Kaira : Love me till the end by Vrushy (Chapter 3)

Hello Everyone.
Chapter 3
Nightmares that haunt !!

Karthik’s POV.

When I wake up, I find that the pain has lessened to an extent. I see bloodstained bandages on my head, my arms and my legs. I make my way, with a little help from Naira, towards the chambers of the doctor to get a few checks done before they can release me.

On my way, I see many people around with far worse injuries than mine, with thicker bandages, smiling and laughing despite all that pain. Some of them are missing a limb or two. It is very depressing.

I cannot wait to get out of here and go home. The walk to the doctor’s chambers is really long and I try not to look around me.

Inside the chambers, they carry out some final tests on me, ask me if I’m feeling all right, and let me go.

“Are you okay ?!!” Naira asks.

It has been an hour since we’ve been sitting in the car and I haven’t said anything. I’ve been looking out of the window and staring blankly at the Mumbai flyovers, the bustling markets and the busy streets.

My head still resonates from the noise of the blast, the howls of the women, the painful cries of the men. I feel scared and alone. The horror in the eyes of people who died in front of me comes rushing back.

“Karthik ?!!” Naira says again, when she doesn’t get a response from my side.

“Yes, I am fine. It’s just hurting a little,” I say.

I don’t want to share my fears with her. I know she’s scared too. Had I died yesterday, it would not have been me who would have suffered. It would have been her, my parents and my friends.

I am scared for Naira.

We enter our flat and, suddenly, I don’t ever want to leave. Neither do I want Naira to spend a second out of my sight. I have become paranoid. I understand now why my
parents used to call me fifty times every ten minutes after ten in the night to make sure I was okay.

I understand why they always want me to call them after I reach office. They must have seen a lot of people dying. So, they must be living in constant fear.

Naira switches on the television for me before going to the kitchen. She starts peeling oranges and I switch to the news channels. I never do that usually, but today is no usual day.

All channels are brimming with just one topic – The blast !!

Everyone is blaming someone else for what happened. No one has come out to take the blame. I switch off the TV. I cannot watch it. The memories of the dead people and the severed limbs are too much to take. I don’t need the flashing images to add to the images already haunting my mind.

“Mendhak ?!! Is something wrong ?!!” Naira asks again.

She must have noticed the pale, worried expression on my face.

“How many people have died ?!!” I ask her.

“Eighty-nine.” She answers.

“I could have been one of them.” I say and she looks at me.

Immediately, she has tears in her eyes. I know that she has been thinking about this. She comes to me, looks at me with love in her eyes, and hugs me. I feel wanted.

“Please don’t say that,” she whispers.

“Sorry.” I say the word but I am not.

I have said nothing wrong. I could have been one of them. Had I not forgotten my wallet in the car, I would have been appallingly close to the scooter in which the bomb
had been placed and blown to tiny bits. I had been lucky. I could have been dead or, worse still, maimed.

I can feel the tiny Goosebumps on my arms as Naira snuggles up to me. I’m sure she’s
thinking the same. I hold her close and try not to think about any of it.

However, it’s really difficult not to. I shudder to think what would’ve happened to her had I died. For all her strength and confidence, she is just a baby. Had I died who would have taken care of her.

Time passes and she drifts off to sleep in my arms. I want to wrap my arms around her and never let any harm come to her. The world is a cruel place and I’ve seen it up-close now.

I slowly shift her into a more comfortable position and push the strands of her hair away from her radiant face. Somehow, in the last five years that we’ve been dating, I am yet to pick a single instant when she doesn’t look pretty.

She is breathtakingly beautiful. The first time I met her, I just couldn’t look beyond her face.

I rest Naira’s head on the pillow. I am lucky to be alive, to be in her arms again. To be in love again. I kiss her softly on her cheek and get up.

I call ‘HOME’. I don’t remember the last time I called my maa and papa. These days, the only time I talk to them is when Naira gives me the phone. Maa and Naira talk a lot and I feel good about it. The caller ring ends and I hear my Maa’s voice on the other end.

“Hey Maa. What are you doing ?!!” I ask her.

“Nothing. What happened ?!! Is everything okay, Karthik ?!!” I can sense the surprise in her voice. I usually never ask that.

I usually don’t call my mom due to my busy schedule. But that doesn’t mean I don’t love her. Two women make my world go round—one is Naira, the other’s my mom. The third will be Naira Jr, I guess. But there is still a decade to go for that.

“Yes.” I say. I have tears in my eyes. I don’t know why.

I want to tell her that I love her. If tomorrow something happens to me, she should
know that I love her. But then I choke on my own tears.

There is an awkward silence. This is why I never call my mom. We usually have nothing to talk about other than my eating habits, and whether I am gaining any weight or not.

“Are you eating properly, Karthik ?!!” she asks.

“Naira has been telling me that you skip lunches.” She further say a bit angrily.

“I have been eating, Maa. She is just paranoid !! And you have given her this disease,” I say.

I know from experience that I should never let Mom start about food. She is obsessed with feeding me, like every mom is. She has happily passed that trait on to Naira.

I can hear Dad in the background. It has been almost six months since I have met them. I miss them.

It’s cool to live alone, but not all the time. I miss being irresponsible. I miss being stuffed food by my mom. I miss laying around the sofa and watching cricket matches with papa. I hang up after a while and try to sleep.

As soon as I close my eyes, it all comes back to me. I try to push those gory images out of my head.

People died. And it was just yesterday.

Right in front of my eyes. Dreams crushed. Lives ended. Children lost.

How can I sleep ?!!

Precap : A Dairy !!
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Are you peeps liking the track ?!!

I would again like to state that this isn’t originally my story, its inspired from one of my favorite book and I have made a few changes to the plot.

Also I would be introducing another couple into the story. I wanted to ask you which one would you prefer. Do you want Naksh and Keerti ?!! or do you want me to include Gayu’s love story ?!! Please don’t ask me to write about both as that’s not possible.

Let me know through your comments which couple should I include in the story.

Do comment. Keep smiling. Keep watching Yrkkh !!