Chapter 8
Chap 9: 4 Weeks..
—o—
Mili woke up with a start. It took awhile for her to get oriented. Sitting on the bed, her limbs entangled in the mussed up sheets, she waited for her pulse to slow down, while watching the tiny fragments of dust float in the rays of the morning sun.
It had been a restless night; of memories and dreams, real and unreal; of realizations; of flights of fancy, the very notion of which made her burn with mortification.
Why had Ahaan told her all that he had? How would she be able to face him now, without imagining herself in his arms? How would she be able to dispel such thoughts from her head? He had completely upset her equilibrium and she hated him for it!
A loud knock at the door made her jump.
“What is it?” Mili called out irritably. She was just getting settled into an imaginary argument with Ahaan.
Kiran stepped in, “beta (child), what’s going on? Do you have any idea what time it is?”
“Maa…I…I,” Mili’s eyes sought the clock as she tried hard to shield her agitation, “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize…I must have overslept…”
But Kiran was shrewd. Little escaped her doting mother’s eyes, but whatever she saw pleased her. Sitting on the bed, she pulled her daughter gently into her arms, “I have news for you…”
“`
4 weeks…
Mili stood in front of the floor length mirror, and contemplated herself. But instead of an image of a beautiful young woman on the brink of life, she could only see a tangled mess of nerves. With trembling hands she drew her muslin scarf over her head and was suddenly startled by the sound of something heavy scraping against the window sill.
It was Ahaan holding a medium sized terracotta pot.
“What are you doing here?” She demanded, quite rattled.
“Since I wasn’t able to go hunting for wildflowers today, I chose to pick something from your own garden. I hope you don’t mind,” he said with a rueful grin.
“But why the whole pot and not just a flower?”
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