Reality Check on LOVE :2

Continued from Reality Check on LOVE: Part 1

“Its all because of you. I will never forgive you if anything happens to him”. She said and entered the room leaving Sarah in a lurch . 

Sarah began to weep, hiding her face with her arms, she skid against the wall and sat on the floor. She was crying on the floor of the hospital. All she could now think of was her father’s condition and she being the prime reason behind the same. She kept weeping for an hour until her mother came out of the room and spoke to her. 

“Your dad wants to see you”. She said. 

“She picked herself up, opened the door, and started to drag her feet towards her Dad. As she began to walk towards him, she couldn’t control her tears. She was feeling the guilt. The guilt of sending her father to the hospital and almost taking him away form the world. At one side, there was a person who raised her, loved her for the entire life, fulfilled all of her wishes, trusted her and was proud to have her as his daughter. On the other side, there was a guy who made her feel special from the time he met her and loved her equally. She had to make a decision. As she reached her dad’s bed, she placed her head on her fathers arm and began to weep. She kept apologizing to her dad for what she had done. It was a difficult choice for her . But for her father’s happiness, she choose to sacrifice her dreams and choice . 

“I am sorry dad, please forgive me. I’m sorry”. She kept repeating this over and over again. 

“I will marry the boy of your choice, you are important to me than anyone else in the world”. She said again. 

Her mother patted her from behind and so did her father. Finally, it was a reunion at the cost of Sarah’s dreams, choice, feelings and happiness. Her father was discharged from the hospital after a couple of days. Sarah emailed her HR that she is discharging her duties from TCS with immediate effect .  Sarah didn’t knew how to talk to Sameer about it. If she remained silent about it and never contacted sameer, she knew he would come after her. She didn’t knew what to do. It was difficult to convince Sameer. But this was something that she had to do. After thinking about it for the entire night, she finally called Sameer. She explained her about her dad’s health and the consequences of choosing him over her dad. And as she talked, her throat became heavy . She wept and explained her part of the story to Sameer. She didn’t give him a chance to respond back. When she was done, her last words to Sameer were, “I’m sorry, please forgive me”. Sameer was heart broken. He was shattered .Very little did he knew that the last time he met Sarah was his last time with Sarah. He was helpless, loosing his conscience, he collapsed on the floor, he shouted loud as he wept hoping that someone could hear his tears and bail him out of this but the situation of such that, no one except time could help him heal. For no fault of Sameer and Sarah, they were both ditched by the destiny. Faith played a cruel part in their story and mercilessly, separated them from each other. 

Sarah on the other hand pretended to be happy in front of her dad and while he was away, she found herself confined between the four walls of her room. The solitude grew day in and day out. She spent the worst days of her life crying in silence. Nobody would respond, Nobody would say a thing to her. She jailed herself voluntarily . Trying to come in terms with the fact that she is going to marry someone else and hoping that this would be good for her. When her mother informed her that the wedding had been arranged, She accepted it posting a fake smile on her face in front of her dad . She had to accept it as it was either this or her father’s dead body. Everything was done in the greatest of hurry and she had to accept this fortune.

The guy that she married, ran a family business and his father was into politics . He was hardly educated and she was too numb to protest . On the wedding night, her mother gave her a cringing talk about her wifely duties. She was still dazed to take it all in but the full blast of it came to her when she was locked up in a room with a stranger trying to understand the fact that he was also her husband. 

The first night was quite. She didn’t speak much. As days passed by, she realized that she was in a totally different environment. A place where girls had no authority to speak without husband’s permission. It was so different to her than the life she lived in the past. Her husband hardly spoke to her. His expectations from her wife were, food being ready at time, she must be waiting with a towel in her hand outside the bath room until her husband comes out of it, and she must submit herself to him on bed. She realized that her life was destroyed . She had no freedom of speech or expression. She suffered this abuse for months. She wasn’t allowed to interact much with the outside world. Especially her immediate family because her husband and his family were too scared of what she would do since she was educated enough and they knew that an unrecoverable damage had been done. She needed a lot of courage to come to terms with this mess since she fell for it way too easily for her parents’ honor. Over the time, when she spoke anything against her husband, he would  beat her down for it . He came home drunk most of the time and Sarah had to obey to his commands on the bed unwillingly. 

It was getting difficult for her to even breath with her husband. With great difficulty, she convinced her husband to send her to her mother’s place for a week. When she came to her mother’s place, for the first couple of days, she did not speak much. But later when she tried to share it with her mom, her mom replied, “This happens initially with everyone, give it sometime and you will adjust with it”. Her mother’s reply was a big blow to her. It made her realize that she was on her own now. But she desperately needed someone to share her part of the story but there was none by her side. She couldn’t revolt against her husband as this would bring  nothing but misery to her and her parents. Her desolation grew every day. 

She had become very weak, her face looked like she was sick and aged. There was no one to address her concerns. One day, when she had been to a nearby market to get some groceries for her house, she accidentally ran into Sameer. The moment she spotted him, she froze and so did Sameer. Tears began to flow from her eyes and she couldn’t stop them. Sameer approached her and asked her how she was, wiping her tears with her hand, she replied, “I’m fine, I need to go bye”. she said and started to walk away. Sameer knew there was something wrong and he followed her and kept asking her as to what has seen done to herself ? She never replied until Sameer came on her way and did not allow her to step forward without her explaining to him what the matter was. 

They went to a nearby coffee shop and she explained Sameer how her parents had screwed up her life. She told her everything. She had been waiting long to tell someone, to share the load, to share her pain. Someone, who could listen to her and Sameer couldn’t have come at a better time than this. Sameer was in tears after listening to her. Once again helpless, he wished he could have done something to help her but he couldn’t. 

I’m getting late she said and walked away. Sameer asked her for her contact number, “I don’t have any”. she said and boarded an auto back home.  

Sameer couldn’t help but think about Sarah. What had she done to herself. He could feel the pain. He could hear her scream. He always wished the best for her but she was going through something which he couldn’t imagine. He couldn’t sleep the entire night, he couldn’t sleep. He kept thinking about her. He kept thinking for ways to get her out of this chaos . He badly wanted to meet her. He roamed around her house several times hoping that she would come out. But she didn’t. Sarah was still at her parents’ house as her parole of a week was yet to be over. One day, Sameer spotted her parents moving out together. taking this opportunity, he knocked Sarah’s door, as soon as she opened the door, there he stood. 

Sarah : Are you mad ? What are you doing here ?

Sameer : Come with me. Leave everything behind. 

Sarah : Its not easy Sameer. Its not easy !!

Sameer : I know it isn’t but you don’t deserve this life . I won’t let you suffer like this. 

Sarah : What about my parents ? What if something happens to my dad ?

Sameer: All we could do is, wish that nothing happens to them. 

Sarah : No. I can’t do this. Please go away before someone comes. 

Sameer: I am not leaving you without talking to you about this. 

Sarah : Here is my number, talk to me over the phone and please leave before anyone comes. 

Sameer called her up and told her that he has spoken to his parents about this and they are ready to accept her. Sarah refused the offer for this could lead to grave consequences . But Sameer kept pushing for it. He asked her to meet him. She denied at first but when Sameer insisted, she agreed. They met for a couple of times . Sameer made him realize how beautiful life is when you are with the right person. Sarah had given up her hope and she had no energy to brake her shackles but Sameer made her realized how one can still live a life far away from pain and misery . Sarah managed to sneak out and meet Sameer more often. For her, it was as though she was back to life. She had began to smile again, she had began to hope again and she had began to gather her courage again. 

Sameer urged Sarah to move to Bangalore with him leaving everything behind. Sarah denied every single time. Sarah couldnt go with Sameer but she didn’t wanted to go to Sahil either. She was stuck in two minds. But when Sahil’s atrocities on Sarah grew, Sarah began to think about going to Sameer. Sarah informed Sameer that after a month, she would come to visit her parents for a couple of days as her parents will be moving to a new place and that is when she would leave behind everything and come with him. Sameer was over joyed to here this . For Sarah, it was a ray of hope to live a better life and come out of all her sufferings and sorrows. Sameer arranged for the travel and stay at Bangalore. Sameer informed his parents about it too . They gave him all the support that he needed . Everything was set. Sarah’s movement was now awaited. 

A month later, Sarah packed her luggage with the essential things and came to live with her mother for a week. The second day, she met Sameer and both of em decide the next course of action. They agreed to meet at a common spot sharp at 6PMthe following day after which, they would leave for bangalore in their car considering the fact that her father in law was into politics, it wasn’t safe to stay in hyderabad for them. After planning, Sarah informed Sameer not to contact her until she does. The plot was made and they both called it a day. Sameer couldn’t sleep the entire night hoping everything would fall in place as per the plan. He had made no margin for error. the very day, Sameer’s parents left for Bangalore and they hoped to meet Sarah and Sameer the next day . Sarah called in Sameer the next morning and informed him that everything will be worked out as per the plan. 

It was 5 PM when Sameer reached the spot. He parked his vehicle and waited for Sarah to show up at 6. The time ticked slowly for Sameer. He was nervous and so was Sarah. He knew that this was the chance for the love of his life would return back to him. He waited eagerly. 6 PM it was on his clock so he started warming up as Sarah might come anytime soon. He got out of his vehicle and stood at the footpath , He began to walk back and forth on the road. He scanned at every auto and bus stopping nearby. 6.15 it was. DAMNN this girl is never on time he said and kept waiting for her. With each passing minute, his nervousness and excitement grew. He ran towards the junction to see if she’s coming from any other way. He scanned all the possible ways that would lead to the spot but there was no signs of Sarah. 6.45, he tried to call her but her cell phone was not reachable. 7 PM and it was dark and cloudy. It began to pour . He kept waiting on the street, drenched in rain waiting for Sarah to show up. He kept looking at the clock, road and his phone. No signs again. 8PM it was and he knew something went wrong. He drove towards her parents home, the house had already been vacated. There wasn’t anyone there. He came back to the spot. Stood there until 11PM amidst the thunder storm, and she did not show up. She wasn’t coming. He sat on the footpath, and began to cry. The love of his life had deserted him again. He was broken and shattered. He cried for an hour and at 12AM, he drove back home. He visited the spot for a week and stood there from 8 AM in the morning to 8 PM at night hoping that Sarah would show up but she didn’t. 

After waiting to hear from Sarah for a week, he finally drove back to Bangalore disappointed. 

A couple of years later, Sameer got an email. It was from Sarah . It read as follows. 

Dear Sameer, 

I’m sorry for letting you down again. I know words are not enough to express my apology for killing your dreams again but trust me, I killed my dreams as well. This is something which I had to do. 

On the day were were about to leave for Bangalore, I fell unconscious . Upon visiting the hospital, I found out that I was pregnant with Sahil’s child and it was too late to abort. I couldn’t imagine a situation where in I would have to tell my son that I ran away with some other guy before you were born.  I couldn’t imagine the situation of my father getting a second stroke for there were very less chances of survival if that happened. I couldn’t imagine my mother being left alone to die in this world as there was no way she would accept you as a son in law and would still consider both of us responsible for what happens to my dad. I’m sorry I couldn’t live up to my word. My son is 3 years old now and he is the only reason why I am alive today. When he grows up, I wish he becomes like you. For this world needs more people like Sameer so that the dignity of women will be retained. You gave me hope when all my cards were dealt . And now, my son is the ray of hope for me. I’m used to Sahil’s atrocities now. I am patient with a hope that, one day, my son will grow up and give me all the happiness that I deserved in this world. 

I always wish that you get the best in this world and the world here after . On this world, people like you, are very few. 

Regards,

Sarah.

Sameer was disappointed. He accepted the hard fact that she isn’t coming back. There were a lot of things that were unanswered that day. A lot of hopes died. A lot of dreams were scarified again. And it proved the indigestible fact that many of the men dominate women and consider them as just another means of getting their wishes fulfilled for according to them, women do not hold equal rights as men. We fail to realize the importance of women who gave us birth and consider them inferior to us.  We don’t value someone’s existence unless he/she is taken away from us. Its important for us to know the fact that she could be either our mother, our sister or our wife. As she is not worthy of walking behind us or in front of us but, she is worthy of walking hand in hand with us together for as long as we shall live. 

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by Shahid Shaikhali 

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