One Week  Later

                   
Gauri was driving back home because she couldn't step inside the school today not after seeing him .Her colleague Lokesh Mithran had been a good person , so good that he smiled at her when she visited him in the hospital. As if she wasnt the reason he was in one .

     
It happened five days ago when she went to supermarket without Arun who had decided for some reasons to go to an get together with his friends . She didn't like it given the fact he had doctors appointment soon but he promised he will be fine. 

  
And when she ran out of cooking oil ,she decided to buy it on her own than wait till Arun gets home as she planned to cook something special for him , so the party of two Gauri and her son went to the near by super market .

  
It had been raining that the sun wasn't quite shining bright , it should have been a sign but all she cared about that moment was to get to the shop and head back home without her son catching cold .

 
Her son was an angel and probably a saint when he was healthy but when he got sick then he turns into a little monster ,that both Arun and Gauri always side with prevention is better than cute concept when it comes to their son .

 
It might be the reason she was in an rush that when she felt a hand on her shoulders ,she panicked and pushed it away which let the person balance slip as he fell down .

  
Unfortunately she was near the stairs which resulted in him tumbling down the stairs because of her . Her mind grew blank as she saw the familiar face  and then she noticed his wife rushing past her to get to her husband who she pushed down .

  
The only reason she didn't give in to the panic attack had been because she was busy shielding her son from seeing the blood . She couldn't even go to the hospital with them as his wife asked her to take Rahul home first .

  " I am a nurse Gauri ,he is fine . Take your son home ," Keerthana spoke up,  as if she wasn't the reason her husband was wheeled into an ambulance and Gauri did drove back home all the while keeping an eye on her son .

 
The moment she reached home ,her hands found the phone to call him and he promised to go to the hospital on her behalf, and once her son settled down to sleep she let the panic grip her as she waited for Arun to come home. 

When he did her heart stopped a little to see him so upset, and she feared the worst until he told her that the injuries were severe but not life threatening.

He listed out the fractures as if Gauri could comprehend them at the moment but she listened because she need to know the hurt she caused someone just because they happen to know her .

" Gauri ,Listen to me . Lokesh asked to tell you it wasn't your fault and not to beat yourself up for it and I took care of the bills and made them agree to let me compensate for the days he can't go to work,  " Arun reassured her, but still it wasn't enough ,money can't erase pain and but it was all she could do thanks to her generous husband .

"Are you okay , I am sorry . You were sick and because of me you can't even catch a break or rest,  " She spoke up,  a little later when they were eating dinner . 

" About that ,since I was in the hospital. I checked if the results were out and guess what I am fine and you need not worry about me at least,  " he told her,  and she agreed because on that gloomy day she needed that silver lining .

The next few days she went on automation mode ,work and home trying to forget her little accident except when she visited her psychiatrist who assured her that it wasn't her fault ,everybody kept saying it wasn't her fault still she couldn't quite forgive herself .

It was the reason she went to the hospital tonight without telling Arun and she wanted someone to blame her or shout at her but instead Lokesh and his wife Keerthana acted as if she was a friend rather than a monster .

Their forgiveness made it even more impossible for her forgive herself , since her mind was out of sorts she called in leave and went back home. And when she stepped inside her house , a feminine laughter caught her attention .

As she followed the sound of it to Arun's room ,she briefly paused in fear of finding something she wasn't prepared to see and yet when the moment passed she knew it wasn't what she will encounter .

Because Arun will not do such thing and it wasnt in him . She had asked him once if he missed that part of life .

And he told her that before he met his wife ,it was about companionship and after he met his wife , it was about love and he will never be able to go back to it without love ,as it won't be the same .

For Gauri the experience had been forever tainted that she had no such comparison to draw from and felt only relief to learn about Arun lack of interest. Because she didn't want to hold him back in a marriage when he needed something more ,even back then she knew he wasn't the guy who would cheat on his wife even she was only wife in name.

So when a young girl similar to her age   walked out of Arun's room carrying her son ,all she felt was confusion about her as a person .

" Hi ,you must be Gauri . Rahul's father went out just now and still the little one wants to meet his dad and rushed inside his room,  " the stranger kept talking,  as if Gauri was supposed to know who she was and why she was in her house .

" Oh sorry , I didn't introduce myself . I am Shilpa and it been hardly three days but you son already charmed me . Don't think I tell the same to all kids I babysit , because it the truth . " Shilpa ,the stranger spoke up,  and Gauri played along because how can one say to a stranger that her husband had failed to tell her about the new development in her son's life.

Gauri let shilpa go as she was home and waited for her husband to arrive from wherever he disappeared to all the while wondering what could possibly be the reason he kept it away from her .

And when he returned home two hours later ,he was sure not prepared to come face to face with her instead of Shilpa , she didnt ask him to tell anything because he looked so distraught that she began to really worry what he had been hiding from her .

And when he held on to his silence throughout the night ,she couldn't sleep as she walked  to the kitchen and found him there as well holding a glass of water while his other hand held some pills he wasn't able to hide before she spotted them .

Gauri had been scared out of her mind a lot and yet at that moment she was terrified because suddenly her mind was sending out warning signals from all side of the brain.

" If we had a babysitter ,I can faint without worry,  " he told her,  two weeks ago and now they had a baby sitter and top of that he told her ,he was fine and yet a minute ago he swallowed a handful of pills and she didnt for one moment think they were for digestion .

Arun may not be cheating on her but she feared what he was hiding will hurt far worse than that ,maybe he realized he can't stay silent anymore as he walked towards her and she who had been frozen in her spot began to take a step back .

"Tell me you are going to be fine,  " Gauri spoke up,  first ,she can take any news if at the end of it he will be fine .

" I am sorry Gauri , I can't say that,  " he spoke up,  and just like that Gauri realized her world was falling apart yet again. 

"How long ?" She asked,  next unwilling to look at him fearing she may cry if she saw his face ,it was selfish of her to ask about it than everything else but she needed to know the answer to that question .

" 6 to 18 months,  " he answered back,  not once faltering in his words while she was on the verge of a collapse.

" You lied to me ,you said you were fine . Why did you lie to me ," she shouted at him,  because until that moment she didnt realize how relived she had been when he told her the test results were fine .

But he didn't have to answer because she already know why he lied that day because yet again she made that day all about herself ,her mind knew it wasn't like that but her heart felt the pain nevertheless.

" It going to be fine.  " had been Arun favourite line whenever she went through any crisis but even he can't say that to her tonight as she looked at him with tears streaming down her cheeks .

They have been married close to three years and yet that was the first time Gauri went to embrace him , as she continued to cry for him ,for their son who may not be able to be with his father for long and may be for her as well because she will lose someone she needs in her life. 

" I am scared , " she uttered,  against him because right now she couldn't think beyond a life without him in it , she had lost her biological father because he didn't care about her , she had lost her half brother with him and then she had lost her friends because she choose to walk away and she had even lost the one man she loves yet all this losses weren't to death and she had hoped even if they weren't part of her life ,they were happy somewhere out there until now as this time the loss would be permanent .

" I am right here Gauri and I am not going anywhere soon,  " he answered back , as if he that would be enough but it wasn't not when life had dealt her yet another cruel blow .

Author Note .

  1) Phoenix2794 : You told me once that you didn't feel the friendship between Gauri and Arun , I assured you that it will develop as we proceed but while writing this update I felt maybe I haven't done justice to them as friends because even this crucial update written under Gauri POV isnt that satisfactory to me ,so sorry for not being able to do justice to this characters.

P.S :" That it for now . Let me know your thoughts and feedbacks . Hit the votes if you liked it "

Juanita Reid .