The Stake.

40

"I think we should talk." Meher sat at the table where Rehaan was already having his breakfast made by her. His wife had asked her to before leaving for her interview.

"Uh, yes. I believe we weren't introduced properly last night. I'm—" He kept his fork down.

"I know who you are. But you don't know who I am. Do you know why?" Meher gave him a sympathetic smile.

"I do, you're my wife's friend." He replied.

"Oh, so what's my name? Do you know any names of your wife's friends? Do you even know how many friends she has? Is there anything you know about her other than she's your wife?" Rehaan realized he didn't know the answers to those questions, she was right.

"I know she likes flowers." He tried to say something looking like an absolute disaster at the moment.

"Only a blind person wouldn't know that about Shahwar." Meher shook her head and Rehaan looked away, he'd never felt like words had vanished from his mind like right now.

"I'm Meher. I'm not her best friend but her friend from school and then we were in the same bachelors degree program here, so she asked me to stay at her place with her, share the space. We grew closer as friends more during that time." Meher paused and then placed her elbows on the table resting her chin on both her palms, "Rehaan bhai, so you know your wife likes flowers, did you ever get her flowers?"

"Uh—No." He felt uneasy.

"Right. So what about ever taking her out for a nice dinner? Or any other place to go out to, like movies or did you ever try to make time for her other than at home after work?" She was still looking at him with the same smile.

Rehaan knew what it meant. Realization hit him hard. "No."

"That's fine too," She nodded slowly and thoughtfully, "How about discussing things she likes or wants to do in her life, or even telling her about yourself, your family, education or dreams like normal people?" Now she was getting truly disappointed in him reading his face.

"No." He himself could not admit to how much of a shitty husband he had been. He'd only thought that the misunderstanding about Beena had led everything to fall apart between them but he'd been so wrong, he had been a failure as whole in his wife's life. Why hadn't he thought of all this? The only thing he'd ever tried to do for her was buy that ring for her and the surprise that could never happen due to the heartbreaking unexpected events of their relationship.

"You know, Shahwar is someone so easily to be loved and dealt with, she's not someone who wants a lot, but you didn't even provide a solid verbal affirmation to her about your feelings and relationship. Since the beginning she had been told about the woman from your past, do you realize what that is? How would you have felt if you'd known that she loved someone else already being married to you? How hard would it have been to even trust her for you? What did you expect from her? Why did you not once think of telling her that you loved her? Rehaan bhai, I'm sorry but I don't find anything that can support your point of view." Meher suddenly grew despondent.

Rehaan's heart clenched so hard at the truth of it. She was right in fact. He'd been so thoughtful when it had been Beena in his mind, he'd done things out of his own personal liking for her to make her happy, but he'd done nothing for his love, his Shahwar. Instead he had broken her soul. Was it even okay for him to ask her for forgiveness now?

"She's lost what she loved the most since she was born, her mother first, then her dream to become a chef, then her father and then the husband she loved." Meher almost teared up, "Most people don't even survive it all, she did."

And then Rehaan remembered about the miscarriage she had, he had lost all the appetite to finish the food in front of him, "I will make things right this time. She won't ever be alone again."

"Will you? Then please start with the fact that she needs to know that you aren't someone who doesn't want her in his life. Prove it. You have so many options to start from since you barely covered anything to begin with."

"Who's Shahwar best friend? You said you're not." He was finally learning to ask the right questions.

"No one. She has no best friends."

"What?" He was shocked as girls were known to have at least one for sure.

"Dur e Shahwar was bullied at school by girls, she didn't have friends till the age of seventeen. No one ever talked to her because she came from a house where her mother was absent. She didn't know what to do at many occasions when girls knew things. I don't want to get into all the details but it was bad. She didn't have a person who would ask her what color should her birthday dress be, take her to the grooming salon at the right age, talk about what a period is and take care of her when she had hers for the first time. Her mother would've noticed the marks on her skin when she got hit by girls at school but she'd never show those to her father."

"Salman uncle was a great father, but he was a great and successful businessman too, he could only do the things that a father could do, a mother is still a mother. Farhana aunty had married him but he never let her do anything to intermix the relationship between him and Shahwar. He always feared that his daughter may be mistreated by a stepmother, that was the main reason." Rehaan had closed his eyes when Meher was done.

She got up and smiled at him as he opened his eyes at the sound of the chair, "You know even after all that, Shahwar still forgave those girls who'd made her cry so much all her childhood. She didn't love them, she loved you. And I don't know everything but I see her. She's someone else now. My friend is gone. She doesn't smile. What could a person have done to someone like Shahwar to cause this?"

"Rehaan Kazmi doesn't do mistakes. Though if he has made too many in one sector, the most important one at that, he will be paying a high price for it too. But that won't be involving suffering for her. If she's forgotten to smile I'll provide the reason for her to never forget to smile, no matter what the cost." He pushed his chair back a little and got up, "Thank you for the breakfast and I'm grateful for everything you've told me."

"Do you want the address for where she's gone to for her interview?" She raised her brows.

"Of course." He smiled out of genuine gratitude.

He went and washed the dishes after breakfast and cleaned the house when Meher left for work. Leaving out just Meher's room for the sake of privacy, he swept and mopped the entire house and even cleaned Shahwar's bathroom. He didn't want his wife to come back to her house after a tiring day and clean the place.

Taking another shower after it all he changed into a light sweater and jeans then headed out to pick his wife up.

Finally Kazmi has started his true life.🤡

What did you think of Meher's conversation with him?