A Heart of Stone with a Coat of Gold

Truth and Lies Part 2

This is not a new chapter.  This is the the last scene in the previous chapter which I was unable to add in the previous update

Please forgive me and thanks for everything.
Regards,
The Author

The day flew by in a daze. The classes, new faces, greetings, a casual housewarming hostel party in the evening...

There's was a lot. By the time Anu entered her dark room (Ayushi had outright refused to join the party, albeit a bit rudely to the shock of her new hostel mates) it was already 11 in the night. Her roommate was sprawled on her bad face down, probably stoned, Anu imagined.

She could hear the faint tremors of music as she rummaged in the almirah for her night clothes. The party was still raging on and Anu had barely managed to escape with her sobriety intact in spite of the persistent insisting of her new friends, Shikha and Neerav.

Yet, she almost missed the buzz now that she was alone (almost- her new roommate didn't count at the moment). Suddenly, her hand stopped mid search and she absent minded kept on staring at her clothes.

For some unknown reason she almost felt like crying.

Why?

The dreary hues of the clothes in the sparsely illuminated room shaded alternately by the dark contours of the folds reminded her of the gnawing sensation she had been feeling since the morning. It had been getting bigger and bigger since the morning and now that feeling felt like a monster.

Overbearing, overwhelming, overpowering...

Dark memories kept on flooding her. Her dad, her brother, her lost life, her marriage, all of them. Try as she might they kept on coming till she felt like she was being choked.

But why? Why then of all time?

This was supposed to be a fresh start. She should be happy, yet she was not.

She took a few deep breaths, attempting to calm herself. Finally her eyes alighted on the crumpled outline of a shirt. Neel's shirt.

He had given it to her the day before. She had been in a hurried tizzy when she had suddenly remembered.

"Neel," she had almost shrieked, "I forgot to buy a formal shirt. I might need it- the email states that-"

He had grimaced annoyed at her carelessness. Finally, he had handed her one of his shirts from his laundry pile. She had glared at him.

"Don't make faces Anu. It's your own fault. I don't have any clean ones left. The laundry is due today but god knows when the guy will come." Seeing her disgust as she held his shirt, he had offered a small consolation. "Look, you can order a new one online on the way. It will probably be delivered in a single day. Just keep this, in case you need it urgently. I only wore it for a few hours to office yesterday."

It's a bit large but you can probably manage if you fold the sleeves and tuck it in." He had added.

Thankfully she hadn't needed it and a new one had been delivered that same day.

Anu picked the white shirt. Neel had said it was almost clean and it was clean-almost, but Anu could see a few sweat streaks that were illuminated by a stray beam entering the dim room from the outside.

At that strange moment, Anu didn't know what overcome her. She was alone, lonely, and in bits and pieces. She held up the shirt and stared at it for several long piercing moments before finally bringing it her face.

She had lied to the world that morning, claiming that she was unrelated to the owner of the cloth.

Yet at that moment, without a care in the damn world, she smelled him.

She smelled her husband.

A few faint smells hit her senses.

His cardamom tea, his cigarettes,

His sweat, his hard work.

His care, his will..

His pain, her pain. It all mingled into one and coalesced in the form of a single solitary tear that fell on the white cloth, creating a damp, dark spot.

Anu picked up her phone and dialled Neel's number.

.