The man next door

Forbidden fruit

Looking back now, I feel I don't even know myself. I never imagined it could be my own story. I had taken the road nobody dared to take and now I am here. I feel lost in a maze without exit. I have destroyed everything but I am happy. The people who know of my hideous love story judge me, gossip about me. My family hates me but I think its better than when I began to hate myself.

I feel guilty to hurt the man, who actually loved me- my husband, my first love. I did not want to hurt him but now I know I have shattered his heart into so many pieces that even after trying for the rest of my life, I can not assemble them back. Frankly speaking, I don't want to.

It started as innocent as everything else, and then it intensified. The guilty pleasure was too hard to be resisted. The guilt, the excuses, the fears increased with each step and in the very end the consequences hit hard, and shook everyone and everything around.

It all started 6 months back. I am Anika Trivedi- the perfect wife of doctor Nikhil Trivedi. We had been happily married for 5 years. People thought we were the epitome of "perfect couple". Unknowing their appreciation and expectations had turned into burden. At home, I was the dutiful daughter-in-law, sister-in-law and responsible housewife. My life revolved around them. Since my marriage, I had got myself so much bound to them that I did not get time to see the world outside. I had not even realised how much I had transformed since I had got married. I might would have never even thought so much if--

I was in the final year of my college and Nikhil had just got a job after passing university when we decided to married. I left studies and work, and decided to take care of my family. A doctor's job is hard and tiring, and Nikhil is careless when it comes to his own health. "If I work outside, who would handle the family?" I thought. Nikhil loved me, cared for me, respected me. He is my first love- my first boyfriend who had become my husband. Everything was perfect. It still would have been if I had not met him- Shivaay. It is just that I changed with his arrival, unintentionally. He brings me the peace I want, the comfort and understanding I need. He understood my vulnerability before I had even spoke out.

I was the person who hated cheating the most, always wished that all the people who cheated their spouses burn in the fire of hell but I myself did not know when I fell into the dark swamp for this unforgivable love- Infidelity. I wanted to come out of the swamp before I fell deeper but the unforgettable joy consumed me.