CHAPTER 12
Marriage is like a being in its own rights. It needs to fed with love, care, understanding, patience and everything in between. Some marriages that are intended to last forever do not do so. While some survive the obscurities even when not intended to.
Weeks pass by like the verses of a poem, and just like the verses, Nate and Michaela’s lives continue to entangle with each others. What they had anticipated to be days of difficulty, to their astonishment, do not turn out to be so.
Nate discovers passion in Michaela’s stubbornness, diligence in fragility, understanding in indifference and unfathomable kindness in her callous behaviour.
As the weeks unfold, it becomes more clear to him that his understanding of Michaela prior to them being together was dwarf in comparison to all that she was in reality. Each day shows him a different facet of her character and personality. Each morning when he lays beside her naked, the most casual things catch his eye. Things as simple as the a fallen eye lash on her cheek, or the way her lips pout unconsciously in sleep, or when she turns to hold him in her arms, unaware how it sets his heart at rest.
And for now that's how it is. Maybe it's because they are having sex that he has started to feel this way for her. Maybe it's just because she is a better human than he imagines get to be. Whatever may be the reason, it's enough to know that there's something there. Something that may not be love or anything as comprehensible as that. But it's there.
When she hurts he wants to alleviate her pain. When she cries he wants to end her suffering. And when things get hard, he just wants her presence to linger.
As the year passes by they celebrate most of the occasions together. His birthday, her birthday, Nana's birthday, birthday celebrations being a new development. She's is a part of his family, even if not for too long.
As for Cassy, he did find the forgiveness in his heart for her. It took him time to do so but he managed with the help of Michaela. A lot has changed from the day she arrived into his life and lot changes everyday that he spends with her, for everyday is for him but an opportunity to unearth many more dimensions of her, and for her to divulge towards him more of her inner self.
Yet nothing can change the fact that no matter how extraordinary of a bond they shared, Nate was not going to give it a stamp of permanence. This relationship will not outlive the contract he had decided. This was the one choice that he was free to make, and he was determined to win the battle that Michaela had forged . Even if it meant losing everything he had with her and her. He would pay the debt and then if it was meant, in another universe, maybe they'll meet in a more significant manner.