Page 58 of Mrs. Pandey
Major Nadeem shifted, hand on his rifle. I nodded. He understood.
They were close. The enemy.
We breathed the same cold air.
I gripped my weapon, jaw set.
There would be no retreat.
No room for mistakes.
Tonight, we would walk into the pages of memory.
Or into the arms of death.
But either way we would walk like soldiers.
______
Chapter 27
IRA
"You may come with us if you like," Prashant said, buttoning up his shirt. "They'll like you."
"Are you insisting on me or yourself?" I asked, biting back a smile. He looked unfairly handsome with his hair still wet, droplets of water trickling down the sharp edges of his face.
"How many months have you taken off?" I asked, letting my gaze linger on him a little longer than I should have.
"Two months and fifteen days," he said casually.
I blinked, stunned. "Does that mean we'll be joining duty on the same day?"
He nodded without hesitation.
"Why?" I asked, trying to keep my voice neutral.
"Why what?" He raised his brows at me.
"Why did you take the same leave as mine?"
"I don't know," Prashant said with a shrug, running his fingers through his damp hair as he looked at himself in the mirror.
"Prashant..." I stepped up behind him. I could feel his body tense as he paused, the air between us suddenly dense. Slowly, I slid my hand down his chest. His breath sharpened at my touch."I'm sorry for breaking your marriage," I whispered, wrapping my arms around his back. God, he was so warm, so firm, so infuriatingly cozy.
"Sorry won't mend what's broken between us, Ira," he said, a trace of bitterness slipping through his otherwise calm voice. "I only agreed to marry you because..." He turned slowly to look into my eyes, his expression unreadable. "I couldn't stand the way people looked at you, like you were something dirty. And I... I couldn't make myself abandon you like that."
His words sat heavily in the space between us. Before I could speak anything else he asked, "Why did you break off your engagement with that doctor?"
"Because that doctor wasn't you," I replied without breaking eye contact.
He exhaled harshly. "Why do you always have to twist things? You should've said no to him on the very first day if you didn't want to marry him. Why give him and his family so much trouble?"
If I told Prashant the truth, that I had almost married an abusive Kabir, that I had been blind to his real face until the last moment, he wouldn't hesitate to call me a selfish bitch. So I stayed silent. I wouldn't defend myself. I wouldn't explain. I would just tell him what I always did: that I wanted to marry him.
"If you had agreed to marry me earlier, none of this would've happened," I said with a soft smile, trying to lighten the moment.
"You shouldn't have married me," he said, jaw tightening, and pushed me away gently.
