Decision - an Anuj OS

"No."Anuj said calmly.

"But for once..." The voice on the receiver tried to reason but was cut off.

"I said. No." Anuj was still calm.

"Because of Anupama, right? You still haven't forgotten her. You are still in love with her, right?... If so, try to get back with..."

Anuj burst into laughter which immediately shut up the voice on the other end.

"Try!!!" The sarcasm in his voice didn't go unnoticed. "Hmm... It's because of her. It always is." The sarcasm gave way to sadness and Dheeraj decided not to pursue the matter further.

"Theek hai yaar. I will call you later. But I hope you rethink."

Anuj put the receiver down and sat down in the sofa looking up at the ceiling.

"Try. Wahi to kar raha tha main. Kab se. Mujhe khud bhi yaad nahi. Par jab uska waqt aaya. Try karne ka" he closed his eyes and the past memories came haunting him once again.

"Mujhe pata hi nahi tha ki aapko itna sab kuch jhelna pad raha hai."

She took his hands in hers.

Anuj's heart calmed down immediately as her words felt like raindrops on the burning soil of his heart.

But the follow up words made his world came crashing down as she declared her decision to leave.

Noooo! This is not what I want. Nooo!!! His heart screamed but no voice came out of his mouth.

For the next few minutes she kept talking about her so called love that she was letting him go for. She decided it was time to stop. She decided. She decided she didn't want to hurt him further. She decided. She decided to carry the baggage herself. She decided. On her own. A painful smile appeared on his lips as his Anu used all her might to hurt him as much as she could. She was ready to carry the baggage but his love wasn't worth carrying forward. Their relationship wasn't worth carrying forward.

She said ekach Minute. Anuj knew that his love didn't matter to her. At all. But he knew she wouldn't be able to leave her daughter. Her babeli. He never doubted her Mamta.

But she picked up the phone and cut them off from her life forever.

Her Jai Shri Krishna sounded so cruel that Anuj too wanted her to feel the cruelty of her words.

That was good bye.

She left. She left me. She left her.

Why didn't she? Try?

"Papa" a stern voice yelled at him, "aapne abhi Tak khana kyun nahi khaya?" A young lady entered the dark room and switched on the light only to find tears rolling down her beloved father's face.

She knew what that meant. She closed her eyes in pain as the memories of that night flooded her soul...

To be continued...