Hey all,
This is first attempt at any form of fiction writing. Drawing inspiration from Shelly, Yuks, Mridhu, Shilpa, Eesha, Bee, and the whole lot..
Dunno if this is an FF or an SS, definitely not an OS though.
*******No One But You*******
PART 1
On the flight back from Switzerland, Gopi realized how unsuitable she was in Aham's world: a world, which wasn't marked by role definitions, which wasn't hers and where she would never fit in. His world needed her to be able to support him, to be able to create value to his ventures, her role was not limited her being in the kitchen and making things comfortable for everyone but to be his partner in every sense of the word. She could very vividly remember the look on his face when she asked to make a speech during the conference and realized it wasn't the first time she had got such a reaction. The result did not matter, be it the dandiya competition, the cricket match or the contract. All that mattered was she was not capable of handling such situations and realized yet again that people around her waited with bated breath praying for her to pull things off but never confident from the word go that she could do it. A shiver ran up her spine and she cringed.
She had almost everyone's support at Modi Mansion but was that enough, she questioned herself. She had Maaji's support and love but she could not forget the look on her face when she failed to win Naniji's sandook. Despite all of Maaji's efforts, Naniji thought her to be worthy of her legacy and Rashi be had won it. She did feel bad for not winning it for Maaji but had never really thought about why she had lost it until now.
Now that she had all the time in the world until the flight landed she was contemplating everything since her marriage to Ahamji. Ahamji whom she had loved with single minded devotion since Maaji had chosen her for him. She was on cloud 9 she remembered and could not believe how quickly things took a turn for the worst with her laving the house once and almost the second time, until Maaji's intervention. Could Ahamji not see her feelings for him, could her not feel that she could be a slave for him and would do anything to make him happy? But each time she wanted to do something for him, even her getting him tea annoyed her. He was annoyed and irritated with everything she did. Her presence around him infuriated him to the core. He always looked like a volcano ready to erupt. The charade of them sharing the room was too much to bear esp. since Ahamji behaved as if she did not exist and even if she did her preferred to ignore her. Is this what marriages are made off? How do other couples get along like Hetal Kaki and Chirag Kaka, Devarji and Rashi Ben, Maaji and Papaji ? What was it that she was doing was not right? She did almost all the tasks she was assigned by Maaji, getting the milk, decorating the mandir, washing, cleaning the house, cooking - making breakfast, lunch and dinner. Gopi was wondering what else could she add to the list of chores. She decided until she could figure things out, she would steer clear of Ahamji and with those thoughts she fell asleep. It was a long way home.
The next thing Gopi remembered was being woken by a bumpy landing of the flight and them heading towards Modi Mansion. Aham heads to his rooms freshens up and goes to the study to discuss the contract with his Kaka. Gopi heads to the spare guest room, changes and rushes back downstairs to meet up with Kakiji and others. She makes tea for everyone along with snacks. She calls out to Mani and a sends a tray with black tea for Aham and chai for Kaka and Jigar and goes into Baa's bedroom to join the others.
Later during dinner, Kaka asks for Gopi , who is deliberately staying away from the dining area. Kaka congratulates her for helping them win the contract and looks at Hetal. Hetal Kaki goes to Gopi and gives her a small bracelet. Gopi refuses to take it " No Kakiji, I don't deserve it, Ahamji, devarji and Kakaji made the effort and it is because of their hard-work and dedication that we got the contract." Aham, who is a silent spectator to the entire affair, is shocked. Kaki says she and Kaka are giving it to her with their blessings and she cannot refuse it. Koki gestures to Gopi to accept it and though uncomfortable she takes it and seeks their blessings. Being jetlagged from the trip everyone retires early and as usual Gopi stays up to help Maniben with the cleaning.
The next morning when Aham walks out of the shower he finds his green tea is already set on the table with no sight of anyone. He rushes down for the morning puja , gulps down his breakfast and leaves for work. Gopi stayed out of his sight the entire morning except for the aarti. She approached all her tasks with demonic speed so she could think about what she wanted to do? Her thoughts kept wandering back to the time when Naniji was leaving Modi Mansion and to the things she mentioned to Maaji about the relationship between a wife and a husband. She needed to think clearly and decide what she wanted to do? Clearly, Ahamji was not in the least bit interested in her, she could only manage agitate him further and ruin his mood and in turn his day. She needed to carefully think and arrive to a solution. The decision had to be hers. She did not wish to involve anyone, if she did it, it meant added pressure on Ahamji by the family especially Maaji.
In the evening Gopi finished her chores early, to stay out of Aham's way. When the men returned home from work, she sent out tea and snacks. She took special care to remember and sent out black tea for Aham, just the way he liked it. She would then hide herself away in Baa's room with Papaji and then in the kitchen during dinner.
She was the first to wake up and the last to hit the bed. This had become a routine now. Aham did not see her much, which helped him keep her out of his hair and life. However, not everyone was unaware of the new developments.
One evening while Gopi was spending time with Baa and Papaji listening to his new poem, Gopi has a flash and she absent mindedly asked them if anyone could learn at any age. They were both caught by surprise but were happy to know she was willing to move out on her own and had come up the thought herself. On their encouragement and a pact Papaji started teaching Gopi the basics and decided to engage a professional a couple of weeks down the line. Meanwhile the new project kept Ahamji busy to notice anything and thus resulting in Maaji keeping Gopi out of his way. This worked fabulously for Gopi and her plans. Once, Maaji was made aware of her plans and initiative, she hired extra help to help Mani and relieve Gopi of her chores.
In the meantime, Gopi had got in touch with Dhawal in order to understand the repercussions of her decision. She did not want anyone in the family to know about it just yet. She wanted to first understand the repercussions and then tell Aham about it. His incessant travelling gave her ample time to comprehend things between them. Not once had he looked out for her, he did not realize they weren't sharing the same room for the past four weeks and she seemed to be the last thing on his mind. This was indication enough for Gopi to go ahead with her plans.
She realized the hard way. She was someone who thought marriages are made in heaven, but now she also now realized, so are lightning and thunder.
*************End of Part 1******************
Gopi is trying to evaluate her situation, her place in Aham's life. I am not sure if this section brought out the essence, it could have been an intro maybe. Please feel free to send in your inputs.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Index~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Part 1 - Page 1
Part 2 - Page 4
Part 3 - Page 7
Part 4 - Page 9
Part 5 - Page 11
Part 6 - Page 15
Part 7 - Page 18
Part 8 - Page 22
Part 9 - Page 25
Part 10 - Page 27 - Complete
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