The Secret

The Secret

Mr. and Mrs. Bhatia pushed open the massive golden door of their new palatial bungalow. The room was dim and the next second, there was a cacophony. The room was filled with live music and the voices screamed ‘Surprise’. As the lights went on, the couple were beaming with joy as they met their children and grand-children and close friends after quite a long time. They all had planned a surprise for their 25th wedding anniversary. 

Mrs. Bhatia saw the décor and the 3-tier cake that had the 25th silver wedding jubilee logo. She glanced at Mr. Bhatia who was busy chatting with his friends. Nostalgia took over her. It had been 25 years and they both had managed to keep their ‘secret’ well-hidden from everyone. 

The grandchildren rushed towards her and urged her to cut the cake soon. The Bhatia couple gathered and did as they were told so. Both of them were lost in their pool of thoughts, bound to each other with only one thing ‘the secret’. Gathering themselves and concealing their emotions, they hobnobbed with their pals.

As the celebration came to an end; the guests retired, the grandkids were put to sleep and the couple thanked their children for making their day memorable.

They came to their room, glimpsed at each other and as always, both of them turned the knob to unlock their ‘secret’ little door. Mrs. Bhatia rested on her cozy diwan, looked at the photo album and set free her tears that had been clouding and threatening to spill from her eyes. On the other side, Mr. Bhatia was dispirited but he sat down to check some pending work files. 

***

Mrs. Bhatia aka Saloni Kapoor and Mr. Bhatia aka Prithvi Kumar came together for the sole purpose of their kids. Both of them are spies and have been serving their nation relentlessly. Prithvi had lost his wife in a laboratory fire accident and he was left alone with their only son at the mere age of 3. 

Saloni married her childhood love, who was an IAF pilot and was serving the air force. Her brother and his wife too were in air force except for Saloni who was a forensic scientist and during one such mission, all three attained martyrdom leaving Saloni alone with her brother’s 1-year-old daughter. Saloni was devastated but mustered courage and took charge of her life. She owned her brother’s daughter and nurtured her, as the little blue-eyed princess had become her lifeline now. 

One fine day, as she was working on the evidence collected from the crime spot, she met her senior Prithvi. It was their boss who suggested them to get married which was necessary for their secret mission. And here they were… together… working as spies at work, as parents at home, and as an ideal couple among their close circle. 

No one knows their reality – that their relationship is all a façade! They don’t have any relationship; everything was just a ploy to deceive their enemies. Their boss was no more and with him, the secret met a dead end. They have lived together all their life, being one unit as a family, being parents to both the children but, in reality, the secret was they both lived a secluded life, all alone.

*** 

Saloni kept the photo album on the desk. She stared at the moon from her window and wondered how long she had to put this mask on. Nonetheless, her truth was still a secret, that was yet to be deciphered. For she isn’t the real Saloni; she is the little black sheep, the secret booby trap.