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You may begin now.

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This chap is affectionately dedicated to - ansharnav123🖤✨

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"I didn't ask for anything huge,
I just wished for a hand which crave my hold,...
And to caress me when the world seems very cold......................"

"No matter how well your preparation is, before the exam, and especially before the first exam nervousness is common among nearly everyone...
But the way you're scanning and re - scanning your notes, time and again, is literally abnormal Manjiri."

Shaurya sighed and spoke, getting up from his desk after closing his laptop and moving towards the bed.
He looked all set to hit the bed anytime.

Being already super anxious for her exam which was scheduled for the next day, Manjiri chose to ignore his words. She simply looked up to him and then went back to what she had been doing, i.e., paging through the pages of various books in her lap and hands with creased eyebrows and disturbed facial expressions.

Half laying on the edge of the vacant little side of bed, Shaurya got immersed into his phone's feed whilst waiting for Manjiri to finish up. But little did he know that his incoming notification tones and of course the volume of the short videos which he was viewing on his handset was considerably high enough to disrupt someone's concentration ability.

"Please na Shaurya, don't disturb. Close it or use your earphones."

Manjiri whined irritably, this made Shaurya look towards her. He passed a weird annoyed glance when her gaze met his, he really was disliking her highly disturbed and tensed self.

"Well, Madam Manjiri you also either close these or go over there, as this very person needs to sleep comfortably on his bed."

He playfully added, he actually teased her intentionally this time hoping to lighten the atmosphere in the room and also to make her agree to switch off the lights soon.
To which she looked at him wordlessly and then taking a soft sigh, she kind of pleaded him as the manner in which her belongings were scattered all over the bed, presumably a good amount of her precious time would get consumed efficiently if she starts gathering them to translocate over the desk.

"Just wait for a while please! These are too many."

"Have you seen the time?"

Shaurya simply snapped on hearing her plead.
To which Manjiri replied, not bothering to look up to him.

"I know it's already half past midnight. But what should I do cause right now I feel like each and every topic which I've been diligently preparing for from last so many days, is just slipping out of my mind effortlessly.....
I don't know why my mind is not able to retain anything?"

"It's an illusion basically.
Now don't stress much and immediately close your books.
Its hell of a night now!
Do your pending revision in the morning."

He persuaded thoughtfully, somehow tried to get her to engage in a conversation.
However, she appeared to be in no mood to sway by his words

"No, I can't take any risk, what if my alarm doesn't ring in the morning....
Then what will I do?"

"Stop talking nonsense Manjiri..."

Shaurya interrupted her utterance a bit harshly whilst yawning, making her speak

"This is not nonsense... This thing really happened with me quite a many times."

Nobody said anything after that. Feeling sleepy as hell, Shaurya got up from the bed and got rid off his specs. Placing them on the nightstand, he began marching towards the washroom.
Hardly had he turned the knob to open the washroom's door, Manjiri's words reached his ears

"Listen!"

"Hmm?"

"Can you also set an alarm for counter assurance on your phone for me?"

"Alright!
Time?"

He asked as he opened the door.

"6!...
No 5:30!...
No no, make it 5.
Well instead set 3 different alarms of 4:50, 4:55 and 5."

She stated in a single breath, apprehensiveness was quite evident in her tone.
To which Shaurya shook his head in annoyance and declared with finality

"I'm setting it for 6 o'clock only. Clear?"

"But..."

"Your exam is at 10, isn't it?
4 hours are more than sufficient for your scanning and re - scanning, at least take proper 5 hours of sleep."

Cutting her argument in the middle, he asserted firmly.

"But what if...."

Manjiri opened her mouth to go on but only to be snapped by him in a quite stern and loud voice.

"Ahh! Manjiri you know sometimes it's so hard to keep up with you."

After yelling irritably, he shut the washroom's door behind him.

"We don't mean to hurt each other, but we do.
And perhaps no matter how right we are for each other, we will always be a little too wrong.......
Are we still 'compatible'?....."

_

"Missing someone is like hearing a name sung quietly from somewhere behind you....................
Even after you know no one is there, you keep looking back.
Indeed grief is highly exhausting!"

When Shaurya returned, he found Manjiri assembling her things. He stepped forward to help her, but not before exchanging a look with her, who she tried to avoid by quietly looking away.

"Now what went wrong?"

He asked her as she wordlessly started pushing her books in her bag.

"Nothing!"

Sensing his intent gaze upon her, she meekly uttered and got up from the bed after zipping up her bag. But whilst standing, accidentally her phone got dropped on the floor from her lap.

Shaurya crouched down in order to pick it up, but on viewing the opened gallery picture of Manjiri with her Dadi, Shaurya fell short of words.
He sighed and then properly inspected her face while getting up from dowm, her face appeared morose and hurtful.

"You're ok?"

He asked her calmly, as he forwarded her phone back to her. His tone appeared slightly guilt - stricken.
To which she replied whilst taking her belonging back in her hand

"Yes!"

"It doesn't seem so.
You aren't revising anymore?"

He mumbled turning to her as she was about to turn and leave. To which she replied him plainly yet again whilst stepping aside.

"I'm done!
Need to sleep now."

Hearing her Shaurya stepped closer to her in order to block her path, settling an intense gaze upon her feeble, listless face he started enunciating

"Manjiri, hey wait!"

Hearing this she looked straight into his eyes.

"Hear me out at least!"

This time as well, silence was the only response he received from her side.

"I'm sorry for pissing you off but I definitely didn't mean to shout on you..... Trust me!"

Whilst speaking, he made her sit on the edge of the bed, and he himself crouched down on his knees in front of her.

Meeting his gaze, she finally clicked her tongue in a low voice

"Why are you sorry?
It was my fault. I was only distressing over something out of proportion.
Really sorry!"

No sooner did she finish speaking, then he started awarding himself some brownie points in a boasting manner.

"Exactly! That's what I was telling you......"

Hearing this she lifted her eyelashes and offered him a disquieting look.
A soft yet exhausted smile unleashed from his lips as he got up from the floor to sit beside her.

"Tell me one thing do you always get this excessively tensed before any exam, even though you're fully prepared?"

"Umm... yeah mostly!"

She drew out a breath as she spoke timidly.
Something more was disrupting her sanity at then and he could sense it, but was unable to put a finger on

"So then how did Shri Bhabhi and your Dadi manage with you up till now?"

Something within her dwindled all of a sudden hearing this.
Keeping a straight face she got up

"It looks like bedsheet is not tightly tucked around the corners of mattresses...."

"Hmm!"

Shaurya hummed as he noticed the creases and wrinkles of the bedsheet spread over the bed.
She opened her mouth to state

"Get up from here and let me fit it properly."

"Hold these!"
She handed him the pillows.

"This as well!"
Then she forwarded him the comforter.

Well now poor Shaurya was unable to get sprawled on the bed, his dear bed.
And on top of everything now, he couldn't even access his phone to kill his waiting time, as his hands were preoccupied with the pillows and comforter. He was so desperately waiting for her to set the bedsheet properly

"You're deliberately taking more time, right?
Is this how you avenge from people Silly Head?"

He tried to tease her again, but it seemed that she was in no mood cause she simply ignored his frisky words and climbed up the bed.

Enveloping herself entirely with the help of her comforter, she waited for him to switch off the lights.

The moment she ensured that there was darkness around, she withdrew the comforter off her face only to find Shaurya's back towards her, although he had laid down just besides her but still she was relieved that he was not facing her side.
Taking a sigh of relief, she felt her eyes pricking up with fresh warm tears.

No she wasn't hurt, she didn't even have any complain with neither Shaurya nor anyone else. In fact her life was more at peace now, and especially with him being around her, she could not ask for anything more in the world other than his pristine lingering companionship.

However, there was a constant feeling or can say a chain of thoughts constantly nagging her mind and heart since morning.
She was being zipped in a nostalgic coma time and again, a sudden zephyr of old bittersweet memories was incessantly blowing her senses whenever the thoughts or the anxiousness of her next day's exam used to hit her.

She was forcibly not allowing herself to feel the pain of her loss and also the burden of her exhausting yearn up till now.
But since the time Shaurya yelled at her, she had been missing the old times more and more.

She always let her Dadi live in her memory. She also dream about her quite so often. She think about her nearly daily.

At then, Manjiri was wondering what her Dadi would have said if Manjiri told her about her important exam and it's related out of the proportion nervousness.

What her Dadi would have told her in order to provide comfort and confirmation of her success, just the way she used to tell her before.....

She too wondered what it would be like to get a warm hug from her again, her Dadi's touch on her back used to work as a calmative for her.
But now her ease - inducing medicine was no where around her, maybe it was now somewhere among the stars in the sky or maybe just in her memories, only and only in her memories........

The pain and loss she was feeling without her Dadi at then was too deep. Her Dadi was not only a huge part of her life but also of her thoughts, character, personality and of course her heart.
For that reason perhaps she would never stop missing her presence in her life.

She also wondered if her Dadi would be proud of who she was now, what she would be feeling if she could be able to see her now?

Suddenly she sensed Shaurya spinning around, i.e., towards her, still sleeping calmly.

His soft snores were consciously making her aware that he was fast asleep but still she shut her eyes forcibly, probably to dodge his attention if in case he was awake.

Shaurya's hand reached her hand on it's own accord even in a deep slumber.

A blow of sudden soft inclining emotion hit Manjiri hard at then. Though these type of little gestures of fondness from his side, that to in sleep went very normal for her, cause this had become a routine for her by now, but still it rendered her a strange newly found warmth and protectiveness.

She immediately held his hand, a certain unfathomable craving to encircle her arms around him crossed her mind.

At one moment that urge came knocking her senses, and at another moment without much ado her arm fully curved around his shoulder. Leaning against his chest, she closed her eyes, quietly sinking into that peaceful feeling which was edge by edge surfacing in her heart.

Shaurya stirred a little in sleep on feeling something against his chest. Parting his eyelids slightly, he looked over there, the sight in front of him made him slyly grin in sheer contentment. Without a doubt he was taken back by a sudden surprise, cause it's not everyday that his wife reciprocates or expresses whatever she feels.

Overwhelming with jolting emotions, he pressed his mouth against her hair gently and then let his chin rest on her head. Pulling her more closer to himself than she already was, he spoke in a low husky voice

"Sleep well Silly Head! I'm right here and I know you'll rock tomorrow, so stop stressing."

On hearing him and being in his firm hold, Manjiri's ill at ease heart slightly eased up a little.

Though his touch was nowhere similar to the touch of the person she was missing endearingly, but still she could somewhat experience the same amount of adoration, warmth and care radiating from his touch, which she was so much needing at then.

"The silence isn't so bad, till I look at my hands and feel sad............
Because the spaces between my fingers are right where yours fit perfectly!"

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This is it for now. Hope you liked it. I am sorry for the mistakes.

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Love ♥️✨