Amidst Our Erred Stars

13

I pushed all the toiletries into the wash basin after washing my face before unfolding all the towels in the cabinet and hanging them on the door.

Don't touch anything, aaye bade.

His bathroom is better than mine, I once spray-painted a Barbie on the tiles and my parents refuse to get anything changed after that. She'd show it to my kids, she had said, to tell them what a horrible artist I was.

In my defence, I only had a pink and a black spray can that I stole from Bhaiya's room and well...I used to watch a lot of movies and was influenced by them a lot.

Since all the places were off-limits, I tried my artistry in my bathroom until a week later my mum found out and made me scrub the tiles just after I came back from school.

She didn't let me go out and play with my friends that day but then again it was a good day, Bhaiya had his friends over and I got to play ludo with one of his friends I had a huge crush on.

I got sister zoned just a week later but we don't remember that memory often.

My thoughts of reminiscing broke as I heard something breaking outside. I just hope he's not breaking things in anger, I cannot tolerate anyone's anger issues.

Walking outside, I saw him keeping the rug over splashed water on the floor. My mother would've called me a hundred demeaning names by now if she saw me doing what he had just done.

I shook my head, letting him do whatever he wanted to, not my house, not my rug and definitely not my problem.

All I want to do right now is go to sleep. I couldn't sleep last night, thank you so much for never-ending thoughts and for packing everything. Taking a change of my clothes out of the suitcase, I went back to the bathroom and changed.

I don't wanna look into the mirror, it keeps reminding me of what I've done.

The vermillion.

The chain.

Two biggest reminders of my wedding are like rubbing into my face whenever I look in the mirror.

I dusted off as much sindoor as I could with the towel, one less reminder, one less unwanted weight on my shoulders.

With a sigh, I walked back into the room, Sahaj had changed into casual clothes, this was the first time I had seen him in a half-sleeved shirt and to say I was surprised would be an understatement.

Tattoos were the last thing I was expecting him to have. His biceps look like he can hold my whole body up with just one arm. He should try-

He'll make good dough, though. At Least he'll be putting those useless hands to work.

"I am going to sleep, tell your parents I'm not hungry," I said to him, tying my hair in a bun.

"Tell them yourself." He replied, keeping my suitcase in a corner as he hung his clothes behind the door.

"Kyun? Aap gunge ho?" I asked.
(Why? You're mute?)

"Tumhe tameez se baat karna nahi aata?" He asked.
(Do you not know how to talk respectfully?)

"Ab kya galat bola maine?" I frowned, why does this man get offended over little things? Must be due to his age, people usually get cranky when they're close to death. (What wrong did I say now?)

He looked at me, disappointed, why does everyone keep giving me the same look? Am I that much of a disappointment? I don't think so.

He just got up and left.