Sara

It had been half an hour since we were talking facing each other lying on the bed. I was continuously feeling her hair with my fingers. She smiled at intervals expressing silently that she loved my fingers though her hair. It was a rainy afternoon and the best place to be was in the bed next to her. We were used to lying next to each other for hours and just talk.

“I love a lot of things you know Sara”

“Like?” and she smirked as if I had hurt her inner ego. What is it with woman?

“I love my bike, I love movies and…” I observed her face sulk as I started listing everything one by one. The rejection in her eyes was evident. She had those puppy eyes, anyone could have made it.

“Are you done?”

“Not yet Sara…”

“Mr. Krashyap, I know you love me more than anything else in your life.”

“Oh my God what makes you think that, so much overconfidence?”

“When it comes to you, I get overconfident. I just cannot help it.” And she smiled. And when she smiled I was forced to. There was something about her that drew me to her. Sara, the girl I had met a few years ago at a gamer’s convention. She was the perfect girl for a freak like me. We played a three hour long NFS game on our first date, an all-night marathon of Halo on our second date and a weekend of FIFA 14 on our third date. She was a dream for every gaming freak and I was living it. Three weeks later I proposed to her and we had a quiet Avengers themed wedding. She was as nerdy and geeky like I was. As, I said she was perfect for me, my Sara.

She suddenly thumped my forehead. ”Where are you lost?” I nodded and smiled.

“Let’s play, come on” she said. I quietly followed her. Of late we had started playing the Sims, a simulation game where you grow and nourish a family. It’s like playing a normal human’s life from birth to death. Sara loved the game. We were married in the game to each other as well. She was pregnant in the game. Somehow that made her at peace. I hated that game but I loved when she smiled.

Two years later

It had been half an hour since we were talking facing each other lying on the bed. I was continuously feeling her hair with my fingers. She smiled at intervals expressing silently that she loved my fingers though her hair. It was a rainy afternoon and the best place to be was in the bed next to her. We were used to lying next to each other for hours and just talk.

“What do you want Krashyap?”

“You know what I want, don’t you?”

“Krashyap, we have spent the last three years of our marriage like this living in a make believe world. Like we are now facing each other lying on the bed but you cannot even touch me. Don’t you feel frustrated?”

“I did not marry you to touch you, did I? I married you because you deserved someone like me who could understand you, sustain you and still have the patience to keep loving you”

“I am not a witch.”

“You are not, you are my Sara”

“Why are you doing this to yourself? And she started crying. I could not even touch her. I understood why physical intimacy is sometimes comforting.

Three months into our marriage Sara was diagnosed with a skin disease. Initially we thought it was a minor hiccup but as days passed by it spread across her body. We tried everywhere, every possible dermatologist possible and in the end Sara convinced me not to waste my resources on her. Instead she wanted to live and cherish every moment remaining with me. Her face has wrinkles like a 70 year old woman. No nurse has agreed to work for us as her skin continuously secretes sweat which is foul smelling. She cannot take a bath nor can she brush her teeth. She has to remain in an air conditioned environment all the time. Although I do give her sponge baths wearing sterilised gloves.

“Tell me why you are doing this?” she asked again

“I married you and more importantly I love you and remember our child in SIMS, how can we leave him? Sara I will die a virgin for you but I will never leave you.”

She smiled faintly. For the world she was an ugly bloated woman, for me she was still the most beautiful woman. My sara.