After 2 hours of driving, they reached Mahabalipuram Beach.
Gautham staggered from the back of the bike and he looked pale as if he might faint any moment. On the other hand, Sindhu had no expression on her face. After taking a few deep breathes, the darkness on her face evaded. Sindhu plastered a smile and turned to face Gautham and in an instant, her expression changed to concern and slowly to guilt.
Was she that rash while she was driving?? Sindhu thought to herself. You probably drove like a maniac as always, you idiot! Her subconscious scolded her instantly.
The next second she rushed to Gautham's side and held his arms for support and hurriedly explained.
"I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I mean, in all the excitement of being behind wheels after soo long that I utterly forgot about you sitting behind me. Was it that bad??" Sindhu gave him her best puppy dog face filled with regret.
Gautham just glared at her and said gritting his te
Gautham looked at the girl who was still tirelessly playing in the waves. Sindhu was fully drenched by now but that did not seem to faze her. Her laughter made him feel things he didn't know how to describe. He was not a sappy person and for him, the term ‘love’ relates to people he understands deeply and after spending a lot of effort and time together. He does not believe in sudden magic and sparks. But looking at that girl playing in the water, the sun descending behind her with crimson bleeding throughout the sky and her laughter ringer in his ears- he knew he was happy at that moment. And that happiness came because of her presence without her ever doing anything. But that was all he needed to know. He knew he could be happy with her. He knew if it was with her, he can make a family. And that is what he was looking for in a marriage…On an impulse, he stood up and sneaked behind Sindhu. But before he could scare her as he planned, she turned around and
Sindhu and Gautham continued to banter. But after a while silence filled between them. Sindhu started to walk along the shore and Gautham followed suit. After a while, Gautham reached out for Sindhu's hands and made her look at him, and asked in a soft voice, "Why did you panic??""You just caught me off guard I guess. Moreover, just the term "Marriage" scares me shitless." Sindhu brushed off Gauthams hands and walked away from the shore and sat on the sand. Seeing that Gautham was still standing, she patted the space next to her silently asking him to sit near her."As I said, you don't know me well Gautham.", Sindhu said looking sideways at Gautham.Gautham once again reached out for Sindhu's hands and held them in his. He looked at their joined hands and then looked up at Sindhu and asked in an earnest voice, "Then tell me about yourself because I wanna know everything about you."Sindhu let out a loud sigh. Her whole life flashed past her in a matter
Sindhu woke up to traffic noise. She dozed off 5 minutes into the ride. Seeing that Sindhu had finally woken up, Gautham asked her, "Where do you want to eat??"Sindhu looked around her and she recognized where they were, quite easily. She thought about it for a minute and asked, "Do you like Maggie??" Gautham said, "Yes, why?"Sindhu did not answer but instead, directed him to drive to an apartment building near where they were. It was on the outskirts of the city. They were about half an hour away from her home.Gautham gave Sindhu a confused look. "Where is this exactly??""Oh, this... This is my apartment of sorts, I guess. My parents don't know about this place. Come on. Let's go." Sindhu said in a matter-of-fact voice."Well, that explained everything. Thanks for nothing." Gautham said sarcastically following Sindhu inside the building.The strong stench of paint and thinner hit his nostrils as soon as he stepped inside. Now that explains ev
Gautham went into the kitchen and stood beside her. He could see the guilt and regret eating her up. He could feel her barely holding on. He felt as if one wrong move from him and she will break to pieces.Gautham carefully rubbed her head first and he tucked a few stray hairs behind her ears. He took the vessels from her hand and closed the taps. He gently pulled her so that she would face him. What he saw tugged at his heart. For once Sindhu seemed vulnerable. It seemed like she was showing her true self to him. The person she had hidden behind cold stares and cheeky grins."Hey... look at me," Gautham said softly.When their eyes met, her eyes told them all -her pain, her despair, her guilt, her regret, and her insecurities. Gautham knew he cannot be careless so he chose his words carefully."I am not going to stand here and trivialize your mistakes to make you feel better because frankly, I don't really know half of it and I have not been in your shoe
To Gautham's surprise, when he entered his own home, he actually found his mother still awake. She was sitting in the living room with a book and specs. She looked up removing her specs as soon as she heard Gautham come in. You can see she was tried and pissed."Where were you today?? I heard you took half a day off from the office. You should have called to let me know that you were going to be late home", Renuka asked and scolded with an underlying concern."I was with Sindhu.", Gautham replied simply but came and sat beside his mum and leaned on her shoulders. The unease in his mind was visible on his face. Gautham was pretty close to his family, particularly to his mum and Renuka knew Gautham as the back of her hands."Don't tell me you have a problem with Sindhu's drinking habit. Then I will have to call my own son a male chauvinistic pig and I know I raised you better than that.", Renuka asked jokingly but her eyes were actually serious.Gautham let
It's been two weeks since Gautham and Sindhu went on the bike ride. Sindhu had been caught up with work after that so they hadn't met after that. They barely talked except for a few text messages here and there. It's been driving Gautham crazy. It didn't sit well with him the fact he can't see her. He missed her terribly even when the time they actually spend together was very meager and they had only been apart for two weeks. Finally, he couldn't take it anymore. So he popped at her office on Saturday. Its past 8 pm and she was still busy with some papers. One of her staff let him in. Gautham was now sitting in her office watching her work. Her brows frowned in concentration. She kept flipping some pages in a file and crosschecked it on the laptop. She was so engrossed in her work that she didn't even realize him staring at her the whole time. But Gautham didn't mind. He liked to observe her work. There was a different kind of allure to her when she was working. Wheneve
Sindhu listened attentively but then stayed quiet for a long time. She just leaned on Gautham's shoulder and Gautham just let her be.After what seemed like hours Sindhu finally spoke, "I am trying... I am trying not to doubt myself... but it's just so hard." Sindhu paused and shifted her head to look straight into Gautham with clear vulnerable eyes and asked, "Is it really okay to trust myself again??"Looking at Sindhu, Gautham's breath got stuck at his throats. At that moment Sindhu did not look anything like a 27-year-old girl who confidently runs an office by herself. She looked like a little girl asking her parents whether she can accept candies from a stranger.At that moment, Sindhu looked as if she will believe anything Gautham says. And that almost brought him to his knees. Her trust in him humbled him.Gautham simply brought her into his embrace and said, "You can." His voice was firm when he said it without an ounce of doubt. He could not even imagine
When Gautham reached home, he found his mum and dad still awake and bickering in the living room.As soon as Govind saw Gautham, he said with a mischievous glint in his eyes, "Renu, look your loverboy is back??" You can clearly see the relief in his eyes as soon as Gautham walked in. He even dared to wink at Guatham to play along. But who as his wife...Renuka smirked at Govind and said in a mocking voice, "Shame on you Govind. You are using our son as a distraction. And you thought it's going to work on me. How long have we been married and you still don't know better?"Govind hung his head down and looked pitiful. Renuka's face softened slightly but she still told in a stern voice, "You better call Mr. Arjun tomorrow and sort it out. Or else don't bother coming for dinner tomorrow night."Govind nodded obediently and said, "Yes, mam."Gautham let out an amused chuckle seeing his parent's antics.Govind knew that he was slightly clumsy when it comes to