Venturing into the unknown

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The next day when Vinay woke up from sleep, the dark clouds that had gathered in the sky had disappeared. The sun smiled and kissed the earth. Gone was the gloom of previous day, everything was sunny and bright. The sun rays entered directly into their room through the balcony. Vinay went out into the balcony and soaked the morning sun light. As the sun shone brighter, its light caused a glint in his eyes. He had lost all hope. But today was not like yesterday. In fact it was much better. He felt optimistic. 'Hope today is better.' He prayed to the sun god.

Nisha placed the breakfast on the table, but didn't speak a word. Vinay didn't wish to remember what had happened the previous day. He tried to brush it aside saying that everybody commits mistake and first mistake is always pardonable.

Nisha, on the other hand wanted to go back to Pune at the earliest. But given the situation, no matter how much badly she wanted to return, she couldn't. She had some responsibilities towards her sister. She felt terribly guilty for the things that had happened yesterday. She cursed herself for losing all her self control. How could she do that? How could she get attracted towards her sister's husband, when her sister was away? Was an educated woman like her just a slave of her senses? How could she even think of satisfying her carnal urges when her sister was in the jail?

With every question that popped up in her mind, Nisha felt like burying her head into the sand. She couldn't face anyone, not even herself. Whenever the scenes of the previous night played in her mind, she would shut her eyes tightly, as if doing so was going to erase the past. Everything had changed after the previous night for the two.

Vinay drove frantically to the jail. He wanted to meet Sulabha, and find answers to the questions that had been pricking him for quite sometime. He wanted to assure Sulabha that if she came clean, probably their relationship wouldn't suffer minimal damage. But what if Sulabha had made up her mind not to stay with him any longer. The sentence in her statement where she had said, her life would have been different if she had married the man of her choice continued to haunt Vinay. What would he say if she had decided to go with another man? Was he going to hold her back only because there was a legal document which bound them together? Is a mere paper so mighty that it can hold together a crumbling marriage?

Vinay stopped his car in the middle of the road. Was it a right decision to meet Sulabha in the jail, was the question he kept on asking himself. Though he had read it in her statement, he was not mentally prepared to hear it from her mouth. Destiny had put him in a strange dilemma.

It was only when the truck driver behind him hurled a series of abuses at him that Vinay started the car again. His legs on the accelerator, but his mind seriously doubting his decision to visit Sulabha.

He decided to divert his mind away from that thought. He saw the bellowing clouds in the sky. They reminded him of the events that had taken place the previous nights. He had certainly drifted away for sometime, though he was not sure if it could be called cheating. Wasn't Sulabha a human being too? Wasn't she allowed to commit mistakes, only because she was a woman that too a married one? Vinay's mind was presenting sharp, convincing arguments for both the sides, what it didn't deliver though was the final verdict.

***

Vinay parked the car in the parking lot of the jail and walked towards the meeting room with heavy legs. The police constable wearing crisp ironed khaki uniform asked him to wait in the waiting room for there was some more time for his scheduled appointment. Fidgeting the keys of his car, Vinay tapped both his feet.

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