Metro Diaries: Love Revisited ~ Part 3
On reaching India she told everything to her parents who were bewildered at the whole story. Rhea was in a state of shock and needed therapy to overcome it all. Her insides had been damaged to quite an extent in the last fight, and maybe she might never be able to conceive ever in life. As her parents started the divorce proceedings, she requested them and moved to Mumbai to be on her own and start a new beginning. She found a job for herself and was trying to settle down when one day an unexpected phone call changed the course of life yet another time.
It was from Shubh, her childhood friend. Shubh was her dad’s best friend’s son and ended up being Rhea’s best friend. They had grown up together and were virtually inseparable till she got married. That day they had spoken after almost a year and a half and yet it didn’t feel so even for a moment. The laughter that had been stolen seemed to be making an entry it felt. Shubh had just got transferred to Mumbai and had come to know about her from her Dad. From what began as casual meetings, gradually began a regular thing. He accompanied her to the therapist sessions she had, and she was with him as he moved around in the city like a lost wanderer.
Rhea was coping up fine and gradually the sessions came down to a large extent as she was asked to visit them only once in a blue moon. “Not all scars are ugly “, she thought, as she felt the huge scar on her face that Pranoy had given her. She felt proud of it somehow, it reminded her of the strength she had, the strength to give life another chance. Today it was five years to that incident. She was legally divorced after a long battle with Pranoy who refused to just end it all. It took a lot of cajoling and to some extent threatening for him to sign those papers. Rhea had finally managed to collect all the broken pieces, hold them together and move on with the journey of life.
Throughout this all, if there was one person she could think of who was there by her side, apart from her parents it was Shubh. However much she liked to deny his presence he was there. Just like the breath, we tend to ignore its obvious presence till its absence makes our existence difficult. Few weeks ago Shubh had to go to Singapore for a seminar for a week. This was the first time after that meeting that Rhea was on her own. That one week was like a litmus test for both of them. Both realized how dependent their lives were. Rhea couldn’t phantom a moment without him.
He was there in about everything she did. He would pick her and drop her at work place. Ensure she is dropped home in evening. Many times they would end up having dinner together, weekends were always with each other shopping, cooking, and outings... it was all so perfect that none of them thought of it in any other manner till this seminar. Shubh was asked to take over Singapore after this seminar and asked to move there in 3 weeks time. Initially happy for him, there was something that kept gnawing Rhea from inside every moment.
Something held her from speaking all that she felt. She continued to maintain a stoic silence while her insides were tearing apart. She so wanted him to stop and not go. In all these years she had gotten used to him so much that she couldn’t imagine an existence without him. He was her Gibraltar, the rock on which she stood today so firmly. The hand that had helped her come out of that dark, endless abyss life had thrown her into. But the fear of losing him if she told him all this made her wrap her feelings deep inside her heart somewhere, untouched. The strong gust of wind brought Rhea back from her reverie as she felt wetness of tears on her cheeks. The paper she held in her hand danced in the breeze, as if wanting to fly free from her clutches. It all seemed to tell her something today, the paper, the breeze, the lightening, nature… everything. She smiled and opened the paper to read yet another time:
~To be continued.
