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.
