Meera

Chapter 20

It had been a few days that Meera had been staying with Gayatri and it had een a bliss. the common topic being Arjun. By Thursday, Meera had seen a ton of Arjun’s childhood photos, and was as naked as the day he was born in some of them. Meera tried to pry a little about Gayatri and Vijaya’s relationship. it seemed to go way back and sounded like they were holding a grudge. More specifically, her mother was holding it.
‘What went wrong, Aunty? This all is very confusing for me. Why is mom angry with you? I have so many questions.’

‘It was a very dark night in Vijaya’s life, if I take the liberty to say that. She had gotten a very happy new and one very heart wrenching.’ — I had no idea what my face showed but I certainly did not have a good feeling about this story. I saw Aunty looking towards me and I found nodding to let her continue.
‘It was a chilly December night. About six months after our graduation. Vijaya was already married as you might know.’ —-- I did, Maa did tell me how she wanted to study more but apparently people were too busy to fulfil her dreams so they just married her off. 
‘Your father was on a posting, I remember. She was alone that night, scared. She called me a number of times but that night, I wasn’t there for her. We were shifting here. I was busy.’
‘It was the night she found out your father was having an affair. He was out there sleeping with somebody else while your mother sat back home, dying in uncertainty if her husband was coming back home alive or not? The guy had no clue what he put that woman through. How easy it is for a man to just blame a woman.’

Man cheated? Her fault.
Getting attention? Her fault.
Getting no attention? Her fault.

Everything in the world is a woman’s fault. 

‘It was also the night she got to know, she was pregnant with you.’ — Oh, how that must have hurt her. I could feel the tears on my face as I try to wipe them away. Timing itni kharab kaise ho sakti hai Meera. Aunty came to sit beside me as she took me in a hug and it took every fibre of my being to not break down. I felt glad now that he didn’t contact me much. I wouldn’t want to after what I have learned today.

‘So that is why she is angry. Because I wasn’t there for her that very night. I wasn’t there to comfort my best friend.’
—- The tears just started coming as I excused myself and moved into a separate room. oh, how I missed Arjun at that moment but he might already know the things that were staring at me in the face today. He seemed to have always known, even known me way longer than I have known him. It seemed unbelievable. My heart says that my Arjun was fine. He has to be fine for Aunty, who else does she have if not her son? Please bhagwaan ji let him be safe. I prayed for him.
‘Beta, you have dinner, right?’ —- Aunty asked through the door.
‘Ji aunty.’ —-- I cannot just sit cooped up in this room. I fix my face and put a nice smile on it and headed towards the kitchen.

Little did I anticipate what was to come with tomorrow’s morning.

A/N
This is very short but I hope it provides you all with some consolation as I will be on a break for at least one and a half months as I am having my practicals and exams of college. Anyhow, I hope this chapter provided you with some clarity of the story.
So will see you all after 24th of May.

Toodles!

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