Meera's Husband!

Chapter 1-

Chapter 1

" Is Sagar your husband? The guy who works at the Municipality?" 

The newly joined Trainee Administration Assistant at the Firm she worked, asked her. She was accompanied by the duty in-charge, who was also an Arab national. Meera was on her routine work schedule, trying to complete a reconciliation.

"Yes,  Sagar is my husband." She replied unhesitantly and with her signature smile she always carried with her.

Meera was always loved by her colleagues for being kind and sweet. She never raised a voice at her subordinates, neither did she complain about their misdeeds or lousiness. Yet she was a successful leader of her staff and she always got the work done on time. That made her a favorite of the Management as well.

 " I thought so."

 The assistant  turned to her companion and spoke something to her in her language. 

Though Meera didn't speak Arabic on a daily basis , she knew the basic version of it. Her long term work experience with the Arabs had taught her enough spoken Arabic to get by.

It meant something like " Didn't I tell you, before?" or something similar to that.  

She could see the assistant standing triumphantly and could sense her victory at something which only she seemed unaware of.

"What is it, Soha ?" Meera asked the assistant meekly. "Do you know my husband?"

" No! No! ....not me.....my sister also works for the Municipality. She is a subordinate to your husband. She has just joined there a couple of days ago." She said all in one breath and looked sideways at her companion.

" Is your husband a non-Muslim?" The question from Nazia, the duty in-charge, hit her like a lightning!

" Oh my God, what are they up to?" Thought Meera laboriously. 

She couldn't actually focus on anything now. It was a well kept secret till now. And she had made it quite sure that it stayed that way. She had learned the art of playing with words in order to portray anything the listener wanted to hear, but the truth about her!

 The only other person who knew about her was her colleague, Naina, who also hailed from her country.  They were expatriate workers here , on this land of opportunities. She could never betray her. Then who might have spilled the beans?

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She had been working in the Auditing Firm for five years now.  With her dedication and commitment, she raised well above others in her career. There were many colleagues who were clearly jealous of her achievement . 

She looked right through them both, for she had almost lost the art of words. Tears started its process but somehow they didn't flow outside her eyes. She made sure that she had the control over her emotions. She couldn't lose it now. Not now. She had time later , for that.

"But you said you were a Muslim!" Nazia was determined to continue.

"Yes, I am a Muslim. But...but...my husband is not...." She said it finally with much effort.

"Oh! If your husband is not a Muslim, then you are not one too.." Soha  joined Nazia triumphantly.

" It was love, wasn't it?" Nazia encouraged  the conversation. Meera had to finally sink into the nearby sofa , uninvited. 

Nazia was a short woman who covered herself in a loose flowing dress with her head covered in a head dress or a hijab. She looked lovely and had the best of manners. But a closer look into her eyes now, made Meera see how cold they could actually be.

"Yes."  Meera could hear her own words as if they were darted out from a hollow cave!

"Did your parents agree?" What was she up to? Meera started getting irritated. Why are they getting very interested in my personal life, thought she.

" No. Ours was a love marriage. We got married in a Civil Court. Not with the consent of my parents."

Meera was not nervous any more. She had read somewhere that if you were drowning into the depths of an ocean, why think if it was cold or warm! 

Now that the truth has emerged, let it be. The final verdict may be the loss of her job. Yet sadly, the reputation she had earned in these years, would be tarnished irreparably.

She braved herself to stand up from the seat, and started towards the door. Her wish right now was to be as far away as possible from the two of them who were interrogating her about her personal life.

" Meera......wait.." that was Nazia again. Meera stopped at the door.She turned back to face her helplessly.

"It was just ..... out of curiosity..." the guilt was very much visible on Nazia's face.                                  "Don't think that we are being rude or racists."

"It's Okay Nazia... No worries......" 

Meera once again regained her confidence and her smile . But the confusions that went inside her being could only be explained by her. She rushed outside as fast as her legs could carry her and ran towards the wash-room.