It was a day like any other.

Sumeet switched on the car keys and started to drive back home. Months and days had passed since that incident but every day he felt the pangs of its guilt. Nothing had changed with time as Sumeet had realised time probably, can’t heal a few wounds. The wounds that one longs to hold close to, the scars that become part of who you are.

It was getting darker as the sky turned a shade more grey.

The same restlessness, the now familiar twitch in his eyes; none of which made sense just a year back when life meant what he wanted, how he wanted it to be. The spark in his love life was back after all those years, he was beginning to realise what true love meant.

Where did I go wrong?

The traffic lights switched from green to amber, and in a moment, to red. He stopped.

Their friendship, as it had started with, soon had set the tongues wagging at office for the friendship soon transformed to something else. Something beautiful and innocent yet taboo as their colleagues perceived. They both knew the implication of their proximity and the glaring promiscuity of it all would do no good to their respective families. But there was this sinful pleasure and its lust that pulled them both into its scheming clutches. And they both gave in. Two consenting adults, found solace in each other’s’ arms.

A torrid affair followed, like a night of tropical rain, washing away their bodies and minds of all other things worldly- what was left on their minds was just an insatiable desire to be with each other.

I should have stopped.

The screeching sound of tyres brought him back to where he was, to a sudden halt. The last of the cars crossing the road honked vigorously as Sumeet missed an inch from what could have been a crash. From the corner of his eyes he could make out the silhouette of a female showing her middle finger. Familiar. Yes, it definitely was Sunaina, again.

I shouldn’t have listened to her.

Sunaina had enough. She couldn’t bear the façade of their relationship anymore. She hadn’t married for love, she knew with all her heart that this was going to be a marriage to a person she hardly knew, let alone dream of a blissful life together. The only saving grace was he had money, loads of it and with it came a natural possibility of a better life abroad, far from a non-descript past she would rather forget.

Sumeet had loved her with all his heart. Not a single day had passed when he would not , with all his earnestness, attempt to convey his feelings. Irony was he had failed at each attempt. What love meant to a woman is in stark contrast to what it creates in a male mind. In a battle of freedom and loyalty their hearts never met, truly. What he thought could be a journey of a lifetime was soon turning out to be a mistake he would rather forget. But he was not the one to forgive and forget. Even though she chose to forget the chapter in her life with Sumeet, to be with someone rich and reckless.

Freedom and belongingness. What brings both together is what love is all about. Just like two sides of a coin. Inseparable.

Sunaina could never realise when the bond she wanted to make for a lifetime, break apart. Was it on their first so called honeymoon, where he had repeatedly try to rape her despite her ill-health? Or was it when he came back from office late in the night, visibly drunk, while she waited patiently for a promised dinner together? The final blow to her belief was when she had casually glanced over his credit card statement to discover a particularly huge transaction weeks before with a Jewellery shop – An expensive diamond ring perhaps? And she hated jewellery, he knew that. All those frequent retail therapy in his credit card usage just meant one thing -there is someone else he is almost married to.

In just over a year of their futile marriage, the only time she was truly happy in a strange way was when they had to visit India on a short notice, to attend her dad’s funeral.

He will not see me suffer, she had felt happy at this thought though the only person she could ever turn back to was now gone, forever.

To keep her sanity intact, she had suggested starting work and he didn’t disagree. Perhaps it would give him more scope and opportunities to philander around. Not long after, she found a new calling in life, a life of her own, a job of her own, money to call her own and a man who loved her more than anyone had ever.

Sunaina had met Sumeet six months back when he had shifted new to the town and shifted jobs. She was tired of her marriage with the pervert Aakash, Sumeet had broken up from a long time relationship with the bitch Anaita.

Two lost souls in search of love.

And revenge.

Their friendship, as it had started with, soon had set the tongues wagging at office for it soon transformed to something else. Something beautiful and innocent yet taboo as their colleagues perceived. They both knew the implication of their proximity and the glaring promiscuity of it all would do no good to their respective families. But there was this sinful pleasure and its lust that pulled them both into its scheming clutches. And they both gave in. Two consenting adults, found solace in each other’s’ arms.

A torrid affair followed, like a night of tropical rain, washing away their bodies and minds of all other things worldly- what was left on their minds was just an insatiable desire to be with each other.

The only bone of contention was Aakash, Sunaina’s husband. Not that he had anyway been interested in her, but she was not sure of how to free herself from a loveless marriage, from the clutches of the monster Aakash. Neither could Sumeet muster up the courage to share the truth of his relationship with Anaita.

In either case, one thing was clear, Aakash has to die.

It didn’t take long for Aakash to realise, the tables had turned. Just in time before he was about to break in the news. God wants this, he reaffirmed himself.

The vicious plan was made. They worked out every little detail to perfection, taking into account every possible situation and a probable alternate. The ground was set for a sacrifice that would unite their souls forever. He knew it may be a drastic measure, but she assured him, there is no way other than getting over his dead body. The other girl can be spared, but the beast must meet its end.

That fateful Saturday night. As if the lack of a moon had suggested something sinister is lurking around. Sunaina had given Sumeet a spare key to enter from the backyards to their sprawling mansion. He could see the flicker of the bedlamp through the French windows. As planned he stealthily sneaked across the garden and opened the backdoor. He could hear the giggles and laughter from the bedroom.

That was the plan. Sunaina would try and keep Aakash busy in the bed while Sumeet would quietly slip into the bedroom. She had kept the door open, he could see.

He could now hear heavy breathing and his low deep grunt. He is fucking her. Son of a bitch, not anymore, today is going to be your last fuck. She is mine, she was and she always will be. You will realise that today.

He checked the pistol one more time. Lethal, loaded. Just two shots and life would be a bed of roses. Her plan was impeccable, to get her for his lifetime, he needs to get rid of the beast.

Sumeet surreptitiously slipped in and crawled into the bathroom. In the faint light from the bedlamp that half lightened the dark interiors of the bathroom he could see a figure brooding and sobbing in the bathtub, with its hand covering its face.

He could see her eyes dilate in shock as he tried to open his mouth. Sunaina sat there in the tub , with fear and disbelief in her eyes.

“I loved you!” She yelled before the bathroom door fell open.

Thud.

The door had opened and behind him stood Aakash pointing his pistol. A half naked Anaita held on to Aakash’s bare chest, giggling like a teenager, seeing her plan take fruition.

Sumeet turned back but it was too late for him to react. Sumeet looked surprisingly at Anaita, who had no remorse or compassion left in her eyes. A man cannot love two women at the same time, a beast can. Her eyes were speaking to her.

In two shots, Sumeet and Sunaina met a bloody climax they had not planned.

In no time the pistols were exchanged and a customary call to the police was made with rehearsed shock and ease. Clear case of marital infidelity.

* * *
Sunaina was in a shock. She didn’t expect this. When she heard the doorbell ring that evening, she had expected a drunken Aakash. As per her plan with Sumeet, she was supposed to keep him engaged in bed while Sumeet would execute the final step in their plan, to shoot Aakash.

What met her at the door shocked her. There was Aakash, with the other girl, stuck to each other like mating earthworms, kissing and hugging like there were no tomorrow.
* * *

What Sumeet looked for in Anaita, he found in Sunaina. There was no greed, no lusty ambition for wealth. Just a feeling of love, belongingness, loyalty. A pure form of love, hard to find. Such love is worth killing for, such love is worth dying for.

Unwillingly, he fell in love with the woman both he and Anaita wanted to get rid of. For she was the wife Aakash’s wealth has to be shared with. When Anaita planned with Sumeet to get rid of Aakash and Sunaina, little did she know that Sunaina was planning the same with Sumeet to get rid of an abusive and dominating husband. Where one plan involved money, the other involved love, a true love

Strange are the ways of love. Anaita could soon realise the turn of Sumeet’s heart, a woman knows when she is fooled with. She couldn’t take it, she knew, Sumeet would probably not turn back to him. She found the calm in his eyes she could never see all these years, always there has been an urge to please, a desire to fulfil.

When a man meets true love, a woman knows. Whether she is the woman he is in love with or not.

Between a hopeless loser and an obsessive lover, Anaita chose Aakash. At least he would come back to her, no matter what.

Before Sumeet could execute their own plan to topple Aakash and Sunaina, Anaita confided in Aakash.

The vicious plan was made. They worked out every little detail to perfection, taking into account every possible situation and a probable alternate. The ground was set for a sacrifice that would unite their souls forever. He knew it may be a drastic measure, but she assured him, there is no way other than getting over his dead body. The guy can be spared, but the bitch must meet its end.

The lights had turned green. As if mesmerised, Sumeet followed the car where moments back he was sure he had seen her.

There she was, speeding away in a red convertible, her curly locks swaying.

He knew the drill; she appears every day out of nowhere, finds out ways to show him how wrong he was. And never ever he gets a chance to explain to her that he really truly loved her.

In a flash of a moment the red car in front of him was gone. There he sat, lonely as ever in his car in the middle of the road.

Cars and vans zoomed through him and his car as he slowly disappeared into thin air.

 

Picture courtesy: http://www.dk-art.gr

© “And Life Unfolds” and Subhendu Mohanty, 2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Subhendu Mohanty and “And Life Unfolds” with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.