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Silence followed.
She quietly listened to him as he held her hand and looked into her eyes. “Roshni, I know with what happened in the past, you think I’m irresponsible and not dependable, and that’s fine; I take the blame for it. But things have changed now. You have made me realize several things, and…and I never asked you to love or respect me. All I’m saying is I love you. You are my wife, and you’re injured. Let me take care of you.”
He was calm and continued, “I have always had a lot of regard and respect for you, Roshni. I have always known you to be very mature and to handle situations very well, and over time I started to adore you. Without me realizing it, I fell in love with you, so much so that I cannot imagine my life without you.”
“B-but–”
Deepak interrupted her, “I have a sincere request, Roshni. I am here to spend time with you and hopefully convince you to be my wife. This is not going to be easy for us, especially if you continue to have this attitude, but we have to make an attempt to resolve our differences. You made a comment regarding this in Lonawala: both partners have to work together to make it happen; one person’s efforts are not enough! Do you remember?”
Roshni stared into his eyes. He remembers that conversation!
“Roshni, I have said this to you a few times before, and I repeat – I love you and want you back in my life. I want you to be my life partner, and I mean it. However, I can understand your situation; past experiences are not easy to forget. So as you mentioned, December 14th, haan, December 14th; we will live as husband and wife until December 14th. During this period, if you develop any feelings for me and are ready to accept me as your husband, we will continue, but December 14th, yes, at that time, if you still believe you cannot accept me as your husband, I will leave you and go away, never to bother you and never to enter into your life again. But until then…until then I do not want to hear these statements: ‘I am not your wife, you please go away,’ and so on. Will you cooperate with me this time?” he asked.
They looked into each other’s eyes. Deepak’s request was genuine. Roshni was devastated, but this request of his touched her, and her eyes were moist. She had a magnanimous heart
and was forgiving; however, this time she was at a crossroads. Deepak had saddened her tremendously in the past. Could she forgive him? She was unsure!
She began to see his personality and his sincere efforts to continue with this relationship. She nodded her head, agreeing to his condition, and slowly walked away, and Deepak went into the kitchen to do the dishes and clean. He was upset as well, both at himself for bringing Roshni to this situation and at her for not giving him an opportunity to prove himself. But he felt joy when Roshni accepted his request. This brought a ray of hope for him!
After the dishes he went to check on her and then started to work on his laptop. Looking at one of the e-mails from the project manager, he wondered if Roshni was aware that she was on the same team as him for this project.
Roshni calmed down after a few minutes, and she turned on her computer to attend to her e-mails, and after a couple of minutes…“What!” she exclaimed and turned towards Deepak with a startled expression.
“What happened? Is everything okay?”
Roshni came to her senses and could not believe what she saw. It had been a few weeks since she’d turned on her computer and checked her e-mails, and the first thing she saw was Deepak on the invitee list for a meeting, and he was copied on several project-related e-mails. She could not believe it – Deepak on the same project team! Looking towards Deepak, she asked, “Deepak, did you know you were on the same project team as me?”
“Yes, I found out when I went to meet the project manager.”
“Why did you not tell me?”
Deepak nodded. “I knew you would figure it out soon, so…” He had his head buried in the computer, busy scanning the e-mails. “Are you surprised?”
Roshni casually glanced at him and went back to checking her e-mail.
“Roshni, it’s good both of us are on the same team. This way we can work together at home. You missed the training I gave last time in Bangalore; I can train you on this technology and software now.”
He smiled, and Roshni observed he was happy. Internally she was excited that she was on the same team and that Deepak would be able to train her, one more opportunity to be closer to him!
~ ~ ~
At lunchtime, Deepak asked Roshni what she would like to eat. Instead of responding to his question, she started to walk into the kitchen, and he stopped her. “Roshni, you are not entering the kitchen. I will cook, please.”
He was serious when he’d said he would cook, she realized!
“What can you cook? Let me do the cooking.”
“Ohoooo! You have no idea of my capabilities. Just wait and watch. Do me a favor, will you? Can you sit here at the dining table across from the kitchen and talk to me. Both of us will cook this way,” he said, feeling confident of his cooking skills.
“Can I chop the vegetables at least?” she asked.
“Okay, sounds good.” Then he continued, “Why can’t we just talk politely to each other? Why do we have to argue?”
Roshni glared at him and opened her mouth. He interrupted her, “Okay, okay, let’s just focus on cooking for now.”
Deepak was all professional; he wore an apron and brought vegetables for Roshni to cut while she sat at the dining table and he began to cook. He pulled a couple of pans from the cupboard, to one he added moong dal and water and allowed the dal to cook.
From the kitchen he said, “Roshni, how much rice should I make…one cup, two cups?”
