I know he has always been like a brother to both of us, yet my heart burns with jealousy.
“Why are you so worried about her?” I ask, spite laced in my voice.
He shakes his head, seeing right through me. “She is my sister-in-law, and she has always treated me like an elder brother. I am just doing the same. Besides, she deserves better than this, and you know it.”
I tilt my head, examining him while trying to calm myself down.
I don’t require him to lecture me about my relationship now. My parents do it enough even though they don’t know the details of what a wreck it has become.
“You are a relationship expert now?”
“No, Reyansh,” he says, dead serious. No sarcasm in his words. “You were the relationship expert. Remember? What happened that you have become this way? Aisha was and is the single best thing that has happened to you, and you keep treating her like a stranger? I thought you loved her.”
I clench my hands into a fist, trying to control myself from losing my patience, which is hanging by a thin rope.
“I did.”
He waits for me but doesn’t say anything. I rarely open up about what’s going on in my mind, and that is part of the problem of why Aisha and I are in this situation.
I run a tired hand on my face while I loosen my tie with the other. The room seems suffocating to me.
“I just… don’t know how to fix this. Our marriage has become a mess, and I am to be blamed for that. She made efforts while I couldn’t. Now it seems like even she has moved on.”
He stays silent for a beat before opening his mouth, and I pray to all gods that he doesn’t say something painful anymore.
“Then let her go.”
My eyebrows furrow as I stand up, almost losing my balance.
“What the fuck?”
He takes a step towards me, not caring that I might punch him in the face itself for uttering such bullshit.
Leave Aisha? The only person I love in this world? No chance
“She deserves better. You know it, and I know it. It’s about time she realizes it and decides to leave you. Before that happens, I suggest you let her go.”
“Shut the fuck up. You know I won’t let her go.”
“Why not? You refuse to fix anything. So why not let her go and live a peaceful life yourself?”
“You know I can’t.”
“Why is what I am asking, Reyansh?”
He keeps pushing, and I heave out a tired sigh. He won’t leave without hearing what he wants.
“Because I still love her. I always have and always will.”
“Then keep her before she leaves you. Because once a woman leaves you, Reyansh. She never comes back.”
He doesn’t wait for my response, choosing to leave me alone in the office.
And I only pray to God that she doesn’t decide to leave me too.
Because I know I won’t survive that.
Aisha Kapoor
