

"How are you Sidharth?" His mother was quick to smile at him.

"I am fine Maa."