Love Short Story – The Anniversary
Love Short Story – The Anniversary
Photo credit: sssh221 from morguefile.com
It was raining cats and dogs. Rachana dashed down the steps of the Citymall. She stood in the rain, on the footpath, getting completely drenched, but she didn’t care. There was a lot on her mind to think of. And she wanted to think of nothing. How could Jay do this to me? She thought angrily. She hailed a cab and headed home. She had to think this over. He could not get away with this.
Jay came back half an hour later.
“Why are you late?” she asked, sounding casual.
“Rains! Got stuck up in rains” he said without even looking at her.
Rachana felt the anger building up in her mind. So he had started lying, and that too so easily! How long was this going on?
“Aren’t you having dinner?” Jay called out as he came back to the kitchen after a warm shower.
“No, I am not hungry. Food is kept on the table. I am going to sleep”, she called out from the bedroom.
She was actually very hungry and not a bit sleepy. But Jay didn’t bother to call her again. She heard him turn on the television. He just didn’t seem to care. Lately, he didn’t seem to feel the need to speak to her either. She sighed, went to her closet, took out her diary and began writing.
20 July 2011
Dear Diary,
This is the worst day of my life.
I had always thought Jay loved me, that I was the only woman in his life. I had never imagined in my wildest dreams that he could cheat on me.
Last Monday, when I had gone shopping with Padma on GM Road, I spotted Jay in front of the SBI bank. He was supposed to be in his office then. But here he was standing, and it appeared like he was waiting for someone. As naïve as I am, I was about to go and ask him what he was doing. But Padma warned me against it. She asked me to call him and ask him where he was instead, without revealing that I was bang in front of him.
I never once doubted him and so I was sure he would tell me the truth. But to my utter shock and disbelief, he lied very efficiently that he was busy in a business meeting and that I shouldn’t call him for one more hour. So then, we waited there to see what he was upto. Ten minutes later, a beautiful young lady alighted from an auto. And to my further dismay and embarrassment, they hugged each other as they met. They then went together to a coffee shop next to the bank. I could not wait any longer. I just returned home.
I waited for him to tell me anything about any of these, but he did not. And yet he is behaving completely normal. Strange! And I thought I loved him and knew him in and out!
On Thursday, I heard him talking on the phone in a hushed voice. He apparently and quite obviously did not want me to overhear the conversation. I purposefully tried to lurk around, but he got up and went upstairs to continue his talk behind my back. I felt like leaving the house that very moment. But for the sake of our love (Of course past) and marriage, I stayed put.
But today he crossed all limits. I was buying groceries from Big Bazaar in the Citymall when, through the glass panel, I saw him entering from the main entrance. He had never told me his plans of going there or we could have gone together. He obviously did not know I was there. I followed him. He directly went to the Gili jewelers shop. I wondered why he had gone there when my doubts were immediately cleared.
That woman was already waiting for him. It was all pre planned, pre decided. They went to the ‘ring’ section and started seeing rings together. One part of me wanted to scream loudly and run away as far as I could, but the sane part of me made me wait there and see what they were upto. And then I saw him slide a diamond ring into her ring finger. That was it. I dashed away from the crowd of the mall. This has sealed the fate of our marriage. The biggest irony is, tomorrow is our third wedding anniversary. What a perfect gift I am about to get. I wish tomorrow would never dawn…
***
Jay switched off the television after he finished eating and kept the dish in the kitchen sink. He quietly entered the bedroom to find Rachana sleeping peacefully. Must be tired after the days’ work, he thought. But what about tomorrow? Tomorrow is going to be different for her, he thought as he retired on his side of bed. He took the laptop from the side table and placed it on his lap as he reclined back with the support of pillows. He opened the document ‘diary’ he used to type into whenever he felt like writing something, or when something was going on in his mind that he needed to share, and began typing.
20 July 2011
Dear Diary,
Tomorrow is going to be the best day of my life.
This Monday, I received a call from Ira, my first cousin who was settled in Australia. She called me to tell me that she and her husband are now back, planning to settle here and that she wanted to meet my wife whom she hasn’t met yet as she couldn’t come for the wedding. But I told her to meet me first as I had a plan in mind. We met in Coffeebytes on GM Road.
It felt nice to see Ira after such a long time. We were meeting after nearly five years. When we were kids, we used to fight a lot as we were of the same age. But in high school, we had become best of friends. She was only one year older to me. She even helped me with studies. But after her marriage, she shifted to Australia and we almost lost touch. So it felt good to see my sister after such a long time.
Anyways, that is not the point of writing today. I told her that I wanted to arrange a special surprise party for Rachana on our third wedding anniversary, especially to make up for first two anniversaries. The first anniversary, we were at my parents place and we had so many guests in the house that we couldn’t even speak to one another in spite of the celebrations. The second anniversary, we couldn’t be together as I was away on some unavoidable office tour. So I want to make this one special and memorable.
So we made a plan. The plan is I am going to throw a surprise party with a few close friends, Ira and her husband, and Rachana’s elder sister as guests. There I will introduce Rachana to Ira and her husband. I have ordered a special cake to which I have added some personal effects as decorations. This was Ira’s brilliant idea. And it was Ira’s idea that I should gift Rachana a diamond ring.
Rachana knows nothing about this and I am so excited. I have been avoiding speaking much to her lately to avoid revealing anything. The other day I think she got a hint that I was upto something when I was speaking to Ira, but I quickly headed upstairs so that she couldn’t hear our conversation. But thank God Rachana didn’t smell a mouse. I have been busy with meeting decorators, caterers and what not! Suddenly life has become so exciting. Today Ira helped me select a beautiful diamond ring for Rachana. I love Rachana and I cant wait to see the expression on her face…I just cant wait for tomorrow to dawn!
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