You Two Are Perfect For Eachother

11. The Storm

Mansi and Amit were settling in into a routine and life was good. Mansi woke up before Amit every day and prepared breakfast. They would have breakfast together and then Amit would get ready for work while Mansi prepared lunch to pack for Amit to take. After Amit left for the office, Mansi would clean around the house and shower. Afternoons were boring which she passed by either watching TV or reading some book. Sometimes she would go out to shop for household items but the other times she was confined to her house. Her friends would drop in from time to time but mostly she was by herself. On weekends, Amit was home but as the project had started, he was busy most of the time. Both were struggling to spend some quality time together and tried to make the best of what they were getting.

Eventually, Amit started working late and Mansi was left alone. She took up some online courses to be productive but the thought of Amit kept on nagging her throughout. Mansi wasn't complaining and if anything, she was hoping that the project is successful as Amit was working really hard on it. The product launch presentation was due soon and once that's over, they would have all the time in the world.

It was just another Friday and Mansi was reading a book when her phone rang. The caller-id displayed her mother-in-law's name. Smiling, she picked it up and greeted her with a 'Namaste'. Amit's mother adored her daughter-in-law and was happy to have found such a girl for Amit. It had been a few months since she last saw her and she wanted to catch up with her. She was organising a small dinner get-together with their's and Mansi's family and wanted Amit and Mansi to come. On hearing about it Mansi readily agreed. They talked for a little while and then said their goodbyes.

Mansi was too excited for the dinner party and called up Amit to tell him about the arrangement. Amit agreed to go but Mansi detected a bit of a reluctance. She let it pass thinking it was because of the huge amount of work that he has to deal with these days. She had been noticing that the work has started taking its toll on Amit and thought this would be a perfect opportunity for him to relax a little.

Amit had agreed to be home by seven and that they would leave immediately so Mansi was all set to go when the clock struck seven. She sat on the dining table, scrolling through her phone waiting for Amit to come but it was a quarter to eight and there was no sign of Amit. She decided to wait for another fifteen minutes before calling him and so she did. When the clock struck eight, Mansi dialled Amit's number and let the bell ring. He didn't pick up. Panic started gripping her. Was Amit alright, did something happen, why wasn't he answering her calls?

She dialled again and again and again but there was no response. Half an hour had gone by. Finally, her phone rang. Amit was calling her.

"Hey, are you alright?" Mansi quickly answered the phone and said. The reply that she got from Amit was not what she was expecting. 

"Can you stop bothering me? I'm trying to work here!" Amit shouted from the other side. "I will come home when I'm done, okay? Do you understand that?"

Mansi kept quiet. Tears sprung to her eyes. Never in her life had anybody raised their voice at her. She had always been the good girl who was adored by everyone.

"Hello..." Amit spoke again sounding beyond pissed. 

"The...The dinner?" Mansi managed to mutter.

"God Mansi, I just told you that I'm working! Go without me! Stop nagging me like a typical housewife! This is why I didn't want to get married in the first place!" With that, he cut the call.

Mansi was frozen. She realised that she had been holding the phone to her ear even after the call was disconnected when she got another call. Tears were flowing endlessly from her eyes. Her mother was calling her. Mansi took a deep breath to calm herself down before picking up the call.

"Beta, did you leave from your place?" Mansi's mother asked.

"No Mumma, not yet." Mansi tried to speak as normally as possible.

Mansi's mother was a smart lady and she could sense that Mansi was upset.

"Is everything alright?" Mansi's mother asked her.

"Yes Mumma, I was just leaving from here. Unfortunately, Amit won't be able to make it, he is still stuck at the office due to the new project assignment." Mansi replied.

"That's too bad but you come here as soon as possible. Everyone is waiting." Her mother said.

"Will be there in fifteen minutes," Mansi said and kept the call. She felt numb. She did not want their families to see her like that so she rushed to the bathroom and reapplied her makeup.

Mansi was welcomed with open hands at the party and everyone was happy to see her. They talked non-stop about random things and the chatter finally stopped when it was time to leave. As Mansi had taken a cab to come to the party, her parents dropped her home. The ride was quiet but she could sense her mother's scrutinizing gaze upon her so she avoided any sort of eye contact. As she got out of the car, her mother also got out so she stopped and looked at her. Her mother spread her hands for Mansi to come and give her a hug. She was on the verge of tears again but she couldn't show it to them. She couldn't let her parents worry. She knew that they loved her to pieces.

She saw her parents drive away and finally made her way inside. Amit was still not back and it was already past midnight. She checked her phone to see if he had dropped some message but there was nothing. She decided to take a hot shower before heading for bed.

Once under the spray of hot water, she let herself loose to her sadness and cried her heart out. Her eyes were red and puffy when she finally got out of the shower and with no energy left, she put on the comfiest pair of pyjamas that she owned and went to bed.

There was no sign of Amit the next morning although his side of the bed looked slept in. She had woken up with a throbbing headache but she decided to check on Amit before taking care of herself. There were dirty dished in the sink which meant that Amit had had breakfast but where was he? It was Saturday so he should be here somewhere but he was not. She finally went to her room to get her phone to call him and saw two new messages,

Going to Office

Will come home late, don't wait up

**************

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