HEARTLESS
HEARTLESS


CHAPTER 1: GRUDGES
A man sitting on the candle-lit table looked at a lady sitting in front of him. The lady was a vision of elegance and grace, whose beauty was truly captivating. Her eyes sparkled with an inner light, reflecting her warmth. Her hair, a rich chestnut brown, cascaded in soft waves down to her shoulders, framing her delicate features. Her lips, with a natural coral shade, were soft and inviting. She picked up a glass and poured wine into it.
A small cake with a candle in it sat untouched at the center of the table. The lady drank wine as Daniel watched her. She gently stopped and looked up.
Daniel said, "Jessica, I think that's enough wine for the day."
"Don't you tell me what to do," Jessica said in a rude tone.
"You don't have to be rude, darling. You have been continuously drinking for the last half an hour."
Jessica didn't say anything and continued drinking. Daniel thought for a few seconds, stood up, went toward her, and kept a gift box in front of Jessica, "Here's your gift, my love. I am sure that you will love it."
He drew her close, his eyes locked onto hers with affection. With affection, he lodged her face in his hands, his fingers tracing the contours of her cheeks. Their breaths synchronized in the intimate moment. He leaned in, his lips inching closer to hers, and then, in a gesture filled with deep affection and desire, their lips met. Their lips moved together in a slow, passionate dance, conveying emotions.
Jessica pushed Daniel away. Daniel asked, "What happened?"
"Nothing. I am not in the mood for this today."
"Not in the mood? It's our anniversary night. Tonight is the night of celebration," Daniel argued, "At least open this gift."
"This gift? Without opening it, I can tell what's inside it. Tell me if I am wrong in guessing that it's a purse," Jessica said in a disappointing tone.
"Yes, it is a purse," Daniel said with a pause.
"On every occasion, you grab a purse from our shop and give it to me as a gift." Jessica disputed.
"I thought you loved purses. You can use different purses for different occasions."
"I expect something different or unique, every time you come with a purse that is not even bought from another shop," Jessica said in a lower tone.
"Don't worry, darling. I will give you something different on our next anniversary," Daniel said while faking out a smile.
"Next anniversary? Do you even know how to love?" Jessica took a sip of wine.
"What are you saying? Of course, I love you," Daniel comes closer to Jessica to kiss her but she stops him.
"Why are you doing this? Just because of the gift? Don't see what the gift is, instead see the emotions with which the person is giving the gift," Daniel said.
"I thought it was just my overthinking but now I have realized recently that you never loved me," Jessica cried.
"That's not true. Do you think I am heartless? Today, we have completed three years of our marriage. All these years, you just complain and do nothing. It seems as if you never loved me," Daniel argued.
"Me and complain? I always compromised. What did you do?"
"So, that's what you think? Please say more. I want to know what you think about me," Daniel shouted.
In the dimly lit room, the air was heavy and tension crackled like electricity between them. Husband and wife found themselves locked in a battle of emotions. The lines inscribed on Daniel's face spoke of frustration and weariness. Jessica's arms were folded tightly across her chest, a clear sign of her defenses being up. Her eyes, usually warm, were now narrowed with a mixture of anger and hurt.
"How dare you! I did everything for you but you never did anything for me. Did you ever think about what I needed? What were my dreams or needs? You and your male ego ruined our relationship," Jessica said in sorrow.
"Your dreams? Your needs? I did everything that I could do with the money I made."
"What money do you make? I make more money than you. Even the household expenses are paid by me and tell me how many people talk to you?" Jessica wiped her face.
The candle blew off with the wind coming from the window. The window got shut due to the storm raging outside.
"That's enough. I am tired of you having a superiority complex just because you earn more or you have more people to talk to. You never respected me and you never loved me," Daniel threw his wine glass on the floor.
Jessica interrupted, "Oh please, stop your melodrama. I would have never married a man like you. It was because of my foolish parents that we got married. I should have taken divorce from you earlier."
Daniel giggled, "So, that's the truth. You wanna get rid of me."
"Just shut up."
Daniel didn't say anything. He closed his eyes and whispered, "Please God kill me now. I don't wanna live this life.
"Here we go again. Whenever we fight, you say this crap or break things. Who wants to live with a person like you," Jessica shouted.
They kept arguing for what felt like hours, their voices rising and falling like a turbulent sea. Accusations had been hurled, and wounds from the past had been reopened. As there was silence after the arguments and fighting, Daniel stood up and walked toward the kitchen as Jessica continued drinking.
Daniel came with a drink and kept it in front of Jessica, "I prepared us a drink for you on today's special occasion. I'm in no mood to drink but here's your drink as it looks like for you, the drink is more important than me."
Daniel walked toward the room and closed the door. In the dining room, Jessica sat alone and kept drinking. She looked at her wedding photograph on the wall in front of her and started sobbing.
She looked at the drink Daniel prepared for her. She picked up the glass and drank it. After a few minutes, she started feeling dizzy and her eyes closed.
After some hours, her eyes opened. Everything was blurring to her so she rubbed her eyes and looked around.
"I think that should be enough for the day. I need to rest but I won't sleep with him," she whispered.
She got up and hobbled toward the other bedroom. Her vision was still blurry. She reached the bed with difficulty and fell on it.
CHAPTER 2: RECONCILE
"The initial months were so great and lovely. We loved each other. Our marriage was arranged and we started loving each other from day one. His shop was doing great and I was also doing my job. We both were happy financially and physically. He would bring me gifts and love me every night. He would take me to the movies, long drives, and dinners. We went to Singapore for our honeymoon. He would grab my hand everywhere we went to make me feel secure. The heat of his body, I still remember it. Then everything changed," a lady said.
A man sitting in front with a notepad and a pen looked at her.
"His love for me was never the same," the lady said.
"Why do you think that he doesn't love you now?"
"After the initial months of love and affection, his behavior changed and I got to see his real side. All the earlier thing that he had shown was fake," the lady said.
"The first change was that earlier, he was more focused on his shop but then he started taking it for granted. We would fight every day on this topic. The next change was that he stopped taking me to movies long drives or dinners. He always had excuses, mainly of him being tired after working at the shop the whole day. Other shopkeepers also work and they also enjoy their time with their families. This one is a strange piece," the lady continued.
"Another shocker for me was when I came to know that he doesn't know any kind of daily work. I had to do all the work. He would just dictate that this work is pending or that work is pending. He would never take stress, I had to take stress to complete all the work. I should have divorced him earlier," the lady said while looking at the man's eyes.
"Jessica, marriage is not a simple thing. Everyone has to follow his duty and both parties have to compromise," the man said.
Jessica stared at the man for a few minutes and said, "After telling you this much, I think that it will be easy for you to guess who followed his or her duty and who sacrificed and compromised."
The man turned the page of this notepad and asked, "I can understand what you are trying to say. Tell me one thing, you celebrated your third marriage anniversary with him before he left you?"
"Yes and then he left me."
The man smiled and asked, "Do you want to meet your husba
nd again? If he comes in front of you again, would you reconcile with him?"
"Maybe or maybe not," Jessica said instantaneously.
Then she started thinking for a few minutes and said, "To be honest, it is a difficult question to answer. The problem with me is that I am over-sensitive. I can't remain angry for a long time. He may have flaws or he may be a failed husband but I have a soft corner for him."
The man smiled, "There's no problem in this. If I am correct, today's your marriage anniversary?"
"Yes, today we would have celebrated our fourth marriage anniversary. Also, today one year ago Daniel left me. I don't know what he might be doing nowadays or whom he might be seeing, kissing, or having sex with. I haven't seen anyone since he left me," Jessica said while biting her lips.
The man didn't say anything. He glanced at Jessica from the bottom to the top.
Jessica continued, "I woke up the next morning and found out that he had left me. That day, I decided not to run after him or find him. He also had another bad habit. Every time we fought, he would leave the house in anger without eating food and many times he would break things. I would run behind him on the road to apologize to him and would bring him back for food. The neighbors always saw this and it would hurt my reputation in the neighborhood. But that day, I had enough. I didn't go to look for him that day. For a year, I just waited for him to come back."
"It's every household story. The relationship between husband and wife is not simple. It's complex and needs to be executed carefully."
The man looked at the sun outside the window and said, "I think that's sufficient for the day. You should go home and rest. You can come back tomorrow to continue the talk," the man smiled.
Jessica left the building. She saw the sunset for a few minutes and started walking toward her house. On the way home, the winds started blowing strongly. As she reached in front of the house, she stopped and looked at the house reliving all the good memories she had of the initial years. She went inside and as she reached the door, she saw Daniel sitting on the chair at the dining table where he usually sat.
"He's back? Has he come to reconcile" she thought.
Daniel was pouring wine into a glass in front of him and then went to the opposite side and poured wine into the glass kept in front of the empty chair opposite him. He sat and started drinking wine. Jessica didn't say anything and just kept looking at him from the door. She wanted to talk with him but she couldn't muster the courage to look at him and talk to him. As she mustered her courage to walk in front of him, Daniel looked toward her.
CHAPTER 3: HARD TRUTH
Daniel looked toward her but didn't make eye contact. For the next ten minutes, she kept looking at Daniel drinking continuously.
The window of the dining room shut due to the fast wind.
"Damn you, window," Daniel yelled.
"And he hasn't changed a bit. The same old Daniel who would curse non-living things on small things," Jessica thought.
She mustered her courage and said, "I know why we needed to separate."
After a brief pause, she continued, "I now know that there were some lessons we needed to learn apart. But nothing can dull the ache that took your place."
Daniel didn't say anything and then looked toward the wine glass kept opposite to his glass, "I used to think you were my world, but now I see you were just a small, sad chapter in the book of my life,"
"I was angry that night. I said a lot of things under the influence of wine. It wasn't the first time that I said so much in a fit of anger and under the influence of wine but you also left me for a year. I think we both made mistakes so let's forget what happened and let's reconcile. It will be a little difficult to bring our marriage back to what it was in the initial months but we can try," Jessica came in front of Daniel and sat in the chair opposite him. Daniel kept looking at the wine glass kept on the opposite side of the table but didn't look toward Jessica.
He kept staring at the glass and whispered, "That night, I realized I deserve a happily ever after, not with someone like you. You were just a chapter of mistakes I would never make again."
Suddenly, the doorbell rang. Daniel stood up and hobbled toward the door. He opened the door and welcomed a lady with a bag inside the house, "Come inside, sweetheart."
Daniel took the lady to the drawing room and made her sit on the sofa, "So, how are you?"
"Thank you for always being with me," Daniel kissed the hand of the lady.
Daniel pointed his finger toward the chair at the dining table where Jessica was sitting, "Do you see that chair opposite to me? That's the place where Jessica drank the last wine of her life."
Jessica was shocked to hear what Daniel said. Confusion washed over her face. She was completely lost. She stood up, took a couple of steps back, and looked around in confusion.
"I had enough of her. I was not able to tolerate her anymore. That night, our anniversary night, I decided to end it forever. As you told me to do, I put poison in her drink. First, she fell asleep and then died."
"Daniel, my sweetheart, you did what was right. That bitch was not treating you right. Thank God, you got me and I helped you get out of this terrible situation. Now, no one can separate us," the lady kissed Daniel on the lips.
Daniel grabbed the lady from her waist and kissed her on the neck, "Now, you are with me so I don't want anything now. I wanted to get rid of that heartless lady and I got rid of her. Her arrogant nature ruined everything. I tried to give all the love that I had but she never cared about me. She just always taunted me. Daniel, you earn less than me. Daniel, you need to focus on growing your shop business. Daniel, you don't love me. Daniel, you don't give me good gifts,"
Jessica was terrified. She looked at her hands and started shaking. She looked toward Daniel and cried, "Daniel?"
"Forget her Daniel. You have me. Here are the papers to sell this house," the lady opened the box.
"Yes, I don't want to live in this house. I have so many bad memories. Our new house where we have been living since last year is so beautiful and more positive than this one," Daniel signed the papers.
"Whose choice was it then?" the lady laughed.
Daniel also laughed, "Yes, the same way you chose the poison that gave her heart attack and left no trace of poisoning in the body. You are an incredible doctor, sweetheart."
Daniel cupped Sarah's face in his hands. She felt a rush of warmth as he leaned in, his breath mingling with hers. Their lips finally met in a soft, lingering kiss.
Tears dropped from the eyes of Jessica who couldn't believe what she was hearing, "I thought to restart everything with you. How could you do this?" she kept shouting and ran outside the house.
Jessica stopped outside and tried to control herself when a sudden thought sparked her mind. She walked toward the building where she regularly met that man. As she entered the building, she saw the man leaving the building, "Wait a minute,"
"Hello, Jessica. What happened?" the man asked.
"How are you able to see and talk with me?"
"Did you never notice where you regularly visited?" the man asked.
"Yes, I know. You are Mr. Brown, a renowned therapist."
Mr. Brown smiled and said, "Let me tell you a hard truth. After a person dies, they walk around like the living do, unaware that they are dead. And the reason that we are talking is that I am also a dead person. I died ten years ago in a car accident. I was a therapist by profession and I continued this profession after death for the dead ones like you."
"Why didn't you ever tell me the truth?" Jessica asked with a crack in her voice.
"I, myself, got to know this truth on my fifth death anniversary. It's hard to digest this truth and you think that you are alone but in reality, you are dead. I thought that I would tell you all this once the right time came but it seems that you now know the truth," Mr. Brown said.
Mr. Brown continued, "Jessica, be strong. Now, you have to move on. It's difficult but you don't have any other option."
Mr. Brown tapped on her shoulders and left. Jessica looked out of the building in sorrow as the rain started. She stepped outside the building in the rain and remembered all the moments of her married life. She looked above and looked at the rain water and saw the droplets falling in it, "All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in the rain."