The Mistake ?

49. Paranoid Madhav

If we were married. Things would have been easy. According to me.

One thing the psychologist suggested that both I and Manohar's uncle disagreed on was to cover one shock from the other. Which is horrible and pathetic. I or even her family won't put her in any danger just to experiment.  I was seconds away from smashing his face against the wall.

She can take all the time in the world and I'll wait until she is ready to believe in herself. Love herself just the way I do or even more. And hopefully, marry me.

The only thing the doctor said that made sense to me after this statement was to keep her happy. Divert her mind to new things. Positive changes in routine can help. If she is so happily busy in her life that she doesn't have time to think of the incident, it will slowly help her subconscious to stop thinking of what happened. Eventually, she will have fewer nightmares and better sleep and everything will be good.

" I have a meeting in Bombay. " She says eating her breakfast. Her hair is tied in a very neat, short ponytail. Not a single strand is out of place. For the world to see the don't mess with me aura she creates with her Badass looks.

I love every version of her. But. There is always a but when it comes to her. But when she wakes up in the morning with her hair a mess from tossing and turning all night is a look I can die for and kill any man who sees this version of her.

And I am not exaggerating.
That is just for me!

" Kaha kho Gaye aap." She ask.

" Aapki akho mai," I say. She told me not to address her as an Aap. But as my future wife and the love of my life, I can't even in my dream address her like we did in school. She has now not only stopped stopping me but the Aap she used as a taunt when she met me after Raghav's wedding is now more sweeter.

" That was smooth. Do you have a book named Thousand and One Ways to Flirt?" She asks, wiping the coffee foam from my moustache.

" I don't but I should buy one," I say, holding her wrist and kissing her palm.

" Running out of lines." She smiles like our favorite flowers that we planted yesterday and she shared some of the parts of her life I missed.

" No. My lips say things naturally when you are around. " I say.

" You didn't hear what I said." She asks.

" I always hear when you are speaking. I heard about the meeting in Bombay and I'll come with you." I say eating my breakfast.

" No. Don't you dare Madhav. " She says a little weirdly.

" Why," I ask.

" You can't baby me, Madhav. And I promise I'll come before the time you usually come to sleep tonight. " She says.

" Are you sure?" I ask. Just the thought of her spending the night alone, either awake or struggling after a nightmare, gives me a heart attack.

" Hundred and one per cent. " She says.

" And where were you yesterday?" I ask. I didn't want to intrude or act like an obsessed boyfriend. No doubt that I am one, I wanted to know everything, yet I gave her the personal space to feel comfortable and grow stronger.

" I went to meet Siya." She says not at all offended by my question.

And that asshol Rishi was irritating the fuck out of me when I asked her what she was doing.

Flashback

" Is Meera at your place? " I ask. When the bodyguard I hired for her said she hadn't come out of Rishi's restaurant for the last two hours, I left the meeting immediately. He is my most trusted and skilled man now waiting for just one word from me to go in and find her. I know she won't like it and won't even listen to my explanation.