A strong bond

Sidharth and Mira instantly fell in love the moment their eyes met. He was attracted to her poise and intelligence and she was mesmerized by his ambition and humbleness. After knowing each other for around 6 months, they felt the need to marry each other and that is exactly what they did. Sidharth’s mother and father could not digress the fact that their son was getting married too quickly but there was nothing much they could do.

“I am in love, ma” said Sid.

Mira, unfortunately had a very traumatic experience in her life where she lost her parents, sister and her husband to an atrocious car accident. Even though Mira and Sidharth never discussed anything much regarding it, the one time she spoke, she was sobbing uncontrollably. Sidharth could never see her unhappy and decided to never speak of it again. They both wanted to be married, however desired a simple wedding, and hence they were married in one of the registrar office in Delhi followed by a small get-together with close friends and family. Mira and Sidharth met during an Advertising meet that happened in Mumbai and she had sentimental attachment towards the place as her family was from Delhi. But after marriage she knew she had to re-locate since Sidharth was running his own Agency in Mumbai.

“We can visit Delhi, whenever you want, now please let me see that smile” he said.
“Yes, you are absolutely right, I am just over-reacting. I love you.” she replied and planted a kiss on his cheek.

The first two years of marriage was a blissful journey for both of them. They both enjoyed their work and had a perfect apartment, with a view of the beach from the balcony. They would occasionally be visited by Sidharth’s parents and they were extremely happy and content. Sidharth and Mira were even thinking and planning to have a child in the coming year. Mira was apprehensive at first, as that would force her to juggle both work and a baby, however she decided to go ahead with the plan and start a family of their own.

On a cold December night, Sidharth was trying to finish some deadlines, when everything started going wrong in their lives. It was around 2’0 clock at night and he was rushing back from office, he wanted to call her and say sorry but he had already bought her favorite chocolate to surprise her and make up for being late. The moment he opened the door with his keys, the whole house was in complete darkness. He assumed she would be sleeping and entered the bedroom to put on the lights and found the bed to be empty. Sidharth felt panic and decided to look around the entire house and kept bellowing her name.

All of a sudden, the front door opens and Mira came in hasty, breathing profusely. Seeing him standing in front of her gave her a jerk which suddenly turned into a hysterical cry.
“I thought you are going to be late.” she exclaimed.
“I am late, its 2:30 at night, Where were you?” he questioned.
She was trying to hide her face now, while slipping off her shoes and arranging them in the shoe cupboard. “I..I was not getting sleep, Sid. So I decided to take a small walk in the community.”

He felt confused and deranged, however decided to sleep on it as he was unable to think with profound clarity what was happening.

The next day morning, he woke up to a happy wife who made him a surprise coffee. She told him that she would be working from home for a few days as she needed some time relaxing. He decided to not think too much into it and started to leave the apartment building, when he saw on the ground floor the window to an apartment, where he saw two eyes with the most agonizing gaze, he felt a sudden wave of chill across his body. He went a little further towards the window to see the tenant and the face which was in total darkness faded away quickly.
***
Sidharth left from work pretty early to freshen his mind and have a chat with his wife about everything and reconcile. When he reached the stairs of the ground floor he saw a lady who looked exactly like Mira clear out of the same house and running towards the stairs. He looked at the house again, only to find those cold, yellow eyes glaring back at him, viciously. He decided to see what is happening and took up courage and rang the bell to the apartment. He was met with  silence and he lost his patience and went ahead and rang the bell again, a little too agitated, again with no response. He made up his mind to enter the house and as soon as he walked in, the whole house was deserted. There were no furniture and it looked as if nobody had been staying there for a long time.

“Why were you running out of that house and what were you doing there?? he tried to ask her with reasonable restrain of anger.
“I was not at anybody’s house, Sid. I think you are imagining things, with all that work you have been doing.” she gave a nervous laugh.
“I don’t know whether you are lying to me again or not, but I don’t want to see you going to that strange place again Mira, understood?” he warned.
“Yes, sure” she replied.

Everything had changed in the Sid-Mira household, there was silence between them and soon it became unbearable for both of them to be in the same room. That is when another incident happened, which entirely changed their  lives forever. He was running late for office one day and in hurry forgot to take his cell phone and decided to go back home and get it. On the way home, he stopped at a traffic signal and the view he saw from his car shook him to his core. He saw Mira coming out of a major hospital in Mumbai and saw her running frantically towards the medical store. He decided to park his car on the side and find out what is happening, once and for all.

He ran up to her and the moment she was leaving the medical store he caught up to her and grabbed her hand, she was perplexed to see him.
“What are you doing in a hospital?” he asked.
“Sid…I.. Are you following me?” she told
“I am not following you, but you are clearly hiding something from me and I am going to figure it out immediately.” and started walking towards the hospital.
She grabbed him by his arms and started begging him not to, while the bottle of medicines fell on the floor and broke.
“If you love me, please, you have to trust me and stop trying to figure it all out.” she pleaded.
“I cannot live like this, Mira. Remember how happy we were, the moment you started having secrets from me, our relationship started crumbling down. I can’t take it.” he exclaimed.
“I know, Sid, but please for once listen to me and do not try to figure out anything. It is not going to do any good to our relationship. Please.”
He could see the desperation in her eyes and was arrested to her words. He decided to leave for home and sat on his balcony for as long as he could, till the sun started painting the sky a beautiful crimson red.

He heard the door open and decided to stay put as he was tired and disheartened to even care. Mira came to the balcony and stood there with the most remorseful and nervous face he has ever seen on her.

“Hi” she said
“Hey” he replied.
Tears started flowing through her cheeks, her lips were trembling and she just sat on the patio.
“When my parents and sister and her husband died in the car accident, I felt like my whole life was over. The feeling of not having anybody to say as your own, tore my heart, but there is one thing I hid from you all this while is that I have a niece. She had miraculously survived the crash but unfortunately she was in a coma for more than two years. I decided to dedicate my entire life for her and wanted to stay and care for her in Delhi. But that is when I met you, I could not believe I could be so loved and cared by anyone that telling about her made me scared of losing you. She was in the Delhi hospital and was taken care by her grandmother when we were married. But the moment I came to know that she is getting better and was coming out of her coma, all I wanted was to see her and be near to her as soon as I could. I brought her and her grandmother here in our apartment on the ground floor. She is still having devastating marks and burns on her face and that is when she was suddenly diagnosed with Jaundice. I wanted to take work at home so that I could take care of her and the day I saw your car coming from the apartment window made me run towards our home, while asking them to hide . Today I had taken her to the hospital to admit her and that is when you saw me.”

She took a deep breath and with trembling voice she continued “When I look at her, I see my sister and my father. I cannot live a life without her. But I don’t want to lose you too. I became selfish.” Mira could not contain herself anymore and burst into sobs.

He went towards her and picked her up, held her face in his palm and looked her in the eye, “I want to meet her.”