Happily Never After

As dawn broke, the maid rang the doorbell of flat #502 in an upscale apartment of Bangalore. She utilized her ability to read English at the drop of a hat. As she waited for her employers to open the door, she read the nameplate of the home – ‘Ragini Mehta . Aryan Malik’. She had been a spectator to the immense love the two people on the nameplate shared and the little hearts around the name made it seemingly obvious.

A woman in her late 20s, long tangled hair and even longer legs – Ragini, opened the door to let her maid in. There was no exchange of pleasantries as Shanti, the maid, was a daily visitor to the home and Ragini wasn’t one who believed in “spreading the love”. That may be the reason she came across to people as someone who lacked the ability to love; or maybe because her significant other was the stark opposite – a man who received as much affection as he gave out.

Picking up the broom, Shanti spoke – “Ragini, you haven’t changed your surname post marriage?”

Turning the front page of the newspaper, Ragini said – “Is there a rule I have to?”
Smiling, Shanti shook her head and continued to work.

As the ‘Mr and Mrs’, as Shanti would like the nameplate to read, dressed for work, Aryan spoke – “Why do you have a first name basis with the maid? I hope she knows she’s supposed to call you Madam!”

Ragini snapped – “And who decides that? Simply because she belongs to a lower strata and wasn’t given the right opportunities, she isn’t any lesser than me. Also, for your information, she did call me Madam. I asked her to switch to my name instead.”

Aryan argued – “So if Shanti was given the right opportunities, she would be a Manager at your company instead of you?”

Gauging her husband’s sly attempt at sarcasm, Ragini succumbed to a smile instead of playing lawyer.

The couple believed they were a match made in heaven, but to well-wishers, one plotted in hell. Theirs was an age old cliche of a Hindu girl and a Muslim boy which did not play according to societal rules. After a courtship of 5 years, when they finally decided to tie the knot, the decision was to go through another round of decision – that of the respective folks.

Both the sets of parents had their own apprehensions which they voiced out loud.

“You are such a smart girl, Ragini. How could you fall into the trap of this blindness called love?”

“Forget wearing a Burqa, she is not even agreeing to convert. We don’t need this kind of rebellion entering the family.”

But Ragini and Aryan knew that once they leaped over the parental barrier, a happy life filled with love and togetherness was lying ahead of them. After much persuasion and deliberation, the two got bound in matrimony; with their parents playing wedding planners.

Her 28^th birthday was a week away and Aryan wanted to give her a thoughtful gift. Since they began dating, each year he’d give her a Gift Voucher from one of her favorite brands. He was starting to run out of brands now and she was starting to give him a lecture on how vouchers are only for people you know nothing about.

“Happy Birthday Ragini!” her friends cheered as she entered her home a night before her birthday.

“Wow! House party it is. Thanks for the surprise guys!” she said as she beamed with joy and hugged her husband.

The house flowed with alcohol, dance and love. With each guest that turned to her one after the other with the request of “One shot for me, please!” a hangover was confirmed the next day.

She opened her bleary eyes when the cat, all seven pounds of squirming flesh, climbed onto her belly. Squinting into the sunlight streaming in from the open window, she discovered that she was now the weary possessor of a pounding headache, and at some point, had managed to lose both a tooth and a spouse.

Ragini turned to the other side of the bed and found a basket with a letter within.

“Happy birthday wifey. I hope you like the gift! I adopted a full grown cat since you wouldn’t have the time to take care of a kitten thanks to your busy schedule. I think a cat is your spirit animal – independent and not a sucker for love!”

She slowly walked to the kitchen to hydrate herself while trying to recollect the previous night’s events. The last thing she could remember was downing a shot of Vodka with her best friend Neha.

Hoping her husband remembered beyond that, she walked around the house calling out for Aryan. She began worrying when he was nowhere around and wasn’t answering her calls either. Turning on the Wi-Fi, she decided to leave him a WhatsApp message.

“Where are you?” read the message which showed a single tick. She noticed that the display picture icon had turned to a default picture of a faceless male. Confused, she clicked on Photos on her phone to check for pictures that would help her solve the big mystery. On seeing no pictures, she wished she was more like her friends who captured every move of their lives.

She rang Neha.

“Hello Rags, are you okay? Did Aryan apologize? I didn’t want to leave but I thought it would be best for you guys to talk amongst yourself.” said Neha.

“Neha I can’t remember a thing after that shot we took together. Can you please come here? And what did Aryan do? I’m losing my mind, he isn’t here and is not answering my calls.”

“Okay, I’m coming home.”

In the meanwhile, her attention turned to the cat and she realized it must be starving. Taking out her phone, she Googled ‘Homemade food for cats’ and the search result listed cooked white rice. She checked her fridge to find a 1/3^rd filled bowl of it and directly put that on the floor next to her new pet.

As the doorbell rang, she hoped it would be her husband on the other side of the door but the next best thing stood out there – Neha. She opened the door, almost teary eyed, anticipating she wasn’t going to hear something good.

They sat on the couch as Ragini offered her friend a glass of water. “I think you should hold on to it.” Neha said.

“Where is Aryan?” asked Ragini.

“I’ll tell you everything from the start.” said Neha, “So we had that shot and we danced, a lot. And while dancing, you tripped over someone and broke your front tooth.”

“My what?!” Ragini asked, perplexed, sticking a finger inside her mouth and feeling a void.

“We can get that fixed, don’t worry. Anyways, after you fell we made you sit down for a bit and then, remember Anamika, Aryan’s colleague?” questioned Neha.

“Yes, the one Aryan says has a thing for her. Why was she invited again?” said Ragini.

“What I’m going to tell you is going to shake you off a bit. She came up to you, I was sitting right there so I heard everything. She apologized for keeping you in the dark for so long. She said she didn’t know Aryan was married because he never wore his ring. And that he was cheating on you, with her. For a whole year. And when she found out she broke off all that was there.” said Neha as she watched Ragini’s face go from confused to disbelief.

She continued, “Aryan didn’t invite her. She had come home yesterday to tell you everything and happened to enter with the guests who came in late. As soon as Aryan saw her, he came running to you and asked her to leave. You started yelling at him and asking him why he would do that. All the other guests started to leave. I didn’t want to but I didn’t realize you were so wasted, I just wanted the two of you to talk it over and sort it out.”

Ragini began murmuring, “Is this a joke, Neha?”

“I wish it was! And I can’t believe he left without an explanation. I’ll try calling him.” said Neha.

As Neha hit on call over and over again, Ragini watched the cat and spoke “Did he give me a cat because he knew I would end up a lonely, single woman?”

Neha got off a call and said “His manager said he left for the US on a yearlong project. Did you know about this?”
“We lived in the same house. How did he manage to hide so much from me?

Did Anamika say he never wore his ring? I remember fighting with him over this. I wore my mangalsutra to show I’m married.
So he cheated on me for a year? We went to New Zealand 6 months back. Was he cheating on me even then? But we had such a great time..” as Ragini continued to speak Neha cut her off, “I know you want answers and I can’t give them to you Rags, I am so sorry.”
“How could he leave without a reason? If there was a reason, I should know of it. Don’t I deserve that? Where did I go wrong?” questioned Ragini, helplessly.

Neha was astonished seeing her friend turn so desperate. So far away from her usual strong personality, she saw what unconditional love and trust had converted her into.
Ragini was mentally and physically exhausted as Neha put her into bed. She slept for hours on end and woke up 23 hours later when hunger took its toll. Neha had made her pasta which she got to the bed and said “I’ve never seen you this emotional, Rags. You’re my brave friend who doesn’t let anything break her spirit.”

“I’m going to US. No, I’m going to reveal things about him to his boss, they will have to sack him. Then he’ll have no choice but to come back here.” said Ragini.

“Don’t go down that path Rags. I know you are a kind person inside no matter how cold you appear on the out. Revenge will eventually lead to guilt. If someone has done you wrong, you focus your energy into emerging as a stronger and more mature person who can conquer all there is to instead of directing that energy towards negativity.” said Neha as she hugged her friend.

A year later, Ragini had seen a promotion at work and had moved out of her old ‘house’ to build a new ‘home’. She had interior decorated the whole space herself.

As she came back home from grocery shopping, she saw Aryan at the door.

“Can we talk?” he asked.

She opened the door and entered inside, keeping it open behind her as she walked in. He entered and looked around the whole place in fascination.

“I’m sure you want an explanation. I  ...” she cut him off as he spoke, “You know Aryan, I don’t. When I needed a reason, you turned coward and ran away. Now when I’m doing well for myself, you turn up with that pitiful face of yours, probably to apologize and rekindle what we had. So I’ll cut short the back and forth for you – No, I do not need you back. What I do need from you is to close this chapter with me and agree for a divorce. If not, you may leave. No room for discussion here, Mr. Malik.”

“I think I’ll leave then if you don’t want to hear why I did what I did. Here’s my number if you do want to call, for anything.” he said as he handed her a business card,
“You’ve done a great job with the place, by the way.”

She said, “I only followed what Carrie Fisher suggested.”
“What’s that?” he asked.

“She said – Take your broken heart and make it into art.” Ragini smiled.