“No, I cannot.” She responded
“Trust me, it will be fun.” He pleaded
“It is dangerous.” She argued.
“I will be there with you. We will go together. You trust me, don’t you?” He convinced her to say yes.
She had said yes and they had gone Paragliding. When they were finally on the ground; she was almost in tears. She was happy and excited. Paragliding experience had been exhilarating …
She had shared the story of paragliding on their honeymoon with family and friends who listened.
She had trusted him and had allowed him total control. It was a huge leap for her; considering the fact that theirs was an arranged marriage and she had not really been happy about it.
---
A couple of years later; sitting on the couch in his living room, his head in his hands, his thoughts travelled back in time to that day. He had asked her to trust him and she had trusted him. And now, he had broken that trust. He had not intended to; nevertheless he had. And, he was ready to accept whatever punishment she had planned for him. But not this. Before he knew, he was sobbing. Tears ran down his cheeks and he did not care to wipe them; they dropped from his jaw onto the carpet.
He was alone in the house. He remembered the fight they had when he had told her. His friends had told him not to mention it to her. There was no way she was going to find out about the cheating. It was not an affair, it was just a one-time thing and that too when he was drunk. He should have listened to his friends, he should have not told her. But at that time, it had felt like the right thing to do. He wanted her forgiveness. In no way he could have continued living with the secret clinging to his mind like a parasite.
And, where did it lead? He thought.
She stormed out of the house upon learning about the cheating, got into her car and drove away at full speed. He knew she needed the space, she needed fresh air to think clearly. He had thought perhaps she would forgive him when she returned home. He had been honest with her.
But she had not returned. All he got was a phone call from her mobile phone. A call he would never forget in his entire life.
---
He got up from the couch and picked up the car keys from the table near the door. He walked out of the house. It was time to go and face his punishment. He got into his car and drove carefully, his vision blurred by his tears. He did not know how to stop them, he did not want to stop them. He wanted to scream, wanted to let out his pain but he did not. He was suffering the worst kind of punishment. He deserved this, may be worst but she did not deserve it.
He turned his car into the parking lot of the local hospital. He walked in and made his way to the I.C.U. There she was, lying surrounded by tubes, machines monitoring her condition. It had been the same since she had been brought from the accident site. Since he had rushed to her side after the phone call made from her mobile phone by one of the paramedics.
He looked at her swollen face and the bandaged limbs. There was a belt around her neck and her head was bandaged as well. Fresh tears rolled out of his eyes. She did not deserve to be here. It should have been him. He should have been the one to be hurt.
In a way he was. He was the one who was immensely hurt. He loved her a lot and seeing her like this hurt him more than he could tolerate.
“I love you” he said and ran his hand through her hair. He bent down and kissed her on the lips. It was usually around this time that the comatose patient gained consciousness in movies. She loved those kind of movies – the ones that made her cry and smile at the same time. But, this was no movie. This was life – this was his punishment. She did not move. The humming sound of the machines continued and he stood there, watching her – living every moment of the torture. That was his punishment, he liked it or not.
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