The quiet. It soothed her and comforted her. It
made her ruminate. It made her feel alive. It made her forget all the trivial
noises of the humdrum- the kids, the sounds of the metropolitan traffic, the
radio, the hiss of the cooker, the blaring calls of the street vendors and
innumerable ringtones.
The gloomy night sky hazily diffused the milky white translucence. She could feel the night sinking, the dark intensifying, one minute after another, making the stars shine brighter. Gazing into the atmospheric infinity, sipping the cool of the night breeze and cuddling into her own blanket, she closed her eyes for a while and sighed in tranquility.
He faced the sky with her, holding her in a
light embrace. They were lying down on the terrace on the same bed, under the
same blanket, but didn’t face each other. It was what she wanted- for them both
to gaze at the sky. Together. Quietly.
He enjoyed the subtle warmth of the places where
her skin touched his. He felt it bizarre how the sensation of her breath on his
arm made him so calmly erotic. His mind started to cherry-pick the moments of
their courtship that eventually deepened into their moments of marriage. Dizzy
smiles came and went.
He had sensed that she felt inexplicably lost
lately. The routine had dulled her. She’d started to feel fatigued even after
sleeping a good ten hours. She’d lose her way into an abyss, in the middle of a
conversation. She’d burn the rice. She’d forget to put things in the
refrigerator. She’d sometimes sit up in the middle of the night, just to check
on the lights and locks. And the week before, she made him coffee, twice in ten
minutes. He didn’t say a word but sipped it down. She cleared the cups and took
them to the sink and she knew. She closed her eyes in disbelief. He notified at
work about his absence.
“I need a break”, she said.
“I know.”
They were almost at sunrise now, without a word
uttered. The bluish hue of the dawn and the hovering songs of early birds. He
remembered the time when he’d asked her out of curiosity, why she’d chosen him.
“You’re good company. And you’re a quiet guy”,
she’d said.
Back then, he thought it was just an
explanation, but it wasn’t long before he’d realized she was a quiet one too.
There were times when they were up talking all night. And there were times that
they drove together in the car with hardly any words throughout. Except a brief
period in courtship, he had never felt the urgency to talk to her. She
inherently beamed an easy sense of reassurance. He smiled at the queer
difference in who she was from every other woman he ever knew, and dozed into
sleep.
She’d slept briefly. It felt good to wake up to
the mild rays of the sun. She stretched heartily and turned to look at him,
finding him in a deep sleep. She freshened up, grabbed a piece of paper, wrote
a note and tiptoed out.
He woke up to the emptiness beside him, only to
find a note tucked beside the bed.
Hey,
I made coffee.
It feels amazing to
realize that I don’t have to get away from you to be alone.
Thank you.
PS: The sun was good,
and I sneaked out for a quick run. Can’t wait to see you!
He blushed and sat up to the shining sun,
liberally gulping the aromatic coffee happiness.
