Swati sat fidgeting with the tissue paper stand, contemplating whether she should order another cup of coffee. Why was Nisha getting delayed? Her phone constantly said it was switched off.
She stared at the huge round clock on the restaurant’s wall. The hands of the clock seemed to be moving lethargically. Everything seemed slow compared to her heartbeat. Swati took a deep breath to calm her frayed nerves. If nervousness were characterized by a smell, she would have been reeking of it.
‘Why did Arun lie to her?’ She was looking out for an answer to this million-dollar question.
‘Nisha, there is something urgent that I want to discuss with you but not on the phone. I can only tell you that Arun has been seeing someone and I feel cheated. Let’s meet at Lalit by 4pm.’ Swati had confided in her best friend that morning. And here she was waiting for Nisha at Lalit. Swati had already consumed two cups of coffee, but there was no sight of Nisha. And now her phone was switched off. Swati felt awkward as the waitress approached her again.
‘Ma’am, would you like to have something?’ With her enchanting dimpled smile, the waitress gave Swati a slight indication that she had been holding a table for half an hour.
‘Please get me another cup of coffee.’ Swati said. She was least interested in consuming the coffee, but she had no other options to linger on in the restaurant.
The waitress smiled again before she left to get the order. Strangely, her round, fair face with the beguiling smile reminded Swati of her mother.
‘How I wish I could have inherited at least half of my mother’s charm! Maybe Arun wouldn’t have fallen for someone else if I was as beautiful as my mother.’ An agonizing sigh passed Swati’s lips.
Her face suddenly contorted, and anger crept into her system when she thought of her father.
After the death of her mother three years ago, he was not able to withstand loneliness, or that was what he had categorically stated when he found a 47-year-old life partner at 60.
Swati was just married to Arun at that time. She felt embarrassed as her widowed mother-in-law passed stinging remarks about her father’s ‘lust’ at this age.
‘How could he do this to my mother? He had immersed himself in her beauty and had cherished every moment of his life as her spouse,’ Swati kept fuming.
It was Arun who consoled her, saying, ‘He too needs someone to share his feelings. I don’t see anything wrong in what your father has done. He may have been enchanted by your mother’s beauty, but you know how it works in life: When you need someone to be with you in time of need, you cannot keep delving into the past.’
Swati felt even more frustrated after hearing Arun’s casual verdict. She could not imagine another lady replacing her mother.
‘Does it mean you will marry someone else when I am no more after we grow old?’ she had asked.
‘Can we discuss something worthwhile?’ Arun’s disgruntled tone had made his irritation palpable.
She had given up pursuing the topic, but now she was shocked to see that Arun was with another woman even when she was alive, hale and hearty. Otherwise, why would he lie to her that he was in an official meeting when she had seen him along with a lady in a restaurant?
She retrieved all the events in retrospect from the morning.
Swati took a few hours off and went to the Forum Mall to get some gifts for Arun, as it was their third wedding anniversary on Sunday. Beating the Bangalore traffic, she reached the Mall. Feeling a dire need to have something to soothe her parched throat, she ordered lime juice. As she sipped the juice, her eyes hovered around the crowd in the Mall while she mentally made a list of shops where she could find the leather belt that she needed for Arun.
Her eyes suddenly stopped at the McDonald’s across the juice center.
Arun sat on a chair, and a beautiful lady sat opposite him. Her aesthetic sense became evident from the way she carried herself in an exquisitely designed salwar kameez.
Arun had told Swati in the morning that he had an important meeting and would be very busy. Swati knew most of Arun’s colleagues, but she had never seen this woman before.
Making a spontaneous decision she gave a call to him.
Swati could see Arun peering at the number. He then displayed the screen to the lady, and Swati could see her twitch her lips and display an acerbic smile.
Arun answered the call eventually.
‘Hi,’ Swati dragged a bit. ‘Are you done with your meeting? I am near your office,’ she lied. ‘Maybe we can have lunch together if you are free.’
Her expression became pained when he said, ‘No, no, I am still in the meeting, and it will take time. I will see you at home in the evening.’ He had hung up, and she caught the duo laughing at the concocted story.
Biting her lips in resentment, Swati got up quickly to confront Arun, but she voted against it, not wanting to create a scene in a public place. She would have to tackle this judicially.
After retrieving certain events, Swati felt that she had overlooked many of Arun’s gestures in the last month. Even though Saturdays were off for him, he had gone out on two Saturdays, giving some frivolous reasons that she did not brood about at that time.
Even on one Sunday, he said he was going to meet some friends, which was extremely rare, but Swati honestly did not interrogate him.
Then again, she realised now that he had come home pretty late on quite a few days, citing a heavy workload in the office.
She had probably not guessed any of his moves as a premonition because everything between them was going fine otherwise.
Swati was shaken and thoroughly confused by what she had just witnessed. Nisha would be the best person with whom she could confide and also workout an amicable solution.
Presently, Swati looked around wondering how long to wait here. She spotted a white i10 entering the parking lot of the restaurant. Swati could not read the number plate from where she was seated, but the vehicle looked very familiar. Her guess was correct; it was her father’s vehicle. While her brain was racking hard, conjuring a plan to somehow avoid him and leave the restaurant, she was aghast to find Nisha getting out of the rear seat. From the front seat, the same lady who was sitting with Arun in the morning at McDonald’s emerged.
Bemused, Swati watched in awe as they entered the restaurant. Nisha waved to Swati. It was one of the most awkward situations for Swati because she hadn’t had any contact with her father for the past three years after he had remarried. He waved to her, smiling, and all three of them walked towards the table. They took a chair each. Swati sat dumbfounded face to face with the same lady whom she thought was having an affair with her husband.
‘This is Mrs.Kinjal,’ Swati’s father introduced the lady. ‘Nisha called me in the morning after you had spoken to her about your apprehensions regarding Arun.’ Her father stopped halfway as the waitress approached to take orders.
‘Get us a sandwich each,’ her father said without consulting any of them, it was quite evident that he wanted the waitress to be away from the table for some time.
‘Mrs Kinjal is going abroad permanently and wants to sell her well-established boutique. Arun approached me last month saying he would like to buy this boutique but may need financial assistance from the bank where I used to work. He wanted to surprise you on your wedding anniversary by gifting you this boutique. He told me that it was your long cherished dream to own a similar one in the heart of the city. Myself, Arun, and Mrs.Kinjal did all the needed paperwork.’
Swati squirmed at her imprudence. She did not know whether to laugh or cry, but she felt so ashamed to face Mrs. Kinjal that she lowered her eyes. The lady’s welcoming smile gave her the much-needed respite.
Swati looked at her father gratefully and thanked Nisha for her prudent approach of informing her father first. She explained to them about her visit to the Mall in the morning that had caused the confusion. Mrs. Kinjal laughed upon hearing that.
‘I hope Arun is not aware of my foolishness,’ Swati said sheepishly. The trio shook their heads and smiled.
When the waitress came with the sandwiches, Swati also ordered some sweets. She coyly said, ‘This calls for some celebration prior to my wedding anniversary day after tomorrow. Nisha, come early to help me set the place. Mrs. Kinjal, I am sure Arun has invited you.’ She smiled and turned towards her father.
‘Do come home, Dad, for the wedding anniversary, and bring Mom too.’ she heard herself saying.
Everyone smiled and enjoyed the sandwiches and sweets.
Published in an anthology ALS 2023