Sunaina

Good morning sweetheart" Sunaina said "Wake up, its 8".



"ummm... 5 more mins please... am very sleepy" grumbled Aditya. It had been 5 years since they had been married. But for the first time, he was lying about it. Lying about being sleepy that is; because he had hardly slept all night. He just could not close his eyes. Every time he had tried closing his eyes, events of the previous evening flashed before him. It was breath taking. She was.



The bright sun light came in and pierced his eyes as Sunaina undid the curtains.



"Aarghh!! My head hurts. Let the curtains be su" he cried.



"Its time you woke up Adi. Its 8 and you have to get to work. And why wont the head hurt if you drink so much" she said without heeding to his request, opened the windows and headed into the shower.



Aditya opened his eyes, rubbed them red and walked towards the kitchen to pour himself a cup of coffee. It was a bad hangover. As he looked back on yesterday, he felt guilty. It was a very usual thing for him to feel guilty after a bad drunk night. He had everytime, for over 8 years now, said the same thing the day after he got drunk. Promise the world he would never drink again. But today was different. He felt guilt alright. Of what had happened yesterday. Well, not quite what happened, because nothing had. Nothing quiet yet.



"Adi, could you please hand me my towel" cried Sunaina from the shower.



Ideally he would have retorted or may be even gone into the shower to embarrass her, but today he didn’t. He left his coffee cup on the TV, went to the bed room, handed her her towel, saw the pack of cigarettes next to his laptop. He picked it up, picked up the news paper and his coffee and headed to the balcony. As he sat down on the old cane chair in the balcony and lit his smoke, he thought back about what had happened yesterday. The memory was vague... but he felt guilty, even with the vague memory. “I should not have had that last drink” he heard himself saying. He should not have gone outside to attend Sunaina's call. Had he not, it would all have been the same. He knew he still loved Sunaina. How could he not? She was his blood and soul for the past 14 years, stood by him in his worst times. But it had all changed with that one extra drink and that one fateful phone call.



"Adi, there is hot water for you. If you are done with your newspaper, could you go to the shower honey? It’s late."



As he turned on the shower and the hot water hit his body, he felt grueling pain leaving his body. He knew how much Sunaina loved him. He loved her a lot too. And till yesterday, his love was not just a lot... it was pure and divine. That extra drink seemed to have ruined this love, or something like that, he was not too sure. It was not like he was cheating on her, at least not yet. But deep down inside he knew something had changed. He had to tell her. Breakfast was the perfect time he thought.



It was common practice between them that she helped him tie his tie every day. Today wasn’t any different, at least not for her. She came to the room, looked at his shirt and dug into the drawer to look for the matching tie. She picked up the grey blue one today. This was the one he had worn for their wedding reception at the Grand Ashok nearly 5 years ago. And Sunaina made it a point to pick that one up, at least once a week for the past 5 years as if to silently remind him of the bond they were in. He always never understood what her point was. Now he seemed to get it. He needed that reminder that he was married. Yesterday was a black mark in his love life. He had to tell her. He had to confess. He loved her.



"There you go" Su said. Then taking a few steps away from and looking at him from head to toe, she went on "Smart as usual" she said, moved closer to him, pecked him on his lips, said "I love you", and walked towards the kitchen to set the table for breakfast. This was painful. His guilt just increased a hundred fold. Of course she loved him. He loved her too. He thought of how Sunaina would react when he confessed. She would not like it. It would break her. But he had to tell her. He could not live knowing that Sunaina was kept in darkness.



He silently sat on the table reading his newspaper. He was more covering his face than reading it. He didn’t know or where to start but she deserved to know the truth. He brought down the news paper and looked at her. She was flicking the remote control and trying to eat her sandwich at the same time. Just as he looked at her, she looked at him and smiled, and put the strand of hair behind her ear. She always looked prettier when her curled hair fell over her forehead. The bright red bindi, subtle eye liner and lip stick made her look gorgeous, especially today in her white salvar suit he had bought for her for their anniversary last month. She had cried when he had gifted her the suit and the diamond ring she always wanted. She had said "I cant believe you love me so much" and had wept like a baby, hugging him tight.



"Sunaina" he called out, meekly. He never called her by her name since they had met in a NCC camp about 14 years ago.



"What happened adi?" she asked, turning off the telivision. He knew she knew something was wrong.



"I have to tell you something" he said, avoiding making eye contact.



"Whats it adi? Whats bothering you?" she said moving closer to him, kneeling down and resting her elbows on his thighs. She gripped his left hand tight. He could sense the sweat, but he was not sure if it was hers or his.



"Remember when you called yesterday night when I came out of the pub to talk to you?"



"Yes. What about it adi" she said. She sounded worried.



"Do you also remember I hung up suddenly and said I would call you back but I didn’t?"



"Clearly!" She stood up. The smile on her face had suddenly disappeared.



"Thats when I fell in love su... Again" he paused, waiting for her to react. She didn’t say a word.



He contintued. "That’s when I fell in love again su. You know I love you dearly. But this time I feel my love is stronger. I want you to know about this first. I have fallen in love with a Yamaha FZ16. Would you buy it for me?"