Page 194 of No Boss
After a long silence, Sarita spoke again. “How did you get inside?”
The question came softly this time.
Abhinav took a few seconds before answering. Each line came slow, measured. The old woman. The road. The frozen GPS. The vanishing door. The underground passage.
Sarita listened without interrupting. Her hand remained in his hair, calm and grounding.
When he finished, she cupped his face and looked at him. There was no disbelief in her eyes. Only love.
She pressed her lips to his forehead. She did not try to explain what had happened. Did not name it. Did not question it. She accepted it as it came.
“Lie down now,” she murmured at last. “You need sleep.”
He obeyed and stretched across the bed while she remained beside him, her hand moving through his hair.
Without thought, he turned and rested his head in her lap.
The motion surprised even him. He had not done this since boarding school.
Her hand paused for a second. Then her fingers resumed, finding the same place that had soothed him as a child.
His eyes closed. The pounding inside him began to ease. His breath deepened. For the first time in hours, his body stopped bracing for the worst.
Sleep came soon after, deep and without dreams.
Sarita remained beside him until his breathing evened out. She reached for the blanket at the foot of the bed and drew it over him.
She watched her son. The exhaustion in his face even in sleep. The bandages around his hand. The man who had crossed fear and the impossible to bring his woman home.
Then she rose and walked to the window. The temple stood in white marble.
Sarita joined her hands and bowed her head. No words came. None were needed.
Gratitude moved through her. For what had been protected. For what had been returned. For what had not been taken away.
She remained there for a long time before turning to leave. At the door, her eyes moved once more to her son. Then she stepped out and closed the door behind her, leaving him to the rest he had earned.
Chapter 36
Meera woke to trunks dragging across the floor and aunties arguing at full volume.
Wedding chaos had begun.
Her body protested the moment she pushed herself upright. Every muscle ached. Shoulders tight from hours against cold stone. Knees stiff from being pulled close while she waited, though she could not name what for.
She remained seated, drawing in a slow breath. Her eyes moved to the framed photograph of Kul Devi. Her hands came together in gratitude.
“Thank you, Maa,” she whispered.
For bringing him back. For keeping her safe. For answering a prayer she had not even known she was making while sitting beside that underground spring, hollowed by heartbreak, fear and grief.
Her throat tightened.
Because the goddess had not just returned Abhinav. She had returned him shaken. That memory would stay with Meera for a very long time.
She bathed and stepped out.
The living room had turned into a battlefield.
