"Ascchi!" Shruvro cleared his voice standing near Tuli, who was sitting at a corner of the living room. "I should go now."

Tuli's eyes stayed on his face. He could not read those eyes. Some unreadable longing in them he found, that made an emptiness yearning inside him.

"Have you eaten?" She asked in a tired voice.

He nodded.

She nodded back but her eyes stayed on him until he made his way out of her parents' apartment with some uncle and aunts of her - saying he would drop them on his way to home.

*

Tuli was lying with her mother that night. The exhaustion of the entire day was draining her a bit by bit. Yet, slumber deprived her. Starring at the immobile fan her mind was busy weaving strings of loose thoughts, while her pillow kept drenching with the limpid that were loosing their positions from her eyes.

Sitting on the bed she once took a look of her sleeping mother cautiously. Then gingerly walked towards the charging port where her cell phone was.

For a long stream of moments she gazed upon the contact details of Shuvro. Her thumb stayed paused a inch over the dialling icon. Then locking the phone she walked out at the balcony.

The nearing new year air of midnight grabbed her instantly. Wrapping her blanket around her more tightly she stopped at the edge of the balcony, leaning on the fence.

Gripping the phone with her right hand on her chest she looked at the twinkling sky. The draining two eyes of her were making her eye sight a bit hazy.

She blinked as he sniffed, "Hey." He whisper broke the thin air. "I know you are there. Staring down at me." She gulped the hurting lump inside her throat. It refused to heal. "It's been a while since I talked to you and I know may be you are resting now, its just... I really really miss you Sumo." The name came out broken in a inaudible whisper. "I am so in pain right now! My dad... I miss him... a lot, every moment. Every damn moment. I could not even say that I love him! And how I feel about his decision... Shuvro. Baba was so damn worried. I made him worry. He was sick. He was a heart patient!!!" Furiously she wiped the tear that was streaming down her face. "And when there is not anything to worry..." a shy half-hurt- chuckle came out of her mouth. Jolting she looked up at the sky again and somewhat with a ashamed eyes she looked for answer at the twinkling stars.

The skyline of the city was dark, just illuminated by the queuing streetlights. From very far a passing rail's whistle came timidly cutting through the air. A stray dog yelped, maybe listing to the whistle somewhat. This area of Tuli's parents' home in Jadavpur was different than her and Shuvro's one in Salt lake. The sleeping buildings of the residential complex were standing in dark. Within gaps some cars and bikes were zooming away leaving the sound of their engines in the. Next day was Monday, so everyone was busy in try of getting a sleep before the week start.

Though some of her neighbours were still up. She could hear a music humming in the air from someone's house.

Amidst all of this Tuli was standing under the starry ever-forgiving, ubiquitous space.

"I am not being selfish Sumedh. I am not..." she challenged.

***

A week was nearly over when Shuvro's phone rang up with Tuli's name on screen.

"Are you busy after lunch?" All she needed to ask. And he was already there, the place she asked him to come.

*

"How's kakima?" He asked Tuli about her mother as they were walking towards Babughat from Strand road.

"She is... how she is supposed to be." She replied exhaling sharply.

"And how are you?"

She didn't reply to his query but smiled looking at him half heartedly.

It's been a week since he saw her properly. Yes he had been to Jadavpur in this last week, but never he got a chance to look at her properly after the day he came back home. His two storey house was again haunting him. His eagerness of her returning was eager to come out in sentences, but he buried them inside.

She looked weaker, thinner than before. Yet she appeared beautiful to him, more than before if that was possible. The dark circles under her eyes were creating a smoky effect around her deep long stretched eyes. Her messy hair pulled in a bun, making her face appear...

"Are you growing a beard?"

Tuli's question broke Shuvro's stream of thoughts.

"N-no!" He muttered touching his face, which pricked him.

She nodded lightly at his response but kept mum. Shuvro wondered if she wanted him to grow a beard but refrained from asking out loud.

They walked in silence till the river was in vision. The winter sun was already in hurry to set making the sky smoky.

The river bank yet refused to get empty.

"Do you want to ride a boat?" Tuli's slightly eager voice approached him.

*

The sun spread a saffron glow at the skyline of the city as it started sinking and hiding behind the high raised buildings at the west bank of Ganges. The water droplets were shining wearing the sunbeam - colouring themselves golden.

The oarsman was rowing the small boat through the waves.

Shuvro sat on the long deck of the boat. His eyes stayed on his wife standing ahead of him. Her eyes set at far away. The cold mist wind surrounding the river cold were playing with their hair. The chilly air send shiver through Shuvro's skeleton. Fishing out a cigarette he set it in a smoke and inhaled a mouthful of smoke to warm up.

"You shouldn't stand so close to the edge Tuli." Shuvro spoke after dragging a few drags of the smoke. Quietly and slowly Tuli took a look of her husband and then again returned her gaze to the river.

Though that was for a moment as she turned back gingerly walked over the deck and sat down beside him.

"You shouldn't smoke either, but here we are." She quipped looking at the far shores. Shuvro lie down on the deck folding his left arm beneath his head making it his pillow. His eyes refused to leave her figure.

Putting out the smoke by rubbing it on the wood of the deck he flooded the other arm beneath his head. He concentration was on her, figuring out the game wind was playing with her locks - with surprised eyes he saw her lying down beside him and keeping her head on his folded elbow.

The wind splashed the aroma of her shampoo on all over him making the hair on his nape stand.

Her eyes stayed up, at the warm tangerine sky setting up to get dusky as she inhaled the odour that had the nicotine flavour mixing the strong essence of her husband.

"I never said thanks to you," after a long silence Tuli spoke. Her soft voice broke his chain of thoughts. He raised eyebrows as she turned her face towards his. "I don't know how I would have coped through the last couple of weeks if you were not there."

Shuvro smiled looking into her eyes. She could feel his bream warming the chilling off her face, as he said, "I am your husband Tuli. Even if you don't think me as one, I am will be always there." The minute he said that he started considering if that was the right thing to say.

Tuli's eyes hovered upon his face, scrutinizing and looking for something, for a moment before she said "you didn't have to. But you did." She turned her face away, "and thank you for making me do all those work by my own. Must made baba really happy and I..." she paused to heal the crack in her voice when a drop of tear strolled down her eyes. Shuvro very carefully noticed the tear rolling down. "It felt right." She said.

Shubho didn't understand what he should say, so he decided to stay mum rather than saying anything stupid and ruining the moment. She was so close to him like this for the very first time. The proximity made his heart race in an unreal speed. He dragged long breath to calm it down, the pull inside his stomach and the eager emptiness in his chest made the work impossible.

They were so close that they could hear each other's heart beat. The gap between their body decreased and waited for the souls to come yet the way it had to and meet to enclose the left difference.

Tuli was observing Shuvro's chest to sink and up rapidly. Her mind was busy in some thoughts of else where.

"You had to do everything by your own." Her words did not came as a sentence but more of a soliloquy. "No one was there!!!" She looked at him.

Her eyes were questioning him. He gulped being a little self-conscious under her gaze.

"Well... Arun was there and..." he licked his lips pausing a little. "Ratul too..."

Thinking something she kept looking at him then finally uttered, "I am sorry. I should have been there."

A lump clotted inside his throat. He wanted to cry at that very moment crushing into pieces. He wanted take her in his arm, grabbing her in him tightly he wanted to say all thing, everything that was hurting him. He wanted to howl out all about the nightmares he suffered. He wanted have her so close to make feel real.

At that very moment, having her face so close to him he wanted kiss her so leaving nothing for tomorrow.

But she was so close to him, he didn't want to do all these. Everything was so surreal for him, he refused to touch the bubble causing it to burst in the air.

"It okay..." he whispered looking into her eyes, burying all the storming plans inside him...

So here is the chapter and was a really long chapter for them who had been complaining. Hope you like it. Now please VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! and comment...