Ferociously,
she slammed the door behind and walked out of the restaurant. She had never
tried to fight with her low gutty spirit and upsurge from the shell that she
kept herself hidden in. But today she had finally managed to break through and
roar her hatred towards him.
Nina
Shah had just fairly mocked someone and slammed him hard at the very point
which he would never want to be hurt. Born into a conservative Gujurati
family, Nina was enslaved by the realms of culture and its dogma. It was only
because of her work location, did she have the grit to ask her parents to live
away from home.
Pune
reckoned her for a job at one of the multinational companies and freedom loomed
over her. Her capabilities were crushed inside the streets of Valsad which was
her home. The conventional city that she bred in couldn't open the doors of
opportunities for her. Eventually, her desire to experience the world outside
the sleepy lanes of Valsad had come true. Settling in the crowd of Pune and its
newfangled culture took her a while. Like every girl who was celebrating the
glorious age of their 20's, she wished to hang out at pubs, spend the nights at
the disc and enrich her taste-buds with the various flavors of the magical
vodka.
However,
she wasn't fascinated with the aura that city life brought with it and she
always gravitated towards maintaining her low profile social status. Thanks to
her upbringing in the small city of Valsad.
She
worked in a team of ten in her company and was reported to her lead, Vikram,
who mentored her from the very first day. The rapport built between her and
Vikram was commendable and Nina had started to confide on him. His husky voice
captured her senses. She would sometimes blindly listen to his voice without
analyzing what he actually meant. What started off as a mentor -
protégé relationship turned into friendship and before Nina and Vikram
could cognomen their accord, they knew they had fallen for each other.
Everything
was bright and sunny in the first few days of their courtship. Vikram continued
to be her guide and Nina could hardly keep her foot on the ground. Namely,
because of the attention Vikram gave her. They began their mornings with a
sumptuous breakfast at Vikram’s single bedroom apartment in the posh
locality of Koregaon Park and ended their day with Vikram dropping her at her
place in Kalyani Nagar.
“Why
don’t you move in, Nina?” Vikram would suggest.
“We
should give maintain our privacy ,Vikram. Anyway after we get married, I will
be around you for 24 hours and you would land up being bored of me”, Nina would
ridicule.
Like
every couple, they both would have their lows and highs and it was always Nina
who would make up for every fight. She overlooked Vikram's big fat ego which
would stop him from apologizing.
Life
had suddenly taken an upswing and Nina was savoring the sweet fruits of her
freedom. It seemed to be a cake walk with a cherry on top and a layer of free
flowing white chocolate coupled with buds of dark chocolate.
Weekends often started with a movie
date and continued with a long drive to the lofty hill stations around Pune.
Dreams
however, didn't last long and Nina's fantasies were short-lived when one day
they had a visitor at their breakfast table. Nina rang Vikram's doorbell like
every morning.
Today, however it wasn't Vikram who answered the door
bell.
Standing
at the door was a woman in her late 20's. She had a baby cuddled in her arms.
"Kaun
hai?" Nina could hear Vikram's voice enquiring about the person at the
door.
“Arre,
Nina I will be coming a little late to office. Can you leave the files at my
office desk?” Vikram’s behavior left Nina stunned. She stood numb, fighting
back the tears that were choking her throat.
“Sunaina,
this is Nina. My colleague at work”, Vikram introduced Nina to the woman at the
door.
The
next sentence that Vikram was about to spurt out left Nina dumbfound.
“Nina,
meet my wife, Sunaina and my son, Sudhesh”, Vikram behaved normal.
“You
have a beautiful wife……. Sir”, Nina managed to speak a sentence and rushed out
of the lobby.
To be continued...
To read the second part of this story click here.
