Fractured Relationship

They were childhood friends. Ribhu and Piu were friends since the time they could remember. Both were born into lawyer families. Their families indulged both of them to play and study together and both went to the same co-ed school. As they grew up, they developed an interest in their family subject, law. Soon they became lawyers themselves and started their own practice under the banner of their family law firm.

Now both the families decided that Ribhu and Piu should marry each other. So there was no obstacle and finally, they got married and started a new life together.

Both Ribhu and Piu were equally ambitious in their fields. Despite being husband and wife, when they had to cross swords in the professional field, then they became fierce fighters. Both had stocked up libraries and bookshelves and would aggressively empower themselves in the tricky nuances of law and jurisprudence when their cases demanded.

Neither of them hesitated to take up clients' cases fighting each other. The case hearings were followed by animated debate and logical reasoning. Slowly their debate and battle of wits became folklore and curious people gathered to enjoy the ensuing battle. No one would yield even an inch of ground. As both of them were knowledgeable and intelligent the quality of debate and arguments were superlative. The audience gathered in the courtroom fully enjoyed the proceedings and cheered on till the honorable judge struck the mallet shouting 'order' 'order'.

But being ambitious and wanting to branch out in another area, Ribhu did specialization in Company law and began taking up company cases. These cases were more rewarding financially and were more glamourous. Piu stuck to her civil cases.

Professionally they may have been progressing but in the family front, minor conflicts and tension were beginning. They were now proud parents to a bonny daughter. The little child was their darling and they both adored her to the point of indulgence. But both being super busy, finding quality time to devote to their love was scarce. So the little one spent much of her time with her grandparents and the nannies who looked after her. Piu being the mother was more concerned. She used to tell Ribhu to be more dutiful and find time to spend with their daughter. But Ribhu being super busy on one hand and not too much of a doting dad would shirk responsibility. This behaviour of Ribhu deeply irked Piu. She began to rankle constantly with Ribhu.

Ribhu was not enjoying his fatherhood any more, although he loved his daughter dearly. Ribhu being very ambitious was very focused on his work. Now as he looked after company cases, he was rarely free or without work. Also, this work of his demanded a lot of reading time. Because the complexity of the cases needed constant updation of information. But Piu being the mother could not afford to be accused of dereliction of her duty. Although there was no shortage of people in the household to look after her daughter, Piu ensured to devote more time to her daughter even if it came at a cost of her career.

But jealousy is an age-old human trait and the one who is bitten by it becomes a possessed being. Piu was equally ambitious as Ribhu if not more and the thought of sacrificing her career at the cost of Ribhu's progress was a daunting task for her. She became hell-bent to make Ribhu feel his responsibility towards their daughter and hence devote more time. But this sudden change of behaviour of Piu towards him made Ribhu more determined to become adamant. He made it a point to wilfully avoid taking care of his daughter.

Situation was deteriorating fast. The relationship between Ribhu and Piu was now breaking, on the point of being fractured. A lot of strain had accumulated.

No one of them was willing to compromise a little and let the relationship bloom once again. The present situation had made them selfish beyond the point of return. Ribhu was more to blame as his unquenched thirst for success had made him into a monster. Piu, on the other hand, was uncompromising and her mother's love had made her blind with ego.

Their daughter. though small, but was intelligent enough to observe a strangeness in the behaviour of her mum and dad. She could see how her parents argued and fought every night. This behaviour became uglier as the days advanced.

They were drifting apart they knew and were helplessly trying to hold on to something from being carried away. This something was their daughter Ria.

Only a miracle could save this fractured relationship.

The relationship continued to drift till a miracle helped stem the tide.