Bells ringing, the warmth of festive fervour amidst the nip in the air, eyes sparkling with merriment and lights adorning each nook and corner as if it were bright enough to drive away the darkness of the night. Amy was gazing at it all through the glass pane of a large window in her home. The radiant exteriors were illuminating her abode as well, but the gleam was not enough to drive away the gloom that had engulfed Amy’s mind and heart. But, just a few days ago, not even in her wildest dream had Amy imagined that this was how her holiday season would look like. She wasn’t supposed to be sitting desolate in her living room, but she should have been out there dancing to the tunes of the festive cheer with her best friend, her companion in this journey of life – her better half – Alex. As her mind was meandering through these thoughts, a tear dropped from her eye, and she was swayed back in retrospect.
Amy dressed up in her finest attire was quite occupied in decorating her home in a manner that exuded gaiety and made it stand out amongst all the houses in their lane. While she was engaged with these activities, she heard a knock on the door. She rushed to open it as she knew that this was to be the moment that her heart was yearning for from a long time. As she had expected, it was Alex on the door waiting to embrace his wife with open arms and a lovely red rose popping out from his bag. This was now a kind of a ritual that they both followed on Alex’s homecoming since the past five years. Alex was a part of the forces and had to remain away from his home for long periods of time, but he always used to come back during that time of the year which paved the way for new beginnings. Both Amy and Alex would then plan each day of their ten days long holiday in a manner, that enveloped them in the joy of togetherness, gifting them priceless memories to course through the times of anxious waiting, so that it would act as a soothing balm for their aching heart.
Two days had passed by since Alex’s return, but this time around Amy noticed that Alex seemed to be much quieter than his usual self. She assumed that staying away from home for such long periods, alongside the responsibilities entailed upon him as a part of his job were taking a toll on him. Disturbed to see this, she thought of cheering Alex up by taking him out for dinner at one of his favourite restaurants, accompanied by a musical performance on the guitar playing some of his cherished tunes. She was sure that this surprise of hers would uplift his mood. On apprising Alex about the arrangement that she had planned for him, she received a lukewarm response, contrary to what she was expecting. She became a bit disappointed, but not letting her enthusiasm fade away, she asked him to dress up in one of his finest attires as this evening would turn out to be a memorable one for him and it would light up his face. Alex became agitated and lost his calm. He in a fit of rage told Amy that he didn’t feel like venturing out now and begged her to give him some time to assimilate things in his head. Amy felt heartbroken on hearing this as Alex had never lost his cool with her. Instead, they used to always wait for this time of the year to be able to present each other with a bag full of happiness, a gift that will help them sail through the ripples of melancholy created by the way of being far away from each other. However, this distance between them was always in terms of space as they hearts were always connected to each other via the bridge of love and affection that they had formed over the years. But during that moment Amy felt as if she could sense cracks developing in that bridge of endearment which was drifting them apart. She became so disheartened that things were not going in accordance with her thoughts and in her own sorrow she became completely oblivious to the fact that had made her plan the surprise in the very first place. These few days of togetherness which both Alex and Amy used to usually turn into a garden of joy, where the fragrance of flowers spread a feeling of bliss all around, had now turned into a land of wilderness, where silence became predominant.
The feeling of despondency had sunk into Amy, and she wanted to liberate herself from this sentiment, so that she could find a headway to the ongoing circumstances. She decided to take recourse to music, as that was the only thing that gave her solace when she found herself in low spirits. Music not only served as a source of comfort to her but was also her passion that she had harboured for a long time. She dreamt of fulfilling the same through owning a small music studio in her neighbourhood where she could give wings to her dreams. However, she never let her family know of her desire as she didn’t want to burden them with the weight of her aspirations.
While walking through the corridor that led to her room, she heard some whispering. The sound came from the living room and upon reaching, she saw Alex talking to someone over the phone. Alex seemed to be quite disturbed and was continuously repeating the same thing that he needed some more time, and he will sort things out, after which he disconnected the call. Amy couldn’t comprehend as to what was going on with Alex and why was he behaving in a weird manner, which was so different than his usual self. But fearing that if she tried to talk to Alex again on this issue, he would again lose his temper and it would leave her heart wounded. Also, she thought to herself that if Alex wished to share his problems with her, he would have discussed the same, but it looked as if he now liked to keep things to himself. Alex was constantly pacing up and down, finding himself to be extremely helpless with no way to come out of the upheaval that was tormenting his mind.
The next day came as a shock to Amy when she saw Alex packing his bags. She ran towards him as she couldn’t believe her eyes. Amy asked Alex as to what was the matter that made him think of leaving so early and why didn’t he even bother to let her know of this decision? Alex remained silent for a minute and then lied to her that he needed to resume his duties and hence, he would have to leave. Amy was very upset upon hearing this piece of news and she felt that maybe Alex didn’t want to be with her any longer and that is why he was trying to stay aloof. While Alex was moving towards the main door, Amy’s heart sank, but the thought that Alex didn’t consider her important enough grappled her mind and took over her senses. Alex left without saying a word. The seeds of ego, lack of communication and trust began to grow so rapidly between both of them that it began to erode the strong roots of their beautiful relationship. Alex stood near his car and recollected the phone call that he had a day ago and his eyes became moist. Alex had received a call from the owner of the music studio that was located nearby their house. Alex loved Amy deeply and he noticed her love for music for the very first time when they celebrated their first marriage anniversary. They had gone to attend a musical evening and seeing Amy swaying to the beats of the foot tapping music and humming the melodious tunes, dawned a realization upon him that his wife was indeed gifted, and music infused in her a feeling of contentment. Unaware that Amy too wished to have her own music studio, Alex came in contact with the studio owner so that he could gift the studio to Amy, who could then use it to do justice to her creative streak. The amount that the studio owner quoted was too high at that point of time for Alex, hence, he entered into an agreement with him that he would pay the amount in instalments for the next few years and the day he pays the last one, he would gift the studio to his wife when he would visit her during the holiday season to make it as the most special and cherished memory of their unconditional love for each other. But things didn’t turn out as planned for Alex and he couldn’t save enough to pay the final instalment. That day over the call, he was requesting the studio owner to give him a little more time and he would arrange the funds, but the owner refused to do so as he was getting a better deal and the time frame of their agreement had come to an end. Alex knew that if he shared this idea with Amy, she would never let him invest in her dreams as she always gave priority to him and the home above all. In fact, whatever Amy used to earn from her job, she used to keep it aside for fulfilling his aspiration of moving into a bigger house, as she knew that this was something that Alex used to secretly wish for. Alex began to feel that he was not worthy enough to deserve a noble soul like Amy in his life, who could go out of the way for his sake, but he in return could not give her the happiness that she deserved. He thought that she would be able to lead a much better life without him, where she could focus completely on her music and gain the recognition that she always desired to achieve. As Alex was about to sit in the car, he realized that he had left the car keys inside.
A knock on the door brought back Amy to the present day, where she was sitting in the living room in a melancholic state of mind. Amy got up and walked towards the door and was astonished to see Alex standing right in front of her. For a moment, she felt like the past events had never taken place and their story had come back to the same time when she waited for Alex with bated breath to spend the holiday season with the love of her life. But she knew that this was her imagination and the reality differed from it. Alex told her that he had come back to fetch the car keys. Amy didn’t utter a word and moved aside to let Alex in. As Amy was waiting at the door, the phone bell rang, and she went inside to attend the call. She was taken aback by the information that she received. It felt as if she was drowning in the high tides of the rough patch that life threw at her, and someone had lent her a hand and saved her from the misery. It was the studio owner on the other end, who had called up to inform Alex that since he could not pay the full amount as agreed, he could come tomorrow morning and take his money that he had paid till now to buy the music studio. Suddenly Amy began putting two in two together and she correlated this piece of news with what she had heard previously when Alex was on the phone. She soon understood that the reason behind Alex’s temper and indifferent attitude was actually his sense of helplessness on not being able to attain the desired result despite of the countless efforts put in by him. As Alex came back with his keys, he saw Amy weeping profusely. He rushed towards her and gave her a tight hug as he couldn’t stand to see Amy in this condition. Amy said that she never knew that Alex loved her to this length that he could understand her unspoken words and unexpressed emotions so well and take so much of pain to turn her dream into a reality. Alex was perplexed as he couldn’t gauge as to what had happened that made Amy experience these sentiments. Amy told him about the phone call and questioned him as to why did he decide to leave?
Alex explained to her that he felt that he considered himself like a thorn that was scarring her dreams and not letting her attain bliss. That made him frustrated, and he vent out his anger on the same person on whose face he intended to bring a smile. Amy became furious on hearing these words and told him that though he loved her so deeply, how didn’t he realize that the foremost thing that her heart yearned for was Alex’s love, support and all those small but extremely significant gestures that he made to strengthen their bond. These were the emotions that filled her bag of happiness and everything else was secondary for her. If she didn’t receive this love, any other dream of her, even if fulfilled would always remain meaningless. Both Alex and Amy had tears of joy in their eyes, and they wrapped each other in a warm embrace. This was the time when their home truly lit up bright with the much-needed magic of the holiday season. After all, Alex forgetting his car keys and Amy getting to know of the truth at the same time, couldn’t have been a mere coincidence. Amy and Alex were able to save their relationship with a swish of the magical wand.
But does this magic always come in our lives at the right moment or at times we need to create it by the way of pouring our hearts out to each other and detangle ourselves from the web of assumptions, scepticism, absence of communication and ego, as these are too petty a thing to give importance to and in the midst of it lose out on a priceless relationship.
Short story by: Shreya Talwar
About the author:
In today’s day and age where emotions are fast losing its essence, Shreya Talwar tries to rekindle and emphasize on its significance in our lives. Her latest novel Beyond Royalty is a reflection of one such essential emotional aspect of our lives – love. She has two more books to her credit in the non-fiction sphere, ‘The Hidden Gems’ and ‘Weaving Emotions’ which also reinforce her thoughts.
Her books have received the adulation of its readers, testimony of which is her books ‘Beyond Royalty’ and ‘The Hidden Gems’ being acclaimed as the number one bestseller on Amazon. All the articles penned down by her are aimed at infusing positivity. Shreya considers her mother to be her mentor who enlightens her literary pathway. Being an Army Officer’s daughter acted as an added feather in her cap to display an array of her writing skills and deep insight into human relations.
Her writing style has also been spoken about and appreciated at highly acclaimed media houses including the ANI and Zee5 news.
Shreya is a pen name that she is now using for all her publications, however, she had begun her literary journey by her name Ms. Aman Talwar.