Anita was back at the institute the next day.
Subah drove to Noida again, after finishing a couple of meetings with prospective donors for the women who had recently registered with Help Forever.
The sight of Anita, as she was brought into the room where Subah waited, disturbed her. Anita’s face was back and blue. There were no tears in her eyes, neither of pain nor of sorrow. She was broken, perhaps to a point where her body had turned to stone, unaffected by any emotion.
‘So, didn’t I—’
Anita raised her eyes, and Subah stopped. There was nothing she could do. Perhaps there was nothing that had to be done. Except get up and hug her. And that is exactly what she did.
‘I’m not good enough for him,’ Anita whispered against her shoulder.
‘What? She pushed Anita back, holding her shoulders firmly so she didn’t fall, and shook her. ‘What did you just say? You’re not good enough? You? Wrong. He is not good enough for you.’
‘Madam, he loves someone else. Someone who is lucky, someone he cares about.’
‘Then why did he coax you back? Why did he appear at your doorstep, pleading, saying he was sorry?’
Haltingly, Anita told Subah the story of how, last evening, when she had arrived at her old home, where her husband had said he now lived alone, he’d started again with the alcohol, saying it was time to celebrate. After a couple of hours, he had turned into the devil once again and raped her, even as she was wondering if it was really his way of loving. And then, when it was over, he had rolled off, walked to the bathroom and returned with a stick. He said he wanted to punish her because even though he was now in love with someone else, his body still craved Anita.
‘He is insane. We have to file a police report. He raped you.’
‘No, madam. This was my fault. I promise I will never return to him, or anyone else, ever again.’
The way she said it, for a moment, Subah felt like she was listening to herself talk and that this was her own story. Subah’s image of herself merged with that of the woman in front of her.
Could Subah trust a man again? Never. She’d seen proof over and over again of the things men said, did and meant.
YOU ARE READING
The Last Love Letter
RomanceAkash is devastated when his wife Nisha dies of cancer, leaving him all alone to raise their fouryear- old daughter, Sara. He finds it impossible to deal with the void in his life, and coping with the demands of being a single parent makes the situa...
