"Chalo, batao mujhe.", she brought him to her room and had him sit on the bed, whilst she took the chair from near her study table and brought it in front of him so that she could look into his eyes as he spoke.
(Chalo, batao mujhe - so, tell me)
Rajeev nodded in affirmation.
"But before I tell you, you need to know that I am sincerely sorry, my Radha. I would never wish to hurt you even subconsciously, let alone in such an intentional manner."
His face spoke of the pure regret he felt within, and for now, while she still wished to console him, she merely nodded, but this was a nod of assurance, and it was enough for him.
"So, to tell you, I will start right from the beginning."
She nodded.
"Two years back, I had been working in a leading tech firm back in Gwalior. It was an office job. They followed Covid regulations which had loosened a bit by then, but prior to that, the building stay neglected when we worked from home in the period of lockdown. Thanks to that neglect, and poor construction - I might say, since this new office building was constructed just four years back, the slab was weak. And one day, a few of us were not even surprised - it collapsed, directly onto us.", Rajeev plainly stated. It was as though he was narrating something really mundane to her.
"Raj", she gasped in response. This was such a serious thing. An entire slab falling on the employees. Such neglect was despicable.
"Hey, relax.", he assured her in a soft voice.
"I wasn't much hurt, you know. Yes, I was unconscious after that incident and woke up directly in the hospital with a fracture and some scratches and wounds. So, despite of being worried, we were also relieved that it wasn't something major. The hospital had done a full check up on me before the discharge, and the results......those results, they took away something from my heart forever."
His voice had started to sound a bit heavy towards the end and Radhika understood where he was heading towards.
"I got to know that an injury to my system had rendered me infertile. I.....I didn't even believe it Radha, you know. I thought and argued with the doctor that this might have been because of the shock to my system following the incident I was caught up in, and that it would be temporary, but no, he insisted that it was permanent and that nothing could be done about it now."
She heard and felt the broken tone in his voice and felt a lump forming in her throat now.
"I....you know how much I love and adore kids Radha. And I so much wanted to have my kids, pamper them like crazy, yes, discipline them too, but just a bit, do everything for them, be the best ever dad for my kids, but it was snatched away from me Radha......just like that. What I adored the most."
And as his voice cracked towards the end, a lone tear escaped Radhika's eyes. She could not even imagine what her Raj must have felt then, how he would have even heard this result.
He saw the tear escaping her eye, and was quick to wipe it off. He had a smile on his face, but it was one full of melancholy.
"Call me old school, but seeing mom and pops growing up, I had always wanted to have an arranged marriage just like them, and have a good two-three kids of mine, of course, as per my wife's convenience and wish too. And then we would all be a happy family - my parents, my wife's parents, our kids. But guess what, life is not a fairy tale, and reality hit me hard in such a cruel manner."
By this time, she was silently crying. How must he have felt to see his dreams breaking down in front of him, with no fault of his, and what was worse that he could do nothing about it.
YOU ARE READING
Yours, With Love
Romance"Why Radha?", his eyes glistened with emotions, with what he felt for her, as he caressed her cheek with all the love he beheld within. "Why do you tolerate so much for me?", his words were strained as he felt the lump in his throat increasingly ach...
