She stood at the edge of the cliff;
the strong winds sweeping her long tresses wildly, the big drops of rain pricking her soft fair sculpted face. Whether she was tired because of the tedious climb up the top of the cliff or her state of mind, was something could no one could know.
Tears, as big as the raindrops, streamed down her pretty face. Her beautiful brown doe shaped eyes had no emotion in them. These were the same that scores of people had described to be as most expressive eyes that could speak words that her lips wouldn’t.
She looked at the horizon. The setting sun sprayed a spectrum of colors across the clear blue sky. The sea below was calm, its soft waves gently rocking against the sturdy rocks. On any other evening, this would have been an ideal romantic setting.
But this was not any other ordinary day. Her past flashed before her eyes. She was a success, or so people said. Over the years, she had seen enough of life, enough to last a lifetime. There were several books written on her life- all of them inspirational to everyone who read them. She was the ideal woman, the one you could only dream of – pretty, intelligent, kind.
Today was the day when things would change- for herself and for the world.
She thought of the day, which she could remember as the beginning of her life. She was 17. Her father entered through the front door all drenched in the lashing rain. Her mother had gone to him with a towel and he had just collapsed in her arms- his first major heart attack. That was a moment that made her grow up beyond her age, she realized while reliving her past. Her father was forced to rest and his job as a carpenter was now out of the question. Her mother had taken up the responsibility of making ends meet. She was to finish her 12th class. It wasn’t difficult for her since she was always a brilliant student, always eager to learn. Her mother had to endure only for a year, she thought, for she would make sure that her parents and her younger sister (just a couple of years younger) had an amazing life. Yes, she would make sure of that. She had taken up a job at a call centre, the job that was probably the most lucrative and easiest for her to get. Within the end of her first year, she had been promoted to be the team leader and in the next two years, she was the manager earning enough to support her family’s needs and her sister’s education. She had taken up online graduation, went on to specialize in financial management and excelled in her education too.
She swiftly moved industries and it seemed as if she had the Midas’ touch. Everything she ventured into, was a success. She quickly moved up the ladder of a huge organization to settle into a vice-president’s position, leading the market analysis segment. Not only had she bought a beautiful home in the heart of the city but also repaid every rupee of her home and car loans. Her parents could never be more proud of her.
They were worried about only one thing – her "settling down". Her getting married; she was already 29, too late for any Indian girl. But she always politely evaded the topic. She couldn’t get herself to tell them. She had been in love.
But he had never said so, himself. He was the manager of the marketing team- charming, dynamic, intelligent, little arrogant for her tastes (considering she was the soft hearted one, yet tough, mind you!) and quite flirtatious (as people spoke). They had known each other for 3 years now. Technically, she would not be his boss but their departments demanded that they interact often and that they would end up working on projects- planning, implementing and spending long hours at work. Some of these so called crucial projects made them travel together, even abroad, where they would spend their personal time together. She had visited his family, who lived in a small town and they had liked her too. They knew enough about each other over the 3 years of working together but the relationship had no name- cordial, even friendly, yet professional enough to maintain an awkward distance between them.
Then came the “destined” trip to Paris- a very crucial project that required that they stay in the beautiful city for a month. As a week passed, they caught on to the mood of the city- romance! The city was blatantly loud, people being as they would want to be, loud voices, loud colors, loud expressions of love. They couldn’t escape the frenzy. One pleasant evening, as they finished dinner and walked of the authentic restaurant, he slipped his hand around her slender waist. She shuddered and stared with shock. He smiled at her and that was it. Never before had she felt the feeling of being a butterfly, free, ecstatic, HAPPY…!!!
The rest of the trip was like a fairy tale. Once they were back home, things seemed different, her waiting each minute for his phone call, wanting to see his face the moment she entered office, blushing unconsciously at the sound of his voice even at business meetings, for the times he would hold her. She felt as if he had mesmerized her. Months passed blissfully in love and he suggested once that they go over to his friend’s farmhouse in a beautiful, quiet place and spend a week there and unwind. Obviously, she was thrilled with the idea. She packed that weekend and told her parents that she was away for a week for work.
They arrived at the farmhouse, which evidently was almost what you could call paradise, if you could imagine one. A wooden house with white walls and a traditional roof thatched with brown tiles, small windows, and a porch with a swing and a reclining chair. Thick dense trees shielded the house and one could see two small roads leading away from the house. One which brought them in her car to this place and the other, quite a narrow path that one could only walk on. This path led one to a small waterfall that fell softly into a green yet clear pond. Surrounded by trees, one could not help but fall in love with the beauty of this place. And you could imagine how a person who was already ruled over by love would feel.
She got out of the car and stood in awe staring at the wonderful place. He came to her and kissed her on the cheek. “Shall we?” he asked, nodding towards the door of the house. She smiled and nodded back. Suddenly, he swept her off her feet, effortlessly and carried her into the house. She clung to him, enjoying every second of his touch, also fearing that he shouldn’t drop her.
He put her gently on the couch, made an agonizing face and said, “My!! Aren’t you heavy? You must lose weight!!”
“Shut up!! She replied in a shrill. I didn’t ask you to pull that stunt off!!”
“Sweetie, you really needed this break. You take things so seriously.” He bent and kissed her forehead.
Just then, she heard voices. She looked at him quizzically.
“I thought we were going to be alone”, she said coldly.
“That’s just some of my college friends. We thought it would be nice to have some reunion time too.”
“You should have told me earlier. I wouldn’t have taken the trouble. You could have had your reunion party” her voice now edging towards annoyance.
This was probably the biggest problem (the only one according to her) she found in him. He never told her the complete truth, the entire story, the complete picture. There were some instances, when this habit of his was pleasant and romantic, with sweet surprises making her day. But events like today irritated her to no end. Nevertheless, she had always given him the benefit of doubt and didn’t want to think that he lied to her.
The gang of friends paraded down the stairs from the floor above, she could estimate at least 8 of them. He should have told her. God! This was so awkward. Their loud chattering stopped as soon as they saw her.
“My my…What do we have here? You never told us you were bringing us a visitor.” One of the taller guys, Ravi, asked him with an ugly sneer on his face.
“Well guys…I wanted it to be a surprise. This is my girlfriend.”
His reply caused a weird laughter among his friends.
“The latest one you mean?” another, Raj, asked. This created more laughter in the group.
“Shut up yaar!! Don’t talk nonsense!!” he barked at them and looked apologetically at her. The gang dispersed as quickly as it had gathered.
Putting his around her he whispered, “Sweetie, I’m so sorry. They can be fools sometimes. You’ll really like them once you get to know them.”
“Yeah, they are really nice. It just shows. Maybe I’m in the wrong place.” She said with a stare so cold that it could have burnt him.
“Baby, please don’t say that. I’m really sorry. We can leave right away if you want. We’ll do whatever you want. Please honey, whatever you say. Tell me, do you want to leave? Please don’t get angry, please!”
His pleading childlike voice melted her heart. She smiled, in spite of herself.
“This place is really nice. Maybe we can look around and then leave by tomorrow evening.”
“Anything you say sweetie. Anything you say. Why don’t you freshen up and I’ll get you something to eat.”
“Hmmm…That sounds nice. I’ll just take a shower and yeah I could eat something…anything…” she giggled unnecessarily to lighten the mood.
She trudged towards their room and headed to take an elaborate shower, something that she loved to do, with her mobile phone playing her favorite loud music, quite in contrast to her soft personality.
When she emerged, she felt so light and free. She could hear his voice from somewhere inside the house, his tone as if reprimanding a negligent employee. She sat in front of the dressing table and began to dry her long hair. More noises; heated arguments; silence. He entered the room with a tray full of food and two mugs of steaming coffee. He placed the tray on a table. He placed his chin on her head, hugging her and smiled at her through the mirror. She smiled back. Just a perfect Kodak moment, I’ll frame this picture for our wedding, she thought.
There was still time for the dark to set in. They decided to take a walk around the place. It was just beautiful, her perfect life. His arms around her, they sat in silence on the edge of the pond with their legs in the water.
“Listen!! “she whispered, not wanting to disturb the tranquility of the scene.
“What is it sweetie?”
“Marry me?”
He looked at her, smiled, kissed her forehead and hugged her tightly. She leaned her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. Half an hour later, night crept in slowly. They walked back to the house. It was well lit. Loud sounds of high pitched voices and laughter began to irritate her, spoiling her inner peace. The gang sat around the huge dining table with mugs of beer in front of each of them. Impulsively, she frowned. Their voices lowered as they walked in. They all smiled at her and Ravi said, “Hi…sorry about what happened earlier. Why don’t you guys join us? Let’s get to know each other.”
“No actually we have decided that we….” He started.
“Why not?” she said with a cordial smile not wanting to be a spoilsport, for his sake.
“But I’m sorry I don’t drink.”
“That’s alright. We have soft drinks too. What would you prefer – Sprite or Pepsi? Do you mind if we smoke?”
“Pepsi…and I don’t mind you smoking”.
Ravi fetched her one tall glass with soft drink filled to the brim. “No space to put in ice” the tall one grinned sheepishly.
Dinner was served early. She didn’t have to do anything. Everything was brought to her. She was pampered like a princess. And yeah he was right, they weren’t bad after all. The gang continued to gulp in gallons of a variety of alcohol and still hold themselves. Laughter echoed in the air and it was contagious. They sat chatting about their college days and each of their feats.
“Hey!! Stock’s over” someone yelled.
“So soon? Why you guys are starved!!” Ravi exclaimed. “Who’s going to go get more stuff?”
“Why obviously we are going to spin the bottle, as usual.” Someone said.
The bottle was spun and stopped at her. She looked blankly around.
“Okk… considering we cannot ask the lady to go, her guardian will. Actually he will sponsor our drinks for the next two days.” Ravi said grinning devilishly at him.
He looked at her for permission; she nodded her head slightly and handed over her car keys to him. “I’ll be back soon”. He kissed her on the cheek and left.
The gang went on talking this and that, singing and yelling and doing antics of some sort. She had never had company like this. She had spent every single moment of her young teenage life trying to earn for her family. All this was quite new and amusing to her. Someone put on dance music and a couple of them began to dance. Someone refilled her glass with more Pepsi. She sat thoroughly enjoying herself. Time flew.
She woke up with the sun hitting her face. She found herself in bed with her clothes strewn around. Every part of body hurt. Her legs felt numb. She tried to get up but couldn’t. She couldn’t remember anything from last night except for the loud music. Panic gripped her. What had happened to her? Why was she in such a state? She looked around trying very hard to recollect something, anything! Just then, he stepped out of the bathroom. He smiled weakly at her.
“Baby, what happened last night? When did you come? Why am I…you know…like this?” she said wanting him to just hold her and reassure her that all was ok.
“It’s ok sweetie. Its better you don’t remember. Just forget it like a bad dream. You rest now. I’ll get you something to eat.”
“Wha…What the hell is going on?” she screamed at the edge of hysterics.
“Sweetie..don’t exert yourself. I’ll be just back”
“NO...you wait here. And you better tell me what happened… all of it!”
“Alright. Fine. If you insist.” He pulled a chair and sat at a distance from the bed.
“It took me a long time to get to the nearest wine shop and while I was returning, the tyre burst and I spent a long time fixing it. It must be 3 by the time I came back. I saw the guys sitting at the table. I thought you must have gone off to sleep. I came to the room to check on you and just then Raj came out dressed in his shorts and looked quite shocked to see me. He tried to take me away from the room and I sensed something wrong. When I pushed him away, he told me Ravi was in the room…..”
“……With you…” he looked at his feet unable to meet her eye.
She couldn’t believe what she heard. She felt empty. She closed her eyes trying to sink in all she had heard. Maybe this was a bad dream. She felt pain shooting through her body. Tears started flowing slowly. She looked at him. He looked away. She closed her eyes again not knowing what to think and drifted off to sleep. When she woke up, there was a tray of food with some pain killers kept next to her with a note from him – “ Sweetie, I’m sorry for what happened to you. I am sorry I couldn’t take care of you. Maybe I am not good enough. I hope you find someone who loves you the way you deserve. You’ll always be in my prayers.”
She quietly ate the food, swallowed the pills, got dressed and went out of the room. There was no one to be seen or heard. She got into her car and drove back. For the next twenty days, she experienced living hell. She checked into a hotel and confined herself. Nothing mattered. No one mattered. Everything was over.
She returned back home back her usual self. Her parents were happy to see her and started fretting about how thin she’d become. Her sister narrated her stories at college. And all was normal again.
She felt the same pain in her legs now as she stood on the cliff. It had been nine years since that incident and the pain still remained as fresh as ever. She turned around and walked slowly towards her car. She opened the back door of the car and looked at the three people inside. They still seemed to be fast asleep. At peace, she hoped. She tugged at the collar and pulled the first one out of the car. She lost her balance under his weight. She gathered herself and slowly moved towards the edge of the cliff. Half an hour later, all three of them were there. She bent down on the third one and kissed him lightly.
“Only if you had tried, baby, only if you just tried”, she whispered to him.
As the sun sank into the ocean throwing out a beautiful golden orange haze across the clear blue sky, she let them go into the depths of eternal peace.
