Testing my wife’s fidelity 2

Testing my wife's fidelity 2
“Rajiv, what’s wrong, you look like hell?” ritesh exclaimed seeing my haggard appearance. “ritesh, please. Do me a big favor and don’t ask any questions”, i replied as i passed the contract agreement over the desk. He looked at it and looked up at me. “what the fuck is going on? Don’t tell me not to ask questions – i don’t deserve a statement like that. We’re supposed to be friends, or am i wrong about that?” i quickly debated whether to tell him or not. “you’re right, ritesh. We are friends, but please, i just can’t talk about it. I have to leave ….we’ll talk about it later,” and i did just that. “wait, rajiv. Okay, i won’t ask you anything. Call me later in the evening, okay? You can do that, can’t you? I hesitated and then nodded. “thanks.” i mumbled as i left the office. It was four thirty and manisha was going to leave office at five. There was only 30 minutes left to stop something i did not want to happen. Suddenly everything became clear. I needed to talk with her and save my marriage. I picked up the phone and called her office. I felt stupid and relieved at the same time. Why had i hesitated so long before doing just that. Luckily i still had time. Thirty minutes more to tell her i have been a fool but i loved her and did not want her to go with that rohit sinha. “excuse me, may i speak to mrs manisha mittal please,” i said “i’m sorry, sir, mrs mittal is not here at the office,“ came the answer. “she ..she is not at the office …”i repeated, my voice trembling. A thousand things went through my mind at that very moment. “but i am her husband …can you tell me where she went?” I managed to say. “no, sir, she left early today … at three o’clock”. My heart was racing very fast. I needed to get out of here. The only place i thought of was home. Maybe manisha has left for home, maybe she was just feeling unwell. I hoped against hope that this was really the case… but i knew it would not be. My last hope was gone within thirty minutes, the house was exactly as i left it earlier in the morning. Manisha did not come home after work. She went straight to wherever she had to go, with whoever she intended to be with and …was at this very moment probably doing whatever it was that she was up to … I could not conceive that she would do that. I fought the images that flashed through my mind …and decided to go for a drive just to avoid staying here and torture myself. The only place that came to my mind was the coffee shop and i took the car and went straight there. Rohit would not be there but i needed to be somewhere else at this moment. So i walked to my car, get inside and started my engine and was in front of the coffee shop before i knew it. I got out of my car like a robot, and went over and took a quick look inside before entering …and stopped dead. I could not say which feeling came first when i saw rohit sitting at the bar: a feeling of surprise, of relief or of joy. Anyway i almost ran into his arms and shot several questions at him at one stroke. “hey …what are you doing here? What happened? Shouldn’t you be somewhere else right now?” He was surprised by such a show of enthusiasm and seemed taken aback and just stood there staring at me. But i did not want him to wait, i wanted him to tell me the words, to confirm to me that he was not, at this very moment, somewhere else doing …well, in the company of my wife. “so, tell me what happened to your …date?” Just then an awry thought came to my mind and i added “it was meant to be today only, right? Your date with the lovely mrs mittal?” “yeah it was to be today only,” he finally said. “but something terrible happened.” He said after what appeared to be a very very long pause. “what?!!!” I almost shouted. What terrible thing could have happened? “well …actually i am suspended from work,” he said. “suspended from work?!!” I repeated. ”how come? And since when?” This was the last thing i expected to come from his mouth. “since yesterday morning …i mean the day after i talked to you. You see, since last month i was doing …hmm …some side business …if you see what i mean…” I did not see what he meant, at least i did not care the least. Still i asked him ”ok … and what happened then.” “well, yesterday when i went to office, the boss called me in his office and told me they knew all about it and i was suspended till a board decision is taken.” “oh, that’s so sad,” i said, somehow feeling pity for him. Still i wanted to hear from his mouth that nothing happened between my wife and him. “so, i take it that your date with mrs mittal is …cancelled.” “you are crazy man …everybody at the office is talking about me right now …do you think this woman or any woman for that matter, would want to be seen with me?” “i guess not.” “as a matter of fact, i met her in the corridor and she just ignored me. I seem to have lost interest in her eyes. I really regret not humping that bitch …i should really have got her to ride my cock, i guess it’s to late now.” I knew better not to pay attention to his words. Now i could see how foolish i had been, to link my wife with such an insignificant guy, who could not even behave himself to save his job. Really i was too glad manisha had not gone ahead. She obviously saw through him from the beginning and would not have been the least interested in him had i not come up with these stupid tests. Now, anyway she was giving her the cold shoulder and that was setting the records straight, once and for all. Five minutes later, i was left the coffee shop in much better mood than when i came and reached home a little before seven. Manisha was sitting in the living room, waiting for me. “rajiv, we need to talk,” she said straight away.

“where were you, i’d been looking for you since early afternoon …and don’t tell me you were at the office, because i phoned there and they said you left early.” I realized i was shouting at her and it was not how i wanted it to be. But it was beyond me, i just could not control my emotions anymore. I looked at manisha and was surprised that she seemed so cool, so calm, so rational. Was she really going to let me in on what was eating at her? “it’s over, manisha. I no longer wish to live like this. Either you tell me what’s gnawing at you, or i’ll leave without any further discussion. It’s up to you.” I saw a grimace on her face. She stared at me and said: “my mother had a surgical operation today. She is probably not going to live much longer …, ” she said softly. “what?!!!” I shouted for the second time in the same afternoon. “since whe do you know that? And why didn’t you tell me about it before?” “i learned about it yesterday …and tried to tell you but you seemed lost in your thoughts,” she continued, without one changing her tone of voice even once. I sat there, my mouth agape, totally shocked. There were so many things going on in my mind, so many things to be told or not. I knew i needed to sort out things for myself first. After a long silence, i took her hand in mine and said, “i am here now …everything will be just fine.” My mother-in-law died the following week. Progressively manisha was able to overcome the lost and things started to get better between us. Until it came out at me out of the blue. We had just finished dinner; manisha was reading a magazine and i was switching channels on television when manisha said: “have you ever had an affair or thought of having one?” How do you honestly answer a question like that? I give it a quick thought. Had i ever had an affair? No. Had i ever thought of having one? A couple of times. I knew there was only one answer i could safely give: “of course not. Why would you even ask me a question like that?” “no reason, just idle curiosity.” I looked at her. I knew her better to know she would not ask a question like that without a reason. I guess she sensed my eyes on her, so she added,”that’s all it was, just curiosity. Shilpa told me that she just found out that rohit had an affair two years ago. Two weeks ago one of the girls i work with told me she found out her husband was having an affair. I wondered if it was some form of itch.” Nothing more was said about the subject that evening. I spent the following day wondering about it though. I knew my wife better than she thought i did and i could tell that there was more behind her question than she was letting on. She had asked that question to gauge my response to it. Usually when a woman does that, she is either thinking of having an affair or was already having one….