A Heart That Bleeds

Chapter Ten

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Life is weird so are the inhabitants of this earth!

The clock tick tocked in its usual rhythm and so was someone giving tough competition to the clock's usual pattern. Nandini was lying wide awake on her bed. Everything was silent except the sound of the wall clock that didn't stop for a second. Her heartbeats and the sound of the clock sometimes matched. But what was unmatched was her heart's grief. The kind of grief that always raised its hood to give her a sharp pain since two years.

She wasn't surprised because it wasn't new. She had been it's recipient since two years but sometimes those two years felt like centuries passing by. She had forgot to bring her sleeping pills and the result was no sleep. She tossed and turned on her bed, even tried to sleep on the cold floor but all in vain. Sleep was far away from her sad eyes. Manik's weird acts surprised and shocked her. Well, she knew that her life would turn harder right from when she met him for the first time after two years. And surprises and shocks were just an usual part of her life.

The chirpings of early morning birds gained her attention. It meant daybreak was near. A soft glow could be seen outside. Checking the time, she rolled out of the bed and headed straight to the bathroom.

It was already five in the morning. Nandini tip toed to the kitchen taking care not to wake up anyone in the house. She made herself a cup of coffee. Grabbing the cookies, she had her coffee standing in the balcony embracing the cold morning air of the mountains. Well, no coffee could give the satisfaction of a good night's sleep but it did give her some solace.

Her phone chimed and she received a notification. There was a message from Shrey asking if she was interested in going for a morning walk with him. Her lips curled up in a beautiful smile as she read the message. Shrey always had that positive vibe around him that would lighten up her world though physically he was present near Nandini or not. She gave a quick reply typing that she would wait for him near the garments store in another fifteen minutes. It was surprising for her that Shrey woke up so early and wanted to go for a walk with her. Well, everything seemed a surprise for her since the time she landed in her hometown.

She changed into a beautiful kurti and jeans and wore her sweaters, jackets and other woollen stuffs to keep the bone numbing cold at bay. In the next fifteen minutes she was walking down the foggy road towards the closed garments shop. In the next couple of minutes, Shrey came jogging to the place Nandini had mentioned in the message. Nandini stared at his muscular physique well demonstrated by his workout clothes emerging out from the fog.

"Good Morning Beautiful!" Shrey greeted with a million dollar smile. Nandini blushed but was quick enough to hide it.

"Good Morning Shrey! You wake up so soon?"

"Yeah I'm an early bird and given the good girl you're I just guessed you might be an early bird too." He laughed.

"Wild guess turned right!" She smiled that was very rare of her.

"So let's start and I'll show you my village!" Nandini walked before followed by Shrey.

Walking an hour through the lanes and narrow trails they finally came to a halt near a tea stall. Shrey ordered two cups and they perched themselves on the wooden bench exhaling puffs of smoke through their parted lips. Nandini rubbed her hands together given the cold weather outside. It hadn't snowed since they came but still they could see snow on the far away mountains. They were served tea and biscuits. Sipping the hot tea gave some relief to them.

"It's so damn cold here. When I was a kid I used to wonder how people lived in the Himalayas." Shrey said dreamily gazing at the snow covered mountains in the distance. Though due to the fog nothing much was visible.