chapter 5

I started working as a Manager in a multi national company. My office was located in a Mall where the offices of many other companies alongwith ours were located.During lunchtime, I met a girl called Khushbu. She was smart and charismatic. I tried to ignore her for some months but gradually I felt that I should talk to her as there is no harm in talking to someone who is as beautiful as Khushbu.She became my best kept secret until one day when Taara Mam saw me with her in a Shopping Mall. I went there to buy some clothes for Khushbu who forgot to bring her credit card that day. I felt lucky that she trusted me as a friend and asked her to purchase all the dresses with my credit card.She started trying western dresses like skirts, shorts, tube top, spaghetti top and many other latest kind of western clothes in which she was looking very pretty.As she came in front of me, wearing a silk gown, I could not control myself and gave her a kiss. She didn't mind at all! She just smiled at me as if encouraging me to express my love for her. I tried to distract myself as I asked her,"Can you select something for my wife, she is very simple and hardly wears anything stylish!"She was not surprised as she said to me,"I know, this usually happens when you have an arranged marriage without exploring other options in life!"I pulled her closer,"Would you have said, "Yes" to me if I asked you to marry me!"She hugged me tightly as she said to me in her soft voice,"I would have said, "Yes" for anything if you had ever asked me?"My body started vibrating with anticipation of all those things which Sugandha never discussed with me. I felt that I deserved one extra relationship for saving the life of a poor girl by marrying her and making her my wife!After buying clothes, we went to a restaurant for lunch and Khushbu kissed me on my lips. We shared our ice-cream and Taara Mam saw me looking at Khushbu with love!She came to our table and asked me,"Hello, Palash! What a nice surprise! Who is your pretty friend, is she your colleague?"I was dumbfounded in front of my Teacher. I didn't want to lie in front of her so I said to her,"She is my friend, in fact more than a friend. I feel that I love her more than anything else in this world!"Khushbu gave me a hug for my honest answer!Taara Mam asked me to come to her table for discussing something important. I went to her table, where she was looking very angry and disappointed with my behaviour!She asked me,"So, are you planning to marry your friend after separating from your wife or you feel that being a boy you can have as many relationships as you want because your wife has no right to question your aloofness as you did a huge favour to her by marrying her and accepting her as your wife! Is this what you have learnt in my class, tell me or you feel that it only looked good in books to say that one should be truthful and honest as reality is always different than the moral values we give to our children and students in school or colleges. Are you so shallow that you are ready to throw away your marriage for someone whom you might have met just a few days ago!"I was embarrassed for my reckless attitude and bad behaviour and said to her,"I am truly sorry that I have hurt you and my wife for my own immediate gratification. I almost forgot that if she would have done the same thing then I would have felt lost and dejected!"Mam said to me,"Don't be a fool by ignoring your loving wife for someone who just wants to have some free gifts and some fun moments in life before she settles down in life!"I said to my Teacher,"Thank you, Mam. I was a fool who thought that I can keep everything secret. I tried to deceive my wife but the truth is that I deceived no one but myself. I thought that my temptation was natural for someone young and successful like me but the truth is that it was my biggest failure that I fell for the the first person outside marriage, who showered me with fake love and too much attention."Taara Mam asked me to break all the ties with Khushbu and disclose everything to my wife.I promised her that I will follow her advice. She said to me that she will come to meet me and my wife after few days.I went back to my table when I saw Khushbu talking to someone on phone, so I decided to listen to her conversation while hiding behind a wall, she was speaking to someone in whispers,"I thought that he will give me a diamond ring today. He thinks that I am too naive to be in love with him. He doesn't know that I am just pretending to be in love with a fool like him. When he can't love his wife, who loves him so much then how could he love someone who is a manipulative and selfish person like me. I thought that I will pretend to be in love with him and will buy all the jewellery and my dresses with his money before I finally marry Rocky, my gangster boyfriend."I could not go back to her and left the restaurant in a hurry to return to my wife, Sugandha.When I came back, I saw a note on the table,"Dear Palash,Please forgive me but I have decided to live for my dreams as your dreams are too big for a simple girl like me. I have decided to go somewhere, where people appreciate me for who I am!I am eternally grateful to you for giving me a second chance but I want to fulfill my own destiny as a woman of twenty first century!Take care of Ma. I love her because she is the only person in this house who treated me like her family. You are free to marry anyone now as I have kept the divorce papers on your table signed by me. You are no longer bound by my love!Yours Truly,Sugandha""