The Infidel

"What!!!!" squealed the girls. Reema sat with a smug smile, accepting the congratulations. "How? Where did you meet him? You dark horse!!! Sankalp! The hot actor! God, how, how, how?" They demanded that she share everything from the first meeting to their becoming a pair in great detail.

Reema obliged, adding all the little nuances - real and imagined - that she knew would gratify her friends' curiosity and also increase her popularity. The evening stretched but the questions remained unending. Still, mindless time compelled them to finally call it a day and leave. Reema walked with her friend Sahana to the two-wheeler parking and sat behind on the pillion. She had observed that Sahana had remained silent throughout and now couldn't help egging her friend, "Are you jealous?"


"Whatever for?" Sahana retorted with a shrug.

"Oh, come on! My bagging an actor for a boyfriend didn't seem to please you!"

"This is your fifth in a year... Boyfriend, I mean," Sahana pointed out brutally.

"Oh come! I made mistakes. The last was a creep," Reema said indifferently.

Sahana scoffed, "And an actor, not?"

"Oh, come! Sankalp is not a creep! You have to meet him to believe him."

"I am sure he is not a creep. And I am sure it will last for exactly two weeks!" Sahana warned her friend.

Reema chuckled. "You don't trust me?"

"I don't trust him! He is an actor, after all... He will get girls aplenty."

"No one like me, though!" Reema said smugly.

"One of every kind," she replied sharply, concerned for her friend as well as putting her in her place.

Initially it was fine, but soon, as Sahana anticipated, Reema seemed be at loose ends and started seeing another boy - well, not in two weeks as she had predicted, but within a month. "He is constantly travelling these days. There is no fun in long distance relationship," declared this 17-year-old.

But Sahana was in for a surprise when Sankalp and Reema got back together again within a few months. "He was persisting. I couldn't resist his wooing," Reema blushed.

Sahana was puzzled at Sankalp's interest and wondered if he was making a fool of Reema.

"You will get hurt and it is better to separate when there is time still," she adviced her friend.

Whatever she expected, she didn't expect that the two would marry. And yet, within a year, Reema and Sankalp were engaged to be married. "Parents are impatient," Reema admitted as she showed Sahana her wedding shopping. "I felt I should wait, he being an actor and all..." Then she displayed the ring he had given. "Enough to say yes for, don't you think?" Seeing Reema grin happily and her mother anxiously organise the wedding, Sahana greeted her best friend warmly and let go of her apprehensions.

Once they were married, Sahana squirmed when watching Sankalp's movies or reading gossips about him. Reema herself seemed more stoic and accepting. "He tells me everything, and it all sounds quite boring, actually," she said dismissively.

Sahana soon got married and became busy with her new life. Whenever she heard from or of Reema, there was something exciting, something new happening in her life. The ship seemed to be sailing smoothly, whatever the storms it faced. Sahana had her own trying moments. She was happy to know that Sankalp was in news as a happening actor and still married to Reema, and did not go into the details except sharing the usual marital woes. Those two were still together after 10 years, and that's all that mattered.

So one day when Reema barged into her house crying, Sahana was both shocked and felt vindicated. "I told you so, I told you so!" she couldn't help insinuating, though she had to admit that in the last few years, there had been nothing to indicate so.

Reema lamented and Sahana ranted, till she finally heard her friend properly. "Sankalp thinks I am having an affair! He won't listen to reason! He does not believe me," she cried.

Sahana frowned. "What!"

"Please talk to him. Tell him that's not so... You know me well. Please tell him..." she covered her face and cried into her hands.

Sahana stood dumbfounded. "And is that true?"

"Don't be silly! He is just...paranoic!"

"Or is he covering up for his own philandering?"

Reema looked at her startled. "Maybe..." She was thoughtful. "Maybe that's why he is blaming me."

"Don't take it sitting down," Sahana adviced her and felt good. "And walk out if he doesn't mend his ways."

"I can't! I love him, how can I!" cried Reema. "It used to break my heart reading about his affairs. But still, he would always come back home, to me! Just for that, I was willing to put up with much. I believed him when he denied the rumours!" She cried again. "But now, even though he is home these days, he keeps away! When he looks at me, there is so much distrust and suspicion! This, this.... accusing me of infidelity! I cannot stand it when he looks at me disbelievingly!"

Sahana shook her head, pitying her friend for being such a romantic. Sankalp didn't deserve her if he could suspect her! Surely, if Reema had been cheating, as her friend, Sahana would have known. Sahana tried to rack her brains but could think of no one that seemed close enough to Reema to arouse suspicions. Yes, there must be some devious plan underfoot. "I will talk to Sankalp for sure," she said with determination.

It wasn't easy, as he was 'Reema's husband' more than her friend. But with Reema's help, she managed to catch Sankalp alone at home. "Oh, I thought Reema would be home. I was just passing by..." she pretended. "Can I wait?" she asked and invited herself in, forcing him to play the host. "Actually, I was worried about her... She thinks... She was upset. I... I have known her all my life. I have never seen her so distressed. Some misunderstanding..." Sankalp raised an eyebrow. She fumbled, "I don't know what the issue is... Do you?"

"If she hasn't told you, why do you think I will?" he asked bluntly.

Caught in her own web, she lowered her eyes and said, "She did... She is not like that, Sankalp. She loves you and was disturbed when you suspected her."

Sankalp laughed, an open, hearty laugh. "Oh, you are here as a messenger." Sahana blushed and held her peace. He leaned forward and asked, "What do you know about this? What do you know about her?"

"I have known her for long," Sahana said defensively.

He grew grave, "And I am her husband. You cannot know what I know." Sahana had no answer for that. He got up and paced the floor. "This is not the first time, did you know that?" Sahana looked at him shocked. "Every time she gets a different friend to talk to me and patch us up... She promises never to do it again. And I accept, I accept because I love her! Every time I believe her, I believe we can make a fresh start. But not any more... Not any more..."

Sahana stepped out shaken. She called up the friends he had mentioned and asked them about it. They confirmed his story and their own refusal to get involved anymore. "I have tried to talking to her; she denies everything but many have spotted her with other men... I am sorry I didn't warn you about it... But it was all too disturbing... What upset me is that she lead me on and I made a fool of myself with Sankalp by taking her side!" they said in their own different ways.

Never again, Sahana resolved, will she get involved without finding out the truth. She had not only been hasty in judging Sankalp based on gossip and taking Reema's word on face value, she had not understood her closest friend either. Discreet enquiries revealed Sankalp was right and that Reema was indeed entangled with someone. But Reema cut her off when she tried to drive some sense into her. In the end, Sahana was forced to agree with Sankalp - he had been so deeply hurt that it was best for him to go his way.