Instant Divorce – A Short Story
Civil Engineer Rakesh gave his consent to his parents to look for a suitable bride for him. He was 30 and most of his friends had got married. One of their distant relatives got the proposal of Rekha and because the families were known to each other – they decided to meet the family.
Families met and Rekha appeared to be quite a docile and humble lady. Marriage date was fixed and both Rakesh and Rekha exchanged their phone numbers. They were to be married after one month.
Marriage happened. Rakesh was a shy type of a man and believed that enough time should be spent in knowing and understanding each other. He was quite surprised when he saw Rekha to be overly enthusiastic to have sex on the very first night. He thought that since the entertainment and media world grossly misinforms people about the ‘sex inclination’ of men – so she was probably trying to please him!
Rakesh: Its okay! There is no hurry really – we are going to spend the rest of our lives together – sex can happen any time…many times too – but let’s just talk tonight. Its very cliched to ponce on each other the wedding night itself!
Rekha smiled but looked a little disappointed.
Rina, Rakesh’s sister, had taken leave from her hospital for the wedding. She was a gynaecologist, older to Rakesh, and wanted to present him with a surprise honeymoon trip to Mauritius. Rina asked Rekha –
Rina – When is your date? (she whispered)
Rekha looked all shocked and asked Rina.
Rekha – Date? What date? (she literally shivered)
Rina – array ! your chum date yaar – I am going to confirm the dates for your Honeymoon to Mauritius – 4 days – have booked Luxury suite with loads of facilities – especially for the honeymoon couple! But it better not fall on your chum date…..so just confirming.
Rekha still looked perturbed and Rina watched her tremble as she sipped her tea.
Rina – So? When did you last chum?
Rekha – No….I mean yes, yes, you can go ahead and book the tickets! Never been to Mauritius before!
Rina – yeah – you see the tickets are open – I need the dates to book it finally (Rina was surprised at Rekha’s dumb mannerisms – why on earth was she delaying to reply to a simple query!)
Rekha – Yea – you can go ahead and book for tomorrow if you want!
Rina (now quite irritated) – tomorrow? Really? We have to attend 3 family get-togethers in a row – have you forgotten? Today is Wednesday, till Saturday you cannot leave…..
Rekha – Ok then Sunday will do….
Rina – You really are in a haste to go for the honeymoon trip huh!? Just tell me your last chum date – I will calculate when its ideal for you to go for your honeymoon…….
Rina observed Rekha wiping sweat from her forehead. The room was quite pleasant as the ACs were on in the living hall.
Rina – Have you forgotten your chum date by any chance?
Rekha – no no – it was on 20th…yeah 20th last month.
Rina – ok – so todays is already the 12th, till 15th you cannot go – then we need to know when Rakesh will get his leave from office – in that case we should arrange for the trip after you are all clean this month – what say you?
Rekha – Ok, sure.
Life got very busy for Rekha. Rakesh’s family was very well knit and several of his relatives had come over and everyday was a party – morning, afternoon, evening.
Saturday arrived. Rekha was unable to take rest – she was very tired. Rakesh came in the room and showed her pictures taken in the day. Rekha was yawning all the time so Rakesh suggested that she should go to bed. They put off the lights when Rekha suddenly showed interest to make love. Rakesh was surprised to see her seducing him at midnight especially when she had been yawning just couple of minutes ago! That night their marriage got consummated.
Most of the relatives were gone and Rina was waiting at the breakfast table for them. It was a Sunday and Rina’s leave was till Tuesday. She had to confirm the tickets today.
As Rekha walked towards the table, she suddenly fainted and fell on the sofa. Rina quickly reached out for her. Rakesh also saw her fainting and thought that poor thing lost her virginity last night and so her body was reacting to it! Rakesh even felt guilty for it!
Rakesh’s mother said that probably Rekha could not cope up with constant party time at home – she must have been so tired!
By that time Rina was already checking her pulse and looked pensive. She asked Rakesh to sprinkle some water on her face. Rekha got back her consciousness and they all sat to have breakfast. After breakfast, Rina asked Rakesh to follow her to the study room.
Rina – You used to meet her before marriage?
Rakesh – yeah – like I met her 3-4 times.
Rina – And you slept also! Could you not wait for the marriage?
Rakesh – What nonsense are you talking about – it was only yesterday that we first made love….I had not even touched her before that!
Rina – Really!?
Rakesh – Okay – we had kissed…but what the hell – why are you asking me such silly details?
Rina – Well…she is pregnant!
Rakesh – nonsense ! this much biology even I know! It’s just been barely 6 hours now…and she is already pregnant!? Are you outta your mind?
Rina – she seems pregnant by one and a half or even two months now…
Rakesh fell from the sky! He was from a boy’s school and had hardly interacted with girls in his life. The only girls her was close to were his cousins. Although he had all sorts of friends in his Engineering college – those who were porn addicts, those who visited brothels and even those who slept around with just anyone who was ready to BEEP – be it some desperate housewife near their hostel, the maid who came to sweep the floors of their hostel or even the game girls of his college – but he had always maintained his chastity and virginity and he knew his limits and knew where to draw the line! Since he himself maintained high moral standards…he could obviously not accept some such female as his life-partner – who was already carrying a child in her womb.
Rakesh – Are you sure? We cannot just walk out of that door and reveal to her that she is pregnant….she will be shocked…
Rina – I think she knows it already (Rina then narrated to him the discussion she had with Rekha and the fact that her face went pale when she asked for her last chum date!)
Rakesh – So what are we supposed to do now?
Rina – we need to find out…maybe she was raped…..and because it is such a taboo….girls don’t even reveal it…
Rakesh – and what if she was a consenting adult? What about that….
Rina – Will you be able to accept her then?…and raise someone else’s child?
Rakesh – No, never! See, I am not some cheap loafer kind of a womaniser – had I been hum*ing around females, maybe I could have accepted her – since I myself belonged to the loafer womanizer category, I could have counselled myself that I deserve a flirtatious se* starved female…..but I maintained my virginity for marriage – if I wanted, I could have fu*ked around amply – but I did not do so…why on earth should I accept a shameless female who sleeps around before wedlock?
Rina – Let me handle this then….
Rina asked Rekha to come with her in her bedroom.
Rina – You are pregnant Rekha – areyou aware of it?
Rekha – Well…ask your brother – after marriage one gets pregnant – it is natural.
Rina – Do you think its some B-grade Hindi film going on? Like you will put a pillow under your petticoat and no one in the family will come to know that ?!
Rekha – Why should I put a pillow – I will deliver naturally!
(Rekah was very confident suddenly! Since she had sex with Rakesh the previous night, she thought that now they will have to accept her come what may! Rina was shocked to see her shameless bold attitude – she was actually challenging them!)
Rina – I am giving you a pregnancy testing kit – I want to know your pregnancy status.
Rekah – that is none of your business……I will get treated by my family doctor.
Rina understood that Rekha and her side of the family were basically uncouth idiots who had dumped Rekha on her decent brother and will suck his blood for the rest of his life…..but Rina decided not to let it happen!
Rina – fair enough, we are calling your aunt – who fixed up the marriage and things will be solved!
Rekha was taken aback! She did not think that Rina could suddenly become so aggressive. Rekha never imagined that they would invite such a show down within a week of marriage….before Rekha could stop or plead her – Rina was already out – telling her mom about what happened!
Rina (to her mom) – ….and by the way – not even an iota of guilt she has huh! She is challenging me on top of that! What audacity she has – where did you get this uncouth idiot from? Call Trisha aunty now – we cannot have her stay in this house another moment!
Rekha tired to call Rakesh inside the room. Rina had given him strict instructions to not meet her alone anymore as she was an uncouth witch who thought that Rakesh’s family would accept her with her tantrums!
Rekha went and locked herself in her room. The entire family had collected in the living room and Rekha’s parents were called along with the common friend Trisha.
Rekha’s mother started speaking just like Rekha – after marriage pregnancy is natural – why make a fuss out of it and blah blah. She further added that even Rakesh must have had his fun, fu*ked around – during youth everyone does it so where is the harm? Rakesh wanted to hit her mouth with his shoes but since his upbringing had been too sophisticated, he just sat tight – somehow trying not to react to their dumb suggestions!
Trisha appeared all shocked! She was genuinely not aware of Rekha’s pregnancy. Rakesh’s uncle was a lawyer and he asked them to take Rekha away with them immediately. They were allowed to take the jewellery given by them but not what Rakesh’s parents gave her.
Rekha tried to look all sad and abandoned and she was trying hard to catch Rakesh’s attention.
Rakesh (finally said to her before she was leaving) – We were in touch for one entire month before marriage – you could have just shared your plight with me – its quite possible that you were betrayed by your lover – we could have solved it at our end……but you were trying to put the blame on me! DO you think we live in some 12th century rural area? – illiterate with zero knowledge about the ways of this world!? You could have aborted the child – we could start afresh…..but you are a liar and a bold one on top of that! My sister was going to solve the things for you – but you are such a dumb idiot that you behaved rudely with her!? Anyways! I cannot accept you as I cannot tolerate liars…..please sign the divorce papers as soon as you receive them and don’t try to delay things. Goodbye.
Later, Rina came to know from Trisha that Rekha was quite an adventurous female of her locality – she readily made herself available just to have coffee or eat food at the man’s expense! Her father was very miserly and they hardly ate good food at home – so when Rekha grew up and saw that in exchange of the body, a girl can get money too, she started sleeping around. She was carrying Dinesh’s child as she was in love with him. But at the last moment, Dinesh decided to get married to the daughter of a rich merchant in his locality. Dinesh dumped her (Rekha) and just after 2 days Rakesh & family had visited to see her for marriage. She found them to be very elegant and sophisticated and thought that they would be dumb enough to accept her as she was!
But everything backfired for Rekha. She kept the child – only to abuse him daily for making her life as rotten as hell!