The 14th Year

"You know whats the best thing about this place?",she said all of a sudden, breaking the flow of Jazz music being played in the background.
"You mean except the boring music and the inexplicable, over the top, prices?", Anuj smiled sarcastically.
"Noooooooooooo.", she said and giggled with uncontrollable girlish charm.
"Perhaps, you would care to tell me, then", said Anuj as she finished laughing.
"Hmmm, I love the lights here."
"But, its so dark in here, almost impossible to see each other's face, even when we are sitting right across each other."
"Precisely,", she murmured, and then continued,"There is no veiled emotion, you cannot cover up your feelings on the pretext of using your eyes, your smile or your facial expressions. We are sitting together and still communicate as if talking on a phone, all resplendent with our purest of emotions, instrumented only by the variations of our voice."
Anuj smiled, and sipped his drink.
"What?", she asked, her girlish charm back.
"Nothing"
"No, tell me!"
"I am sure, the exuberant philosophy is being sponsored by the wine! Is that the reason you ordered it, instead of your regular whisky?", he asked, putting a couple of roasted peanuts in his mouth, kept in front of him.
"Wine helps me shed my reservations, my nervousness. I feel more confident."
"Hard to believe a girl like you can be nervous at all.", he said as both of them broke into a laughter. As the laughter died down, he took a sip from his glass and asked,"What are you nervous about?"
She straightened herself up, feeling a bit restless,"I wanted to ask you something."
"Hello!", he smiled,"Since when do you need permissions from me?"
"Tell me, how long do we know each other for?"
"Almost 6 months. Why?"
"And how do you find me as a person?"
"What kind of a question is that? Of course, you a great company, and a nice person to be with. I really like being with you. Why do you ask this all of  a....."
"I wanted to propose to you", she interrupted and broke into a smile,"I love you. Marry me!!"

Anuj stared at her for a few seconds, searching for words."I think you have had too much wine. Finish up your drink and we shall get out of here now. I will drop you to your home", he fumbled a bit while saying.
"That was not the answer I was expecting!", she complained feigning false anger. "I am not drunk. Answer me!", she almost commanded.
Anuj stared at his drink for a moment while holding the glass and then kept it on the table."I like you, Meenaxi. And I value you as a friend. In the last 6 months we have formed a special bond and I really cherish it. But I cant love you, leave alone marrying you."
"But if you really like me so much, then whats stopping you? I know you love me as much. Come on, look at me", she pleaded as Anuj looked at the eyes covered by darkness prevailing all over. "Tell me, whats wrong? What are you hiding from me?"
Anuj lowered his eyes as his mind wandered over something. At last, he looked back at her and said,"I am already married."

The music in the background had changed gears. With advent of darkness outside, the mood had changed to  much groovier numbers.
"You never told me!", she said, a few drops of tears had come up in her eyes."You hid this from me all along. Why did you do it? Why didnt you tell me before?"
"Because I never felt the need", replied Anuj defensively. "I would have told you had you asked me. Never once did I feel the need to bring up the topic of my marriage with Urmi."
"Not even when I told you about my marriage? About how my brother killed my husband when he sensed his greed for power? I told you every detail about myself, and you never got an opportunity to talk about your marriage?", her eyes were wet
"Because you needed emotional support that time and I didnt see any need to drop on you the details of my marriage then. Besides, what was the pointing of bringing up the topic of my marriage when are living separately since 13 years."
"13 years!! But why?", she looked at him like a small girl
"Thats a long story. All you need to know is that my father had asked my brother Raghava and his wife Bhumi to expand our retail business here, in Gurgaon. As I love my brother very much, I decided to accompany him, and asked Urmi to take care of our family."
Meenaxi brought up her glass and drank all the glimmering red liquid in one sip. She kept the glass down.
"Do you still love your wife?"
"Of course, I do! Ours was a love marriage. She is the sister of Bhumi bhabhi"
"Even after 13 years of living away from each other. Come on, had she been that important, you would have told me about her. You dont love her anymore.", she declared.
"Up to you to believe. I think I should leave now", he said gulping his drink in one go."I will see you tomorrow when you are sober." he said and stood up to leave
"Please, don't leave. I really love you, Anuj. Cant you stay back with me, here?"
"Please dont complicate things, Meenaxi.  I have a family back home, and a wife, and I cant ignore them. I very well know you have had your share of heart breaks. Give it some time, you will find a better man."

“You are the one I want to be with.”, she said in a dreamy voice and reached out for his hands, caressing his fingers.
Anuj snatched his hands out of her grasp, "Meenaxi, I think you are totally out of your mind today. Lets leave now."
Meenaxi stood up and came close to Anuj,"Why, dont you think I am beautiful? I love you, I want you."
Anuj moved to his side as Meenaxi blocked his way. He caught her shoulder and pushed her slightly and tried to move, as she embraced him from behind.
"Please dont leave me Anuj.", she pleaded as she tightened her embrace.
"Meenaxi, let me go", he said in a stern voice as he tried freeing himself up "You are drunk like hell. Move away from me", he clutched her wrist and forced her away from him.
She pounced herself on him and started kissing him.
"Move away, Meenaxi. Just back off!!", he said and pushed her hard to the side. She lost her balance as her high heels slipped, and she fell on the glass table full on her face. The glass broke under her face, as it reached beyond the hollow of the table.
She stood up and turned only to watch Anuj walking hastily towards the exit, with all the waiters staring at her in horror.
"Anuj!", she shouted,"Dont you dare leave me like that! My brother wont tolerate my insult.", she said as
she felt some wetness dripping from her face. She rushed towards the bathroom. As she reached for the wash basin, she looked up and saw a deep scar running across her nose, with pieces of glass still stuck to the part, blood dripping all over. She cried frantically, further increasing the pain. She clinched her teeth and stared hard at her face in the mirror.
 "You will regret this Anuj Suryavanshi! I promise you that! You will pay heavily for this!!", she said and broke into another blot of insane crying.