Lata walked over to the dining table. Placing the breakfast she had made for her husband as she sat on the chair. She was about to enter her last trimester, and by this time her pregnancy showed significantly. She picked up her phone and scrolled through the screen, waiting for her husband, who stood in the balcony engaged in his phone.
He had been avoiding her, for about a week. She did not know why, he would not sit in the same room as her's, or talk to her. She took in a deep breath, what was it like to be her?
"Phone nahi utha rahi? " she asked as he walked back pouring himself some water from.the RO.
The moment she spoke that, Sheeraz looked at her. This was the first time, the topic was in open, being openly spoken about. His face paled, he averted his eyes, not knowing what to say. "Tumhara appointment hai na? Shaam ko?", he instead asked, referring to her doctor's visit.
Lata looked at him. He was so agitated, he could hardly sleep, he would hardly eat or even talk. Over the last few days all he had done was drink incessantly and lie in the bed. She remembered last night, when she had walked over to her husband, who had almost passed out drinking in his balcony.
Lata walked over to the balcouy, looking for her husband. It had been hours that she had seen any activity, or there had been any sound. She felt worried and therefore walked over the balcony, only to find him laying on the floor with a number of bottles, a few empty and some others still halfway done.
"Sheeraz?", she called his name, but he would not answer. What was it like to be him. Lost, confused and maybe in love with another woman, while his wife came to help him walk back to sleep.
"Sheeraz?", she called again, this time gently stroking his face. He looked pathetic, her heart sank at his condition.
"Shehnaaz?", he called out.
Lata looked at her husband, the man who had just uttered another woman's name. At a point in their association, he had been a good husband to her, maybe he had even loved her, then what was it that Shehnaaz's arrival had changed. Was Shehnaaz just a desire? Or was he in love, really in love. Could he fall in love with another woman while being married? Were marriage and love entangled or were they independent. "Haath do mujhe!" She asked, grabbing his hand trying to pull him up.
He looked at Lata, she was still here, was she in love, the exact kind of love that he felt for Shehnaaz. If she were, probably he could understand her being here. "You are getting hurt in all this, chali ja na?" He spoke as she walked him to the room.
"Toh kyu kar rahe ho aisa?", she spoke. He looked back, wondering if she would accept the truth.
"Tu kyu kar rahi hai. Chahe toh tu bhi ja sakti hai na!" He spoke back.
Lata kept looking at her husband as he ate the breakfast she had prepared him. Was he plain cruel? Or maybe just like the way he had asked her the previous night. Maybe he too was bound, had no control. Love, maybe was about losing control? Defying the boubdaries of right and wrong, defying everything that the society could construct to regulate everyone.
Shehnaaz was about to leave her office when, she saw Lata appear. As soon as she saw Lata, Shehnaaz froze. That was not expected. Why would Lata visit her? Did Sheeraz do something?
"Lata? " she walked over, helping the woman stand up. "What are you doing here?"
Lata looked at Shehnaaz. She had once thought of the woman as her friend. ''Kaisi hai?", Lata questioned, while her eyes kept looking at Shehnaaz. What was it in Shehnaaz that Lata lacked? She thought to herself.
