RECAP

The morning after her adventure with TheNightWanderer and her subsequent feelings of guilt, Sneha gets up around noon to find her husband already gone for the office. She finds a neatly written note from her husband lying on the side table. The love and concern emanating from his words make her feel special. She tries to forget her “one night stand” and becomes determined to revive her relationship with Raj. She plans a surprise candle-night dinner at home and waits eagerly for Raj to come back.

CHAPTER 7

Sneha quickly dumped all the dirty utensils in the sink, cleaned the shelves with one quick movement of her hand and quickly set the table for two in her dining area. The tick tock of the clock attracted her attention. It was 8 o’ clock. Raj could come anytime. She quickly rushed to the bathroom for a quick shower, scrubbing herself as swifty as possible to get rid of all the annoying smells of onion, garlic and a horde of other kitchen ingredients. Ten hectic minutes later, she was out, standing in front of her bedroom mirror, looking at her “not so bad” curves.

“Passionate Red… Romantic Red!” she wondered looking at her only sexy western dress in the wardrobe. A satin beauty that hugged her body snugly! The only time she had worn it was on her wedding night, and it indeed drove Raj mad. The thoughts tickled her senses.

Forty minutes past eight and she was all set – Burning hot in that red dress, sitting at the impeccably set table, inhaling the beautiful aroma of scented candles mingled with her own exclusive Clinique perfume. “Picture Perfect!... or may be not… Only the red rose is missing..” Lost in such thoughts, she visualized Raj bringing  a surprise bouquet of red roses, something he often did in the first few days of their marriage.   

The bollywood tune emanating from her mobile disturbed her pleasant reverie. “Oh God! I hope it’s not Raj’s mother again!” With this dreaded thought she picked up the singing mobile, only to find her hubby’s name flashing there. A wave of happiness surged in her as she pressed the green button to answer the phone.

“No… No we can’t do that. Sir, you got to understand that it’s practically impossible.. Well, see…. But Sir… Yeah, that’s there too” Sneha listened to Raj’s voice as he rambled on. She waited patiently for him to get free from the other line.

“Yeah Yeah… exactly… I know… Well, I’ll try my best… Yeah I understand… Of course… It will be done..”

“Yes sweetheart…” Finally his tired voice addressed her.

“Hie.. How are…”

“Well don’t ask… It’s madness over here.. Hey listen, you please sleep. I don’t know when I’ll return… I don’t even know if I’ll return… It’s really too hectic here… I’ll explain everything later”

“But Dinner... I…”

“Yeah, don’t worry about that… I’ll grab something here… Besides, I’m not much hungry… I just want to complete this project as soon as possible… May be then I’ll relax for a while”

Sneha just sighed, an exhausted helpless sigh.

“Ok, take care. Sleep on time. Bye”  

Anger, Frustration, Helplessness… Everything took turns on Sneha’s face as she stared blankly at her mobile. Suddenly the aroma of scented candles seemed like an assault to her heart. She got up violently and threw everything that was there on the table in the kitchen sink. What she couldn’t throw in that overflowing sink was the heaviness in her heart, and the only place where she could dump her frustration was her Yahoo Notepad.   

“It all seemed like a scene from a Bollywood movie… the heroine is out there, waiting… ready with the meals… the candle night dinner… Nonsense… Stupid Stupid of me! Sitting there, waiting… as if the true Bollywood hero would come with roses in hand… But what happens… f*** life….”   

She stopped to gather her breath and in that tiny second, her mind wandered again. “TheNightwanderer!”  

Forgetting all about her earlier resolve, she quickly logged into her Yahoo Messenger to check for him. Her heart raced with excitement, something that amazed her and scared her too. The Welcome Window appeared and few seconds later, some offline messages from him:

“Hellooo… Tell na… What way?”

“Hey… u there?”

“Hey Ms Enigmatic… Where do u keep disappearing?”

“Hello… r u comin back? Where r u?”

“Ok… seems like I am a lost soul again….”

“Anyway…. Goodnight… Sleep tight…. Don’t let the bugs bite…. Do the thing right… stay away from mite… that’s the height… of talking stupid… ha ha”

“Hey I guess u not coming back… well I hope I didn’t drive u away….. hoping to strike with your virtual boat on this internet sea….. ha ha”

“bye… take care… it was a pleasure knowing u J”  

The series of messages brought a smile on her lips.

“Atleast someone is there… ” she thought looking at the empty room.   

Without thinking further, she started drafting an email for him, trying to explain why she left so suddenly the previous night. The little moral voice inside her was stifled by the pain of loneliness and frustration.   

“Hie…

I wanted to explain why I left so....  

“Too direct..” Thinking this, she quickly pressed the Backspace button.  

“Hie

It was a pleasure..”   

Backspace again.  

Hiee

I have been thinking about how  

Hiee

Last night was an interesting one  

“Oh my god…it sounds soo…” she laughed reading her own interpretation of the line.   

Hiee

Sometimes we find friends where we least expect.   

“Hmmm… friends…. Well isn’t it too fast to call him “friend”…. Well…. Sometimes we make acquaintances… yeah that would seem diplomatic”   

Hie

Sometimes we make acquaintances where we least expect. It was an interesting conversation that we had last night. I hope to see you around.

Bye

Take care  

“Hmmm… what to write…Yours Sneha… No way… Just Sneha is right… S would be fine too”  

Just then, a chat window appears, staring at her innocently.

“Hey u there”

It was from TheNightWanderer. The status was still offline, may be he was in invisible mode.

Sneha wanted to chat to him. Infact, she just wrote him an email but  now that he was here, she didn’t feel so sure. The moral scolding that she gave herself the previous night came back to haunt her.

“What am I doing?” the morality raising its head  

“What am I doing…Well what the hell am I supposed to do? Is it too much to just chat and pass my time on net? It’s better than sitting frustrated and feeling lonely… Besides it’s not like I’m sneaking and sleeping with someone… Why do I have to be so harsh on myself” Morality’s head successfully got crushed.

…to be continued 

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