Keeping Quiet…

Warning : I intended this as a breezy romance and it has ended up like a sermon. I wanted to share some ideas and I’ve tried to do so with the story of an unconventional couple.

She was born mute… he was never one to speak much. They were comfortable with that. Words spoken are mostly shallow… meaningless banter. Silence is profound. Still people need conversations to distract them from the imperfections they see in themselves during the short-lived moments of calm they rarely chance upon. They were different. They never felt the need to talk to enrich their relationship. Words can be unreliable at times you want to convey delicate emotions. They had found other means to express.

She woke up before him every day. She would then gently run her fingertips on his forehead until a smile appeared on his sleeping face. Some days she would wet her fingers before doing this. She did this on busy days when she had to hurry. He knew it meant she wanted him to get up fast. On slower days her fingers would be warm. It meant he could take his time. This was her idea of a good start to the day. For people around them, the sense of touch had diminished. Touching your loved ones doesn’t seem as important as it used to in the beginning. They were rare that way. They reveled  in each other’s touch.

Once he was up she would get out of bed and go to the kitchen. It was the only part of her life that he was not allowed into. There are boundaries within every relationship…. this was theirs. Incidentally these boundaries most of the times are the reasons why relationships wilt. He didn’t understand why she insisted on him staying out of the kitchen. He didn’t like secrets. He never had one that he wanted kept and he didn’t appreciate others wanting him to keep theirs. It bothered him that she might have one…. because when she came out of the kitchen with coffee, each day it would taste different. It tasted good but not the same as the day before. He knew it wasn’t accidental. After giving him the coffee she would take a seat opposite him on the dining table and look at him. She wouldn’t take her eyes off until seeing his face when he took the first sip. He felt she was trying to tell him something…. like a puzzle that he had been challenged to solve.

When you decide to spend the rest of your life with someone, you need to make sure that the person can challenge you on some level... intellectual, emotional or even the most primeval of all… on the bed. If you don’t, you risk falling into a rut of premature contentment. In that state, there’s no room for improvement. It’s like you ‘fell’ in love and just don’t care about ‘rising’ anymore.

P.S

Sorry if you are disappointed. I had absolutely no idea as to how else I could’ve ended this.