Nocturnal

"The winds are changing..." Deepanita sighed, her voice barely a whisper and audible only to Karan who sat next to her, blissfully lost in his own reverie. She looked at him from the corner of her eye and smiled at the way his muscles stretched across his jaw whenever he took a deep drag of his cigarette. He felt her stare at him and on a delayed note seemed to hear what she had uttered for he smiled back and quirked a lazy eyebrow.
"Getting philosophical...are we?"
"Nah...just trying to get poetic and a bit romantic."
He stretched his leg over the stairs in front and leaned back, supporting his elbows on the step above to straighten out his back a bit.
"So...tell me something...why do you think I should believe you when you say that you love me?"
She looked at his stretched form and felt a certain playfulness stealing over her.
"Oh please don't believe me for a single moment for I would tell you very honestly Karan...I do not love you at all."
"That...my love...I am aware of."
Deepanita smiled and looked at her watch, a frown creased her forehead.
"My cab would be arriving shortly."
"It's only for a month you know..." he said, understanding the frown and she nodded.
"But this sucks Karan. Imagine the utter helplessness of the situation...the only place I can truly meet my husband is when he is getting ready to start his shift and I have ended mine!"
"Deepa..."
"Oh I know...its a job and we both knew what it meant and all that jazz. It just feels awful that's all."
Karan nodded and moved his hand over his wife's shoulder, reassuringly.
"Once I get the promotion, then maybe you would not need to stay in this job you know..."
"And then do what? Sit around and marinate in the house?" Deepanita was suddenly angry and she knew she was being difficult at this time But she hated going back to an empty house. She had been the one to agree to marriage so soon, had said they would adjust. But...she wanted a normal life, a life where you got up with the sun and cuddle up in a warm bed at night, think about a family...but she was stuck...stuck in a life that meant no sunshine. She could get a day job...Karan had told her he was completely ok with it but that would mean never truly meeting him for his shifts were mostly during the night. Call Centers at least gave her the priveledge to be with him for a longer duration of time. Except for the month like this one.
"Deepa...I am not changing my job. I like it here and we are earning way better than most people who work the conventional 9 to 5. And Besides..."
My cab's here." Deepanita said moodily and got up. She heard Karan sigh and stand up behind her but made no attempt to follow her to the cab. He could not pacify her and knew her too well to know she would come to terms with it. some times, he thought ruefully, he really did wonder wasn't there a real difference in this life and the life people usually led? He kept telling people that there was no difference as such...just the times they acknowledged. And time was different for different. He saw her getting in the cab and leaving and stared at the sky, a deep shade of indigo, a lazy cloud hugged the moon around the edge. He like it like this...he liked the quiet murmur of life rather than the loud horns. So what if people referred to him as nocturnal...he liked it like this. And Deepanita would understand, he thought and smiled as he picked out another cigarette from his pack.