Chapter 12- Better Times

I had been staying at Reema's for quite some time now and things had settled down, she was merry and joyous and certainly felt more secure. We both were really getting along well , for old times sake, as they say. She was happy, possibly the most that I'd seen her in a while , she deserved it, I thought to myself and kept imagining what her progeny would be like , beautiful, attractive eyes, probably grow up to dye her hair , and never let her mom down, Reema might end up bringing her up in tough conditions, all I was sure of was that she wouldn't let her mom down in any circumstance. Her mom was one strong woman, maybe the strongest I've known , and she managed to go through all difficulties all by herself.

I began working from home. Attended client calls and yeah sometimes between my work I would just knock and ask if she was okay.

' I'm okay Nischit', she'd say' you can focus on your work now, you don't want your office firing you, do ya?'

I smiled and left, things were moving slow but steadily , as flat as a pancake. We had breakfast together sometimes , I usually had to get up early on work days, some times stay up till five and work late, my schedule always fluctuated , but we made sure that we had our lunch and dinner together.

After my office hours I used to prepare juices for her, of various kinds , fruits, watermelon, sometimes I used to prepare coffee , and sometimes I used to prepare citrus salads , which she used to appreciate at times.

At night time I'd brew soups of different varieties for her , all that were in my knowledge, and sometimes we had the brand new flavors of Doritos at night and gossiped about the bald neighbor who used to live around.

' He was a pain in the ass' Reema exclaimed.

'couldn't agree more !' I answered.

We had our dinner and she told me that she was feeling dizzy.

' You sure you don't wanna take any meds?' I asked.

'No, probably not' she replied.

'Nischit, is it okay if I ask you to stay with me the night ?' she asked up.

' I don't see a reason to deny that' I replied.

I came from my room a while later amd told her that I would be sleeping on the couch against the wall.

' Why do you want to sleep on the couch?' her voice was reluctant.

'There's no harm in us sharing the same bed, why, you think we cant do it ? I mean share the same bed?' she questioned.

' No, its fine , yeah totally' I answered.

We dimmed the lights and I climbed onto her bed.

She looked at me in the lustrous moonlight that came through her windows, which I thought were shut but she kept them open to let in fresh air. She shared a glance and said

' I really wish things were the same Nischit!'

She looked pretty attractive that night, somewhere in my mind I really thought that I should've been the one to marry her , make her life better , situations a little less volatile and keep her happy. But it wasn't worth thinking about right then. Nothing was going to go back to how it used to be.

She smiled at me and came closer.

'I know what's probably going to happen Nischit!' she smiled faintly saying so.

'what? Tarun's gonna come back and he'll settle things for once and all!' I answered.

' Do you really think things go the way you hope them to?' she said.