Vineet’s hand shuddered as he rang the doorbell. He fidgeted
nervously, adjusting his shirt and watch, a last minute check to see if his
hair was ok and whether he smelt nice. He cleared his throat several times and
waited for Sandhya to open the door. He poised the bouquet of red roses ready
to be given to her.
He thought of the first time he had come to meet her here 6
months ago. He had been as nervous and fidgety that time around too. He went
back to the memories of that day.
***************
Sandhya opened the door, a shy smile spreading on her lips
making way for him to come in.
He wondered whether he should give her a hug or a handshake
and then did neither, preferring to settle on the couch nearby.
“Hello Sandhya”, and then a pause, while he noticed how
ravishing she looked in her blue saree, “err… umm...h… how…how have you been?”
“Helooooooo….How are
you?” Sandhya was her usual chirpy self.
“I..err…umm..yes..I’m fine…”
“You look like your tails on fire! What’s with the stammer?”
She giggled.
“Nothing, I’m umm..sorry, its actually such a long time
that…” he stopped for loss of words.
More giggles.
“These roses... for me?”
“Oh yea, I meant to give it you as soon as I came, but…”
more loss of words as he handed her the bouquet.
“Thank you. You remembered that I love red roses? Mmm...they
smell great! I’ll just be back. Some water?”
“Sure”
As she disappeared into the kitchen, he admired how
gracefully she walked, and what a lovely smile she had. Was this the same Sandy he knew 15 years
ago? The same Sandy who had been almost geeky, gawky, bespectacled, scrawny
girl, was now standing before him after 15 long years, looking spectacular and
ravishing! His thoughts went back to his college days when they were best
buddies.
She had been the brightest girl on the campus and yet
charming in her own ways. It helped that they stayed close by; they would often
travel to college together and had become best buddies. He had secretly taken a
liking to her but never mustered the courage to tell her that for the fear of
losing a valuable friendship. He never knew what she thought about him though.
They had stayed in touch for quite some time before they got
married and got busy in their own lives. The phone calls had dwindled over the
years and they had been completely out of touch for the past 4-5 years
now.
It was while visiting his friend Anurag, and browsing
through his wedding pictures that he saw Sandy
and was glad he found her again. What a happy coincidence it was that they were
in the same city!
His thoughts were disrupted by Sandy, who walked in with a
tray full of samosas and jalebis.
“Lost in thought Vinci?”
Ah! How good it felt to be hearing that, she had nicknamed
him Vinci after the lovely paintings he made and no one else called him by that
name but her.
“Hmm…traveled way back to college…!”
“Still find time to paint?”
“I have not held a brush in my hand after I got married”
he said with a matter-of-fact look on his face.
He told her about his wife and kids, what they did and how
he had found out about her. “I was so happy to know you stayed here. Imagine!
My best friend staying in the same city and me not knowing about it!”
“I thought I’d never find you again.” She sounded a little
somber this time.
“But I found you, didn’t I?” he laughed.
“I am glad you did.” She sat close to him and he saw her
eyes starting to moisten.
“Is everything ok, Sandy?”
he asked taking her hand in his.
To his surprise she burst out into tears holding him in an
embrace. He felt her warm body against his, her warm tears trickling down his
shoulders. He let her cry till she felt better to speak.
“What’s wrong?” he asked wiping her tears. “Is it your
family? Your parents? Your husband? Are they ok?”
“I am separated from my husband; I had enough of his
slapping and kicking. Neither my parents nor in-laws believed one word of what
I said. Even my bruises couldn’t convince them that I was being hurt. I am all
alone now. Oh, how I missed you Vinci, having no one to share my grief and pain.”, she sobbed.
Vineet’s heart went out her and he wondered how someone
could have been so cruel to such a delicate and charming wife. She was a gem, a
great friend, a greater human being. He had always known her to be kind and
helpful to everyone. She always had her trademark smile on her lips no matter
how difficult things might be. It pained him to see her cry like this.
He thought of his own wife, who was a constant nag. She
could never find anything good about him. There was always something to
complain about. Thirteen years of marriage had left him completely exhausted
and drained. As Sandy
softly sobbed on his shoulders he wondered when was the last time he had sat so
close to his wife. She never seemed to have the time for him. She was always
rushing about her job and the kids and the housework. She had time for
everything but him.
He felt Sandy move away and
quickly compose herself.
“I’m sorry; I shouldn’t have brought this up now. We were
meeting after such a long time; I wished I had been more pleasant. I’m so sorry
Vinci.”
“Don’t be, Sandy.
What are friends for? I don’t know what I can do to reduce your hurt and pain,
but now that we’ve found each other I’ll do my best to cheer you up.”
They made plans to meet up later that week.
They kept meeting every weekend after that and he saw her
become chirpy and bright again. She cooked his favorite dishes when he came and
made him paint again. Picking up his brush and dipping it into paint was never
so exciting before. They listened to their favorite songs and chatted away. He
discovered the lost Vineet who had gotten concealed under the routine of his
life. He was happy to be in her company.
Five months had passed by and another one of their lovely weekends
had come to an end. It was time for goodbyes, when he walked to her.
“Sandy,”
he held her hands in his and looked into her deep brown eyes, “I want to tell
you something. I have been in love with you ever since we were in college.
Somehow I could never tell you this; I didn’t want to lose your friendship. But
I want you to know this now.” He looked at her with love. “You have made my
life complete.”
“I wish you had said this before, Vinci. I was so in love
with you too. And now you complete my life too.” She looked away with sadness
tinting her voice. “But isn’t it a bit too late for you to say this?”
“It is never too late, my love. I am not happy with my
marriage too, I want to talk it over to my wife and end it all. And then we’ll
be together forever. Let’s meet again in a month’s time. I’ll need the time to
initiate the proceedings.”
They held each other in a long embrace, he wondering how he
would break the news to his wife, and she wondering if it was the right thing
to do.
***********
He had been waiting almost for 15 minutes lost in their
whirlwind romance for the past few months of their life. He had not realised that
Sandy had not
yet opened the door. He had been standing frozen in time as he heard footsteps
nearby. Was it Sandy?
He wondered if she had not been at home and was just coming in. But it was her
neighbor, Sarika instead.
“Vineet bhai, Sandhya has left this letter for you.” she
handed over an envelope to him.
“Thanks, where’s she?”
“She didn’t tell me.”
Vineet tore open the
letter, hands trembling, hoping all was well with her. His eyes moistened as he
read.
“My dearest Vinci,
I have been thinking about your proposal for the last 1 month.
Initially it made me very happy to know that you were back into my life and
exactly how I would have wanted it 15 years back. But slowly I realized what a
fool I was. There’s a world of difference between wanting you 15 years back and
wanting you now. Maybe seeing you after such a long time and my loneliness
brought us closer, but I realized that is not really what I want.
You make me so happy, but we would be better off as friends
than as life partners. The space we give each other makes our relationship
beautiful. Let us be the way we used to be. Moreover, I don’t want to be the
one responsible for breaking the hearts of your wife and lovely children.
However I still want you to be my best friend. I will call
you once I know what you have to say about this.
Love,
Sandy.”
Vineet smiled and folded the letter and put it into his
pocket. He took out an envelope from his bag and handed them to Sarika with the
roses.
“Give this to her when she comes.”
After Vineet had
left, Sarika rang the bell again and this time Sandy answered the call.
“He’s gone?” she asked
“Yes. And I gave him your letter.”
“And….?”
“He smiled after he read it and gave me this envelope and
flowers.”
“Ok, thanks.”
Sandy
smelt the flowers, they seemed to smell like him, and she smiled at the
thought.
She read his letter.
“My sweetest Sandy,
I may sound like a pig once you read through this and you
may even want to kill me for saying this. But I thought about my proposal to
you for the past 1 month and almost kicked myself for what I was about to do.
I had always complained about my wife and what a nag she
was, how she was not devoting her time to me. But when I was about to tell her
about us, I decided to be nice to her for at least a couple of weeks before
breaking the news to her. I tried helping her out with her chores and spending
time with her and the children. I was being courteous and polite to her. She
was thrilled and her nagging stopped almost miraculously. We were spending more
time together and I found out that she shared my love for painting.
I realized that every single minute of her day is devoted
entirely to me and our children. Poor soul, she is so exhausted that she could
not even afford to sit with me for some time.
So I had been the one not been making any real effort to
make our marriage work, it was never her. I could not bring myself to tell her
about us.
I am so sorry; I am breaking your heart like this. But
please forgive me. I feel so rotten that I cannot say this to you looking at
you in your eyes. Call me if you’ve forgiven me after reading this.
Love,
Vineet.”
She smiled and picked up her mobile. She was happy her
friendship had survived the test of time.
“Helooooooo….How about coffee, say at about 5, Vinci?”
***********
(image courtesy: google)
