In the evening Ramit was discharged and his parents brought him home. Their flight was the next morning. So he reluctantly agreed to stay over, his mom had told her.

When she opened the door, he stood with a loose shirt over his gauze. Half of his right arm was restricted from movement. It wasn't much different from how he was in the hospital.

He looked at her and turned his eyes away. Geetha could only ignore the awkwardness. She had never been the one to greet him first. She helped his parents carry things inside instead.

Probably two hours later, his mom said to her, "If you want to talk to him, go talk."

She awkwardly shifted her gaze away from the bedroom door.

When night came she carried his food into the room. She really didn't want to have any kind of serious talk with him given their conversation in the hospital. All she wanted to ask was how he was feeling. He didn't give her a chance to ask that yesterday, or better put, she didn't not take the chance to ask him before he started talking.

The older couple was having their dinner at the small two person table. Inside the room, she put his dinner on the stand beside and looked at him. He once again remained silent and looked back at her. She almost asked him what he was looking at. She quickly forgave her wayward self, she was not in a position to question him, and got back to the issue.

"Your dinner is here. I'll help you sit up," she said and reached for his arm. He didn't react and still kept on looking at her. She didn't know what was making him so vigilant. Maybe he was trying to make her feel awkward. She snorted in her head and thought, the more obedient you are, the easier it is for me. She believed they'd slowly go back to normal. No, he'd go back to normal and she'd be good and stick to him how he'd like.

Once she helped him up, he said, "Thank you. Go out now."

"How will you eat with that hand? I'll help, okay?"

When he heard that he felt bitter. The feeling of uselessness was getting to him. "Please just go out. I can eat on my own."

"Why? Are you taking revenge on me now?"

"You're like that. I'm not. Please go out. I don't feel like eating with you around."

"Fine," she said, passed him his dinner and rushed out.

"What happened? Is he eating?" her father-in-law, who rarely spoke to her after that day at the hospital, asked her.

"I saw him pick up the spoon with his left hand," she declared as she thought, for someone with little self esteem, Ramit had quite an ego! Something was amiss, she realised. She smiled and said to her father-in-law, "He asked me to go out. He said he'll eat only then."

He frowned at her and then gave her a clear scowl. Her mother-in-law who was sitting beside, shook her head.

Geetha turned around and squeezed her eyes. Patience was a virtue. A virtue every parent looked for in a daughter-in-law. At least when she was in the wrong she should not act all high and mighty, like how she was around him all this while. She told herself this when she slept the last two nights.

She slowly walked inside the bedroom again.

When she stepped in she caught his questioning gaze. She walked closer and sat beside him. She whispered to him, "What are you looking at? Didn't you hear me just now? It's hard being in front of them. I'll go out after a while." She almost never filtered her words around him.

Perhaps that was the reason why she was fearful of him, precisely, of his judgement. She did not want to put in constant effort into her words at home too. In fact, calculating every word came naturally to her in the presence of outsiders. Maybe it was because of their friendship that her words and actions were always bare in front of him, except when they were in complete disagreement. It had to be. He was her best friend, her only real friend.

When she finished saying that, she caught disappointment in his eyes. He spoke slowly, "Divorce is good not just for me, but for the both of us, okay?"

She slowly nodded as she tried to read his mind. "Are you serious about it?" she gulped and asked. Friendship was really special for a fact. Family, not so much, at least in her experience. But after everything, there were some things she could no longer ignore. She could no longer ignore his feelings, She had to face her guilt towards him.

Call her selfish, she wanted their friendship to be as loyal and as deep as ever. She knew it would not be the case if they separated. She'd give up and cut him off completely once they went their separate ways.

That was what she did, cut out school friends when school was done, stop any contact with her college peers once she graduated, turn away from anything related to the people from her previous work once she changed to another department, even if they were so close by, in the same building. If she agreed to the divorce now, she would give up on the most meaningful bond she made.

"Yeah. I understand you much better now. I know why you always said you'd be single and you'd live at your own place. You knew yourself really well, didn't you? Even during highschool." His words drew her attention.

She frowned at him. "What did you understand?"

He put his spoon down and said, "You don't like people around you. But you're pretty good at your office, you have three times more contacts than I have. You just don't like having anyone in your personal life."

He snorted and continued to say, "Ever since we got married, I was the one to talk to your parents. They are your parents," he stressed, emphasising 'your', "why do you want me to talk to them on your behalf?"

She pursed her lips. She indeed had not spoken to her parents about the situation. She dropped a message to her mother only that day, saying that something had happened and he was hospitalised but now there was nothing to worry and that he was discharged just then. At some point in her teenage years she was so tired of explaining every little thing to her mom or dad that she shut them out slowly. What reason does anyone have to study and not attend their mother's sister's friend's cousin's wedding party and put on a tiring smile the whole night? She shut herself in her room and studied hard for an olympiad. When the result came and she did not do so well, her mother jibed at her and her father shook his head at her. Her response was to shut them out of all of her activities. Later they apologised but they still needed to know every little reason behind her every decision. They just could not take her word for it when she told them that she would never commit a crime or be a victim of a crime.

"Whatever. Just eat," she said and stood up to go out. It was legitimate that he wanted to know given that he did the work for her but she did not know where to start about her parents. More than that, she was not sure if there really was anything she could say about her relationship with them without being mocked at. She knew she was acting like a stuck up teenager. She dismissed the whole issue.

"Sit. I'll stop talking," he said. While he wanted a better life for himself, he also wanted her to leave him happily. He had to slowly talk and make her understand. So he was going to bear her one last time.

She turned around and looked at him, "Listen, I was going out because I don't have anything to defend myself with. Not because I think you're irritating me." Her parents were one thing, but her husband was on the next level. Did he just make her give a reason for her little walk without even questioning?

"Really? Since when?"

His eyes stared deep into hers. She slowly said, "Since now. I'm not sure of many things myself but I don't want a divorce. I realised I'm very lucky. I won't trade my luck with anything."

He felt bittersweet in his heart. He was indeed very useful to her. One, for sex. He knew she'd never miss a chance as long as he didn't upset her. She never cared about his thoughts even in their most intimate times and that was what really hurt him.

Two, for getting the shares of Hidden. Although thinking about it now, after what they had to go through, it may not sound like a legitimate reason. He was also not sure of this reason because it hadn't grown into a company one would look to invest in yet. But when he remembered how she made a deal out of him asking her to stay in the same house, he could not help thinking in this direction. He was happy he could give them to her. In fact he had given more than she had asked for. But it was only now that he started to see it all as the little worth his love had for her.

Then third, there was the kidnap. He did not want what she said to be true, if at all she meant that she was lucky he took all the pain for her and she was hoping he'd do it again just to be with her. No. He was not so worthless. The moment he saw the guy get shot in his head, he had lost consciousness. In that moment, he was thankful he could save her. He was thankful he was not shot dead yet. He was thankful he had a chance to hope to be alive. But he was also very regretful. For a long time, his life had never been truly and completely satisfactory. He knew the reason for that. It was her absence. More correctly, his love for her, for someone who was not meant to be the one for him.

"You're the most selfish person I've ever seen. Get out, Geetha, don't talk to me if you can."

"What happened?" The change in his attitude was all too sudden and it left her confused.

Hatred filled his eyes. What more should happen?

She pursed her lips.

"Get out," he said with the same tone he had used to berate her in front of everyone at the hospital.

She stared at him, unblinking.

Unnerved, he called out, "Maa!"

"Shh!" she hissed at him as she put her hands up. "I'm going!"

She quickly left. She blinked her eyes when her nose tickled.

Once outside, she spilled a few tears in secret. At night, Ramit and his dad slept in the bedroom, while the two women used a make-do bed in the study.

∼•∽

The next day in the aeroplane he sat beside her when his mom said she wanted to sit with his dad. It was an 8 hour long flight. Every time she tried to talk to him, he'd close his eyes and pretend to sleep. When they had their meal, she tried to offer some veggies that looked more fresh than the rest of the meal. He treated her air, not even responding to anything she said. At first she was afraid he'd get mad about having her put them on his plate. She definitely got mad when someone tried to do the same to her, let them be her friend or family. But he did not object either when they offered him food, so she emboldened herself and placed the pieces of beets on his plate. In the end, he ate everything but those. She looked sadly at the wasted veggies.

Once they were at his parents home, she helped him upstairs to where his room was. "Thank you," he said again in the most formal and fake tone she ever heard him.

When she saw him going to the bathroom, she asked, "Are you fine by yourself?" She had no opportunity to know of the details of his recovery. In the hospital, there were attendants to help. At home he slept with his dad. She wanted to ask her mother-in-law about it, but she felt like she did not have the face to. She already lost enough face in front of her.

"Of course! How did you think I managed yesterday?"

Delighted to finally get a response, she smiled and said, "Okay." One whole day had passed and he finally spoke to her properly. They were always not more than an arm's length away and yet he did not speak a word to her.

He looked at her odd smile. She was smiling without really knowing it. Knowing her, she was always in control of herself, her emotions and what expression she gave out on her face. But now she looked silly and happy. When his thoughts started to tangent in directions he had never explored before, he shook them off.

∼•∽

A/N:
I realised I had to update today when I was setting my alarm for tomorrow... it's almost 11. That aside, both of them are becoming hard to write lately. But the more challenging, the more accomplishing, hence the more enjoyable the whole process is.

Stay tuned. See you next chapter!