"Honey,
God has been very kind to us," she said while resting her head over his
shoulder.
He smiled,
combed her hair with his fingers and kissed her forehead.
She felt
truly blessed, closed her eyes and thanked God for bestowing Satyam, her
boyfriend, in her life.
Then she
turned her face towards him, looked very lovingly into his eyes and smiled to
whisper, "God is going to gift us something very precious very soon, and
this is high time for us to transform from three into one."
"Oh,
thanks for the great news and many-many returns of the day," Satyam wished
her, his eyes tinged with hidden naughtiness.
Her name was
Sati.
Mesmerized
by his jovial wish, she, firstly, gave a gentle fistful at his chest and soon
they both started to laugh out loud in unison. He pulled her into his arms and
patted her back.
She felt
that how fortunate she was to have such a caring man in her life and got completely reassured.
"Sati,
how many months?" Satyam asked her flashing a lively smile towards her.
"Last
month I missed my periods, thought it normal. But when I missed this month too,
I turned suspicious and got my urine tested," she said while unlocking her
purse, "The report is confirmed," and handed the lab report to him.
"Dear,
we don't have much time now," apprehensive, she looked at him.
"Sure,
let's ask our parents to move further and finalize the date of our
marriage," he said nodding his head in agreement.
And within a
month their ring ceremony was held with full fun and fare.
She was on
cloud nine.
*****
Within a few
days she got a call from him asking her to come to Chhattarpur temple.
It was an
evening quite cold. Spine chilling. He received him right at the bus stop. As
it was illuminated dimly, when other passengers moved from there, he took her
in his embrace and planted a peck on her cheek. His love and the warmth of his
cozy hug made her feel heavenly solace and she felt truly blessed.
They both
started to move towards the temple. Midway she asked, "Why did you call me
here?"
"There's
a big problem cropped up just now. Only the God can bail us out," he said
entering the temple holding her hand.
And after
they together worshipped sincerely before Lord Shiva, Satyam turned towards her
and started, "Sati, we are going to marry next month. Normal gestation
period is nine months. That way if we calculate we'll be having a baby just
after six months of our marriage."
The preface
was enough for her to fathom his motto for visiting a temple, he never did,
with her.
"Satyam,
I love you to the core of my soul so to my baby. Time is irrelevant."
"Yeah,
time is irrelevant. But we live in a ruthless society and I don't want a tag of
illegitimate child for our baby," he tried to convince her.
"I damn
care for this society," she replied with firmness.
"Honey,
my parents have come to know, you see, I cannot hide such a fact related to us
from them for long...And they've become very much disturbed," he pleaded
before her, expressing his helplessness.
She became
standstill, her body froze. An eerie Silence prevailed between them.
Seeing her
keeping mum, he started again, "Your name is Sati, the epitome of
sacrifice. I expect the same from you what she did for her husband. This is the
time to prove the real meaning of your name," and he lifted her face by
her chin, looked deep inside her eyes.
The
intensity of his gaze moved something inside her and she mumbled, "I can
do anything for you, my love! But your parents, not very happy already with
this marriage, may force you..." and before she could complete, he said,
"My name is Satyam and I assure you that I will prove its meaning."
"Do you
assure me that you won't ditch me?" she asked demanding a promise from
him.
"People
who love by heart don't ask for promises, only trust prevails between
them," he replied quite philosophically and turned serious showing that he
was not happy with her doubting his integrity.
Seeing him
in that comportment, she moved towards him and kept her head over his chest.
And next
very day she underwent MTP (medical termination of pregnancy).
*****
Two days
later...
She was
recuperating in her bed at home. Her attention got diverted by the sound of a
ping in her phone. It was a WhatsApp message from Satyam.
"Sorry,
parents are not ready to accept a girl who got pregnant before marriage, god
only knows by whom. You're free to search elsewhere. Take care. Bye!"
All hell
broke over her head and she felt the earth slipping from beneath her feet. Her
eyes got shut and when she opened them, she felt the whole world upside down
revolving.
She gathered
herself with all her might she had and gave a call to him. There was no answer
but the prerecorded one—the person you're trying to contact is out of the
coverage area. Frantically, she dialed him a few more times to get the
autoreply - the phone you're trying to contact is switched off.
Her phone
slipped out of her weakened grip, fell on the floor and shattered.
So got her
life!
She
understood the ambiguity of his replies and got how smartly he had become
successful in befooling her, first by the ring ceremony and later by
blackmailing her emotionally against the backdrop of - Love!
Rajeev Pundir
13/04/2017
