The Man She Loved

In Pain

A little while later I felt his small hand pulling my hair and I look down only to find him looking up at me with his big beautiful black eyes "Arjun" I don't know why they have given this name to my nephew, everytime I call my nephew my mind takes me back to my Arjun, I felt like as if my sister and brother in law is punishing me in some way by letting me call someone Arjun over and over when my Arjun isn't here with me but again no bad feelings for my nephew, he is the most cutest and best baby I have ever seen.

"You are bored" I asked looking down at him and he pulled his lower lips inside his mouth and looked on verge of crying so I got back on my feet and started to walk in garden, I passed and stopped at every flower and recited their name to my little Arjun who was simply laying his head on my shoulder and making his cutee gaaagaga noise.

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An hour and half later I returned back into living hall and look around for my sister but she was no where to be seen "Prachi Di, Arjun is hungry" I rocked the baby up and down in my arms so that it doesn't cry.

"Pranitha give him to Agastya for some time, once I will done with frying the fryums I will take him from him" I felt my anger sparking, why the hell she is hell bent on making me talk to her husband when I don't even want to look at his way, I could feel a pair of eyes on me but decided to not even spare a glance towards his direction "Aashi" I called and the girl was quick on her feet and by my side.

"Pranitha dii" she said back raising her brows with a big smile on her lips.

"Give Arjun to his papa, My feets are dirty and I don't want the rug to be dirty as well" I gave the excuse passing my nephew to Aashi and head straight up to Arjun's room, I changed myself into a plain white kurta and baby pink leggings, left my hair open and made my way back to living room with my laptop and car keys.

"Aunty" I looked for Shraddha Aunty in kitchen who stopped her work and look at me in disapproval, I knew I am going to get lecture about how it's not good to act differently with my family and how it's rude that everytime they come I leave making one excuse or another.

"I swear, It's so urgent, and It will only take two hours, I will be back from office in three hours only" I gave her my best fake smile and she shook her head before pointing towards my Mother who was looking at me with tears in her eyes, It's been years since my relationship with my family has been nothing but a mess, I have stopped talking with my Mother after how she has betrayed me, I have only started back because of Arjun but now... But I can't refuse Aunty as well as she is unaware about most of my life story so I turned towards my mother and sister, passed a big fake smile at them and announced "I am leaving".

"Bye Aashi, Bye Karan" Aashi placed a kiss on my cheek and Karan simply smiled waving at me, I look around and found Arjun laying inside his crib so I made my way towards the little baby "Byee love" I said softly before leaning down and placing a kiss on his forehead, I pulled back my head abruptly and it collided with the rod in crib but it didn't hurt and the reason was his hard hand in between the rod and my head, without looking at the man I head straight out of house not before yelling a bye to Uncle Ajinkya.

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Four Hour Forty minutes and Forty second later I once again found myself sitting in the same cafe at the same seat where I and Arjun used to come, The owner smiled sadly at me and the waiter placed a cheese cake on my table and went to bring my coffee, I had three missed calls from Aunty and some from my sisters, I know they are calling me back to join them for lunch but I don't want to do I decided to ignore everyone and ended up sending a text to Shraddha Aunty about how I am stuck in traffic and how late I will be on my way back.

"Pranitha" I recognised the voice and stood up to greet the man I had to meet today, I didn't lie when I said I am going for an important meeting I only lied about the time and left early because I didn't want to be there

"Mr Pandey" I forwarded my hand for a hand shake and he took with a professional smile, we sat down and has later discussed the things.

"I want the application to be migrated into Spring boot and microservices and deployed on AWS" He stated his needs and I took the note before looking back up at him and smiling professionally.

"Sure Mr Pandey, How many resource do you need for it and with how many years of experience?" I asked politely and he kept on describing how many experienced resource, how many middle level resource and how many fresher he does need for this particular project, we later discussed the cost and all and finally settled with one, the meeting went as successful as I have imagined and with a happy smile I picked up my bag paid our bill, shook our hand and left for Home.

When I reached home It was greeted with Arjun's parents and My parents, Aashi and Karan was playing with my little nephew, I look around but my Sister and her husband wasn't there not like I am complaining but they have left their child here and left and it's quite strange.

Meanwhile in car

"Agastya, I can see you are behaving differently with me, I am not blind to not see how you are jumping for her rescue at every chance and how you keep looking at her" Prachi shouted looking at her husband who said back nothing and turned his face away from his wife.

"Agastya I am talking to you" She screamed like a mad woman and punched the steering wheel in anger.

"Prachi, for the fuck sake You are driving, we can do this later, and I am same as I was, What is it which I am doing different for god sake, She is going through allot and I am maintaining all the distance I need to, I cannot see her hurting or killing herself" He shouted when the vehicle lost it's balance but soon Prachi has regained the control over it.

"From the day I have told you the truth, You are, you aren't in the same way as you used to be when we dated, I thought that starting our relationship with honesty will make us grow close but ..." tears streamed down from her eyes and she blinked them to get rid of the traitor tear.

"How do you expect me to react Prachi, How do you expect me to react after telling me that the girl I was in love with wasn't you, the girl who has been in love with me, with whom I was exchanging the letters,the gifts and the pictures wasn't you but your sister, against whom you have filled my ears, How do you expect me to react after knowing how you have manipulated me and made me think that it's you I loved and it's your sister who was trying to trap me, How do you expect me to react after knowing you have taken advantage of my memory loss" He shouted loosing his cool and punching the air bag harshly "I am trying, I am trying but I cannot be same especially when you find one excuse or another to drag me back into her presence, I was happy for her when she has the man she loved by her side, I am not trying to get close to her, I am just trying to look for her nothing more".

"You are still affected, How could you be? You have loved her but after your accident you loved me, We have dated for a year and is married for four years, we have a child together" She fastened the speed and yelled angrily like a mad woman and to say Agastya was scared but also God damn angry.

"I have been in love with her for fifteen years for fuck sake, and If it wouldn't have been you telling me all this I wouldn't have regained my memory back, First you yourself have spilled the milk and now you yourself is crying over the spilled milk" He shouted and with a sharp turn the car collided against a truck, a beep echoed in their ear, Prachi's head collided against the steering wheel and Agastya knees bored the impact before both lost their consciousness

__________To be Continued