Mr.Weerasuriya watched his wife picking wathusudda with their daughter, Sachini, a six year old. Upeksha, his wife picked the flowers and cast them into the plastic bowl the child held in her hands. When she saw him watching them, she smiled at him the same dear smile she had given him when they had first met at the school some 15 years ago. It was clear that her youthful features had begun to fade faster than his. But, he knew they had grown dearer still to each other. And Sachini`s arrival into their lives had increased their conjugal bliss almost thousand-fold.
Mr.Weerasuriaya, in his early thirties, was a lecturer in Accountancy at Sabaragamuwa University. He was of medium height with an intelligent brow, sharp eyes beneath dense eye-brows and a small mouth that occasionally broke into a tender smile. His complexion was more dark than fair, but he was certainly not coal-black. Upeksha, his wife, was fair and buxom with a fine mouth, large brown eyes and cheeks that dimpled when she smiled. It was with her smile that she had bewitched him, he remembered with a smile. The folded newspaper lying on his lap, be now began to reminisce dreamily.
He met her while they were both studying for their A/Levels in Commerce stream. She outdid him at the studies and at the exams. In fact, it was from her that he got further clarifications about some concepts in Economics and some sums in Accountancy. When the results had been released, it was obvious that they were both qualified for university entrance. And she had outranked him. But so poor were their parents that it seemed that neither of them could afford to enter university and continue their higher education.
Upeksha, the unselfish girl, then suggested that he enter the university and told him she would secure a job at a garment factory. It, she assured him, would help him continue his studies at the university. First, he never liked her suggestion, his masculine pride forbidding him to depend on her and wanted to find a job. But, as she pressed him continually, he gave way and entered the University of Kelaniya to read for a degree in Accountancy. Despite her parents` warnings and admonitions, she got a job as seamstress at a garment factory nearby and gave him over ¾ of her monthly pay to meet his expenses. As he studied at the university, he was constantly driven by the need to excel at his studies as he always felt for her over her generosity. His parents too helped him in the small way they could. His hard work eventually paid off and he graduated summa cum laude from the University of Kelaniya, which offered him the chance to join the academic staff as a probationary lecturer. Later on, he joined Sabaragamuwa University closer to his home town.
Overjoyed at his success, his parents brought him proposals from wealthy families, ready to offer whopping dowries. His mother was in earnest and constantly tried to persuade him to forget Upeksha and get married with a richer and more educated girl. But, he never heeded her reasoning and went on to marry Upeksha. Although his mother still chided him for his decision to marry her, he was more than certain he had done the right thing and he would never regret his decision.
And they were a happy family now. He knew it was love, pure love and not marriage that bound them to each other so strongly. It was Upeksha he knew who was the wind beneath his wings. He loved her for that so immensely, so completely. It was not the sort of love that evaporated with time; rather, it drew them closer and closer still to each other and strengthened their ties as time went by. Such love, he knew, worked wonders.
He felt a spray of cold water on his face, which awakened him from his reflection and saw Sachini grinning at him with a bowl of flowers with her smiling mother behind her.
