God has given you one face, and you make yourself another.

William Shakespeare

Chapter 32: A Brave Soul

   Madhan made two of the biggest mistakes in the world. The second biggest mistake in the world was that he called Sheila to take care of his sick wife while he went to work. Her shift was only in the afternoon and Madhan had an important client to meet, so he couldn't take leave.

   The first biggest mistake he made was to not tell Riya the latest happenings.

   Which was why when Sheila entered Riya's room, she got hit with a pillow, in the face.

   To say the least, that Sheila was surprised was an understatement.

   She understood Riya would be angry, but acting like a child?

   "Look, I'll make things clear. I don't want to be here more than you don't want me here. But Madhan asked me to watch out for you, and since I owe him one, I'm doing it for him. Just eat your medicines and the food I cook for you, and I'll be gone by twelve. Got it?"

   "No," Riya said stubbornly. "You owe me one. Not him. I'm the one who's going to end up dumped."

   Sheila looked at Riya curiously. Hadn't Madhan told her? She looked at her face to see any sort of expression, and all she could see was sadness.

   She strolled to Riya's drawer, took out an aspirin and gave it to her. She gave her some water to drink.

   "I'll be back in fifteen minutes, Riya," Sheila said and walked out of the room as quickly as she could. But not quickly enough since she heard the next words of Riya. "Don't ever be back."

   Sheila hid a smile. That woman was in for a surprise.

   She boiled hot water and waited for two minutes before adding concentrated tomato soup powder. No one can go wrong with tomato. She wondered why Madhan opted for mushroom soup.

   Like she had said, she was back in Riya's room, fifteen minutes later. She saw Riya picking at her stuffed polar bear.

   Sheila walked to the right side of her bed and set the soup on her table stand.

   "Please eat it while it's hot."

   "How do I know it's not poisoned?" asked Riya, eying the bowl suspiciously.

  "I wish I could have," Sheila said, smiling.

   It wasn't required of her to be nice. In fact, she was really struggling to be as patient as possible. But she had to face reality at some point of time. The sooner she accepts it, the faster it will be for her to recover. She couldn't have been more fortunate to have found someone like Armaan.

   Armaan was growing on her. Their friendship was growing steadily, and she was constantly surprised by his demeanor. He had never shown her any chivalry, and to be suddenly engulfed by it, startled her.

   Riya didn't know why, but she started smiling too. There was something about Sheila that made her feel like she could trust her. Was it her fever?

   "Thank you. I appreciate it."

   Riya was angry, but not at Sheila. How could he have left her dangling like that? She would have rather been left alone than be taken care of in the hands of her husband's soon to be new wife.

   Sheila nodded curtly, feeling relieved and left the room. She glimpsed a notebook on top of her desk. She decided she would read it once Riya fell asleep. Half an hour later, Sheila checked on her and found her to be sound asleep.

   Quietly, she took the notebook and sat on the sofa to read it. She was so bored she wanted to read something.

  Dear Aakash, it read. Ah, she thought. The famous diary. At first, she read it like a book, having detached feelings towards it. Soon her eyes started watering, and later it became a waterfall.

   Riya, she whispered. You brave brave soul.

   Sheila closed the diary once she finished and placed it tenderly on the desk where she found it.

  She knelt down beside her bed and took her left hand in hers.

  "You are such a brave girl, Riya," she whispered. "I can't believe I wanted to take him away from you. You are also such an inspiration. I can totally imagine how you have felt till now. You acted upon it with great dignity, while I was so devious."

   She paused for a moment as more tears poured down her cheek.

   "You threw everything away for your parents, including your happiness. That's a stupid thing to do, but very noble of you. Don't throw away all your efforts for nothing. Madhan is a wonderful man."

   Sheila laughs a bit and chokes.

   "You are my inspiration. If you can get through this, then so will I."

   She got up and caressed her head. She tenderly kissed her forehead and turned away, to find Madhan leaning on Riya's door. Mustering up all the dignity she had left, she wiped her tears with the back of her palm and walked towards him.

   "You have a lot of explaining to do," she said seething and walked away. Madhan held her left wrist to stop her. He crushed her into a hug and thanked her, with tears in his eyes. Sheila merely nodded and left Madhan's house without looking backwards. The hug had felt wonderful. But it was definitely the last she was going to receive. At that point, she was determined to close this chapter of her life.

   She held her head high as she walked back home. It wasn't her physical home yet, but from now on, where ever Armaan was, that place was going to be hers.

   Madhan glanced at Riya to check if she was alright, but there she was, sitting upright, wide awake.

   The worst part was that she didn't appear mad, but upset.

   "Let me explain," Madhan started, but Riya shifted to her right side, her back towards him.

   "You should have had the decency to do your mumbo jumbo in another room, and not in mine like I was dead."

   Madhan chuckled. "Is that an invitation to cheat on you?" He overdid it, he thought.

   Riya refused to dignify that with an answer. Was that hug so good that it made him turn a blind eye towards how she might have felt? Her anger was growing by the minute.

   She felt the bed dip and turned around to find Madhan sitting near her footrest. She was so tempted to kick him off the bed.

   "I didn't get a chance to explain anything since I kept messing up. First with the flowers, and then with the soup," Madhan said warily, looking at her expression. He clutched the edge of the bed nervously.

   "You didn't know. It's not your fault." Riya mumbled. Unfortunately, that was true. She was curious about his explanation, though.

   "Yes, it was. I should have known."

   Riya looked away. She realized she had no idea what Madhan loved, and was allergic to. She didn't even feel the need to, and here he was, blaming himself for not knowing her medical conditions.

   "That day, when I walked to Armaan's house, I was eavesdropping their conversation. There was a lot of yelling. Armaan found out Sheila purposely switched the papers. He convinced her to tell me the truth. She was afraid of being left alone to take care of the child by herself, and then Armaan comes up with the most stupid proposal, but Sheila accepts.

   We had a little champagne to celebrate." Madhan paused. He quickly said he had sprite instead when Riya narrowed her eyes at him. "After that, they helped me choose flowers and a suit. They said it was time for me to start something new."

   "And now?" Riya asked. She was hinting towards the hug.

   "Sheila read your diary," he said, apologetically.

   "I really need to put a lock. Uff who am I kidding. Armaan is the only one who hasn't read it yet. Maybe you should ask him to read it too," she said, sarcastically.

   "Phew, thank god. I was hoping I wouldn't have to sneak behind your back to give it to him."

   "God, there's absolutely no privacy in this house is there?" Riya grumbled.

   "She was whispering to you about how she thought you were so brave and noble. She felt extremely sorry that she tried to sabotage our marriage. She also said that you were her inspiration and that if you could make it through all this, then so will she."

  "Was that hug necessary?"

   Madhan looked a bit sheepish. "No. But I didn't know how else to thank her." It was true. Madhan had felt so much of emotion that words alone wouldn't have sufficed. He needed to show her how grateful he was.

   "You say thank you to a person you want to thank."

   Madhan chuckled. "Sorry. I know I shouldn't have. But I was feeling really grateful to her for letting me have my wife permanently, and for taking care of you. Speaking of which, did you eat your medicines?"

   She needed time to digest everything she had heard. In a second, her whole miserable world turned upside down. "Yeah. Now go away. I want to sleep." 

   Madhan smiled and walked out of her room. When Riya was sick, she was extremely cute.

Author's Note:

So, how do you guys like this development? ;) Now Riya knows :D They can really start over! :D If you enjoyed the chapter, please vote and comment <3