THE SUCKER PUNCH
A Love Story
Short Fiction
By
VIKRAM KARVE
From my Creative Writing Archives:
Dear Reader:
Let me delve deep into my Short Fiction Archives and pull out this Passionate Love Story for you to read.
I wrote story 10 years ago – in the year 2007.
Do tell me if you liked the love story.
THE SUCKER PUNCH – A Love Story by Vikram Karve
Pune
Circa 2007
Part 1 – LOVE
It all started when my wife discovered that I was having an extra marital affair with Anita.
My wife flew down to Delhi by the first available flight and she confronted me.
Guilt ridden – I confessed the truth.
My wife asked for divorce.
I agreed.
Under the circumstances – she was fully justified – yes – my wife Alka was fully justified in asking for divorce.
And – it was okay with me too.
Because – I had fallen genuinely in love with Anita.
One year later – Alka and I were formally divorced by mutual consent.
And – I married Anita.
Actually it all started because we bought that luxurious 3 BHK apartment in a posh township in Aundh – an upmarket locality in Pune.
We should have been happy and content staying in our cosy little rented apartment in the heart of Pune.
But – the lure of owning our own dream house – that too in a high-falutin locality like Aundh – it was too strong a desire to withstand.
And everyone said that the way real estate prices were shooting up – it was a life-time chance and fantastic investment too.
Buying the expensive house in Aundh meant two things.
First – my wife Alka had to start working again to help pay the housing loan EMIs.
Second – we had to postpone our immediate plans for a second child – a companion for our three year old daughter Sneha.
Everything was fine.
Our work life – and our family life – everything was going on fine.
In fact – despite the hiatus she had taken to have the baby – my wife was doing very well in her career – and thanks to the IT boom – she got fast promotions – and even her salary had become more than mine.
(Yes – when this story started – 10 years ago – in 2007 – there was an IT Boom)
Then one day – suddenly – my firm was acquired by some wise guy in the US – who merged our firm with his bigger firm – and he decided to transfer the Pune operations to the main facility at Gurgaon – near Delhi.
The new owner decided to sell off the Pune office – its vast real estate which was prime property – and also sell the firm’s extensive assets for an exorbitant sum of money and make a huge profit.
It made business sense too – having everything in one place.
Though I had to relocate to Gurgaon – it was with a big promotion and huge pay hike.
My wife Alka could have come with me to Gurgaon.
But – she did not want to give up her job in Pune.
In her present job in Pune – her career was doing extremely well.
More importantly – she did not want to leave our dream home in Aundh – which we had painstakingly designed, decorated, adorned and embellished so lovingly.
Locking up our Pune home and not living in our own beautiful house would be a pity.
Selling our beloved house was unimaginable.
Renting it out would be sacrilege.
And Sneha – our darling daughter – she was so well settled – doing so well in her excellent school just opposite our house – so engrossed with her friends, her creative hobby classes, her games, her routine, everything – that it would be cruel to dislocate her joyful and happy life.
I could have changed my job.
I could have stayed on in Pune too.
But here – in Pune – at that point of time – I could not even dream of getting the high position and pay hike that I was being offered in Gurgaon – after my firm’s takeover by the new American firm.
Maybe – somewhere in the back of my mind – it had irked my male ego that my wife was earning more than me – and she was in a much better position than me too.
Now – once I went to Gurgaon – I would be way ahead of her – both “salary-wise” and “position-wise”.
Tell me – which husband likes to be inferior to his wife...?
Or maybe – we both were in competition with each other.
So we began this long distance marriage.
We tried to meet whenever could – we planned family vacations to exotic locations – we tried to spend “quality time” together.
But as everyone knows – this “quality time” pretence is all a façade – a masquerade that all actors in a long distance relationship go through.
Yes – most long distance spouses enact and perform this “quality time” masquerade – they fake it – for the others’ sake – or maybe to soothe their own guilty conscience too.
And then – it happened – the affair with my colleague Anita.
Part 2 – LUST
Yes – I had an affair with my office colleague Anita.
Anita worked in my office in Gurgaon – in fact – she worked in the same department as me.
The affair with Anita did not happen suddenly.
It was not a sudden spur of the moment “one-night-stand”.
It was a full-fledged love affair.
It happened slowly and surely – as it probably happens to most lovelorn couples suffering the void of a long distance marriage.
It all started as a harmless workplace friendship.
Then there was a bit of lighthearted flirting – a hint of flippant romance.
As time passed we – Anita and Me – we became closer and closer.
We spent more and more time together – at work – off work – and our relationship blossomed.
It was silly of me to assume that I could keep my friendship with an attractive single woman like Anita purely platonic – for she too – was as lonely as I was.
We – Anita and Me – we started having a passionate affair.
And – and we fell in love with each other.
I still do not know which happened first – the love – or the lust.
It was just a matter of time before rumours reached Alka’s ears in Pune.
The way Anita and me were brazenly having an affair – I wonder why it took so much time for Alka to find out.
And then – one day – out of the blue – suddenly – Alka flew down from Pune – and landed up in Gurgaon – and she confronted me about my extra marital affair with Anita.
I confessed.
Alka asked for a divorce.
I accepted.
So – Alka and I got divorced through mutual consent.
And – I married Anita.
Part 3 – SUCKER PUNCH
Three years later – Anita and I sat anxiously in the clinic.
We sat in the clinic because Anita hadn’t been able to conceive a baby.
For the first year of our marriage – we planned not to have a baby.
We focussed on our careers – we enjoyed ourselves.
The next year – we were carefree – we let nature take its own course – and we left it to chance.
The third year – we desperately tried to have a baby – as Anita had crossed 34 – and she was approaching 35 years of age.
And – as time passed – disappointment turned into anxiety – and then – panic set in.
So – we sat in the fertility clinic – waiting for the doctor.
“There’s good news for you...” the doctor said to Anita – reading the reports.
“I’m okay...?” asked Anita excitedly.
“Absolutely okay...!” the doctor said to Anita, “you are fully fit to have a baby.”
“Then what’s wrong...? Why can’t she conceive a child...?” I asked.
“The problem is with you, Sir...” the doctor said to me, “you are sterile.”
“What…?” I shouted dumbfounded.
“But he is so good …” Anita exclaimed incredulously.
“Wait…Wait…Just wait a minute...” the doctor said to Anita, “I’m sure he is “good”. But please try to understand – there is a difference between impotence and sterility…”
“What nonsense...?” I said angrily, “I am not sterile or anything. Let me inform you that I am fully virile. I have a daughter from my earlier marriage. Her name is Sneha. She was born 6 years ago. So – since I have already fathered a daughter – obviously – I am fully virile.”
“Not possible...” the doctor said emphatically, “You could never have fathered a child in your entire life – you have congenital, incurable, permanent... – come inside – I will explain everything in detail to you…”
The doctor explained everything to me.
After hearing him – I was stunned.
“Doctor – are you sure I am sterile...?” I asked, anxiously.
“Yes – you are sterile – you were always sterile...” the doctor said.
“Then who fathered my daughter...?” I screamed hysterically – my brain spinning crazily like a vortex.
“That’s for you to find out...” the doctor said dispassionately.
The doctor continued speaking.
But – I could not discern a word of what he was saying.
My mind went blank in an abyss of silence – a deafening silence.
For some time – I continued to stare at him blankly – like a zombie.
Then – I started mumbling incoherently:
“Who fathered my daughter...? Who fathered my daughter...?...Someone please tell me – “Who fathered my daughter”...?”
VIKRAM KARVE
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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