Sujatha Rao

Drama Romance Others

4.0  

Sujatha Rao

Drama Romance Others

He loves me; He loves me not…

He loves me; He loves me not…

4 mins
244


"He doesn't love me anymore"

Sagarika let out a deep sigh at this recurrent thought creeping into her mind over the last few weeks. This feeling made her quite sad as she went about her daily chores. She could hear Sandeep talking in that loud tone of his on one of his countless conference calls. 

"He doesn't talk to me even 1/10th of how much he talks to his colleagues" Sagarika surmised. But it wasn't like this. In the initial days of their marriage, he would go on and on about what happened at work, describing it to the last minute detail. But then it started to wane and now their conversations are mostly down to monosyllables.

"Thanks to the lockdown, at least he is home all the time. Otherwise, it was as though he came home only to sleep" she tried to console herself many a time with these words. But her heart pined for those good old days.

Whenever she complained about it to her mom, her mom reprimanded her saying she should cut her husband some slack as he was definitely tired after a hard day at work and she shouldn't make it more difficult to him by whining during the little time he spent at home.

"But what about me? Who would I talk to after a long day at home all alone mostly?" she wondered but didn't utter those words to her Mom because she wasn't ready for another sermon on how he is tirelessly working to provide for his family. She felt her mom would at least acknowledge how tirelessly she worked to run the house after sacrificing her own career. She would try to shake off that feeling knowing very well that her mother not only acknowledged this but also encouraged her to take up something on her own many a time.

"Sandeep, you better do something about your hair man. Before a bird lays eggs in it" Sagarika heard one of Sandeep's colleagues exclaim over the Zoom meeting outside in the hall. That comment was followed by a round of laughter.

Sandeep's hair had indeed grown very long and messy. It definitely looked quite odd and unbecoming on those formal Zoom meetings. 

"I have to do something with my hair" Sagarika turned with a start as she didn't hear Sandeep walking into the kitchen.

"Yes, you should." Sagarika replied.

"Maybe I should cut it myself" he continued.

Taking a deep breath, Sagarika said "I would do it, if you don't mind."

"Are you sure?"

"I guess it's you who needs to be sure" was Sagarika's tongue in cheek reply.

"Okay. Let's do it."

"Right now?"

"Yes. Let's finish it off before I change my mind."

Though thinking about it made Sagarika a bit nervous, she did like the fact that Sandeep trusted her to do the job. She wore her kitchen apron and got ready with a pair of scissors and a comb in her hands as he sat in front of the wall mounted mirror.

She bunched a strand of his thick overgrown hair in one scoop, raised the stainless steel scissors to the base of his neck and took a nice snip at it in a single stroke.

"He is the one who is known for delivering cutting edge technology solutions and here I am, cutting the edges of his hair." Sagarika mused. Seeing her smile from the mirror Sandeep asked her "What?"

"Nothing." Then she changed her mind and told him what she was thinking.

Sandeep burst into laughter when he heard those words.

"That's the funniest thing I heard in ages" he said.

This seemed to lighten the atmosphere and as Sagarika went about her business, Sandeep went on talking about what was happening at work during the lockdown. As Sagarika listened to her husband while focusing on the job at hand, a feeling of warmth washed over her. By the time she finished, she felt light, though it was Sandeep who looked lighter with bulk of his bushel of hair lying on the floor.

"You know Sandeep. I missed this talk of yours." Sagarika blurted out.

As Sandeep looked at her in surprise in the mirror opposite, she continued "Recently, though you were home all the time, it was as though you were never there. We hardly speak to each other these days."

Sagarika couldn't hold back her tears as she said those words. Sandeep got up and held his wife in his arms as she silently sobbed into his shoulder.

"I am sorry Saagri. I had been upset over some politics at work and didn't want to upset you too. But I guess I was wrong."

"I would like you to share with me the good, the bad and the ugly Sandeep. We vowed to do so when we got married."

"Right. I am sorry once again."

After a while, Sagarika untangled herself from her husband. As she got ready to clean the floor, Sandeep said "Let me do it. That's the least I can do."

Looking at himself in the mirror he said "That's a neat job you did Saagri. Maybe even a better job than my Hair Salon."

Sagarika laughed as she thought "who would have ever thought that during the lockdown, a lock of hair would release the tension between us and help us find a way back into love."


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