With the danger of flood like situation, all of the offices, educational institutions, and other places were made to close down early and people were advised to stay in their homes.

Seeing the dangerous situation outside, Naveen's boss had advised his employees to stay in the office till the weather cleared out. He was in the process of making the accomodations for his staff when Naveen approached him and told him that he was leaving.

"No, Naveen, I can't allow that. Your life will be in danger," Naveen's boss said.

"Sir, I have to go. My wife is all alone at home. She isn't picking up her phone," Naveen replied anxiously.

Naveen's boss didn't agree. "Your wife is safe at home; worry about yourself."

"Sir, I can't reach her. Please understand, I need to go."

Every effort of keeping Naveen inside the office went into vain. He ignored his seniors' warnings and stormed out of the office. He didn't care about himself - only Kusum's thought was on his mind.

'Please be safe, Kusum,' Naveen prayed.

Every auto refused to take him to the station and the auto drivers called him an idiot for ignoring the advisory issued by the weather department. He ignored their comments and started running towards the railway station.

His chest burnt when he reached the station. Just like him, other people waited for the trains to take them home; the late local trains added fuel to everyone's anxieties.

After half an hour, a train arrived. The crowd in the train was terrifying. Other times, Naveen would have preferred not to travel in such crowded train, but the situation was different this time. He clenched his fists, fastened his bag straps tighter, and pushed through the waves of people ahead of him.

He managed to get himself on the train and hung to his dear life till the time his station arrived. Jumping out of the train, Naveen didn't see left or right - he just marched forward.

With his phone in one hand, he kept calling Kusum while his feet were automatically taking him towards his home. Forty minutes of running later, Naveen rang the doorbell like madman.

"Kusum! Are you there? Open the door! Kusum!" Naveen cried in desperation.

His heart skipped a beat in fear when he saw that the lights in his house were off. Fumbling the keys out of his bag, he opened the door with shaky hands.

"Kusum?" Naveen yelled.

Silence.

He wanted to rush inside, but his legs were thrumming with pain.

"Kusum! I have come home! Are you there?" Naveen yelled at the top of his lungs.

Trying to keep himself calm, he searched through the home. When he went inside his bedroom, he saw the bathroom lights on. With a little hope in his heart, he knocked on the door. He was greeted with silence. Thinking that Kusum might have fainted inside, he opened the bathroom door - it was empty.

Slapping both of his palms on his face in exasperation, Naveen banged his fist on the wall.

'Do you know what Kusum is doing right now? Chilling? Or what if she is dead?'

A chill ran down Naveen's spine. A twisted version of Lokik's words and his own thoughts kept replaying like a broken record in his mind.

'What if it's too late for you to regret? You wanted to neglect your wife, so what are you getting so worked up for?'

Naveen shook his head and told himself to cool down. He rushed to his neighbour, Dharna's place. When Dharna opened her door, she smiled at Naveen.

"Hey, Naveen, glad to see you," Dharna said.

"Is Kusum with you, Didi?" Naveen asked.

Dharna shook her head. "No. She isn't home?"

The realisation of the grave situation struck her quickly when she saw Naveen's dishevelled state.

"I will call her. Don't worry," Dharna said, trying not to think of any negative stuff herself.

Just like Naveen, Dharna wasn't able to reach Kusum either. Naveen's head started spinning now.

"Did... she... go... go outside before it... started raining?" Naveen asked in a broken voice.

Dhara nodded slowly. "I noticed her leaving when I was cooking earlier. If I had known she was going somewhere far, I would have stopped her. You don't know where she is?"

Naveen shook his head; he was disappointed in himself. He didn't even know where his wife was. As if a tubelight lit up in his mind, he fished out his phone and checked WhatsApp. Unfortunately, there were no messages from Kusum about her whereabouts.

"If she comes here, please call me. I am going to search for her," Naveen said.

"It is raining heavily, Naveen. You will put yourself in danger. Why don't we wait? I am sure Kusum must be nearby and safe," Dharna tried to reason.

Naveen didn't listen and ran off after giving Dharna his number. Even with the onslaught of heavy rain, Naveen didn't stop. He kept shouting his wife's name and went through every street near his colony.

The exhaustion had started creeping up on him. His eyes fought with the heavy rain drops to stay open, while his wet clothes added unwanted extra weight on him. In his heart, he kept praying for his wife to be safe.

Kusum was not at any neighbour's place, not at the clinic, not in any nearby shop or ATM, not at her parents' place; there was no trace of her for two hours.

Naveen was losing hope with each passing second. The horrifying thought of finding Kusum dead or drowned in the current flood like situation weakened his spirit. Still, he didn't lose complete hope.

"I will find you, Kusum. No matter what," Naveen encouraged himself.

With heavy steps, he reached a highway. Water reached just between his knees and ankles. He pushed against the force of water and called Kusum's name. Like this he kept moving forward. His voice had become hoarse and throat strained as he mustered all of his courage to keep positive.

"Kusum! Kusum! Are you there? I am Naveen! Please reply if you are there!"

The sky became darker. A lightening struck so hard and boomed so loudly that Naveen shook in fear. His heart seemed to have stopped for a split-second. And in that split-second only, Naveen's patience ran out.

"Kusum...!" Naveen cried.

He broke down on the road, his tears camouflaging themselves with the rain raging down on him. As if one wasn't enough, another lightening with even greater force struck in the sky; all of the surroundings lit up due to its glow.

And in that moment, Naveen saw something that brought a new wave of tears in his eyes. On the other side of the road, Kusum's face illuminated under the lightening. With her wet hair stuck to her face, Kusum was seated on a bench; her head was supported on the pole of the busstand.

Her eyes were closed; while her one hand embraced her round stomach protectively, her other hand held a big cloth bag. She was completely drenched in rain.

Without wasting any more time, Naveen ran across the road and jumped over the divider. He applied brakes to himself before he crashed into his wife.

His body shook violently as he extended his hand towards his wife.

"Kusum?" He touched her cheek lightly.

Kusum was really calm. So calm that anyone would have mistaken her for a dead person. And, that was also the primary fear Naveen had at that moment.

"Kusum?"

Slowly, Kusum's eyelashes fluttered open and she touched Naveen's hand.

"Naveen?"

On hearing his wife's voice, Naveen dropped down on his knees. He covered his face with his hands and shook uncontrollably.

Kusum got scared. "Naveen, what happened? Why are you crying?"

Naveen didn't reply. He just couldn't control his emotions anymore. Kusum tried to grab his shoulders but couldn't move forward because of her stomach.

"Naveen.... Baby... I can't reach you. Please tell me what happened. Don't cry..."

Kusum didn't know what was responsible for Naveen being like that but she couldn't help herself from crying on seeing her husband like that. On hearing Kusum's sniffles, Naveen looked at her.

"I am sorry," Naveen said hoarsely.

"Sorry for what? Come here first." Kusum open her arms wide.

Naveen sniffled and hugged his wife's tummy. He apologized to his unborn baby too.

"Why are you apologising, Naveen? And what are you doing here?" Kusum asked.

"I disappointed you. I couldn't take care of you, neglected you... I was even jealous of you - how could I do that?" Naveen mumbled.

Kusum patted her husband's head. "No, I took you for granted. You are not the one at fault here."

"Don't say that. You are already in pain because of the pregnancy. It was me who was incompetent to take care of you. I forgot this is not just yours, but my baby too. I am sorry. Please forgive my foolishness, Kusum."

Kusum wiped her tears. She cupped Naveen's face in her hands.

"I was never angry with you but with myself. Yes, I was a little hurt to hear that stuff when your friends were over, but I realised you weren't wrong. Anyone would have gotten frustrated with that much pressure. I shouldn't have been a burden on you. You were already doing more than enough."

Naveen cried. "Please don't go to your parents house. I am sorry I made you feel like a liability to me. I should have talked to you."

Naveen kissed Kusum's stomach. Kusum could no longer bear her husband's poor state. Naveen was feeling guilty, and she did too. But spending more time in the bad weather was risky for both of them.

"Let's go home, Naveen. It isn't safe here," Kusum advised. The water level had risen by a few centimetres.

Naveen agreed and helped his wife to get up. He asked her why she wasn't picking up the call, and she told him that her phone had stopped working after she had dropped it inside the washing machine accidentally.

"Why didn't you come home early when it started raining?" Naveen complained.

"I wanted to, but I had to pick up the wheat flour from the mill. But see, what has happened. Saara aata gila ho gaya, yaar (All flour is soaked)." Kusum pouted.

Naveen pushed his wife's forehead lightly. "What will I do with you? You are worried about flour when you gave me not one but multiple heart attacks today."

"Really? Why?" Kusum asked in worry.

"I called you innumerable times but you never picked up, Dharna Didi didn't know where you were, and the rain is nowhere near stopping. Do you really think any man would be at peace knowing that his wife - pregnant at that - is roaming outside in such bad weather and there is no clue about her whereabouts?"

Kusum's lips made a big 'O' shape. Naveen pinched her cheeks and hugged her closely. They walked side by side, Naveen shielding Kusum from the merciless rain.

Kusum glanced at her husband, a proud smile gracing her face.

"Naveen?" Kusum said.

"Yes?" Naveen replied.

"I love you."

Naveen blinked rapidly. Even after so much had happened between them and some stuff still needed to be sorted out, Kusum didn't have any blaming look in her eyes. Instead, it felt like she had already forgotten about everything and was enjoying the current moment with her husband.

And, that was enough to dissolve all the stress, frustration and guilt Naveen was feeling. He caressed Kusum's tummy and pecked her cheek.

"I love you more, wifey."

⏺️THE END⏺️