Aparajith, Or Was He #AtoZ2020

This short story is written for the April A to Z. Today’s letter is A. Read on…. 

“You’re always on the computer or your phone Apar”, there was not one day Sheetal did not complain about his work schedules that kept him busy. He was the project manager in a software firm and his wife who had only the housework to do would never understand him, this was the script running in his Aparajith’s mind constantly.

As time passed, the complaints from Sheetal reduced and she seemed to not mind his long hours at work. Gradually he started observing things like how his coffee was not as hot as he liked it and how the breakfast was not always ready by the time he took his bath and sat at the dining table with exactly 15 minutes for his office cab to arrive. His schedules started to get affected and he would shout at Sheetal for not having his things in order and leave for work in a hurry.

Apar did not think much of it till the day he saw that he had no ironed shirts in his cupboard to wear to the office. He lost his cool at Sheetal that morning.

“What is wrong with you? Why are my shirts not ironed? What are you doing in this house all day? Are you having an affair?”

Sheetal lost her cool on hearing these allegations, yet she spoke calmly, “You do realize that I am not your servant right? All these years I have been doing everything to make your life comfortable, but what have you been doing to me? Have you even given me the basic consideration of being a human being? Now before you gloat that you are the sole breadwinner of the household and all your usual dialogues, check your bank statement as to how many rupees have been spent from your account. I have an online job now and am earning enough and more to keep this household running, also, I did not marry an ATM. I married you because I love you. Now go, don’t be late. We can discuss this later.”

Reeling under the impact of Sheetal’s words, Aparajith picked up his mobile on his way out.

Ting

It was his father’s customary good morning wish on WhatsApp .

“Sometimes we let affection go unspoken and our love go unexpressed. Especially towards those we love best.”

He rushed over to his wife and hugged her, “I am sorry Sheetu..”

Sheetal smiled and hugged him back.

best short story ishithaa

This short story is written for AtoZ 2020 and this year too I am partnering with my buddy Leo. I would love to know what you thought about this story, please do leave a comment.
Read this year’s posts here
Read some of my previous AtoZ posts and short story here.

(Visited 2 times, 1 visits today)

15 thoughts on “Aparajith, Or Was He #AtoZ2020”

  1. Aah! The story of our times. How it is easy to take our relationships for granted. Like they say, do not take anything for granted—not one smile or one person or one rainbow or one breath, or one night in your cozy bed.
    A beautiful story, Bhavya!

    • Thanks Shilpa. Now more than ever we know to not take things for granted, the roof above our heads, the food on our plate to our health.

    • You just made my day Shalini. I thought this is the best chance to get back to writing. I hope I can keep up to writing all through the month.

  5. This is the first piece of fiction I read in this challenge and it felt refreshing. Glad to connect with you through this challenge and I look forward to reading your posts.

    • Yeah, sad indeed, probably because we are so stressed about our lives we do not stop for a moment to care for the beings around us…. human or not.

    • Yeah strangely a lot of couples go through this, the endings vary of course. But yeah…
      Hope you and family are safe and taking care of yourself.

Leave a Comment

CommentLuv badge
%d bloggers like this: