Short Story Husband Wife – The Other Woman
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Manisha was an absolutely beautiful woman who was not only attractive but she was an intelligent woman too. The best part was that she not even aware of her beauty as she was not praised so much for it by her close ones. As she was humble, so her beauty lay within and she was very beautiful inside. She was a gem of a person who had a heart of gold, she was very generous and kind-hearted and had all the attributes to make a loving and adoring wife. Any man would be blessed to have such a gem of a person as his wife. Another feather in her cap was a very gentle nature and how she understood her circumstances and adjusted herself accordingly. She had a naturally sacrificing nature and when she sacrificed for her close ones, she never gave it a second thought as she felt it was her duty to do so.
When Manisha was of marriageable age, she never thought that how her husband should look like, she only wanted a good human being as her life partner. She was lucky to get married to a very nice person, who was a very good human being, who was very understanding and caring.When she got married she never thought that she would be so lucky to have such a good family, where she would get a lot of love and care and being in joint family she was showered with even more care and affection.
Life was beautiful for Manisha and things were really going on very well with her and her husband and they were having a lovely time with each other during the day and night as well! Her life was like a dream any young woman would see for herself ,where she had all the joys in her lap. The only hitch which she faced was the erratic work schedule of her husband. He was a workaholic and he hardly had time for her as he worked thirty days a month! When they had to go out for dinners she had to ask her husband days in advance before they finally went for that dinner. Despite all this things were going on very fine with Manisha and her husband, when suddenly one day things changed drastically.
Even though Manisha had always felt that her husband loved her completely, she used to feel that somehow her husband was not fully committed to her. She noticed that when it came to talking intimately or exchanging thoughts in a very personal way, her husband used to shy away and turned very indifferent suddenly. It was so strange as they were hardly married for about a few months and already there was this indifference. She could not pin-point as to what was the reason and why did her husband show this indifference towards her.
In the beginning she thought that maybe they were new to each other that is why he could not commit fully to her.As time passed the indifference grew and Manisha could not take it anymore ,though they were having a good sex life but, when there are emotional walls between a husband and wife then things are never okay.One fine day Manisha decided to confront her husband and ask him as to what was wrong and why was he becoming indifferent towards her.Her husband was initially reluctant to tell her anything and told her that all her feelings were non confounded and he was not indifferent towards her and loved her a lot. But, when Manisha insisted and gave various examples when it was very clear that he had become indifferent, then he told her his story of his previous affair with a classmate and how he wanted to marry her and could not do so due to parental pressure.
Manisha was shocked and she could not utter a word when she heard her husband out and when he told her that he and his girlfriend had had a very painful breakup, she just broke down and really could not understand what to do. In the beginning she just retrieved into her shell and hardly spoke to her husband, though he tried to console her a lot but Manisha felt cheated and her first instinct was to leave her husband for a few days and go to her mother’s place and live there for few days days, before she came to terms with this new and life changing revelation.
She took about two or three weeks to recover and she comforted herself by just one thought that now her husband loved her and now when she was pregnant she had to be doubly careful with her thoughts and emotions as it could affect her unborn child adversely.She did not tell about this affair of her husband to her parents as she thought, that they might get worried. She decided to take up the matter with her husband full on and try and understand the problems he might have face when he had broken up with his girlfriend and now she felt it was her moral duty to support her husband despite all odds and give him all her love and care more so now. At least now she knew why her husband was indifferent and now with help of her balanced attitude and broad minded thinking she thought of talking out things with him and turning things in her favour.
Finally when she returned home she was six months pregnant and everyone in the family was doting on her and pampering her with all her favourite foods and her husband, though he did look apologetic was very caring and affectionate towards her.That night she sat and talked out a lot of things with her husband and when he convinced her that, that woman was his past and now he would not be indifferent towards her, only then she heaved a sigh of relief and lay down in her husband’s arms and thanked God that she could overcome this crisis in her life.
Only with the help of her balanced attitude and understanding behaviour she could remove the shades of the lingering memories of her husbands girlfriend in their life.It is difficult for any woman to even think that there is any woman in her husband’s life whether in the present or in the past but, if the woman is wise and takes a lot things into consideration then she can overcome the crisis in no time.
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