BROKEN ENGAGEMENT – Why Did He Dump Me?

BROKEN ENGAGEMENT
WHY DID HE DUMP ME ?
Flash Fiction
A Love StoryBy
VIKRAM KARVE

From my Creative Writing Archives:

I wrote this story – then titled “ME TOO” – more than 20 years ago – in the 1990’s – for a flash fiction competition.

Here is the story once more – revised, edited and updated – suitable for online reading as Blog Fiction – with a new title too.


WHY DID HE DUMP ME ? – Story of a Broken Engagement by Vikram Karve


Part 1 – THE EMAIL

The moment I saw the email I did two things.

First – I took a print-out of the email.

Then – I kept the printout in my purse.

After that I deleted the email from my mailbox.

I called my travel agent and booked my ticket on the next flight to India.

The email contained a name and an address.

That’s all – just a name and an address.

I cannot begin to describe the emotion I felt as I looked at the name.

I had so many questions to ask him – unanswered questions that were haunting me for so many years.

Part 2 – WHY DID HE DUMP ME ?

It all started when my fiancé Anil suddenly broke off our engagement without any explanation.

“Why...?” I asked him totally shocked.

“I can’t tell you,” he said.

“You can’t dump me just like this. I have done nothing wrong,” I pleaded heartbroken.

“I’m sorry, Rita. I can’t marry you,” he said trying to look away from my eyes.

“What do you mean you can’t marry me...?” I shouted at him, holding his shoulders and shaking him.

He did not say anything. 

He just remained silent and averted his eyes.

“Is it someone else...? Tell me, is there someone else...? What do you mean you can’t marry me...? Actually you don’t want to marry me, isn’t it...?”

“Okay, you can think what you like. I don’t want to marry you... ”

“You have to give me an explanation. I am not going to accept being jilted like this. How can you suddenly dump me just like this?”

“You have to accept it. Don’t delve too much.”

“How dare you say ‘don’t delve too much’ – how dare you say such nonsense? You are a filthy unscrupulous cheat...” I screamed in anger, taking hold of his collar. 

“Cool down,” he said pushing me away. “So you are calling me a cheat, are you...? That’s really funny, when actually it is you who tried to cheat me. You are the one who is a cheat.”

“I…? I cheated you…? You are accusing me of cheating on you…?” I said dumbfounded and furious.

“You shouldn’t have tried to hide things from me,” he said as if he were accusing me.

“Hide what...?” I asked, getting livid.

“You never told me that you are an adopted child,” he said.

I was stunned.

“Adopted? I am an adopted child? What are you saying?”

“Yes. You are an adopted child. And you hid that fact from me,” he said firmly.

Shocked, I shouted at him loudly in anger, “What nonsense...! Don’t talk rubbish. I am not adopted…!”

“You are. Maybe you don't know. Maybe they did not tell you. But you are not their real daughter, you are an adopted daughter.”

“Who told you...?”

“We got some pre-matrimonial enquiries done.” 

“Matrimonial Enquiry…? You spied on me…?” I accused him – and I shouted at him, “you cheapie... you want to blackmail me… to humiliate me… with all these sick lies…?”

“Don’t worry. No one else knows. It’s a reliable and discreet investigation agency.” 

“It’s not true. It is not true. I am not adopted,” I said.

I felt shattered.

My mind went numb – feeling paralysed, cold, as if I had lost my senses.

“Why don’t you ask your parents…?” Anil said – and he walked away.

Anil dumped me – and he walked away from my life forever – leaving me heartbroken, desolate and shattered.

I never asked my parents – the only parents I knew – I never asked them.

They were the one’s who loved me – and gave me everything in life

I could not ask them – because I knew that it would terribly hurt them.

I did not have the heart to hurt my gentle parents who loved me so much – and had given me everything.

They did not say anything to me when my engagement was called off.

But I could see the sadness and a sense of guilt in their eyes – as they withered away – having lost the will to live.

I felt deeply anguished and helpless.

My parents loved me.

Maybe they were my foster parents – but they were the only parents I knew – and they meant everything to me.

We carried on our lives as if nothing had happened.

I lovingly cared and looked after them till their very end.

But deep down I felt terribly betrayed.

Years passed.

Time and life moved on.

I relocated abroad.

I immersed myself in my work.

They say time is the best healer.

But time did not heal this wound.

I tried to forget – but I could never forget.

One day I could bear it no longer. 

I decided to find out.

And now I had found out.

The investigation agency had done a good job – very confidential and discreet.

For the first time I knew the name of my actual father – my real father – my biological natural father.

And now I had to meet this man and ask him why he did it – why did he commit that cruel unforgivable act of abandoning me to the world.

Part 3 – SAPIENCE

I landed at Delhi airport in the very early hours of the morning.

It was cold – the morning chill at once refreshing and invigorating.

The driver drove fast.

It took me six hours by taxi to reach the magnificent bungalow near Landour in Mussoorie.

I checked the nameplate and briskly walked inside – eager to see my real father for the first time.

There was a small crowd gathered in the porch.

“What’s happening…?” I asked a man in the crowd.

“Bada Saheb is no more. He passed away this morning. He was so good to us,” he said with tears in his eyes.

I pushed my way through the crowd.

My father’s lifeless body was lying on a white sheet bedecked with flowers, ready for the last rites.

I looked at his serene face.

Tears welled up in my eyes.

Suddenly I lost control of myself and I cried inconsolably, “I have become an orphan. My father is dead... I have become an orphan…”

“Me too…” a familiar voice said softly behind me.

I turned around.

It was Anil – my ex fiancé. 

I stared into the eyes of my ex fiancé Anil.

Anil looked into my eyes with tenderness.

Slowly comprehension began to dawn on me.

I looked at Anil. 

Anil looked at me. 

He gave me a warm brotherly look.

I cannot describe the emotion I felt at that moment.

We – Anil and Me – kept looking into each other’s eyes in silence.

It was a grotesque silence – deafening silence – illuminating silence – empathizing silence – compassionate silence – an enlightening silence. 

Silence. 

Sapience. 

Silent sapience.

VIKRAM KARVE

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Disclaimer:

This story is a work of fiction.  Events, Places, Settings and Incidents narrated in the story are a figment of my imagination. The characters do not exist and are purely imaginary. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

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No part of this Blog may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Blog Author Vikram Karve who holds the copyright.

Copyright © Vikram Karve (All Rights Reserved)

Copyright © Vikram Karve (all rights reserved)

This Story was written by me in the 1990's and this Revised Updated Version First Posted Online by me Vikram Karve in the year 2006 in my creative writing blog at url: http://creative.sulekha.com/the-journey-a-fiction-short-story-by-vikram-karve_28108_blog