“Let me do my part now then, Aisha,” I plead. “I want to make a change. I deserve a chance, Aisha. This is my marriage too.”
“For so long, it has only been mine, Reyansh. Forgive me if I don’t have the patience anymore.”
Her words slash through my heart, and while I agree, I can’t help but feel a bit mad at her for doing this so unfairly.
“We have a proposition for you two,” my mom says. “We can’t let you two mindlessly jeopardize your lives. So, what we say is, give it three months. Three months of effort, love, patience, and respect. No ego. Only honest conversations. If by the end of three months, you decide that it is not meant for you, then you can get a divorce.”
Her words set my heart alive. While three months is not enough, it is still something.
I know I would do anything to get her love back in these three months.
“Deal?”
I hold Aisha’s eye contact, and I can see the gears turning inside her brain. I hope and pray she says yes.
“Deal.”
Aisha Kapoor
Ihave this urge to break something or someone’s face. Never in my life have things gone so haywire for me. Never have I ever been so pissed at my mom.
I know she has my best interest at heart, but I can’t help but feel as though she deems me unfit to make decisions regarding my own life. As though she thinks I am still the thirteen-year-old who needs her permission to live her life.
Maybe I still crave her validation, but this was something she shouldn’t have interfered with. I know she has a relationship with him too. The way Reyansh has been able to support her and protect her, I may never be able to. I am well aware of the reality.
While after my father’s demise, our relatives had been a steadfast support, like our backbone, but we also knew that we were nothing more than another liability. My uncles had enough on their plates with their own families, and then there was us, another thing they needed to worry about.
While they never made us feel as such with their words, there was a certain look in their eyes that could never be ignored. Reyansh’s involvement in our lives not only brought love back into mine, but it also gained us a lot of respect in our extended families. They worship the ground he walks on and the power he radiates. He is theirdamadafter all.
I know the news of my divorce won’t be well digested by them. Not that I care, but my mother does. And what concernsher concerns me too. But I am not going to let their old mindsets ruin my life.
If I can’t find a sliver of love in this marriage, I won’t stay in it.
I wasn’t expecting my mom to accept our—my decision so easily. But her propositioning that we stay together for three more months wasn’t even on my mind. Don’t just stay; put in effort. I have done all I could to save us. I can’t do more. And I don’t expect much from Reyansh.
“Three months,” he repeats, walking into our bedroom where I sit loathing and grumbling silently. “Three months to reignite our relationship.”
I scoff. “Three months of torture sounds better than whatever bluff you are playing.”
“I am not bluffing,” he says, setting down his phone on the bedside.
“Sure, fool someone else. Our mothers aren’t eavesdropping, so you can cut the crap now.”
“What do you mean by that?” he asks, his eyes narrowed
I am so fired up right now. I know better than to argue when my blood is so hot, but I can’t help myself around him. I have never been able to control myself when he is concerned.
“I mean that you had no right to lie out there by saying you don’t want a divorce. I thought we agreed on that.”
“You want a divorce,” he points at me, as if correcting me. “I want to give our marriage a chance. I never lied.”
“You said you would do anything for me just minutes before,” I lash out.
“And I did. And I will. I will do anything but let you go. You have to believe me when I say that my life will be worthless without you in it. Call me selfish or whatever, but I can’t give you up. Not without a fight at the very least.”
I shake my head, done with his antics.
“Three months, Aisha. I will fight for you tooth and nail. I will fight even you, if need be.”
