In love with my husband

Her side of Story

I've always loved sleep. It cures every stress I have. But that morning, I woke up feeling like shit. I wanted to go back, get inside that blanket and sleep till I wake up from this nightmare. But I couldn't stay beside him anymore. The more I looked at him sleeping, the more my mind raced.

What was I going to do if he finally decided to get back together with her? I cannot live with Rahul. Mom and dad are already there, I cannot burden him more. I don't have any family to go back to, neither any friends.

Finally having enough, I woke up, went to the kitchen to have tea and few minutes of peace. But sadly, I couldn't even have that. Just as I was about to take a sip, Ruchika stumbled into the room. I knew she had just woken up, but goddammit, who looks that good right after they wake up?

She smiled sleepily at me and all I could do was stare.

"Good morning." She says yawning.

"Good morning" I reply. "Do you want tea?" I ask not wanting to look rude.

"I can make it." she moved towards the stove but then stopped and added, "if you don't mind."

"No, no, please go ahead" I say.

Was this woman acting to be nice or is she actually genuine like this?

We sat in silence for few minutes. She poured herself a cup and sat down.

Should I say something? What am I even going to say?

 I was trying to reach to a decision when Avishek came to the kitchen.

I stared at him in disbelief. This man has never come to kitchen this early. Was it because of Ruchika? I look at her to see her being shocked too.

"Stop staring at me, both of you" he grumbled and went to make a tea for himself.

She looked at me and asked, "does he usually wake up this early?"

I shake my head.

"I thought after all these years, his habit had changed." She sighs in relief.

How the hell does she know he doesn't wake up early?

It was 7 in the morning, so, it wasn't that early, but Avishek doesn't wake up at this time.

Ringing of my phone shook me out of my mental questioning, and I turned to see it was mom.

Why was she calling me this early?

"Mom? What's wrong?" I ask without even saying hello. She never calls me this early.

"Nothing is wrong. I just called to tell you to visit me today." she says

"But we were there yesterday. Is everything all right?" I say frowning at Avishek.

He frowns as well and signals me to hand him the phone.

"Mom, what's wrong?" he asks.

He gives a long sigh before saying, "Yes mom, it's your son, I just woke up a bit early."

I take a sip of my tea to hide my smile whereas Ruchika giggles.

He rolls his eyes at both of us.

He listens to her for few moments before narrowing his eyes at me.

What? What did I do?

"Don't worry mom. I'll talk to her." he said calmly.

Talk to me about what? I look at him confused.

"Sorry mom, I don't think we can come today. We have a guest." he said glancing at Ruchika.

"Mom, I- "I guess she cut him off because he just stared at the kitchen wall looking bored.

"Mom, please lis - "he growls into the phone and thrusts the phone to Ruchika.

She looked equally confused as me. Why was he giving phone to her?

"Hello?" Ruchika speaks hesitantly. She listens for few seconds before saying, "Aunty, I'm Ruchika."

"Yes, aunty, I just came here yesterday." She says smiling. "I'm surprised you still remember me."

I am not a petty person, I swear I'm not, but at that time, all I could think was why was she talking to my mom and why does mom remember her?

She laughs and the green monster inside me twisted more.

"Sure, I'll come meet you two one day." She listens for few more seconds before saying, "bye".

I thought she was going to hand me the phone to talk to mom, but she just hung up and gave me back my mobile.

I stared at the mobile like it had betrayed me.

"What did mom say?" I asked Avishek.

"She wanted you to visit her again." He replied.

"Why?" I ask confused.

"I guess she missed you." he says not meeting my eyes. He is lying about something. I'm sure.

I let it go and started working on making lunch for Avishek to take to office. Ruchika stayed by my side and kept chattering. This woman was a chatterbox. It was good, I decided, as I was in no mood to speak.

I was packing his lunch when Avishek came to the kitchen. Ruchika went to her room for shower. I handed him the box, but he still didn't leave. He looked like he had something to say.

"Is everything alright?" I asked him.

He nodded his head but didn't say anything.

Okay then.

"You made lunch for yourself too?" he asked after some hesitation.

"No, I'll make it later", I replied.

 What's with the questions?

He looked like he wanted to say more but nodded his head and went out. Strange.

When I said I didn't want to be alone, I didn't mean I wanted to be with my husband's ex. The entire day, even when she was not with me, a heavy feeling sat on my chest. My husband's ex, gorgeous ex, was back. I tried to avoid her as best as I could. So, I mentally groaned when she sat on the living room during lunch with me.

Because I couldn't exactly give her a valid reason for me not wanting to eat lunch, I took a plate for myself and played with it while she ate hers. She was halfway through her lunch when her phone rang. She looked at it, stared at it for a long time and then put it down when it stopped.

I was curious, of course I was curious, to know why she was here but I couldn't ask.

Her phone rang again and again but she paid no mind to it.

"Aren't you going to pick it up? Someone must be worried if they are calling this much" I said.

She sighed.

"It's my mother. Vikash must have told our families by now." She quietly said.

"Vikash?" I ask.

She looked up at me and said, "My husband."

I had to physically scratch my chin to stop myself from prying more.

But she started speaking. She told me her reason to come to India. She told me how she told all this to Avishek yesterday and he invited her to come here.

I did not know what to say. I felt bad for her. I cannot imagine my life without my children. Even though I could not relate to her in the child issue, I could definitely relate to her in the husband issue.

I wanted to laugh on how similar our lives were. She and I both had husband who were a stranger to us. Only difference was her husband loved her and mine didn't. 

That was it for today. Please leave a comment and vote if you liked the story.