Originally posted by: columbia
Part 17
She is getting ready to leave, putting on her sandals, checking her phone. He walks out from his bedroom, walks and bends to access the shelves in the sleek Asian inspired media console under the large TV, apparently looking for something. Her phone has messages from Shilpa, Abba and Aniket. She is afraid to open Aniket’s, she lets her father know they have reached and Shilpa’s just makes her smile
Bina milke kaise bhag gayi, rukk weekend ko leti hun teri. Tu fikar mut kar, main Pune next week join kar rahi hun, so I can help Maavshi.
She smiles as she reads it, and he comes to her, she looks up and says
“Shilpa vahi Chandrapur mei hai, voh Pune next week jaayegi so she can help Mavshi”
He looks at her, “Toh abb khush?” She nods smiling.
“Tumhare liye” and he hands her a single key.
“Yeh kya hai?”
“Humare ghar ki chaavi, aao dikhata hun..” he walks to the door and opens it, she has missed the whole lesson, she holds the key tight fisted, she is touched by this gesture, with all his independence, he opens for her, he never feels like he has to hold back.
But then maybe it is easier for him, because his life isn’t changing drastically, it’s like for him, this new life, he needs to make adjustments for one more person, like already sitting in the drivers seat of a car and opening the passenger door for her. But for her, she has to adjust to a whole new car, she has to get familiar with how it works, it’s seats, it’s ambience and god alone knows how often she will be allowed to drive it. She didn’t even get a test drive.
He turns the car into the camp area, they both get off. She walks towards the registration area, he walks along, slightly behind her. Aniket spots her from a distance, and he rushes to her and gives her a hug, while she feels slightly uneasy, she smiles. Aniket starts rattling off..
“It’s so good to see you Sai. I am so sorry, maine bahut try kiya tumhare liye, but yaha ke rules kaafi strict hai. Kya Abigail ne tumhe bataya ki tumhari last date kya hai?”
She shakes her head and has a small smile. Virat stares at her willing to look at him, she does look at him embarrassed and frankly can’t wait to get out of there.
Aniket spots Virat
“Arrey ACP Sir, aap aaj aanevale hai, kissine bataya nahi. Mai jaake register leke aata hun”. Before Virat can answer, Sai states
“Main jaake Abigail se baat karti hun”
And she scampers off like a mouse escaping, leaving him livid. He is so angry that he doesn’t trust himself to do the right thing, he turns away without answering Aniket and marches off, pulls the car door shut on him loudly and steps on it and drives off.
Her day was not going well at all. She was on duty the whole morning into post lunch with all kinds of patients and Abigail was not giving her a straight answer, except that she will have to wait for the senior doctor to come by. She buries herself in work and the shift nurses behave with her like as though today was her last day. She could not even get the local maid to clean her room who kept saying she would come, but didn’t. It was like they all knew she was leaving, so why bother to treat her right, the only person who was being nice to her was Aniket. The whole day Virat had not called or texted and he was angry and she understood his anger, as evening set in, tears clouded her heart and eyes, she thought of sweeping her own room, but was so tired. She decides to take a shower first, opens her cupboard and stares at her clothes. She texts him,
Aapne dinner khaa liya?
Oh so now she remembers him and asks him wife like questions. And even now doesn’t acknowledge that she was wrong. He rolls his eyes, stares at the phone, and types back
Dost ke saath hun.
How nice! He has friends that he can go and spend time with and for sure complain about her. How was she to know that Aniket would babble the way he did, she would have told him, after she got a handle on things. But now, she doesn’t have a handle on it and he knows- the worst way the situation can play out.
And not just that, he just dismisses her. Like she is nothing, then why does he need to know, if she is nothing. She flings the phone into the bag, except the bag topples and few things fall off. She collects them and the last one is the key he gave her this morning, she looks at it and holds back her tears threatening to spill. She stands up and looks at her clothes.
The next thing she knows, she is standing in front of his flat main door, with a suitcase, trying to open his door. She is struggling, and she prays that no one from the only other apartment on that floor sees her. She is sure she will break down if someone comes by. She doesn’t want to ring the bell, she stops trying to open the door. She calms herself for a few seconds and then she turns the key again and it clicks and the door opens. It’s like she was struggling for nothing, she enters with her suitcase. She rolls it into his bedroom, opens it and removes her toiletries and walks into the large bathroom and takes a long shower. She changes into a blue tie and die kaftan, and rubs lotion all over her legs and hands. She sits on the bed, she is hungry, she realizes she should make herself some food. She makes herself some Maggie and Horlicks and sits in the balcony, a part of her waiting for the door to click and him to walk in. But that doesn’t happen. Even the Dubeys don’t make an appearance, it’s like they are all on his side.
She washes the dishes, wonders if he has a maid and what time does she usually come. He can answer the maid, that would serve him right for ignoring her. As she gets comfortable in his bed to sleep, she stares at her phone again, the number with no name has not called or texted. She texts him
Aapki bai kitne bajje aati hai?
Her phone pings
Nau bajje
She makes a face, so that would be 9am since it’s almost 10pm now. She bites her tongue hoping he will text and ask her to elaborate but he doesn’t. So she texts him back
Aap ghar pe ho?
She waits for him chewing on the underside of her lip for almost a minute, but there is no reply. She puts the phone on the bedside table, she gets up to switch off the light but switches off the fan instead, she plays with the switches for sometime, the room goes dark. She hits her toe on the suitcase, she is an idiot, she should have switched on the bed light first. She sits on the bed and lies down. The phone pings and it’s light let’s her find it in the dark, and there in the dark, the number with no name has answered her text
Nahi Mai Amravati mei hun Shivam ke saath, Tuesday ko vapas aaunga.
She refuses to cry and sleeps all alone in a new home, all by herself, she will figure it out, she will be fine.
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