*** PART 29 ***
A week later, it was a Sunday morning and Virat's mom and dad were sitting at the breakfast table with Manvi and Virat. They have come to stay with them for a few days while their house was being renovated.
Manvi's parents were not getting any younger and all the rooms in the house were on the upper floor. Simmy and Manvi thought that taking stairs should be avoided by them at this age and so they were getting the house renovated for them. So, Manvi's parents along with Simmy were camping at Virat's house.
"Some of my friends from Med school are coming over. We are going skiing." Manvi told them casually.
"Come again?" Virat looks at her, from his newspaper like she uttered the most ridiculous thing.
"Skiing - the thing you do on a slippery mountain of snow." Manvi explained munching on a toast.
"Yeah. You are not going."
"It is for a day."
"You are still not going. You don't know how to ski and..."
"I do know how to Ski and there are life guards right by the side."
"Life guards are for a swimming pool.."
"Well...whatever they call helper people on a ski mountain."
"You are not going."
"Yes..I am." They kept arguing while Mom and Dad looked at them amused.
"Alright..I am taking off. See you guys after lunch." Simmy walked in. She was dressed in jeans and a black tee shirt.
After much reluctance, she had finally agreed to go on a date with Manvi's friend Roshan. They had dinner on Wednesday night and she did not find anything wrong with him. So, here she was going on a brunch date with him on a Sunday.
"Woah. You are going to see him like that?" Manvi asks.
Simmy shrugs. "It is casual on Sundays."
"It is never casual on a date. I demand to see your closet."
"Since when do you know so much about dates?" Virat asks.
"Mannu..I really don't have the patience for this." Simmy exasperated.
"Psshh! Come with me." She holds her hand and drags her in.
Simmy sighs and follows Manvi as she marches into her room to find her an appropriate attire for a brunch date.
"Manvi is pushing her too hard. I don't think Simmy is ready for another relationship." Dad comments to Mom. "She doesn't show it but she hasn't recovered from that excuse of a man."
"Amol, sometimes the only way you get over a man is to find another one. She should go out and meet people. She is too sad these days."
Virat couldn't help but hear this conversation. He rolled his eyes and left to get ready to go to office. He had work to finish up.
When he came back down, he thought he saw Manvi in the kitchen. She was turned away from him, wearing a white evening dress that he remembered. He liked her in that dress. "Damn, you look sexy..." he walks towards her, with a big smile.
Simmy's eyes pop out. She immediately realizes that Virat had assumed it was Manvi as she was wearing Manvi's dress. She turns around startled.
"Woah!" Virat lifts his hands and takes a step back.
"Mannu would not stop until I wore this dress." Simmy explains in a rushed manner.
"Don't say a word. I am leaving. I am sorry." he mutters and turns around.
"I am going to kill you Manvi!" he screws his eyes shut and makes an exit.
Back in the house, Simmy marches to Manvi's room. "I am not wearing this dress."
"Why?" Manvi looks at her confused.
"Because..."
Manvi waits for her to answer. "You look angry."
"Virat thought I was you, in the kitchen. Coz of this dress."
Manvi takes a few second to understand her and then she laughs loudly. "Did he say something? I am sorry."
"Mannuu..I don't need this."
"But, you look so pretty." Manvi fixes her hair.
"This date better be worth it Manvi. Or else I will clobber you."
"You may."
~
"How can you mistake Simmy to be me Virat?" She asked him on the phone.
"Mannu, I am sorry. She was wearing that dress and her hair looked the same as yours from behind."
"You looked at her behind?"
"..she is the same house as I am. I keep running into her - her front - her behind. Do you want me to close my eyes and walk? I told you this is a bad idea. But, you insisted she stay with us."
"You thought her to be me? What did you say to her." Manvi started crying, loudly.
"Mannu, don't cry. I did not say anything to her."
"I always knew you would go back to her."
"Oh god, stop crying. Baby, please don't cry. Tell me what to do. I will do anything. Please don't cry."
"Well..I do want to go on that Skiing trip."
"Yeah...anything sweetheart..Ofcourse you can go a..." he pauses. "WAIT A MINUTE...you little fox brain ! You are not upset. You are laughing. Manvi ! This is not funny !!"
"But, I am upset. I will heal my broken heart on my ski trip, Viratji. For you."
Virat did not say anything.
"My friends are here. See you in the night. Bye. Love you." she hangs up.
"Damn! you are unbelievable, Manvi!"
~
Later that evening, he gets a call on his phone from an unknown number.
"Virat here." he answers.
"Virat, this is Simmy."
He pauses for a second and looks at the time. It was 10 PM.
"Yeah, what's up?"
"Virat, I need your help. Can you pick me up?" Her voice was low. It rang an alarm in him.
For a second he did not know what to reply. "Text me the address. I will pick you up."
"Thank You." she was about to hang up.
"Um..Simmy?" he stopped her. He was pretty sure her voice was shaky.
"Yeah?"
"Are you okay?"
"I am not sure."
He immediately started. The address was an hour away. He knew that she would not have called him if she had any other option. The resort was in the outskirts. There were no cabs around and it looked like it is going to rain. Manvi wasn't there and Mom and Dad were at Kiran Uncle's house for tonight.
When he reached there, she was sitting outside what looked like a resort or a big club house, in the rain.
He gets an umbrella from his trunk and rushes to her as they did not allow his vehicle inside an outside gate.
She was shivering in the cold rain. She did not have any jacket on her. To his extreme annoyance, she was still wearing Manvi's white dress from morning.
He takes his blazer off and gives it to her. "What the hell are you doing sitting outside? This place looks deserted." He asks her looking around.
She does not reply. He looked at her face and her eyes were red. He wished he did not understand these things about her, but painfully, he did. She had been crying. Who else knew her more than he did?
"Let's go." he gives her the umbrella and runs to the car. She follows him.
After a few minutes of driving in silence, he asks her "What happened?"
She doesn't reply.
"Simmy, I am asking you something."
"I am sorry, Virat."
"I said don't worry about it."
"Not for that."
She tried to say something but stopped herself. She did not know if she should tell him. She did not know what to make out of the whole thing.
They continued to drive in silence.
After they reached home, Simmy opened the door of the car and ran inside.
Virat looked at her bizarre reaction. His phone rang.
"Manvi, where are you?"
"I am on my way back Virat. I will be there in four hours. You should go to sleep. Did Simmy come back? She would not answer my call."
"Yeah. She did."
"Okay..See you in a bit."
"Stay safe Mannu."
~
He was sitting in the kitchen, working on his computer. A pot of tea was brewing on the stove. He looks up to find Simmy standing by the arch at the kitchen entrance. She had changed and was wearing a long t-shirt and pyjamas.
"It is cold in here." she said.
"Do you want some tea?" he asks, politely.
"Sure." she walked in slowly and sat on the chair across from his.
"When is Mannu coming back?"
"In a couple of hours." he gets two cups of tea and sits at the table.
He looks at her and studies her face. There was something that he had never seen on her face. She was scared.
"What are so nervous about?" he asks.
Tears cascade down her cheeks. She wasn't being dramatic, she wasn't faking and he knew that something was very wrong. "Simmy...what is it?" he asks, placing his hand on her shoulder.
"I know you hate me Virat. And I deserve every ounce of it."
"I don't hate you Simmy."
"If you don't. Now, you will. I should have told you about this long back."
Virat looked at her puzzled. What could she tell me that I do not already know?
"When I left that day, as you looked at me disbelievingly..."
She talked about the day when she left him after a huge fight. She had given him back his ring and said she did not want a marriage anymore. Images of that day reeled in front of their eyes.
"Virat! Why the f**k are you so angry? How can you beat Samir? He is my boss Virat!!! Are you out of your mind? We got delayed in the hospital and he dropped me home. That's all. THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE. You are messing with the people from my work and you are messing with my career dammit."
"Oh for godsakes SImmi. I am neither blind nor an idiot. Stop it with your career crap and just get out of here. I don't even want to look at you right now."
"Excuse me?"
"Priya told me that there was something going on between you too. I didn't believe it..."
"How dare she? That bitch.!!"
"SIMMIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Virat screamed at her, his hand automatically rose at her. "Watch your language when you speak about Bhabhi." He warned her and moved away to calm himself down.
"OR WHAT VIRAT? You will beat me? Go ahead. What else can you do? Aur Kaunsi bhabhi, kaisi bhabhi. She is not even related to you. All these relations you make with random people - they are all your stupid imagination. I am sick and tired of your obsession with them and my parents. Why can't you think big Virat? Think past all these meaningless things? Do something with your life!!! If you have your days as occupied as me, you will not feel lonely."
"Samir is just a really good friend. I work for him and he thinks I have a great future. He took me up under his wing Virat. I never thought you will turn out into one of those typical husbands who is jealous of his wife's success. Do you know how big an opportunity it is to work with Dr.Samir. Why am I even asking you all this? What would you know about opportunities, dreams and ambitions? Let me tell you one thing Virat. I am not one of those typical wives who sit at home and cry because their husband asked her not to wear a certain dress or not to talk to a certain man. I will never let anything hold me back and right now, YOU ARE HOLDING ME BACK VIRAT!"
"Life needs to move forward but ever since we got married, I feel like my life has become stagnant. There is nothing to look forward to. All there is fights and fights and more fights. I cannot take this anymore Virat. I need an out. I need space. I feel suffocating."
"Suffocating?"
"I am sorry Virat. I love you but I cannot do this anymore. Maybe we should take a break. I need to be away from all this, from you."
"You need a break from me? What does that even mean Simmi? We are married, we cannot just be unmarried."
She threw her wedding ring on table like it was the most worthless thing on earth. "We can" she said and started packing her stuff.
"Bygones." Virat replied. But she saw anger in his eyes. "What is the point of all this?" he asked.
"When I went away that day, what I did not tell you was that..."
Virat looked at her patiently.
"What I did not tell you was that..." she stammered.
"What Simmy?"
"What I did not tell you was that I was two months pregnant." she whispered.
Virat looked at her, like the ground under his feet was taken away.
"I had no intentions of keeping the baby." She looked at him. His face was pale. All life from it had vanished. He froze.
"I made an appointment to get an abortion."
"I cannot listen to this." he rose up pushing the table away. He was out of breath, pacing, angry - wild infuriating anger raged through his veins. He wanted to physically hurt her.
"I could not do it." she continued. "I could not go ahead with it. I walked out midway, during the procedure."
"What are you telling me?" his voice was caustic but at the same time pleading not to tell him anything that he will regret hearing.
"I had the baby. I carried the baby inside me for nine months. I was becoming fond of it. The doctors told me that it was a boy."
Virat's face looked like it was run down by a train. She could not look at it.
"Me and Samir were together at that point." she added.
"Are you telling me, that I have a son, Simmy?" his voice choked.
"When I was having the baby, I had a few complications, they had to do a Cesarean. It was a complicated surgery and they told me that there was a slim chance of saving the baby because I was bleeding internally. I was knocked out on drugs. When I woke up, Samir told me that the baby did not make it. I was heart-broken."
"I was never sure of having the baby, Virat. I knew how you felt about kids. So, I did not want to involve you, unless I was sure of having the baby. I was going to tell you if everything went well."
Virat looked out of the window. He could not speak a word. His chest was heavier than he could carry and he was being submerged by the weight of the news he was just receiving.
"When I went to the restaurant today, I ran into Samir's aunt. She was close with Samir. She was with me when all this happened. She told me that Samir gave him away."
"Gave him away?" Virat turned around, his face twisting in horror.
"Gave him away because he thought I might leave him for the baby. That I might come back to you."
"You just came to know of this today?"
"Yes. She said she did not want to carry this secret to her grave."
"Where is he?"
"Who?"
"Who?" he walks to her. "You ask me who? " he leans in front on her chair. "YOU ASK ME WHO?" he shouts at her face.
Her face dripping in tears and her voice shaking like a spring, she hung her head low. "She told me that he gave her to this couple in Atlanta.They were looking to adopt a baby." she told him in a low voice.
"Did you get the address?" he asked. Facts were important than emotions at this point.
"She does not have it with her." Simmy shook her head.
Virat walked out of the room. But before he did, he asked. "This aunt of his, she is in that resort from where I picked you up?"
"Yes."
"Come with me." he said. He grabbed the car keys and walked out of the house.
~
Edited by bluebolt - 9 years ago
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