YOU ARE MY THEME FOR A DREAM (Part 2)

CHAPTER-5

Shalu was & always had been of the opinion that for a successful marriage one requires falling in love many times with the same person. What great thing is there for two human souls, then to feel that they are joined for life——— to strengthen each other in all labour, to rest on each other in all sorrows, to minister to each other in silence. She had always felt that , because according to her thoughts she had found the right person as she always had to be with him.
One fine morning, she walked upto the balcony to take in the fresh morning air of November. It was around six in the morning & the time by which she was usually awake. Must drowned everything in it & made her surroundings look cold & dreary, almost lifeless. Everyday she woke up to the hope that something miraculous would happen & she would finally learn to accept the place as her new home, but it didn't. The whole building stood looking as formidable & grim as ever.
The sound of tyres screeching made her jolt & she looked down to see the watchman at the gate racing inside to open the gates.
She gazed at the red car , waiting for it's owner to emerge, so imagine her surprise when the first person to come out of the car was wearing high heels, & then emerged Ashok after her, handing over the car keys to the watchman asking him to park the vehicle.
"What? Had he been out all night?" Whereas she had thought that he must have gone to the gym. Her heart stopped at the thought of it. The other person who had come out had brown hair & she wore clothes that even anyone would shy away from.
Ashok walked over to her, wrapping his arms around her waist & kissing her neck. There was a slight clumsiness in his walk, a tell tale sign of him being drunk. Shalu gulped, as the two continued to have an intense make-out session in the foyer. Teary eyed , she waited for the pain to come, but it didn't. Shalu felt nothing. She thought, he could do whatever he wanted, she didn't care. Shalu tore her eyes from the two & headed to the bathroom to take a shower.
                                 Two hours later, as she was randomly changing the channels on the TV , she heard the sound of something shattering from outside. She thought the maid wouldn't come before nine. The sounds continued to come, loud sounds of things being thrown on the ground, of objects being violently broken & that's when she realised that it was enough. With a determined look on her face , she left the safety of her room, only to find the living room in complete & utter apocalyptic condition. Everything had been turned inside out & everything which could potentially be destroyed had been reduced to pieces. Lamps were broken, vases shattered, paintings strewn across the floor & cushions ripped open. In the middle of it all  stood Ashok, looking absolutely murderous & when his eyes found Shalu, his rage if it was possible increased tenfold.
Shalu was terrified. He looked so angry, so furious that it automatically sent a chill down her spine. She began to walk away from him, retreating carefully so as to not attract attention, but she was not careful enough. Ashok caught up to her before she could make it back to her room, grabbing her arm & pushing her against the wall. Shalu felt sickened as she smelled the alcohol in his breath, his dark black eyes boring into her. Shalu covered against his touch , his grip on her arm never loosing it's firmness.
" Ashok", Shalu whispered, hoping he would catch the pleading in his voice.
" Shut up! Shut the hell up," he all but yelled at her & Shalu instinctively closed her eyes, horrified of what was going to come now. " Would he hit me?" She thought with fear in her heart.
" You bloody hell ruined everything " Ashok growled, running his free hand through his hair.
Shalu looked at him questioningly, tears stinging her eyes as she fought to hold it all together. She had been dreading this moment, waiting for him to break & blame her for ruining his life. She wanted to tell him that this was as hard for her as it was for him, but she doubts, he cared. The alcohol in his system had taken away rationality & there was nothing she could do to make him see sense.
" I couldn't be with that girl I brought home. I couldn't touch her without the guilt eating at me. Yo did this to me" Ashok spat & Shalu was left speechless.
He pushed himself off of her & struggled to walk straight; he was about to fall when Shalu quickly ran & caught him, his weight crushing her.
He muttered a few more incoherent things, things Shalu knew were directed to hurt her. But she tried her best to support his weight & struggled greatly to get him to the bedroom, which was closest to where they were. She managed to get him on the bed, laying him down more roughly than she intended. She took off his shoes & placed a blanket on him.
Shalu stared at the sleeping form of her husband & hard as she tried she couldn't find it in herself to be angry at him. He wasn't at fault, what he had been subjected to was not what he earned.
He hated her & Shalu knew that & she herself was far from loving him, but there was something she needed to do, something which would heal his broken heart.
Shalu went to the other room to look for the girl, Ashok had brought home, but she had already left when the commotion started between the two.
She called up Ashok's friend with whom he shared his secrets & came to know that a couple of days back Ashok had come to know about her past life as a murder convict, & that she had  gruesomely murdered one guy named Rahul, by forcefully putting a bottle of acid in his mouth choking him to death.
Till the other day, when Ashok had met her for the first time at Raj's house with whom she had been engaged & getting married & while Nina, Raj's mother had started accusing her for being a jailbird. Ashok had never taken her words seriously, as he knew Nina's habit of exaggerating the things sky high. Had Ashok trusted Nina, he would have never married her.
Ashok's friend also told Shalu that Ashok had been high on drugs & alcohol from the last morning & had also called for a call girl to teach Shalu a lesson.
Shalu conversed with him for nearly half an hour & then burst out into tears. The words of Neetu, her closest & best friend started ringing into her ears when she had clearly said that ' once you go to jail, the stamp of a convict will be permanently embossed on her forehead.'   And Shalu had been convicted for murder which was the biggest crime in the history of crimes.
The maid had come & left after finishing her chores.
Shalu got up from the chair in the other room, which she had been occupying from the last five hours, went to the bedroom & saw Ashok still fast asleep, snoring loudly. She didn't try to wake him up from the deep sleep he was in.
Next day morning at 7 , Ashok woke up & walked into the room where Shalu had slept, like nothing had happened.
" Has he forgotten how he had ambushed me & how frightened I had been " Shalu thought to herself.
" I guess, he has, since he has made no attempt to apologise " Shalu's thoughts wandered. She left him alone not wanting any confrontation like before.
                            She rarely left the house & staying inside was so much missing with her line of thoughts. Everything seemed muddled & confusing & Shalu began to worry about her own sanity. Tears had already welled up in her eyes & she started crying silently.
Her father too had made no attempt to contact her——- maybe due to his health.
A ring of the phone drew her away. She took her phone from the bedside & wiped away her tears. Without seeing who it was, she picked it up & answered it. " Hello?" she tried to hide any evidence in her voice that she was crying.
" Shalu?" Sweetheart?" the voice of her best friend Neetu spoke up. " Are you okay? You sound like you were crying?"
Dhalu felt herself tearing up again as she heard the words. Never in her life had she hated the phrase " are you okay " more than she did then.
" Neetu," her voice cracked and she clutched the phone tightly. Her eyes closed & tears continued to fall down. They were endless & relentless. No matter how much, Shalu, willed them to stop, they wouldn't.
" Shalu, what happened?" called out Neetu getting anxious, but Shalu never uttered a single word & switched off the phone.
                                    After a few minutes when she cooled down a bit, she went toward Ashok & took his hand into hers. He gave her a cold look & roughly took his hand away.
Ashok glared at her & took off his tie which he had worn to go to the office.
" As for the money, you don't have to worry. I'll sign away your rights. I don't even know if they are truly yours or not" he said before walking away from her.
" Ashok wait, I don't even know what's going on!! What brought this upon you?" Shalu shouted after him in a frustrated tone with her tears falling down excessively.
He paused for a second in his step. " I think you know exactly what I mean" he said coldly again but there was no mistaking the crack that was in his voice. " I don't love you anymore. You are nothing to me & I am divorcing you" he said softly while his cold & piercing black eyes stared deep into hers. He left the home, slamming the door loudly behind him.
                             Shalu's knees buckled down from beneath her & she fell down. Loud sobs escaped from her mouth, as her tears fell down one after the other. She buried her head into her hands & screamed loudly. She felt nothing but pain in her heart as it broke into tiny shards.
And then she thought of calling up her friend Neetu as she was feeling all broken. As soon as Neetu picked up the call, Shalu started crying again.
"But what? What happened?" Neetu pressed.
Shalu wiped away her tears & took a n a deep breath.
" Neetu, he wants a divorce.'
There was a long pause at the other end. It was silence for about five minutes, before Neetu spoke up again " What are you going to do sweetheart?"
Shalu stared at the wedding picture decorating the side table of the bed. She clutched the bed sheets tightly as she knew what she said next would impact her future for the rest of her life. " What is there to do Neetu? I'm going to give it to him"