Meeting His Past (Avishek's POV)

"Take care of Seema okay, she really seems to have lost a lot of weight." Dad says, scowling at me as if I was the one responsible for her weight loss.

"Yes dad" I agreed simply because I was tired, I wanted to go home and sleep, and also because I didn't want to argue with him when we had just met after 1 month.

"I'll go wait in the car" I said, nodding my goodbye to him. "Bye."

It wasn't as if I hadn't noticed her weight loss, I just didn't worry much. She is grown woman, not a kid. She can take care of herself. People in our house are worrywarts.

Vibration from my phone interrupted my thoughts. I took it out to see it was a call from unknown number.

I accepted the call frowning at the number when I heard, "Hello" from the other side.

I froze mid-step.

No, no it cannot be her. How can it be her? There are many people with same voice as her. How can you even remember after so many years?

"Hello" I hear once again, "Avi?"

I couldn't breathe. It was her. It was my Ruchika.

"H, h-hello" I breathe out.

"Avi, thank god you still use the same number", she laughs hesitantly.

"Ruchika" I couldn't say anything else. I couldn't believe I was hearing her once again after so many years.

"I, I'm here, Avi." She says quietly. "I'm in India. Can we meet?"

Hell yes, I wanted to fly wherever the hell she was.

"Where are you?" I ask.

"Same place" she says, her voice almost inaudible.

I couldn't stop my eyes from tearing up. When I told her goodbye, I thought that was the last time I was going to see her. Now, she was here, my Ruchika was here.

My legs carried me to the car without me knowing. The car door being shut pulled me out of my thoughts. I look to the left to see Seema pulling on her seatbelt.

Shit, how can I go with her? But then it's not like she is going to get hurt if I meet Ruchika. She has never asked me about my past and we live like housemates instead of husband and wife.

Yes, that's it, she might be my wife on paper, but we've never had a relationship.

"You took the wrong turn" her voice pulls me out of the internal debate.

"I know. We have to go somewhere else first." I said.

"Everything alright?" she asks.

I couldn't reply. I was too busy thinking about what I am going to say when I meet her.

After almost 20 minutes, I stop the car before the familiar scene. This used to be our regular hangout, Ruchika and me . After I got married, I hadn't put a step inside this place. I couldn't bring anyone else to our safe place.

I step inside the café and search for the familiar face. My heart was beating so loud, I feared people could hear me. I looked to my right and froze.

There she was. Like always, she found me first before I found her. She hadn't changed one bit. Same big eyes, same round cheeks, same long hair. As if I was pulled by someone, I headed towards her. Even now, after so many years, I could tell she was going to cry, she was chewing on her lips, trying to hold back tears. Her frame got a bit blurry and I realized, my eyes had teared up too.

I couldn't stop the, "Ruchika" from my mouth.

"Long time Avi" she said as a one tear slipped from her eyes.

"H- ", my voice cracked, "How are you?"

"I'm okay. How are you? How is uncle, aunty?" She asked.

I never would have imagined that one day her and I, we would make small talk in our same regular place.

"They are good. They just moved in with Rahul" I said, "my son."

It was like I was shoved from a cliff. My son. I looked at my left and saw Seema looking confused. Shit! I completely forgot she was here with me.

"Is she your wife?" she asked hesitantly.

"Yes" I simply replied because I did not want to talk about my marriage in front of her.

After an awkward silence Seema said, "I'll wait in the car", and left.

I could not even tell her anything. My attention was pulled by Ruchika once again when she said, "Sit please"

I sat there numbly. I had so many things to say to her, but I couldn't open my mouth. My eyes roamed around her face and then noticed things I hadn't before. She looked tired, dark circles under her eyes, permanent wrinkles on forehead with what seemed like stress, hair looking unkempt.

"What is going on? Is everything alright?" I ask with concern.

She sat quiet for a long time, wringing her hands and finally spoke, "My marriage is falling apart."

All I could do was stare at her.

"But why? Does your husband not treat you right?" I ask.

After our last meet, we completely stayed away from each other's life. The only news I got about her was when she moved to US with her new husband.

"No, he is a nice guy. It's just, we live like strangers Avi. It's just formal talk." She says.

It feels like she is talking about my life.

"We were happy once. After my parents married me off with him, we moved to US. Slowly, after some time, we became friends, then feelings happened and then we fell for each other" she said, playing with her thumb.

I know I shouldn't, it's not her fault, but for a moment, I felt anger. How could she fall again so easily, when after all these years, I couldn't fall for anyone else?

"Everything was starting to fall in place. Our work, careers, house. But then I found out that I couldn't have kids." Her voice cracked while speaking.

Shit, that's rough. I cannot imagine my life without Rahul and Payal.

"We tried really hard. Finally, after hearing no from every doctor we consulted, we decided on adoption. But I wasn't even lucky enough for that."

Tears started rolling down her cheeks, and I panicked. I never handled tears well.

I push a glass of water in front of her. She finishes the entire glass in one go.

"Why? Was there any problem in adoption?" I ask unsure.

"At least one of us should be US citizen to adopt kids there. We were both settled in our careers, we did not want to come to India. Then, both our family moved to US, we had no reason to come here." She said, looking at the glass in a daze.

I didn't know what to say.

"After trying for few more years, we both gave up. Life continued but we grew distant. At first, both of us stayed away to mend our hearts, but I guess, we got so used to staying away, love just frizzled out."

"Why now?" I blurt out.

She glanced up as if surprised I was asking that question.

"I cannot breathe there. I feel like I have a big rock sitting on my chest. I cannot do it anymore. I cannot have kids, I lost the love from my life, I have no desire to do anything else." She said looking so broken I wanted to gather her in my arms and fix her every problem.

"I don't know what happened. I was having dinner one night alone, when I wanted to come here. I didn't think of anything, just packed my bags, booked a ticket, left a note for my husband and walked out of the house."

She laughed, almost bitterly, "It was only when I got off the plane, it hit me, I had no one here. I knew no one."

She looked at me, "I thought of you and prayed you still used the same number when I called you."

"Your prayers worked." I smile at her.

"Yeah, it did" she smiled back.

We sat there for few minutes without saying anything. My eyes fell on the clock on the wall behind her and, I almost shot out of the chair.

"Alright, let's go" I say getting up.

"Go where?" she asks, looking confused.

"My home." I say.

I saw her hesitating and ask, "do you have anywhere to go?"

She sighs, "No, but the fact that you must have a family too didn't come to my mind when I called you. Your wife won't like it, a stranger coming to her house so suddenly."

"It's just me and her there. And she won't mind. Trust me." I say.

And I know Seema wouldn't mind. Even if she did, she wouldn't tell me.

After assuring her few more times, I take her luggage, and lead the way out of the café.

I saw Seema sitting at the passenger seat and a pang of guilt hit me. I left my wife to sit in the car for almost an hour while I was talking to my ex. Now, I was taking her home without even consulting with her.

I pushed the guilt aside when I saw Ruchika's face. She needed this; she needed a friend right now.

I put the luggage in the car boot and hear her apologizing to Seema. After assuring her one more time, I drive home. I snuck a glance at Seema and saw her staring out of the window. I know we don't have any kind of relationship but still, I should've asked her first before taking Ruchika home. At the very least, I should've told her beforehand.

It didn't take much time to reach home. Both of them went inside the house while I went to park the car in the garage. After parking, I entered the house, searching for them when I heard voices from Payal's room. I leaned on the door looking at them talking and thought, if it was some kind of dream. My wife was playing a good host to my ex.

We wish goodnight to Ruchika and move towards our room.

I couldn't take it, I felt so guilty.

"Seema" I call her. The name sounded foreign to my own ears.

She answers without turning towards me.

"I hope you don't mind her staying here. I got a call from her when we were about to leave Rahul's home. I'm sorry I didn't ask you before inviting her here." I say quietly.

She looks shocked. I can't blame her. We really don't talk much.

"Uh, it's no problem really. She called you for help. You couldn't have said no. I don't mind her staying here." she stammers.

I stare at her in disbelief. I thought she would go off on me for inviting Ruchika here. I don't know why I thought that. I don't know much about her, but after living with her for more then 20 years, I've understood that's she doesn't complain about anything. She will make do with whatever you give her. Still, I have never brought my past home before. She is a smart woman, even if she doesn't know Ruchika, I know she has guessed it.

I just nod my head and enter the room. We both wished good night and turned off the lights. But I doubt, slept came easily to both of us that night.

This might or might not be the turning point in Avishek and Seema's relationship. Keep up to find it out.  :)

That was all for this time. Please do vote and comment if you liked the chapter.