Gaming in love.....(Second part)

So as was destined, they crossed ways, after three long years, in a shopping mall. She heard a familiar voice, demanding blue color in a stylish shirt. More so, when a couple of voices said that black is definitely suiting him better, and that he has loads of blues in his closet. ‘No, blue and only blue’, she heard. She knew someone in her life had a fetish for blue. Someone she knew long ago. Someone perhaps, was this stranger. She turned back, but all she could see were men in various shapes and sizes. She fished out her credit card and told her sister to settle accounts. She walked up to the Men’s counter, and she heard someone laughing at something.
She froze when she saw someone with a blue shirt in his hands, and a giggle on his face.
Someone she had so well known, so deeply loved.
He dropped the shirt when their eyes met. Eyes, which had conveyed so many untold words to her. His eyes, which shone with her love, sure looked blank for a moment. The world stopped. Heartbeats ceased. And they stared, unblinkingly. Nothing in the world lasts, not even this moment of eternal joy.
‘Hey, wassup?’, someone chirped. And they blinked their eyes.

‘Go for the black one’, she heard herself speak. Wo, was it really she?
The salesman was told to pack the black shirt. His friends stared.
Her mobile buzzed.

‘Yeah, a minute. Get in the car’.

He understood she was with someone. He wondered whether he should ask her for coffee. What if she was with her husband? He sank up and down in the sea of thoughts that seemed to engulf him all of a sudden. Sixty seconds and sixty thousand thoughts. Wow.

‘How come you are here, last I heard that you were in Delhi’.
She knew?
I always knew about you, idiot.
‘Aah, yeah got a business conference here, and I am a member.’
So, he’s doing well.
‘You are still crazy for blue?’
‘Somethings last forever.’
And you, did you change?
Yes, can’t you see that I am carrying a MangalSutra in my neck.
Oh, and till when are you here?
As long as you want me to, no idiot, ‘umm,,a week I guess.’
He was to leave in two days.
She still is the most beaitiful woman on this planet.
She caught on the blue band on you wrist.
'It's worn out now, change it.'
‘Good, can we catch up for coffee?’, she said, pointing to the Barista just opposite the Mall.
Did she just invite him?
They never realized they had reached the parking.
‘Di, get in.’
‘Tomorrow at 5.’
‘See you.’
‘Yeah, bye.’

The black Honda City rode past him. She seemed to be rich now. But he didn’t see the usual twinkle in her eyes, which indicated her happiness. Instead, he saw a deep, dark vacuum. He wondered why did he lie to her about being in town till a week?
Did he still have feelings for her?

After 3 years since she last called him? To end all that was his life? He curled his eyebrows, told his friends that he will catch up with them later. He needed to get back to his hotel.

She cooked the best dinner that night. Her husband was astonished; there was a strange spark in her eyes, an eccentric glow on her face. On his being curious, she just told him it was nothing.

He knew her well enough to conclude there was definitely something. But decided to keep mum. It was after a long time she radiated light like this, he had fallen in love with this radiance; he wanted it to be their forever.

Not surprisingly, they met the following day at the Barista. From pleasantries, the conversations shifted to their lives, lives that were empty. She soon broke into tears; he into silence. She accused him; blamed him for what her life had become. He simply stared at his third cup of coffee. He had no explanations. He never had. He caught himself staring at a big diamond ring shining on her ring finger. She had it.
For rest of the week, they met daily. Their smiles lit up the moment they saw each other. The frequent seeing resulted in rekindling their feelings once again. As if they had elapsed.
By the end of the week, they had concluded that they need to be together. There is, but just one life. They are both earning, they can easily survive even if the families turned against them. The only hassle was her divorce. Divorce, which she was sure her husband wouldn’t agree to. Divorce, that meant he could once again be given the chance to complete the last leg of their journey. She decided she would talk to him soon; and in case he didn’t agree, she would file the papers herself and leave him.
As if life is so easy!
Once he went back, they started talking over the phones again. Twice a day. Six times a day. Then they lost count. By this time both of them were sure they are going to be together soon. But , did she really have all the courage? She told him to wait till her sister settles down. ‘Just five to six months. Talks are on,’ she’d tell him. He was ready to wait forever.
But then, Life had never been all that simple for her.
‘Hello..? Is that ..(name)..?’
‘Yeah. Who’s this?’
This is Nayana, (his name) girlfriend.
She’s stunned.
‘See, I just called to tell you that you stop calling him from now onwards…its been long since you have been married…why the hell you can’t be happy with your husband? You have already been your worst with him. Can you just leave him alone so that he can concentrate on people who really love him…blah blah blah…..’
The caller went on and on. She could hardly hear what she said beyond these lines. Though she understood that her character was being assassinated. Could he really be deceiving her all these months?
The easiest thing to do at such times: BREAK INTO TEARS!!
She disconnected the call, got into the shower. As the water droplets speckled on her bare skin, she let out a huge, loud cry. Cries wash off the effects of even the deepest of wounds.

She knew he couldn’t do it. She knew he was worried about her family, and her husband; who, for no sin of his, was leading a lonely life inspite of having a wife.
She at once understood he had planned this. She didn’t call him back. No, not because she wanted to change his decision, but because she wanted him to remain firm. She never had the courage to say no, how least she wanted the events in her life to happen. She could not deceive her husband, however he was, whatever he did. She cannot be happy; she knew, but she couldn’t bear the guilt either.

And this time, she was happy that he had called the shots. Now she could, perhaps , mark a new beginning , without any guilt. ‘Finally, he’s realized I am not worth him', she thought with satisfaction, 'I never was’.

She came out of the washroom, her eyes still shone somehow,(though not out of love), and she got into the kitchen to cook her husband’s favorite dishes.

This time, she wanted no explanations, she knew what and why life had taken this turn.

He knew he’d lost her forever now. He loved her, how could he be happy to see her disturbed over her family? Family that meant the world for her? He knew she would be guilty all her life if she left her husband like that. He thanked Nayana for calling her.

‘By now, she must have begun hating me’, he thought to himself with all his love for her.
‘By now, he must have begun hating me’, she thought to herself with all her love for him.

Games…..!!