I Am Guilty

12. Mistake

The day transformed to night and the night had now turned darker.

Arjun could not sleep well. He would get a short restless nap and his eyes would find themselves open and his hand would holds his phone in front of them, to see if he had missed a call from Bansi.
It was after her little stunt that she sent him the invite to the engagement and had stopped talking altogether.

The chaos that happened had made her completely aloof and he arrived for a phone call that would fill his ears and heart with her laughter. He missed her chirpy voice and bubbly laugh. He yearned to hear her complaining about Veena being overbearing.

Arjun sighed. He realized that it was not worth. He was thrown back to more than just square one with his family. He wished he could go back and change whatever happened. He so wished that he could be a little inconsiderate and had left everyone to their own fate. Indifferences with Bansi were so not called upon. She was the only one who cared to talk to him and ask him if he was alright.

He was at the major loss since Bansi stopped talking to him. She had even refused to look at him. He was so unfortunate that he could not even glance at her face for a mere second.

He was sure if she stood in front of him, he would not be able to recognize her.

The loss was irreparable.

It was the third day in a row and there was no sign of Arjun.
The outhouse lay as cold as it was always. It was as if the moment  the night never happened.

His mother, Sapna, had unknowingly developed a  habit of subtly glancing at the outhouse. She knew it was empty, but her heart refused to acknowledge the fact that her estranged son had stayed there for an entire night. She did not know why he did not come back.
A thousand times she thought of going to the outhouse and checking for herself that he was indeed not there. A small part in her heart wanted to touch the sheets he had slept on. The ignorant mind did not know that he never touched anything there except a glass of water. She did not know that he gave up on the floor.

Veena was worried for different reasons. Once the shock weared off, she realized that there must have been a motive behind his doing.
She had waited for him to come back and talk to her like adults. She would have appreciated if he had come to her and explained her the situation. She wanted to know what he thought of this entire marriage. She was of the opinion that he had no right to hold her a hostage and marry her forcibly. He had to come back and sort her life for her.
But Arjun was gone and no one heard about him.

It was a weird thought that was eating him from inside.
This time he had come after ten long years. There was no inclination to when he would return this time.. Or would he ever return, after he was insulted by his whole family.
She did not know what was OK n the store for her.

Bansi had spent her night in restless sleep. She had taken up from her sleep many times. Her heart yearned to make a call to him, but her rational brain warned her that it was her mistake that he had taken a drastic step. She was already blaming herself for everything that happened.
She had realized it a hard way that a monster like him does not deserve her love and respect.

It was the weekend. Arjun had an off day and slept late into the morning. A loud ring of the phone was heard and he groaned in disapproval. Without opening his eyes, he received the call out of habit and held it to his ear and did not reply.

"Arjun, get up, Man." Kunal's voice boomed from the other end.

"What do you want, Kunal?" He asked groggily.

"I am going home for the night. Want to join me?"

That made Arjun Open his eyes. He sat up as Kunal pushed opened the door and walked in. Arjun disconnected the call and looked at his friend and asked, "why suddenly?"