PART 8
I heard Jigar calling from outside, "Bhai..are you inside ?? are you OK ?? Bhai ???". When he heard me reply yes he continued, "Bhai there's nothing to worry, they agreed for police protection. That lady told me that she would herself look into this case. You know what..she's from our city. There's absolutely nothing to worry about." I banged the door open and came out shouting, "Jigar..I am all right. Do you think Im scared of this situation? I know those workers can do nothing, its just that Im not feeling well." Just then I felt my mobile vibrating and the screen flashing 'Anita calling..'. I picked up the call, walked out of the washroom and stood at the end of a corridor which was comparatively quieter, listening to the lecture Anita was giving me. She went on shouting on how she had warned me before going and that why did I personally had to go there, what if something worse would have happened. After a while she calmed down and asked if I was fine. I was told that Kaka had booked our tickets and had instructed Jigar to be at the airport in the next one hour. I myself wanted to run away from that place. I was angry at myself, my destiny, god, gopi. I was facing the bulletin board at the corner of the corridor when I saw in the glass panel over that board someone walking towards me. As she came closer I realized she was Gopi. She stopped at a fair distance not to disturb me in my call. At once I turned around and she smiled making a gesture that she wanted to speak to me for a minute. I started moving towards her and so did she. Anita was still on call explaining the precautions I'll have to take while travelling to the airport, when I told her to call later. As usual before hanging up the call she said she loved me and waited for an answer. With Gopi standing in front of me I spoke those words… '..love you..' and disconnected the call. Gopi blinked her eyes , smiled and said, "Wife ?? ". I gave a nod and tried to give a half-smile. What bothered me was that she was happy that I loved my wife. The way I got shattered after seeing her son's picture, she no-where had any signs of sadness. My worst dream had come true and I had no reason not to believe that Gopi had never loved me. She extended her hands for a hand shake and said, "Good to meet you Ahem, after such a long time. I'm Gopi, we've met quite a few times in Rajkot..Remember that bull accident ? Your brother wrote your name and address on that form..thats when I realized..God..you have changed so much.. from that lean tall boy to a man now.. " I looked at her and replied, "Even you've changed so much..from that Gopi I saw last time and this police officer..its good to see you happy." She looked down smiled and looked back straight into my eyes and said, "You know Ahem, few years back life came to a standstill after my parents..and this sudden marriage.. I thought I won't be happy again. But then the moment Anshul came into my life, everything changed" I lost eye contact with her towards the end of her sentence and saw Jigar coming towards us. He handed me his mobile saying that Kaka wanted to talk to me. After I finished the call, I found Gopi busy with some police men.
We were told to sit in a car while Gopi and some police men followed us to the airport. After check-in I had some few minutes in hand to talk to her. As soon as she saw me walking towards her, she excused herself from the rest of the group and came up to me. Looking at the watch she replied, " So time to say goodbye..but im sure you'll keep coming to jaipur, afterall you have your factory here. Do come home the next time you visit Jaipur. Im sure Anshul would be very happy to see you. The bull accident is one of his favourite stories.. ofcouse I've added some twists and turns in that.. but the first time I told him that it is a true story and that the girl in that story is his mum, he was shocked. He wanted to meet you since that day." The announcement of my flight started in the background when I replied, " Anshul is your son ?? I thought you were talking about your husband." She laughed and said, "Oh come on.. we don't narrate fairy-tales to..." I interrupted her saying, "NO I mean, when you said that your life changed after he entered.." She smiled and said, " I was talking about my son." She saw Jigar waving at me and said," OK then.. hope we would meet again, and don't worry I'll look into that factory matter and would arrest those plotters…Goodbye". With that she turned around and even I did.
I came back to Rajkot and gave that Jaipur project to Jigar. He and Kaka handled that case. I thought that would be the best for me. I wanted to stay away from her in every possible way. Now I knew she was happy in her life and even I wanted to be happy. I wanted to forget her as a beautiful dream of mine. Anita and I went for three consecutive vacations, I brought her lots of gifts, we often went for dinner. In other words I was trying my best to forget the past and live in the present. Anita was my wife, I wanted to give her all the happiness.
It was our 4th marriage anniversary and we both went to her favourite restaurant. She ordered a bottle of wine and insisted that she wanted to drink it that day. I couldn't say no to her. I finished half a glass of wine when she said she wanted to play a game. She would say a word and I will have to answer with whichever word came to my mind instantly. We both never knew that the game would change our lives forever. She started throwing words at me and I answered them. We both were enjoying and were giggling at the answers I gave. We both were a bit drunk so we were least bothered aboout what people around us thought. There came a point in that game when the words skipped my heartbeat.
'9'O clock – Office ' , 'Office - Work' , 'Work – tender' , 'tender – factory' , 'factory – Jaipur' , 'Jaipur – Gopi' , 'Gopi – Love' ………………………. 'Gopi ?? – Love' . And that's when my drunkenness evaporated. I at once spoke , "Im sorry..ummm…". I realized what I had said. Anita had tears in her eyes. She at once got up and went away. I sat there staring at the door through which she went out. I started sweating. I looked at the floor, then at the wine glass, then at the gift I had brought for her and then at the door. I ran to stop her. I wanted to explain her something. I came out and saw that she was crying in a cab which rushed past me. I shouted her name twice or thrice but the cab never stopped.
She called from her Dad's place the next morning and said that she wanted divorce. She said she wanted no explanation. She hinted me that she knew from the very beginning that I didn't love her. Since college days I had been all quite and liked to be lonely. She thought it was my studious nature. When our marriage talks were being discussed I had given her blank expressions, she thought I was nervous. Whenever she wanted to come closer, I moved away, she thought I needed time. Before disconnecting the call she said, " Ahem, the fact is that we were friends. We've come a long way in these 4 years. We've become the best of friends, but you never loved me and maybe would never be able to. Going on vacations, giving gifts…love doesn't happen that way..Think over it. I'll send the divorce papers next week. If you think you can forget that girl forever and if you think you'll be able to fall in love again, return the papers without signing them and if not, we'll part our ways. Be true to yourself and to me. It's a matter of our lives."
The next week I signed the papers and returned them. I was being true to myself and to her. I knew I would never be able to forget Gopi and that falling in love again was impossible. I had been trying since 4 years now and I knew that my heart would always win over my brain. I wanted her to be happy and that was the least I could do for her.
That was the best decision of my life. Our parents came to know about this, days after we got divorced. For everyone it was more than a shock. We were an ideal couple in front of our family, happily married. They couldn't understand what went wrong. Anita never disclosed anything, not even to her father. Today she's in Singapore with her husband and kids. The last time I met her was on the farewell party before she went to Singapore. Her husband invited me and before I left from there, she came up to me, smiled and said, "THANKYOU".
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