"Leave the kids with us for tonight, Neysa. We will take care of them. It is your..."
Neysa cut Swati across with an awkward smile on her face.
"First night, I know, Aunty. But I met my Kuhu and Arsh met his twin after months, I do not want to lose any more time with them. Anyways, one of the main reasons for this wedding and this situation is them. How can we take away the reason from the equation itself?" she questioned, eying her children in the pram affectionately.
"Your wish, Beta, but do not forget that the love between the two of you was also the major catalyst. Who knows, that love is just the thing required to ease the ache of your hearts," mused Swati, caressing Neysa's chin affectionately as she adjusted the embroidered skirt of Neysa for one last time.
Neysa was left alone with her thoughts to ponder over them. The last few days were a mess to say the least. The awkward looks, the cunning whispers, the embarrassing smirks and snide taunts, she had seen it all in the days leading to the wedding and she was sure that her parents and Adhrit's family would have seen no less than what she had to see.
She earnestly hoped that she would not be proven wrong, by taking the decision to marry Adhrit, once again by the man himself. One heartbreak was enough to cause heartache throughout her life and she wondered if she had it in herself to bear another assault on her dampened strings of heart.
"Nisha..."
The husky whisper from his lips made her turn away from the trail of thoughts and turn towards her newly wedded husband. It was a moment she had waited for years and fantasized several times over in myriads of different scenarios like every teenager and a woman in love but to see the moment unfold in reality felt more surreal than ever. She could not help but wonder if the whole chain of events was the way destiny decided to fulfill her dream of marrying him.
Just as she was losing herself in the ocean of pleasure, a wave of memories brought upon the salt to rub against the still open wounds on her heart once again. She could vow that she had seen sincerity in his eyes but so did she when he upheld his end of the bargain, only to be cruelly betrayed. Several shades of a character, many dimensions of a personality, which one to believe and which one to forget - such was the dilemma of the wretched lover.
"How are you feeling now? I know the events of the day would have been stressful for you and it is not easy to forget some remarks so easily but I hope you are feeling better now," said Adhrit, drawing gentle circles at the back of her hand as Neysa looked at him lost for words.
"Nisha?" he prompted, sensing the lack of acknowledgement from her side as she looked at him blankly with a brew of several emotions floating in her eyes.
"I don't understand," she whispered, her eyes holding the most lethal yet the purest hue of love - pain.
"Huh? What do you not understand, Nisha?" he asked, the urge to erase the reason of her suffering swelling in his heart.
"I don't understand what my heart wants anymore, Adhrit. To believe in its racing at your proximity or its wallowing in regret at the memory of your betrayal; to remember its earnest desire to beat in synchronization with yours or play the memory of its ache due to the wound given by you; to have faith on my love or to reflect upon my broken trust, I do not know what to do, Adhrit. How I wish I knew," she remarked, the paradoxical combination of bliss and bane flooding Adhrit's heart at her expression of love and disdain at his actions.
To see one's love in such a confused state was probably the toughest situation for any one in love and Adhrit was no different. Her fears were not baseless, after all, the one who had pushed his first wife to depression due to his lack of clarity on his own feelings, the one who trapped her in her own contract, could he be the one to give clarity to anyone to bring them out of the trap of their complex emotions? It would be tough for anyone to trust him.
"Here goes your contract papers and proposition. I cannot trust any proposition from your side when you have removed any basis for me to trust you," she exclaimed as she tore the contract papers into pieces and threw it to the side.
"The whole act leading to the surrogacy might have been farce, Neysa, but the importance of your trust in my life was not faked. When you had said that you have no basis to trust me, it shook me from within, awoke the conscience which lay dormant but unfortunately, it was not for a longer period of time. But this time, I took vows with you, with not just Fire as our witness but my love and my soul as the stake. Once again, you iterated your lack of trust upon me, and I promise one more thing to you, Neysa, this will be the last time you will ever complain of it. I will win your trust and never break it! It's promises, on our love and the sign of our love!" he vowed, kissing the back of her palm lovingly.
Whether it was the butterfly kisses lacing her fingertips or the silver lining of his words, Neysa did not know which enchanted her more. Her lips broke into a smile as she drank in the beautiful sight surrounding her - a husband promising her love and yearning to win her trust and her beautiful twins sleeping peacefully - it was that precise moment that she felt blessed.
"When you said that you had no basis to trust me anymore, I was hurt beyond words, Nisha. I know how it feels to be not able to trust the one whom you love, and I just could not put you through the same pain. I wanted to do everything I could to reinstate that trust and hence this contract. Do you trust me now or you want me to give you more reasons to trust me?" he said, looking sincerely into her eyes and cupping her shoulder affectionately.
"It's quite late in the night, Nisha. We should sleep. After all, we never know when our little pranksters wake up, asking for their share of attention," reminded Adhrit, rising from his seated position.
Neysa just nodded at him as she moved to change her heavy attire. She had not expected for anything akin to the normal happenings of a passionate first night and she was not disappointed. They had baggage holding them down and she would wait for the day she would lose them the same, allowing her heart to love and cherish him the way it yearns to.
"Will you be comfortable sharing the bed, Nisha?" questioned Adhrit, after they had changed into a much comfortable outfit.
His concern for her feelings made her reminisce the time he had passionately promised that she would have the best sleep of her life and he would ward away the sleeping problems brought upon by her pregnancy.
"What if I would not be able to sleep?" she counter-questioned involuntarily as Adhrit looked up at her with mild surprise.
"I will lull you to sleep, like I did in the past," he assured, smiling at her lovingly as she stepped towards him and slipped her palm between his fingers.
"Then stay beside me, help me dream of our beautiful future and I will be waiting for it to turn true, for my mind to forgo of every complaint, for my heart to lose every constraint and for my soul to reunite with yours."