Just a Touch

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It was just another day in their life. Nothing extraordinary, nothing out of the blue. This was how she had lived for the past twenty years. Naina knew better than to believe in fairy tales. She was too old for that stuff anyway. Fairy tales was what she believed in before she grew up. Somewhere along the way, she had lost faith in them.

Here she was, at forty, mother of two amazing girls and wife of one of the hotshot corporate lawyers in the country. Wasn't she supposed to be happy, content in the least? Why then did she feel like she was walking through a dull dream, almost everyday? What do you call this heart wrenching feeling even when nothing was physically wrong?

Was it when Rishabh, her husband started seeing through her? Or was it the day she quit her full time job as a copywriter to focus on her girls? Now that they were growing up, Naina was left with more time on her hands than she could manage. The same time that sometimes drove her a little crazy.

"You would be ready at eight for the dinner party tonight, right?" Rishabh's voice broke her from her reverie.

"If that's what you want..." Her voice was lifeless. 

And maybe it was the look she had in her eyes, or maybe it was the clinging desperation that he held on to, that their marriage was holding long and steady, but what they had forgotten over the years was that like any relationship, marriage too needed work. Nurturing. But something in her voice that day stopped him. 

He came close to her and held her face in his hands. She had grown old. There were traces of the woman that he had fell in love with- in between the grey streaks that now speckled her hair, in the smile that was now rare, in the crinkles of her tired eyes. 

He kissed her forehead. There were worry lines where her skin was once firm and glowing. Her hands hinted at the beginning of wrinkles. She had forgotten to take care of her own self, she had been busy in making sure that the girls and him were taken care of, almost all her life.

Was it gratitude that he saw her in her eyes then? He hoped not. This was not how it was supposed to be. How could he have allowed his marriage to deteriorate? It had happened eventually, bit by bit, until there was hardly any left to grasp. Like a monster that slowly creeps into a beautiful dream quickly turning it into a nightmare, it had made its subtle presence into their life slowly, but steadily. 

He was not expecting a miracle overnight. It would require work from both their sides. Her skin was calloused and rough as he ran his fingers over them. She deserved better than this. A better life, a happier life and more importantly, a life for the both of them together. As he held his wife in his hands that night and looked into her dark eyes, he was sure he saw a glimpse of that woman he had fallen in love with twenty years back. 

This post is written for Indiblogger in association with Parachute Advanced Body Lotion #BringBackTheTouch.