They had been married for more than ten years. A decade, in which they had loved, shared, hoped and dreamt many a dream together. Things had been more than perfect…………until “she” came along!

Rahul had been a very faithful and devoted husband indeed. Smruti never had a reason to doubt him in all the years they had been married. But things were not the same any more. His growing impatience with her, his indifferent attitude towards her and his frequent and prolonged absence from home only added to her anxieties.

It had been four months since the new arrival in Rahul’s office. Initially Smruti had not paid much attention too Rahul’s comments about his colleague. But she started noticing that her presence was becoming more and more dominant in their conversations. Even when she tried to change the topic Rahul would find ways to revert back to talking about her.

One day Smruti decided to confront Rahul and get to the bottom of this whole affair. When they sat down for dinner that night, Smruti asked Rahul, “have we not been happy in the last ten years?’ Rahul was taken aback by this question and said, “of course darling, we’ve been quite happy indeed’

Smruti started looking at her nails and contemplating how to further the conversation.
‘Have I not been a good wife, providing you everything and taking care of all your needs?’ she finally spoke after a brief silence. Rahul looked sharply at her and getting rather impatient said “what exactly are you getting at?’

Smruti said, ‘For a while now I’ve been sensing a third presence between you and me.” “Who are you referring to?” Rahul became cautious and vary of the probation. “You know very well who I’m referring to. Are you attracted to Seema?” Smruti threw the question directly at Rahul. He tried to avoid answering but Smruti wouldn’t let go. “Well she is rather beautiful and a lot of guys at the office are attracted to her”

“I’m not asking about the rest. I’m asking are you attracted to her?”

“Look why are we talking about all this right now?”

“ Because she seems to be on your mind all the time making her presence felt in almost all the conversation we have……….almost haunting us each and every moment”

“Are you jealous?” Rahul tried desperately to escape an answer.

“No, but I can’t help wondering about us. Has our relationship reached a stage where there’s nothing more to offer to each other or are you just plain simple bored with our lives and are looking for excitement?”

Rahul was in no mood for confrontations and made no attempt to hide his irritation, “ look I do not wish to pursue this topic any further. You deal with your own complexes and leave me out of all this. And if you’ll excuse me, I have to catch up on some sleep. I have a busy day tomorrow.” With this he abruptly left the table and disappeared in the bed room.

Smtuti watched with a lump in her throat. She had her answer. Her world came crashing around her. She just knew that it was all over for them. It was not a new arrival in Rahul’s office…….it was a new arrival in his life. With a heavy heart she picked up the dishes and headed for the kitchen.