Best served cold...

“I can not do this anymore Aman”, she said.

I looked into her brown eyes that were welling up with tears but didn't respond.

“I can’t live with you anymore.. this can’t go on forever” she said.

I nodded silently. This was her own decision, she had to take the responsibility for it.

“Will you say something at least?” she asked in an anguished voice.

I looked at her pretty face that was twisted into a grimace and shook my head.

“Why damn it?” she said in frustration, “why don’t you scream at me and let it out once and for all?”

She was sobbing uncontrollably by now and every cell in my body was dying to run to her and comfort her. But I didn’t move; it was too late for that. Our relationship had been broken beyond repair and both of us had to accept the reality.

“Please forgive me Aman,” she said in between her sobs, “I am so sorry for breaking your trust!”

I nodded silently again, letting the words forming in my mind sleep in their remote confines. I had known there was something wrong since past couple of months. She thought I didn’t notice but I did.. I just never asked. 

I was afraid of the answer I would get. I knew she wouldn’t be able to lie to my face and I did not want to put her in that position. Unlike a typical jealous boyfriend I had not bothered to look into her phone records or check her WhatsApp messages. If she was cheating on me she would be smart enough to clear the history and not leave any telltale marks. But I knew, she won’t be able to keep it from me for too long. I knew every inch of her skin better than she knew herself. I had noticed the subtle change in her fragrance about a month ago, a faint masculine musky odor mingling with her own floral aroma that could arouse my senses in a heartbeat.

I hadn’t felt aroused that night. 

And that was the beginning of our end. 

She had been cheating on me and we both knew that I knew.

Today is the day of reckoning. I watch her mind and body break down with the weight of her guilt. I watch her wipe her eyes and get up with determination. She’s packing her stuff now, putting everything into the tiny bag that she had moved in with. I notice her carefully separating her belongings from things I had gifted her. Perhaps, she can’t deal with having them around anymore. Maybe she wants to move in with him now, her ex, who had come back into her life, and leave my memories behind. She gathers everything, zips the bag and looks at me one last time, hoping that I would say something. 

But I do not.

“I am moving into Maya’s apartment for a short while” she says.

I give a non-committal nod and look at her for the last time. The sunlight streaming from the window is playing on her features and it is painful for me to look at her beauty.

“I am sorry I let him enter our lives and destroy everything that we had” she says finally.

I don’t bother to acknowledge her statement and look away. She was leaving me forever and I did not want to give her the satisfaction of having that last lingering look. 

I watch her from the window, walking out of the building and hailing an auto. And then I take my cell and dial a number. “She’s on her way” I whisper, with no regret or sadness in my voice. She is out of my life for good.

She doesn't know yet, but I have slept with her best friend who was going to break the news to her tonight; the impact would be harder when it comes from her best friend's mouth.

Maya and I have been seeing each other since a month now, a little less than the time that I found out about my now ex-girlfriend had been seeing her ex. And I have done my homework about the man she is planning a future with. He has a wife tucked away in his hometown who she knows nothing about. 

Maya knows and she would tell her about that too..

The circle of life moving at its own sweet pace.. Revenge they say is a dish that is best-served cold.


About the author:

Vineet Aggarwal is referred by many as a doctor by qualification, manager by profession and artist by temperament. He lives and works in Mumbai and is the author of popular online blogs dealing with scientific aspects of mythology as well as three books on mythological fiction.

Blogs: DECODE HINDU MYTHOLOGY - http://decodehindumythology.blogspot.com/

FRATERNITY AGAINST TERRORISM & EXTREMISM - http://fateinurhands.blogspot.in/

Books: VISHWAMITRA - http://amzn.to/1hMpa2C

THE LEGEND OF PARSHU-RAAM - http://amzn.to/2qIzw8S

BHARAT - THE MAN WHO BUILT A NATION - https://amzn.to/2BZTDYU