My Secret Longing

My Everything

What will you do when decades of past guilt vanish in a puff, leaving behind a glorious future? I slept peacefully. I didn't know sleep could be that tranquil till I slept that night with my entire world safely secured in my hands. But that peace was gone when I woke up with sunlight bursting through the windows and found that my wife was not beside me. I quickly saw the clock and couldn't believe my own eyes, as it was eleven am. I never slept that late.

I then scrambled to brush and bath quickly to go find her. I was humming to myself when I came out of the bathroom and opened the closet. And all my happiness vanished instantly, replaced by anger because the side of the closet where my wife's clothes were hanging was empty. Only then did I look around the room and see that her things were all missing. With that, I immediately marched out of the room, not bothering that I was still in my towel. I heard her voice coming from the third bedroom down the hallway. I was red with anger at her sneakiness in leaving me while I was sleeping. I didn't make a sound trying to hear to whom she was talking.

The door was open, and there she stood talking with Rocky while he was sitting on the bed listening to her. She had a suitcase open on the bed with all her dresses lying on it. While folding her clothes, she said, " I know you want us both, but you have to pick a side, Rocky." He kept looking at her when Bhavishya convincingly said, " I want you to be with me, but it's up to you to decide. Don't go and think I am forcing you to pick me. You didn't even have anyone to play with before, so if you stay with me, you will have the kids to play with, and we can walk in the park daily." He still looked at her contemplatingly when she asked, "what do you say?"

I then cleared my throat, not able to let her lure my own dog from me, and coldly said, " I see that you don't want his owner." She quickly jerked her head towards me and blinked like a dear caught in the headlight without saying anything. I masked my anger and asked, " Running like a coward while I was sleeping, dear wife?"

She grew furious on hearing that. " Don't you dare call me a coward, Raul. You are the real coward here, and you know it too. Keep your judgment to yourself." While folding her clothes in a hurry, she looked at rocky, and said," You have to make a decision today Rocky. You decide whether you want to sleep in this room or not........" The look on that traitor's face who was lazily lounging on the bed told me clearly who he would choose if push came to shove, so before that happened, I grumblingly declared " Nobody is sleeping in this room, not now and not ever."

The look she gave me when I said that was enough to kill, but then with gritted teeth, she added, " I don't know if you have selective amnesia, Raul, but if you search your brain, you will find the reason why this is happening and will happen." I moved inside the room, not caring that my wife shot darts of anger towards me that felt almost tangible to strike me and stood before her with my hands folded on my chest. She looked up from my naked chest, grumbling," You are not bullying your way in this time." I cooly replied, "I don't remember anything that could have made you want to move out of our room in the dead of the morning and also luring my own dog under a false pretense."

She visibly bristled her chest violently heaving up and down. "How could you so conveniently forget things that concerned me? Didn't you want to divorce me and ask me to be with someone like that guy George? I'm staying here until I can find a new place." It was then I realized how stupid I was. My poor wife didn't know about the sudden epiphany I had the day before as she was asleep when I returned to our room at midnight. All my anguish on seeing the empty closet vanished into thin air when I saw the defiant gaze on her beautifully scrunched up face.

I smirked and instantly got the reaction I wanted.

" Don't you dare do that, Raul, or I will definitely slap you."