Chapter 141 - Did You Change My Clothes?

|Innaya|

Darkness.

Blinding, scary, endless darkness.

It was as if I had lost my vision because I could not make out whether my eyes were open or not. There was nothing I could see.

I knew the darkness was real when I blinked my eyes. Where was I? Why was it so dark? Was it night already? Even if it was night, it shouldn't be so dark. Eshan knew I was afraid of darkness. Where was he?

I struggled to stay calm, but it seemed impossible. How was one to remain calm, when the thing you feared was before your eyes? Naturally, I also could not face it.

"Eshan?"

No response.

"Eshan, where are you?"

Again, no response.

"Eshan, please switch on the lights. I'm not feeling comfortable with this darkness." I called out, and once again there was no response.

I tentatively took a step forward despite my heart screaming not to. Just as I raised my foot, I felt the ground beneath my feet disappear. I lost my balance and my body starting to fall forward. My heart lurched in my throat with fear.

***

"Innaya? Are you alright?"

I heard someone's voice, but I could not focus on it. My wide eyes were looking around. The pounding in my chest had not reduced a bit. It took me a couple of moments to realize that I had not lost my footing. It was all a nightmare. It was alright. There was nothing to worry about. I was alright.

I exhaled deeply, feeling relieved.

"Innaya?"

"Thank god, you finally woke up."

My eyes finally found the owner of the voice. I relaxed when Eshan's arms took me in his embrace. Feeling reassured, I sagged against his chest. I focused on calming down my furiously racing heart.

"Are you okay?" Eshan asked again.

I did not reply to him right away. My throat didn't help me. I could not understand what had happened before as well. I needed some time to figure out things. Eshan pressed my head against his chest.

"Hmm... Thirsty... tired... and hungry," I replied when my body protested weakly. My throat felt hoarse and dry. My stomach felt so empty as if I hadn't had anything for ages.

"Anything else?" Cautiously Eshan's brown eyes looked at me as he held my chin and raised my head.

I shook my head. Right at the moment, there were no other prominent issues that I felt. Apart from the things I mentioned, everything seemed fine.

"Here, have some water." Eshan brought the glass of water near my lips. I silently accepted his help.

I frowned when I tasted the water.

"Why is it sweet and salty?"

"Your blood pressure had dropped... Hence the sugar-saltwater," Eshan replied.

My eyebrows furrowed. Why would my BP drop?

However, my soar throat needed water first. Half-heartedly I drank the water. Eshan had messed up the proportion of salt and sugar. The water felt too sweet, and salt was barely there. I did not feel like telling him that though. Holding back my grievance, I somehow drank the half water.

"Give me normal water, please," I requested. I couldn't stomach that much sweetness.

After drinking a glass of water, I could finally feel my throat easing up. There was that bitterness in my mouth. The one I felt when I usually had a fever. I was surprised how much sugar Eshan had put for me to feel even after that bitter taste in my mouth.

"Uh... Do you know what happened to me?"

Eshan took the empty glass from my hand and kept it on the bedside table. He nodded solemnly in response. "Not exactly." He then reclined against the headrest of the bed and pulled me along.

The duvet covering me fell on the bed at his action. It was then I noticed my lack of clothing, to be precise lack of presence of the clothes I had worn last night.

I could also feel that my inner wears were also missing from my body. I stiffened. I did not recall changing my clothes. All I remembered was Eshan holding me, and both of us were drenched.

Did he change my clothes?

"What's wrong?"

Maybe, Eshan noticed the sudden shift of my emotions.

"Umm... My clothes... Did you?" I did not know how to phrase the question. We had not crossed that level of intimacy yet. So, I did not know how to feel, knowing he saw me... naked. Truthfully, I could not process what my thoughts were after learning about it.

"Yes."

My heartbeat quickened. "Oh..." I could not think anything else. Heat rose in my cheeks, and I could feel my face turning red as embarrassment kicked in.

"I did not see anything. I swear. I didn't take advantage of you. I'm telling the truth," Eshan explained quickly. His tone was urgent and insisting.

Did he misunderstand my reaction? Was he thinking that I was doubting him?

"I believe you," I whispered. Eshan's body visibly relaxed. I felt how his hand holding on my arm loosened, which had squeezed my shoulder previously.

His reaction might seem weird to many. It might look like he was overreacting. It should be an insignificant matter. Changing your own wife's clothes when she was sick shouldn't be a big deal. But, I knew, for Eshan it was a big deal.

Why? There should be nothing to make a big deal out of it to see the natural state of a spouse, without any hindrance.

However, in our case, things weren't so easy. I was the one to be blamed for it. Perhaps my words made the whole thing awkward.

My eyes watered when I was reminded of the words I had spoken to him. I had called him a pervert. A man who relied on his bodily instincts and went behind women for fulfilling his needs.

When I looked at the past and thought about how I had broken his heart, I had nothing to say in my defense. My conscience would always remind me of my misdeeds. The words I had spoken in hurt and anger would always have that invisible presence between us.

Eshan had refused to even hold my hands after that event. I could not even imagine what effect my words had left on his heart.

I wondered what his state of mind would have been when he had to change my clothes. Was he also reminded of those words?

"I'm sorry." I apologized as I hid my face in his warm chest.

"I should be the one saying sorry, sweetheart. Why are you apologizing? You're shivering badly. I couldn't leave you in wet clothes. I had no other option. I'm sorry if it made you feel uncomfortable."