Enough:
She took a deep breath, actually quite a few to stall time. She had been standing outside her bedroom door for the past ten minutes, trying to calm her nerves down before entering the room. She looked down at the plate filled with food and wondered why Dhara Di couldn’t have brought this in for Shiva herself.
Normally Raavi would have no issue with serving him food, she would have done so reluctantly but still there would be no apprehension. However, today the menial task seemed to be scarier than going to war and she knew that engaging with Shiva was just that – fighting a battle. Her MaasiMa had once again took it upon herself to taunt each and everything that was going on in Pandya Niwas, especially targeting Dhara Di. Raavi had pleaded with her MaasiMa to stop but she had paid no heed and only left after she had utterly destroyed Dhara’s heart.
Shiva had come back from the store to find Dhara a weeping mess and had almost stormed out the door in rage, but his Dhara Bhabhi had stopped him with her kasam. He had angrily shoved past everyone and locked himself up in the room for the rest of the day. Raavi knew that she would face the brunt of her MaasiMa’s actions, and she was dreading the inevitable.
With a heavy sigh, she pushed the door open and found Shiva sitting on the bed with his elbows on his knees. She gasped in fright as she was immediately met with his fiery gaze as if he had been waiting for her to enter the room and engulf her in his fire. She mustered up as wide of a smile as she could to mask her fear and took baby steps towards him.
“Tune subhe se kuch nahi khaya hai Shiva. Khana kha le,” Raavi stuttered out while extending the plate towards him. Shiva looked down at the food and then up at her, his anger increasing tenfold. He slammed the plate out of her hand, the glass shattering upon impact and the food spilling all over the floor. Raavi looked at the food in horror.
“Shiva ye kya kiya tune? Khana ka aisa apman nahi karthe hai.” He grabbed her wrists in anger causing her bangles to break from his crushing grasp.
“Aur jo teri Maasi ne meri Bhabhi ka apman kiya? Uska kya?” He dug his nails into her wrists and Raavi winced in pain.
“Main janthi hoon ke MaasiMa ne jo kiya voh bahoth galath tha par isme meri kya galti hai? Maine unko bahoth rukne ki koshish kari thi.” Raavi tried to pry his fingers off of her wrists and he finally let go.
“Teri sabse badi galti ye hai ke tu uss ghar mein paida hui.” He wrapped his hand around her hair and pulled downwards, his grip becoming rougher.
“Shiva chod mujhe dard ho raha hai, please.” She tried to pull his hand upwards to relieve the pain, but he was persistent with his grasp.
“Aur jo dard tune diya hai hamare parivar ko uss ka kya? Teri wajah se mere papa nahi reh iss duniya mein. Toh bas ek kutti panoti hai jo mere gale main phaasi bandke agayi hai.” Raavi had been holding her tears in up to this point, but his cruel words triggered their downfall and she aggressively pushed him away.
“Enough Shiva. Enough.” She yelled while holding the back of her head, the pain too excruciating to handle. “Bas bahoth hogaya hai tera. Kab tak mujhe aise doshi te rai ga. Shiva main bhi teri tara bachi thi jab ye sab hua. Main itni choti thi ke mujhe toh samaj main bhi nahi aaya tha ke hua kya tha. Maine aaj tak sympathy ke vajah se kuch nahi bola tujhse. Lekin ab bas bahoth hogaya. Aur nahi se sakti main. Uss din tune mujhe phaasi se bachaya tha na? Aaj main tujhe mukti deti hoon.” She wiped her tears with aggressive swipes and took out her suitcase. She stuffed in as many clothes as she could fit and Shiva made no move towards her, pumping his hands into fists to control his rage.
When she was packed, she headed towards the door and her final words before leaving were, “Main kal hi tujhe divorce ke papers bhej dongi. Tujhe jo karna hai kar ab Shiva. Par jaane se pehle ye zaroor bolungi ke maine kabhi bhi tera bura nahi chaha hai aur tune kabhi bhi mera acha. Ye farak hai hum dono main.”
Shiva stared at her retreating figure, his fury blinding him to the pain that Raavi was going through. His anger had yet again clouded his judgement and by the time his mind had cleared the fog, it was too late.
A few years later, he held her broken bangles in dismay, constantly thinking about that horrible day. Everything had been snatched away from him because of his blind hatred and all he was left with was to wonder was what could have been?
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