It is 11 p.m. Richa paid the auto rickshaw and was walking
towards the lift. She was confused about the day she had. Is it her luckiest
day after almost being dead or the worst after busting up her hubby’s favourite
BIMMER. Though this was a stupid comparison and she wouldn’t have done that a
couple of years ago, now-a-days she wasn’t sure about it.
Things between Richa and Samir are not great. Their
relationship hit a bumpy road with all the jealousy, alcoholism, and lack of
time for each other. Their daily routine included fighting, work and Jiah,
their 3 year old daughter and the apple of their eyes. She is probably the only
reason they are together. Other than fighting, they haven’t spoken to other in
the last 6 months. Both of them were too stubborn to give up and talk normally.
But today was very different. Richa prepared her mind as to
what exactly she would do after going home that day and also she had a life
altering experience. She decided to take the initiative and do the inevitable.
After seeing the “OUT OF ORDER” board hanging on the lift
door, Richa sighed and proceeded towards the stairs and as she started
ascending, she began to think about the good old days.
“Sam n Richa were the class nerds to whom all the others
would come to get their class notes photocopied before the exams. From well-educated
and economically stable families, both of them were over-achievers and caused
little embarrassment to their parents. So, when they brought their love matter
forward, with little resistance, both the parties agreed despite the religious
barrier.
So, as soon as they completed college and got decent jobs,
they got married. This was the beginning of the purple patch both in their
personal and professional lives. There were trips to the beaches, and exotic
places around the world, gifts, presents, celebrations, big promotions, young
achiever awards, and so on.
Even after all the married life, they are still those little
nerds in the class fighting for the first rank. They used to compete even on
the little things. This was for fun and never taken to heart.
All this changed around 4 years ago when they had the
happiest moment of their lives. Richa became pregnant with Jiah. This resulted
in lots of celebrations across both the families and their friend circle.
Richa then took a sabbatical for 2 years to look after Jiah.
Richa was happy to take the leave as this kid is the single most important
thing in both of their lives and Samir was more than happy to oblige to the
both of the “ladies” and their demands. This went on pretty well for some time
as everyone is happy. But the main thing is that between Jiah, Sam’s work they
hardly got time for each other.
Things became worse after Richa resumed her work. Since it
was the recession time, and adding to it the fact that Richa was out of touch
for 2 years, she had to work really hard to keep up. The little nerd in Richa
woke up again and this time it is jealous of her husband’s progress and
position. The pressure at work made Richa take one drink too many and fight
with Sam on every silly issue. This moved them even further.
She always blamed Sam for everything that happened. Sam was
patient as he understood her and the pressure she was under. Also he knew that
at majority of the issues, both of them are to be blamed. So, he kept his cool.
But as they say everything has a breaking point, Sam also lost his cool one
night after a very bitter day in the office and he shouted his lungs out on
Richa for the first time in their 6 years of marriage. This marked the start of
the regular tiff between the husband and wife.
They reached to that point in their marriage where the only
talk they have with each other is that in the fights. They have too big an ego
to talk to each other. Today is one such regular day. Richa, after having this
fierce argument with Sam stormed off the house in their BMW leaving her keys
and her mobile at home. Both of them realized that they cannot be together
anymore. Though the work in her office was on the lighter side, she left to
office because she couldn’t stand the thought of being in the same room with
Sam. At work as well she couldn’t concentrate and was out early and went to a
nearby coffee shop to relax.
Today’s fight is the last nail in the coffin. After a couple of
hours in the coffee shop and the 5 odd cappuccinos she decided to end it with
Sam that night. She quickly came out of the coffee shop and started driving
towards their home.
After a few minutes into her drive, she realized that there
was a truck coming at her car at a very high speed. She quickly responded and
turned her car away which saved her from a huge accident but she hit a tree on
the footpath nearby. The good thing is that the airbags in the car saved her
and she came out uninjured physically. But at that ghastly moment she saw the
truck, she has an epiphany in which she saw only two people: Jiah and Sam.
After the routine checkups by the paramedics and the police,
she sent the car to the service station and took an auto back home. She was
totally dumbstruck by the incident and the epiphany.”
On this thought, when she was standing at the apartment door,
she realized that she left her keys and most importantly her phone in the house
this morning. She wondered if Sam even tried to call her. She feared that Sam
will be furious about the car she bashed up. She hesitantly knocked the door.
When he opened the door, the first things she noticed are his
red and swollen eyes. He was clearly crying and furiously calling to the police
asking about her. But as soon as he saw her, there was a great sense of relief
in his eyes. He came forward and hugged her tightly for a few seconds and suddenly
looked at her, slapped her and moved away.
“Why the hell did you leave your phone behind. Did you know
how tensed I was!!!” shouted Sam turning away from her. She could sense that he
was clearly sobbing like a little kid.
Richa ran towards him and hugged him from behind with tears
running down her cheeks. “I’m sorry baby. I will not do that ever again. We
would sit and talk and sort ourselves out. After the experience I had today I
realized that you and Jiah are the best things that ever happened to me.”
And then for the first time in almost two years, they kissed
passionately... J
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