Posted:
Listening to Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now" (a beautiful song) led to me writing this OS.
And I wonder,
if I ever,
crossed your mind?
For me it happens all the time.
***
"Hello!!! Listen buddy, I unfortunately have to wake up early tomorrow, and that means as much as I'd love to, I can't afford to forsake my sleep for a petty blank caller like you. So unless you have something to say, STOP CALLING ME. One more fricken time and I swea--"
"H..hello," I finally heard a voice. Not just any voice.
"Randhir?" I hadn't heard that voice in a while. I paused to check the caller ID. Why did it say unknown number? "Where are you?"
There was silence on the other end of the line.
I checked the time. 1:15 am. I sighed, "What do you want?" I finally asked, defeated.
"I'm hungry,"
She rolled her eyes, even though she knew he couldn't see her. "Is this another one of your 'Get Back in the Kitchen" MCP punchlines? Really Randhir, in the middle of the nigh--"
"I need..." he tried to speak, "Can you... can I see you?"
His breathing was off, for some odd reason I had his rhythm memorized. Controlled, even, at a steady tempo with an occasional yawn he'd sneak in here when he felt a bit greedy for air. But today, right now, it sounded all over the place.
"I know it's none of my business," I raised my back up off my bed for a sec to turn the lamp on, "But are you... are you ok?"
Then again, there was silence. I was just about to ask again when I heard what sounded like muffled sobs. "Are you crying?"
I heard a sniffle, "No," his trembling voice lied.
He didn't sound like himself. He sounded like a lost boy at a supermarket, weary and confused. Innocent.
"Where are you?" I persisted. He answered this time. "All right, I'll be there in a few. Stay there." I ordered as if I had the right to.
I found him, sitting on the curb in the middle of some unknown road with a car parked almost half a kilometer away. His head guarded safely between his arms against his knees.
He looked up.
I didn't know had happened but I could tell that he was hurting. Eyes clouded with the same boyish confusion that I heard in his voice, hair uncared for, and an unshaven shadow on where his clean shaved face was usually found. His tie was loosened up, his jacket lie carelessly tossed on next to him.
I only had a moment to pray for his hurting heart because I swear in the very next second he lit up.
It was as if I'd brought with me some magical electricity that formed a closed circuit with his heart the moment I stepped into the picture.
He trudged over, but I beat him before he got halfway. "You're here," he looked at me in disbelief. His eyes stuck between the crinkles of a smile and the weight of uncontrollable tears.
I didn't know what else to say except, "I am."
His head confided in the crux of my neck as we embraced. There's a first for everything.
"I'm sorry," he started. "It's all my fault," he conceded to his tears.
No. It couldn't be. He knew.
He pulled my hair back, I tried to stop his hands but it was too late. He mourned at the sight before him, just as I had. I hated the sympathy I didn't want him to feel. I fought to cover the disaster with my hair again.
He accepted defeat to the chances of being forgiven when he saw how purple the bruise had become.
"I got you married to him. It's all my fault. I don't expect you to ever forgive me," he broke down to the ground.
"It's wise to not count a wish that cannot be fulfilled," I refused to shed another tear over the signs of a marriage in which I had no say. It was a scar of battle.
But how did he find out about the abuse? Why did he care? Did he call me in the middle of the night to notify me of the sudden sense of humanity that he felt? Why was he crying?
I kneeled down to join him on the ground. I gathered his hair in my palms. Damn this was going to be difficult. "Do you need something? Are you going to be alright? Can I go home?" I tried ending this as soon as possible.
"I'm so proud of you for getting out of there. Fighting against your family, norms, just like you always did," he only nestled himself further in my hair.
Didn't he understand that I needed to go now. I needed to.
"What do you want Randhir?" I asked again, begging for answer so I could leave. He felt the desperation in my voice. He responded by caressing the length of my back, it felt like a vow, that said he was there.
The dark and cold corner in my heart, that I'd bid adieu to was feeling a newfound warmth. But it was far too late for any of the ice too melt. Then again, I guess that's the thing about being human. You always want to try. It was a flaw. A flaw that made us, me, human.
"I can't be forgiven, nor do I expect it. But I swear, to my grave, I'll dedicate my entire life to helping you forget, to try and make up for it, every single day of our life."
I didn't answer, only silently joined in his tears that were taking on the challenge of washing the past away.
I don't know why I didn't leave right now. I just... I just needed him.
Now.
"I guess I'd rather hurt than feel nothing at all."
***
Author's Note: I honestly don't know what I would have done if I was in there, in Sanyukta's shoes. But this is about that moment, that vulnerable moment where you just can't fight the fact that in this very moment, you need this. I need her, I need him, I need a hug, I need a kiss, I need to cry. That impulsive, aching moment you feel as a human, where for a second, just a second, you don't want to think about what's right or wrong, you just want to relieve the pain. That's what this was about. Might want to listen to the song for the title.
-Ashiqui
***
The song:
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9picrMS830c[/YOUTUBE]
Here's them performing it live, I just prefer this version better though it's the same song.
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvrlJU6qBDg[/YOUTUBE]
Avatar and Signatures Shop
Current Affairs
Cricket
