Healed by Love - ArSh OS - FOR SABZ - Page 4

Part 2

Like during the first year of their marriage, Armaan was always looking forward coming back to her after work. He would miss her and worry about her all day, but once he'd set eyes on her, his heart would finally feel at peace. The only thing that changed with her illness was the fact that he worries a lot more now than before and that he always feared her reaction. Sometimes she was acting normal and would give him a glimpse of his old Shona. And then without a warning she turned hysteric, frightened or totally quiet. It was the hardest for him, not to know what to expect from her at any moment.

He spotted her, standing by the window in the kitchen, arms crossed over her chest, like attempting to protect herself from an unknown harm. Sighing he closed his eyes; only to see the gorgeous smile she used to welcome him with, telling him how much happy she was, with him, with this life. Watching her, he remembered those wonderful evenings…

*

"Hmm… Smells wonderful! Is it…-" He said while entering the room, noticing his beautiful wife busy cooking.

"Yes, it is; a French leek pie." She interrupted with a big smile, facing him.

He looked at her intently, overwhelmed by her beauty, like the first time. The sight of her smile made him hold his breath literally and slowly he walked towards her, getting hold of her waist. Bringing her close, he looked at her with passionate eyes before whispering huskily in her ear "How could I be so lucky?"

Instantly, he saw heat rise in her cheeks with his words and he couldn't believe that it still affected her, just like the first time. He felt blessed…

Trying to suppress the blush, she replied in her particular teasing way "You must have done something right."

"Definitely…" He replied, chuckling. Seeing her shiver at the touch of his breath on her neck; made him bury his face there. Inhaling her fragrance, he added a barely audible "Smells even better…" before lightly kissing her neck. As always, that little taste of her got him carried away instantly and he slowly kissed her up until her jaw. He noticed her biting on her lower lip, like to stop herself from making any noise of pleasure. He sucked that little part in the corner of her mouth, leading to her lips parting and he immediately took them in a full-mouth, hungry kiss. She at once responded with that particular passion she always held for him and he, as usual, lost it completely…

Without a warning she withdrew from the kiss, depriving him of that warm taste of hers.

"Armaan…Not now." She told him, out of breath and licking on her now swollen lips.

He sexily smiled at her, guessing the reason of her backing away. Looking at her with nothing but deep love and desire in his eyes, he gently pushed away her short front hair from her beautiful face and asked while clearing his throat, like trying to lighten the hot atmosphere "Where's Neha?"

"Upstairs. With her favorite aunt." She replied with a smile at the mention of their daughter, placing both her hands on his chest.

"Oh, Muskaan's here?" He asked, caressing her waist, trying to focus on the conversation more than on his wife's assets.

"Yeah…"

"Good!" He interrupted her immediately. "That gives us a little time to carry on with what we started…" And with that he managed to cup her face with one of his hand.

"Armaan, no. Dinner's ready, I have to set the table and they would come down any minute-"

"Oh come on now, this can wait. Have some pity on your poor husband. For once that I find you free from Neha. I mean, it's a first since her birth, really!" He said in a total overacting way.

"Stop exaggerating, will you?" She giggled while getting away from him.

"Fine." He sighed in surrender "But I'm not leaving you tonight…" He added in a husky whisper, getting close to her again. And with a slow and sensuous kiss on her cheek, he winked at her and gave her one of his mischievous smile.

*

Coming back to the present, he silently sighed, wishing that he could live those moments with her again…

"Hey…"  He finally informed her of his presence in the room.

Looking out of the window, she kept waiting for his arrival, when suddenly she heard a deep, husky and familiar voice behind her. She immediately turned, sure it was him.

"Rajeev?" She exclaimed in a hopeful way. But when she turned around, it wasn't him. Her mind went blank and for a moment she looked at space, until she heard her name.

"Shilpa?" Armaan called for her once again.

She finally looked up at him, narrowing her eyes, like trying to remember where she saw that face and after what seemed like eternity to him, it dawn on her "Oh Armaan, it's you…"

"Yes." He nodded at her, trying to get what was in her mind, instead of feeling bad about the situation they were in. He knew Rajeev was her younger brother and she was often looking for him in her nightmares. It was like she was living in two different worlds at the same time. One was full of her past memories and one was the reality.

He watched her while she made her way towards the oven and got out a plate from it. He looked at it, pleasantly surprised by what he saw.

"Is this your French leek pie?"  He asked her, walking to stand opposite to her.

She wore a blank expression but she immediately looked up at his voice "Yes it is." She gave him a faint smile and lowered her eyes on the pie, when suddenly something crossed her mind and she looked up at him again "You like it, don't you?" She asked him hastily, with a worried expression.

"Yes, of course." He quickly answered, reassuring her. He was so glad of the improvement. She never cooked since her illness and he missed it. Cooking was her thing, she loved it and she was good at it. The first thing she did when coming to America was taking cooking classes. And she always used to surprise him with new recipes, while he enjoyed it, as well as the glow on her face.

"I love it actually. This is one of my favorite." He added, trying to get her involved in those old memories again.

"Yeah, somehow I knew it." She offered him a big smile. And that was it. The glimpse of his old Shona.

But as always, it was short-lived.

She looked at the pie and started cutting it when suddenly her smile dropped. She looked at it more closely and a terrified look came to her face. She let go of the knife and looked for a wooden spoon. Slowly, she made her way back to the pie. Carefully and focusing, she lightly tapped onto it. She was concentrating like the pie was the most important thing in the world. Abruptly, she let go of everything and her eyes began to fog up with tears.

When he saw that, he knew what was coming…

"Shona, what's wrong?" He said trying to get the more information from her; so he could maybe finally understand her.

"What is that?" She asked with a choked voice, pointing at the pie.

"What is what?" He slowly walked to stand next to her and look at what she was pointing at. "Tell me…"

"Don't look!!" She turned towards him and put one of her hand on his eyes, preventing him to see anything.

"Don't look at it! It was perfect, I swear! I'm not lying, it really was perfect…" She kept swearing while tears were flowing down her cheeks.

He gently took her hand away from his eyes so he could see her. "What was perfect, Shona? The pie?"

"Yeah, I swear! You see that…here…that side…" She was out of breath, desperately showing him one side of the pie. She looked horrified. It killed him to see her like that… He wanted to understand her, to help her so badly, to tell her that it was just a pie, that it did not matter… But the problem was deeper…

"That side was not more bloated than the other… Believe me…" She choked with tears and turned her face away from him, crying badly, her hand on her mouth, trying to stop the loud sobs.

"I do. Shona, I believe you…" He said softly.

He tried to hold her in his arms but before he could, she took hold of the knife and kept jabbing on the pie with it. She wasn't crying anymore, she was being hysteric.

"Stupid! Stupid pie!" Was what she screamed angrily.

Armaan immediately grabbed her arms, afraid she might hurt herself with that knife.

"Shilpa! Shilpa, calm down!" He carefully removed the knife from her hand.

"Don't touch me! Leave me!" She shouted at the top of her voice.

"Shilpa, stop it! Calm down!" He firmly told her.

"Give me that knife back!!"

And when he did not, she forcefully got hold of the plate and threw it across the room.

They both looked shocked at the plate and with that gesture, he noticed she had stopped struggling in his arms and was now shivering. Yes, she was crying again, badly sobbing.

"I'm sorry…" She managed between her sobs, while she slumped on the floor.

He bent down and held her in his arms, gently stroking her hair. "It's okay, Shona… Please stop crying." He just couldn't take it. There was too much pain in her voice, like she was trying to express an inner torture. His throat tightened at her cry, he held her closer, desperately wanting to make her feel better.

"I'm so sorry…" She continued with a strangled voice, barely able to talk. "I'm sorry I'm not perfect, mom…" She finally whispered, burying herself in the comforting embrace of her husband.

To be continued