“To a woman nothing seems quite impossible to the powers of the
man she worships”
--O' Henry
Beautiful day! he remarked, taking his dog out for a walk. The
crimson sun rose lazily and the dew drops tossed in their cradles.
The silence was interrupted by the chirping of birds and hymns from a
distant temple. In no time, would the same place be replaced by
hurried people jostling for work. Right now, as it always did, would
be pathetically lost, even before he could complete his one short
breath.
Maya and Sid had met some months ago on the same road. She was
wearing a blue scarf tied around her head. Sid had come here with his
wife to take their ritualistic evening stroll. He couldn't help
notice how Maya was struggling to neat her otherwise unkempt hair in
the wind. While his wife was away to grab some tea, he froze when the
young woman came up to him to ask for directions to reach a library
nearby. Their eyes met and he thought that it had stayed a second
longer. Did it? For days
together, he re-lived the moment till fantasy and reality turned
intangible.
Perhaps it did not, he
thought now. The following days soon witnessed courtship-consent and
clandestine meetings. What
he felt was magical and he was convinced that he had at last met his
soulmate. She even completes my sentence,
he confessed to his wife – Rachi - one day. She listened to the
entire story teary-eyed and with quiet dismay. She had heard about
infidelties but all of them to her were only distant happenings. She
had to make a decision and finally after endless tossing and
remaining awake the whole night, she decided to stay with him for a
month more before she moved
out. It is
difficult to get a place in a short time,
I am only staying that
long for logistics...she
convinced herself.
Natalie will be staying with us, she
told him the next day. By the end of the month, we both
will find a separate place to stay.
The first few days in the house was
awkward for the trio.
Soon, as it happens, they started getting used to the rhythm of the
other person's daily habits. The days of emotional distress now
lingered in the background and all adapted to the new normal. This is
the beauty about human race – adaptation. Natalie was a good
listener, those few people whose aura compells one to open up. In no
time Sid poured in her with the innocence of a child. They spoke of
music, movies and when alone, even about Maya. In the meanwhile, his
meetings with Maya got less frequent. The newness
disappeared and with
the breeding of familiarity, their
priorities changed. Maya did not show up for a few lunch dates on the
pretext of attending meetings. Sid went home a little early each day
though Rachi never placed such a demand anymore. He wanted to
optimize the few days left for them together. Perhaps it is the
thought of losing something dear that makes the clutch tighter. This
clutch that encompasses one's entirerity in that instant.
I need to tell Maya the truth,
his thoughts paced with the temple hymns that morning. She had been
out of reach for quite a long time. He missed her, but clearly, he
had not put in much effort to trace her too. Deep inside, he also
felt a little relieved on her effortless disappearance since the
sudden flame of romance had
exhaustively burnt him down
steadily. He longed for the quiet times with Rachi. She had
overstayed her time at home and would be leaving in a few days. All
the while, she had been hunting for apartments to suit her needs. She
has always been very particular, that silly idealist, he
found himself smiling as he was reminded of the times when they were
looking for this one. He remembered the mole on her right ear and how
her lips quivered when she ate anything cold. All of a sudden, he
felt a strong rage inside himself. She cannot leave! he
told himself almost aloud.
That evening, Rachi and Natalie went
for a walk.
So, you were right, said
Natalie. Rachi's satisfaction was evident in her rosy cheeks.
Yes, your medication and therapy worked. Would he still be needing
them? she cheerfully asked.
There are lapses in such cases, but I would not worry too much
about that. Tell me though, how did you first guess that Maya was
only his imagination? Natalie
interrogated.
What Maya was wearing when they met. That was what “I” was
wearing in our first meeting, chuckled
Rachi. Besides, Sid is not like any other man.
Both smiled and the rest of the walk
was quiet with each lost in their own thoughts.
The next day, as Natalie flew off to her native land, she noticed a
little girl wearing a blue scarf seated next to her. The
coincidence that saved a marriage,
she smirked.
Soon her thoughts shifted to the
first time Rachi had come to meet her agitated and sad at the same
time. She had convinced herself that Sid was a schezophrenic and
dating a fictitious woman called Maya. To get to the bottom of this,
she had to analyze the patient herself. On the first few encounters
itself, Natalie had known that Sid had showed no primary symptoms of
such a condition. Natalie was in a fix. Rachi being a purist that she
was, would be shattered. Lies people tell themselves to
save the hurt! Natalie felt
obliged to save their relationship. Secretly, she stole Maya's phone
number and fixed up a meeting with her. Maya seemed a proud and
reasonable woman who agreed to vanish in oblivion on learning about
Rachi. She appeared to be calm, but Natalie knew better. When a woman
speaks, one should more
importantly look at what her
eyes are saying.
She was heartbroken and angry, yet she had one last hope in her new
found love. On one condition, Maya
stated, only if Sid himself chooses Rachi over me. Natalie
had agreed, quite sure that Sid would do it. Yet, she completely
understood Maya's expectation from him, after
all, “to a woman
nothing seems quite impossible to the powers of the man she
worships”. This being done,
the rest was then easy. Replacing Maya's number by an old defunct
number, playing Cupid between the lovers, and vouching secrecy among
the ladies individually were enough to fix an otherwise broken
marriage. She now dozed off debating in her mind about who exactly
among all of them was a delusionist. Rachi, whose mind was not yet
accepting her husband's fallacy and had covered it with an
imaginative story, Maya, who on learning about Sid's infidelty still
hoped that he would choose her over his long stable relationship, or
herself, who hoped to save their relation by lies. We will
see, she thought, if two
wrongs make a right.
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