Morning

She woke up early the next morning inspite of the sleeping pills taken last night. Her eyes slowly opened as she felt his breath on the crook of her neck, hand around her stomach and body pressed from behind on hers. She shuffled a little and he awakened immediately, lifting his head up.

"What happened?"

"Nothing..."

"Headache?"

"No..."

"Feeling sick? Must be acidity..." He started getting up but she stopped him.

"No no, I'm fine... I just woke up."

He looked at her for a moment. "Sure?"

"Yes, sure."

He kept looking at her, eyebrows furrowed down.

She rolled her eyes. "Really, I am completely fine. No problems."

He sighed and lay back as before, hugging her tighter from behind. She found the squeeze a bit suffocating and turned to face him.

"It's four o'clock. Sleep." He murmured into her hair.

She fidgeted with the front-button of his kurta instinctively. He opened his eyes and looked down at her. "Hm?"

She slightly shook her head. "Nothing. Sleep."

But he didn't. Instead, his hand reached her cheek to caress it. He eyed the little redness on it that was caused by his same hand, and his heart twisted. I hurt her. Again.

"Sindhu... I'm so sorry for... For this... I should've controlled my anger." He said in a small, ashamed voice.

She shuddered slightly, looking downcast. It indeed was not a good memory to look back at.

"I'm really sorry... I never meant to..." his voice got stuck in his throat, and he bent his neck to reach her cheek. He kissed on it gently, as if to undo the unintended slap from last night.

"I'm sorry." He whispered again. "For all the times I hurt you. You deserved none of it." His eyes moistened as he held her tight to himself again, resting his chin on her head as she closed her eyes without a word.

He tiptoed downstairs to the hall while Kaaki was working in the kitchen. Kaaki saw him and immediately held him by the arm, pulling him in front of the platform.

"What was going on yesterday?!"

"....She tried suicide." He sighed looking away and told Kaaki about the face-off yesterday.

Kaaki's eyes flickered in a disbelief followed by sadness. She couldn't say anything.

"I... I'm scared for her, Kaaki..." He said in a weak voice rubbing his temples to avoid his eyes tearing up.

Kaaki put a consoling hand on his shoulder.

"First the doctors, now this.... Thank heavens I was there to stop her in time yesterday; but what if someday I can't-"

"Felu..."

"How do I save her from this? From herself?!"

"Felu," Kaaki squeezed his shoulder. "We save her; you're not alone. We all will do our best together... She will understand and she will be alright, don't worry."

"But..."

"We have to help her start again, give her a happy environment to recover... She needs to forget the past and look to the future, right?"

He nodded quietly. Future. Does she really have a future after one month?

"We all can make her feel happy and loved again. You both can start again to fix your strained relationship."

This gave a different tone to things as he remembered the latter of the night. "Yes. We are fixing that."

Kaaki also gave way to a knowing smile across her face. "See? She already must be much better now... Don't get so weighed down Felu, things will be better. Have faith."

"I hope so."

This was the giveaway point and Kaaki turned the topic. "What happened about the doctor you were visiting today?"

"Yes, we'll be leaving after lunch. I've told Sindhuja to remember to get ready.Did Topshe wake up?"

Kaaki nodded. "He's in his room."

He almost whispered to himself. "I'll go talk to him..."

"Yes, you should." Kaaki tensely said."He was just... concerned about her... yesterday. But I spoke to him later."

"I know Kaaki. I did make a mistake in my anger, but I don't want him to misunderstand me."

He scurried up the stairs as Kaaki turned back to her kitchen, staring into nothing.