She could feel the pain in her heart physically. He will never come for her. She continued to walk down the path which lead to nowhere, surrounded by huge trees, it was dark and shady, but she could feel none of it. Her head was pounding and her heart beating so loudly that she could hear it.
‘I will die, my heart will stop… he will not come. He doesn’t want me any more. I shall die.’
She blabbered whatever came to her mind.
It was almost an hour now. She had been walking away from the house, as far as she could go. It was past midnight, there was no sign of life around her, no human, no bird and not even the tiniest creature one could imagine of. It was pitch black. All that she could hear were those ugly and horrible words he had said to her before.
“Go away, leave me alone. I don’t want you anywhere near me. just go and never return. I SAID GET OUT!”
She tried to persuade him and told him how much she loved him, but he would not hear a word she had to say. but she loved him and would love him all her life, a life which had no meaning now.
“Siya!”
Somebody called her from behind. She stopped for a second and turned around, only to find that nobody was there.
“Rihan is it you?” She called out, but got no response.
“I knew. I knew you will come for me. I knew you will not let me go. Where are you? Why can’t I see you? Please don’t play such games right now!”
She stood there like a statue, waiting for him to come out of the hiding. Those few seconds turned into a few minutes when she realised that there was nobody.
“How could I be so stupid? He will not come. He will never come!”
Few tears dropped down from her weary eyes. Those were the last tears which she shed for him before she collapsed on the ground. Nobody was there to save her. She had doomed herself in mental desolation. Her body finally gave up and she lied on the ground like that for hours.
***********
‘How could she do that. How dare she do that?’
He was sitting in the dining room. Exhausted and frustrated with his wife.
‘!BOOM!’
Went another vase, crashing down the hallway. It was the third one that he had thrown since she had left.
He stood up and walked towards his bedroom, unaware that something special awaited him. As he opened the door, a melodious song started to play on the music system. It was the tune of his favourite song, he could recognize that easily.
‘What the hell?’
On entering the room, he found it decorated with rose petals and candles. It was lovely.
“Pretty isn’t it?” It was her voice. She had tape recorded it earlier.
“Rihan, I know that both of us were married against our wishes. You wanted to marry your ex-girlfriend, and I always wanted a love marriage. You had to forget Ananya because of the new beginning with me, but I guess, We never had a beginning. All was in a hustle and none of us got a chance to sit down and talk things out. Today is our first marriage anniversary. I had wanted to say something to you, Rihan. For the past month, I have been waiting for this to happen. I didn’t want to be the first one to say this, but then either of us had to.
I LOVE YOU RIHAN. I really do. Do you?”
She stopped speaking. Rihan was in a shock. He couldn’t think of anything. what had happened a few minutes ago had just evaporated from his mind. All he could concentrate on was her voice.
“Of course I do!” He uttered with a faint smile.
“Then what are you doing standing here? I am waiting for you in the lawn. Go run! and tell me that you love me too!” It was the recorder again.
He rushed downstairs, and towards the lawn. He still didn’t remember that he had told her to leave him alone forever.
“Siya?” He called for her, when the harsh realisation dawned upon him.
*********
“Getup Siya! You have slept for three straight hours!” Rihan shouted at her.
She opened her eyes slightly.
“Rihan? Did you come for me?” She murmured.
“Yes I did! Getup fast! We are getting late. Don’t you remember, today is our second marriage anniversary?”
“Second?” She looked around and found herself in the bed. It was late afternoon. The clock had just struck five.
“Yah! come on hurry up now! everybody is waiting for us!” He insisted.
“Was that a dream then?” She sounded confused.
“What dream?” He asked her.
“No, nothing! I’ll get ready!” She tried to forget about it and move on.
“Tell me. What was it? And why are you crying?” He was worried, he hadn’t noticed her eyes before, they were red and wet. He sat near her and hugged her as tightly as possible.
“I don’t remember what exactly happened, but we were fighting. Then, you… you told me to get out of the house and leave you forever. It was dark outside, I was walking and then I fainted.”
She had begun speaking with a soft tone but when she started remembering what it was actually like, she couldn’t control her tears.
“Siya… It’s fine… don’t cry! it was just a dream! I promise that will never happen with us in real. Tell me what else happened?” He wanted her to share it with him.
“You were throwing vases! I guess you broke all of them! And then you went to the bedroom.” She continued.
“And then? Tell me. Were you on the bed waiting for me? Did I come terribly close to you? Could I hear your heartbeat? Then did I make love to you? And did I tell you that I loved you? and..and..” He teased her.
“No stupid! I wasn’t there! You had told me to leave. Didn’t I tell you?
Anyway, remember our last anniversary? When I had recorded that tape for you?”
“How can I for forget that? And you were there in the lawn! It was the most beautiful thing that had ever happened with me!” He kissed her lightly on the cheek.
“Hmm… It was like that only, but I wasn’t in the lawn. And that’s all I remember!”
“All right. It was a silly dream! What were we fighting about anyway? Must be a terrible one!” He asked.
“Well, that is the weirdest part. We had run out of toothpaste and we were fighting about who was responsible for it!”
Both of them laughed for a few seconds.
“You are so adorable and funny Siya, and that’s why I love you so much!” He kissed her again and the following night was one of the most memorable nights for them.
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