[Annika - A, Shivaay - S]
Annika and Shivaay didn't get a chance to talk at breakfast and Annika was anyway too pissed at him to talk. Both of them left for their work.
Around noon, Shivaay called Annika after texting her that he needs to speak to her, it was something urgent.
S: There's a dinner at the minister's house today and he has invited us. Please be there at 7 pm, it's very important. He insisted that he wanted to meet my wife.
A: Okay
****
Shivaay reached the minister's residence and they exchanged pleasantries.
Minister's wife: So Shivaay, where's your wife?
S: she's on her way, must be stuck in traffic
Minister: yeah, traffic is brutal at this time
They talked while having drinks. Shivaay texted her "where are you? It's 7:30 now"
She didn't respond. He texted her again a few minutes later "Are you coming or not?".
When everyone was called for dinner, Shivaay excused himself and called Annika but her phone was off. Shivaay's fuse was out now. It was almost 8 pm, minister and his wife had asked repeatedly about her and she was god knows where. Shivaay was embarrassed.
They sat down for dinner. It was a three-course meal and by 8:30 they were done with it when finally Annika came
A: Hello sir, hello ma'am. I'm extremely sorry for being late. I got stuck on the flyover
Minister's wife: well you missed out on the dinner sweetheart
A: serves me right (she laughed a little to smoothen things up with the minister's wife). You have a lovely house by the way
Minister: thank you, all credit goes to the missus. She loves to decorate
They made small talk while having dinner. Shivaay spoke pleasantly with the other guests and the minister but he didn't even look at Annika. She could feel his hostility and waves of disapproval rolling off of him.
After having dessert, Shivaay shook hands with the minister and some other guests and bid them adieu and Annika followed suit.
Outside the minister's house, Shivaay sat in his car and Annika sat in the car she came in. The two cars drove home one after the other and the two of them stormed off to their room.
Shivaay closed the door after she entered and turned towards her. He was furious
S: One thing, I asked you for one thing Annika, to be on time for this dinner and you came in 90 minutes late! (he lashed out at her) You did not reply to my texts! You did not call to inform me. Do you have any idea how humiliating it was for me? Everyone asked me repeatedly how much longer my WIFE was gonna take and I had to make excuses there like a goddamn fool because I had no idea, zero clue regarding your whereabouts.
A: I got late because of the traffic on the flyover Shivaay
S: What traffic Annika? Everyone arrived on time. How is it that the moment you left, every car in the city lined up on that same flyover, huh? Mr. Kumar and his wife, they live 3 km away from us, they had to take the same route and they were there on time. Then how is it that you got so late? And okay even if there was traffic, couldn't you inform me? Where is your phone?
A: I was busy all day, I didn't get time to charge it. The battery died so it turned off
S: wow, great. You've got all excuses ready
A: I am not lying Shivaay
Annika had put aside her own anger because she knew Shivaay got into a bad situation because of her. But his accusing her like this of making excuses when she was telling the truth, finished her patience.
It was turning into a screaming match now
S: I got it now, you wanted to take revenge. Yes, you wanted to take revenge because I came home late last night. Tum badla lena chahti thi Sahil wali baat ka and isse better chance to koi ho hi na sakta tha {{You wanted to take revenge for Sahil and you couldn't have gotten a better chance than this.}}
A: Enough! (she shouted, frustrated) Revenge? That's the kind of person you think I am? You think I'm so petty and shallow that I'll come late on purpose to humiliate you. You're blaming me left and right when you've been humiliating me all this time behind my back. You have been meeting up with Tia
S: what has Tia got to do anything with this?
Annika had tears in her eyes now
A: Why didn't you tell me she was your ex-fiance? Why have you been lying to me that you're in a meeting when you've been going out with her? I saw you both with my own eyes. Have you not been speaking to her on calls late at night?
She took a breath trying to calm herself but it didn't help
A: Shivaay (her voice soft now), I told you before we married, I asked you to promise me that if you ever find someone or you fall in love, you have to tell me so I could leave with dignity. But aapne to us layak bhi nahi samjha mujhe.
Shivaay couldn't believe what Annika just accused him of. Cheating!
His phone, which was on silent mode, started ringing, but he didn't pay attention.
S: so you think I'm cheating? You have been spying on me. Mai kahan jaata hu, kisse baat karta hu, tum sab check karti ho {{Where I go, who I talk to, you check everything}}
He exhaled with disbelief
S: You are so used to being in control that when someone does something without your permission, you have a problem
His phone vibrated again, another call
A: baat ko ghumaiye mat Shivaay {{don't twist the situation around Shivaay}}
S: you know what, Yes, Yes I did find someone, but I never thought this is what I would be subjected to.
His phone began ringing again and both of them looked at it on the table. Caller - Tia. Tia had been calling Shivaay nonstop.
And this angered Annika even more
A: I made a huge mistake by agreeing to marry you
S: I couldn't agree more, I'm glad we're on the same page
Their eyes were screaming at each other in pain. Their words and their expressions did not match. Neither one wanted this to happen
Tia called Shivaay again, both of them look down and saw her name again on his phone screen
A: This is your room, you don't have to walk out to attend the call.
And saying that she walked out of the room.
Shivaay picked up his phone and smashed it angrily and finally, he thumped down on the floor
Annika went upstairs to the terrace and her knees gave out, she fell on the floor and cried her heart out.
A(in her mind): this man, my husband first accused me of being petty then of spying on him, and finally when he admits that he likes someone, he tries to play the victim? How could you Shivaay? How could you think so low of me? Did all these months mean nothing? Did our friendship mean nothing to you? You don't have any feelings for me, okay, that I can understand but you hid so much from me, did you never trust me? I don't understand what hurts me more, you not trusting me or you not having any feelings for me. I never should have expected anything. When has life ever let me live happily? For the first time ever, I fell in love with a guy and I thought it would work out, I thought maybe I can be happy too. I thought we would live together like a normal couple, have a future together, and have kids one day. But how could I forget, I'm cursed to be unhappy. My marriage failed, my first love failed, and even my friendship failed. I'm a failure. I'm a failure
She wept and sobbed, her heart breaking into pieces and each broken piece demanded to be felt. After a couple of hours, she fell asleep there on the terrace floor due to exhaustion.
Meanwhile in their room
S(in his mind): How could you say this Annika? How could you think that I cheated on you? Do you not see how much I care for you? Do you not see how I look at you like a lost cause? You humiliated me over such a small issue, did you even talk to Sahil? Do you think I don't care for him? Do you have no faith in me? Does our friendship mean nothing to you? You saw me with Tia and just assumed something is going on. Why didn't you ask me instead of accusing me? I would have told you why I have been meeting her. When have I ever lied to you? You think marrying me was a mistake right? Fine then, go. I won't stop you. At least one of us will be happy
Shivaay too fell asleep due to mental exhaustion after some time.
The next morning, Annika came to the room at 5:30 and saw Shivaay sleeping. She saw pieces of his broken phone lying on the floor. Taking her clothes from the cupboard, she went to the washroom and took a nice long shower. After dressing up, she went downstairs.
This new morning was the beginning of a new phase in their life, a painful phase.
Shivaay woke up and saw the other half of the bed empty, in fact, it looked like it hadn't been slept on at all. The room was as it was last night, except for one change. The broken pieces of his phone were now in the dustbin and there was a new phone placed on his bedside table.
Due to Shivaay's old habit of taking his anger out on his phone, Khanna always kept spares. But over the last few months, basically, after getting married, Shivaay hadn't broken many phones so when early this morning Annika asked him for a new phone, he was surprised. He loaded all the backup information in the new phone and gave it to Annika, who then placed it on the bedside table before he woke up.
They sat side by side at the dining table but never looked at each other. Something inside them had broken, something between them had broken
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