Little Girl's Wild Side

In the first week of their honeymoon, they did not really set foot outside of the house. They barely even got out of the bed. Gautham couldn't keep his hands off of her. For him, she was like a drug that he couldn't get rid of once he had a taste of. On top of it, Sindhu kept teasing and tempting him endlessly that almost always led them back to bed. They came impossibly closer to each other both physically and emotionally.

And in the second week, Sindhu took him out to all her old hangout spots. She showed a glimpse into her lifestyle in Bangalore. And like John said, it was a whole lot of wild crazy. She took him to some sort of boxing ring… thankfully she did not participate. Then she went to some club where she introduced him to some biker friends. Just the way they drove their bikes churned his stomach upside down. And when he thought about Sindhu doing that shit, he couldn't agree more with John. She was challenging the universe after all. And thankfully universe was not too harsh on her.

Now Sindhu and Gautham were snuggled in one chair in the back yard. The moment was bittersweet. They will have to go back home tomorrow. Sindhu on one part was happy she will get to go back home but on the other part she missed it here. Here she can do anything and everything without any care and nobody will question her. She will miss this freedom. She will miss this bubble they have been living in for the past two weeks. Just them -completely and utterly lost in each other.

"What are you thinking??" Gautham asked while softly caressing her shoulders.

"Nothing. I am just thinking about going home tomorrow." Sindhu said.

"Why?? You don't want to go yet??" Gautham asked.

"I do. I miss them. But then when I go there, I will miss this here." Sindhu explained.

Gautham did not reply. Comfortable silence stretched between them.

After a while Sindhu started talking, "You know when I first came here to live alone, I was so terrified. I was so scared that I could not sleep for one week straight."

"We... everyone in our family. We all grew up in a very conservative protective environment. So I was actually very amazed that I had the courage to even step out of the city. And when I finally got here, I tormented myself with all the worst case scenarios that could happen to me. But after that I slowly got used to it. I made some friends at work and we hung out and lazed around. "She paused.

"And of course I met John and then Steve." A lazy tender smile appeared on her face as she thought about John and Steve.

"Meeting them changed everything all over again. John bought my painting for 5 lakhs just 5 days after meeting him. Once I met him, everything started revolving around him. John was someone I had earned with everything in my being when I grew up. He was everything that I had wished my parents were.

"He nurtured and protected my wild side. I used to go to all sorts of crazy places… The gym and the racing club are just the surface. I worked at a tattoo shop for a while. And then once I disappeared for three months straight. I went backpacking on my bike with the guys from the club. Those guys were the craziest bunch there is. We used to go sky diving. We used to party like crazy and crash at this place completely blacked out."

"But John never once questioned my character or my intentions or my morals. He did not make me feel ashamed of myself for being me. He did not make me feel guilty for doing something I wanted to do and be with someone I wanted to be with."

She paused and took a deep breath, "That feeling was heavenly. Especially when compared to my mum's accusing glares every time I went out with Aryan or her questioning stares every time I had been a little too close to him physically."

Her eyes darkened as she thought about the bad days, "But without any of us noticing, I started spiraling out of control. Suddenly the adrenaline rush from driving crazy or falling off of sky was not enough anymore. I started seeking crazier things. I drowned in bottle after bottle when I did not find anything to do. This whole house used to stink from smell of booze. I even ended up buying drugs at one party.

"When John found out, he froze my accounts. That is when we fought. I went over to his house and trashed him like a crazy bitch. But he freezing my account was absolute blessing. I did not have enough money to go crazy. Even my drinking was restricted greatly. I was actually having lucid days after such a long time."

She stopped. Gautham did not find the need to fill in the silence. He just kept caressing her comfortingly.

After a long while, she started talking again, "That's when the accident happened. When I came out of hospital, being at this house terrified me. My whole body would start shaking like crazy from withdrawal. It was just so much worse at this house since I would end up seeing a bottle at every inch of this apartment from my memory. That is when I ran away from this place. This house and the whole city scared me."

Gautham buried her face into his chest and held her warmly. "But you are okay now. See… they are just walls." He whispered comfort into her ears.

Sindhu slowly drifted to sleep listening to his soothing voice.