Short Story #4 - LOVE DETERMINED

Deepti was on cloud nine. She was jumping and twirling around happily, waiting for Anjan to show up at her place. Her parents had finally consented to her decision and agreed to meet Anjan.

Her phone began vibrating. She picked up her phone and saw Anjan's face smiling at her. That smile made her day, as always. Today there was an add-on joy that she was awaiting to see on his face.

"Hey Anju! Where are you? I can wait no more to see you today"! She has never been more desperate to see him before. "I just reached. Can you come down to the gate? I'll wait". Anjan said in a calm tone. "It's okay, don't wait. Come on in".

"Okay". Anjan cut the call, opened the gate and walked towards the door.

Deepti clenched her phone and smiled. "Finally the time has come". She felt incredibly happy. They were together ever since she set eyes on him on the first day of college. It has been six years now. Two years from now she could picture herself with a cute little girl, (Yeah! He wants a girl baby to show, how much he can love another girl more than me), Anjan holding their baby and smiling at her while she laughed happily, waving her hand like she was flying.

But, 2 years later, here she was staring at a picture the same way she had imagined, only that the baby wasn't hers.

Her heart started racing. Tears were beginning to well up. "Damn you Facebook, for showing me this picture in my Newsfeed", she cursed. But it was posted by Rohit, Anjan's younger brother. She removed Anjan from her Friends list on the same day he broke her heart, her dreams and happiness. While she waited to tell him the good news, he had come to tell her the bad news. The picture had no caption. She clicked on the next picture and saw both Rohit and Anjan along with two kids Anjan was holding a baby girl, hardly a year old and another girl around 2-3years old, hugging his leg. This picture had a caption “Me, my brother and our angels”. “Our angels!? Does it mean that one of the girls is Anjan’s”? She was asking herself. “Or both of them could be Rohit’s...! No, it can’t be. Rohit got married only a year or two ago”. To double check she dug through his profile and found that he got married about a year and half back.

“So the elder girl couldn’t be his. But it couldn’t be Anjan’s either. There is only one woman in the pictures, who is Rohit’s wife”. But she wasn’t convinced. She browsed through Anjan’s profile to find any trace of his wife but since he wasn’t in her friends list, she wasn’t able to find any pictures.

She wanted to know very badly. She still loved him even after he unreasonably threw her away. Her parents and friends insisted her to move on but she was not giving up. She had tried talking to him continually in the past two years. But he just kept ignoring her. A few months back he finally responded. “Please move on! I have moved on! Leave me at peace”. That was the last time she contacted him. She let him be.

“And now this! How”? She paused to think, while taking her phone out. She scrolled down to Anjan’s contact in Whatsapp. There was no profile picture or it was not visible to her. She resisted the urge to call him but she knew it would haunt her later. She tried calling him. Obviously he didn’t answer her call. She kept calling him. No response. Finally she dropped in a message.

“Hi! I just want to know something. Did you get married? And do you have a daughter”?

            She willed herself to not check her phone to see if he had replied. It had been about three days now. She hated that she was constantly checking his 'last seen at' status and yes, he had logged in just five minutes ago. Yet she couldn't stop herself. This sinking feeling to find absolutely no communication from him was becoming unbearable, almost torturous.

And then, just as she sat down in her chair, her phone vibrated. With her heart thudding in her ear, she unlocked her phone and stared at the screen. Finally! It was his message.

But when she opened it and read it, she nearly stopped breathing. She didn't know if he was joking or not. What was this? There were 3 messages.

“No!”

“Yes!”

And a picture of the older baby girl hugging Anjan and kissing him on the cheek, with a caption “She is mine”.

Deepti sat frozen, holding the phone, looking at the picture and the three words ‘She is mine’.

She locked the screen and put away her phone. She could no more control her tears as they broke out along with a throbbing pain in her heart. She cried for what seemed like hours until she fell asleep.

When she woke up and took her phone, she saw one more message from him. She opened the message which said, “I’m happy with my girl. It’s high time you move on with your life. You deserve to be happy. Good bye”. When she read the words, ‘You deserve to be happy’, she became furious. “Yes idiot! I deserved to be happy, with you, and that should have been our daughter. But now…” She was yelling and crying at the same time. “But now… You are happy with someone else. I hate you”. Saying she dialed his number, only to get rejected. This happened numerous times the same day.

At night she took her phone and dialed again. But this time she called Rohit.

“Hello Rohit. This is Deepti”.

“Deepti? Oh yeah. How are ..”

“Glad you recognized me. I need your help Rohit”. She cut him off.

“Oh sure. What can I do for you”?

She told everything that happened till now and said, “I’m sure you’ll know why he left me. Why did he marry someone else”?

“Marry someone else? He didn’t tell you the real reason”?

“Real reason? What is it”? Deepti was getting confused.

“Sorry Deepti! I’m not the right person to tell you that. But, you know what, why don’t you drop by tomorrow. We are celebrating my daughter’s first birthday. You can ask Anjan yourself”.

“Thank you so much Rohit”.

“No problem. Be here by 6pm. Good night Deepti”.

“Good night Rohit”.

Knowing that there was actually a different reason to Anjan’s departure from her life, she was not able to sleep that night as she kept pondering over the possible reasons.

Next day, after the party, Rohit dragged Anjan away from the rest and was trying to throw him on the terrace where Deepti was waiting.

“What are you doing Rohit? Let me go”, struggling to get off his clutches, but he was just too strong.

“Tell her! She deserves to know”, pushing him through the door and closed it. Anjan banged on the door asking him to open it. Deepti who was watching the whole scene from a distance at the terrace, blurted out, “You know you cannot overpower someone who is stronger than you”. She smirked. He gave a half smile and said, “Sometimes it’s okay to yield to the ones you love”.

“That is not going to let me give up on you Anjan”, saying she moved closer to him. Anjan moved away, towards the wall. “You want to know why I really left you”?

“Yes”.

“I’m telling you again, for the last time, please leave. Some truths are better left unsaid, Deepti. Marry the person your parents choose for you, have kids and be happy”. He looked away from her, at the star-studded sky. She advanced towards him, turned him around and took hold of the collar of his shirt. “You better tell me now or I throw you off the roof”. She sounded genuine.

“Okay! Okay!” releasing himself from her grip. “I had an affair. I got her pregnant. She died giving birth to my baby girl. I had to leave you. You deserved someone better. Someone who didn’t cheat on you”. As he walked saying that, she could see tears running down his eyes.

“No. No. I…. I refuse to believe that”. She ran towards him, crying. “Why are you lying to me, Anjan”?

“I AM NOT LYING”. He yelled, turning to look at her. She stopped. In a composed tone he said, “You deserve someone better, Deepti. You deserve someone better”. Now Anjan couldn’t control anymore. He broke down. She took hold of him and started pestering him. “No Anjan! I deserve you. I’m not letting you go. Tell me the truth, Anju. Tell me. Why did you leave me? Tell me”!

“HOW CAN I TELL YOU THE TRUTH? How can I tell you that I cannot have children with you? How can I crush all the dreams you have for your kids? How can I? I love you so much! I had to let you go, for your own good”.

Deepti’s heart skipped a few beats. She didn’t know what to say or how to react. Silence filled the air. She sat down beside Anjan. It took a while for the whole truth to sink in.

She took his face by his cheeks and made him look at her. “If you thought I will be happy with someone else, having kids with him, then you didn’t know me at all. But you knew me well, that’s why you tried to push me away with a reason that’ll make me hate you. Don’t you ever do that”. They hugged each other, with tears that were mutual.

“And who is the girl then”? She asked, releasing him. Anjan stood up and said, “I adopted her”. Deepti was all the way surprised. “Well! My family adopted her because I wanted to. They tried finding me a bride and obviously no one was ready after they knew about, you know, my condition, and..” He looked at her, who stood up and walked towards him.

“And”? She asked.

“And I am still in love with...” She kissed him before he could complete. Suddenly the door opened and they broke free.

“Daddy”? A little girl walked through the open door.

“Hey sweetie I’m here”. Anjan called out to her. She turned to her left and spotting her father, she ran to him.

“Daddyyyy”!

He caught her little girl and gave a peck on her cheek.

“Who is this, daddy”? She asked.

“I’ll tell you who I am”, saying Deepti took her in her arms and asked, “What’s your name, sweetheart”?

“My name is Kavya. What is your name”? Kavya said smiling at Deepti.

“My name is Deepti. I am going to be your mommy”. Deepti kissed her on her forehead while Anjan kissed Deepti’s.

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