LONG DISTANCE MARRIAGE, OFFICE AFFAIR AND DOUBLE GAME
Short Fiction - A Romance
By
VIKRAM KARVE
From My Creative Writing Archives:
Let me pull out from my creative writing archives a love story I wrote more than almost 9 years ago, in the year 2009, which was titled OFFICE WIFE aka I WANT TO MARRY YOUR HUSBAND
It is a lighthearted love story about modern urban marriages and office romances
Do tell me if you like this this peppy romance with twists and turns...
LONG DISTANCE MARRIAGE, OFFICE AFFAIR AND DOUBLE GAME
Short Fiction Story by Vikram Karve
Dramatis Personae
Anamika Prem Kumar aka Anu
Anu’s Husband Prem
Prem’s office colleague Priti
Part 1: “OFFICE WIFE” versus “LONG DISTANCE WIFE”
“I want to marry your husband.”
“What? Are you mad or something?”
“No. I am not mad. Can’t you see? I am perfectly okay. I want to marry your husband. So I have come to ask you to please let him free…”
“I don’t want to talk to you. Please leave my office.”
“Come on Anu…”
“Anu? How dare you call me Anu. Listen Madam, my name is…”
“Your name is Anamika – Mrs. Anamika Prem Kumar, Senior Project Manager, IT whiz kid, ambitious, ruthless, careerist. I know everything about you. And don’t ‘madam’ me. Just call me Priti – that’s my name – Prem must have told you about me.”
“Priti? I have never heard of you. I don’t know who you are. And my husband Prem has told me nothing about you – he’s never even mentioned your name.”
“Funny, isn’t it? Think about it. I know everything about you but you know nothing about me. You see, your husband Prem tells me everything about you – each and every detail – yes, with me he even shares your intimate secrets – but he does not tell you about me – your darling husband hides his relationship with me from you!”
“Relationship? Intimate secrets? Prem has an intimate relationship with you? What nonsense…”
“Shall I tell you about your honeymoon? I know things only you and Prem should know?”
“Who the hell do you think you are? And why have you barged into my office unannounced?”
“I told you who I am. I am Priti. And hey, I didn’t barge in. I sent you my visiting card, and you called me in, isn’t it? It’s all there on my card, my name, designation, the company I work for. Let’s say I am your husband’s colleague, his work-mate, his teammate, we almost share the same desk...”
Anamika looks at the card, picks up her cell-phone, but before she can dial Priti interrupts her, “You’re calling your husband Prem? Don’t disturb him, Anu. Prem must be sleeping.”
“Sleeping? At eleven in the morning? He should be in office…”
“See, you don’t even know…”
“What?”
“Prem had his wisdom tooth extracted last evening – it was very very painful – Poor Prem – he was in such excruciating agony that I had to sit at his bedside the whole night.”
“You were with him the whole night?”
“Yes, I was with your husband Prem the whole night. First thing in the morning I gave him a sedative and painkiller. Then I drove straight down from Mumbai to Pune to meet you.”
“Are you telling me that you were sleeping with Prem the whole night?”
“No. No. It’s not what you think. We’re not having a physical affair – it’s purely platonic – maybe you can call it an emotional affair – at least till now – but it’s still a love affair – we love each other.”
“Love? How can he love you? I am his wife!”
“Wife? Oh yes, you are his legally wedded wife. But tell me Anu, are you ever there for him when Prem needs you..?”
“Prem needs me…?”
“See, you’re so busy out here in Pune chasing your career dreams that you don’t even know what suffering your husband is going through staying alone in Mumbai.”
“Of course I know. I speak to him on mobile phone every day – and we try and meet on weekends…”
“I know. Prem tells me all about your phone calls – and he also tells me how you bore him sick during your weekend rendezvous with your nauseating mask of fake love. Let me tell you that Prem is fed up of your sugary sweet talk, your pretence, your phony ‘caring and sharing’ act...”
“That’s not true. Prem and me – we spend ‘Quality Time’ together…”
“Ha, Ha – ‘Quality Time’ indeed – once a week – it’s once a month now isn’t it – since you have started working on weekends to meet your deadlines – and the long gaps when you go globetrotting on your projects. Well you may be having your rare moments of ‘Quality Time’ with Prem, but let me tell you one thing – Prem and I are spending plenty of ‘Quantity Time’ together – in office, in the evenings, we are together almost all the time – and that’s what really matters…”
“Listen Miss Priti – I have tolerated you long enough. I think it is time for you to leave now – I have work to do. And before you go, please listen carefully – I am warning you – you just breakup your relationship with Prem – you better not try to steal my husband from me…”
“Steal your husband? My dear Anu – there is no need for me to steal your husband – he is already mine – it is you who have thrown Prem into my arms – and I am quite happy to have him in my arms – and I am going to hold onto him tightly...”
The woman called Anu gets up, and she says to Priti, “I think it is time for you to go now. Please leave...”
“I will tell Prem to get the papers ready. I think it is best to get this over with as fast as possible,” Priti says.
“Papers? What papers? I am not going to sign any papers. And I am warning you Miss - whatever your name is - you just stay away from my husband. Now just go away. Good Bye!”
“Be reasonable, Anu. We are three persons in this marriage. That’s not good. There should be only two persons in a marriage, not a threesome. You are Prem’s “paper wife” – but I am his “office wife”. In fact, now I am much more than his office wife. Between the two of us I think I am more in tune with him. So I think it is you who will have to leave the threesome. Think about it. Take your time. I am sure you will understand,” Priti says.
Then Priti walks out of Anu’s office.
Part 2: PRITI CALLS UP HER “OFFICE HUSBAND” PREM
Priti does not take the lift.
She deliberately walks down the staircase.
She reflects on her tête-à-tête with Anu.
Priti feels happy and congratulates herself on a job well done.
She returns her visitor’s pass at the reception, walks past the foyer, crosses the road and reaches her car.
The moment Priti sits in her car she calls up her “office husband” Prem in Mumbai from her mobile.
“I spoke to her,” Priti says to Prem, the moment comes on line.
“I know. Anu rang me up just now,” Prem says.
“What? Your wife rang you up? So fast?”
“You really seem to have really rattled her. Anu is coming down to Mumbai this evening after work. She has taken a week’s leave. She wants to stay with me in Mumbai and talk things over. She was even asking about the pain in my wisdom tooth. She said she wanted to look after me...!”
“Really?”
“Thanks, Priti. I think you have saved my marriage.”
“Come on Prem. There is no ‘thank you’ and ‘sorry’ between friends.”
“Yes, Priti, you’re really my true friend, my best friend in the world!”
“Hey, don’t get sentimental. And by the way, if she does not turn up, if she gives you a ditch – if Anu ever dumps you – just remember I am always there for you. But I’m sure she’ll come and everything will work out fine for you two.”
“I hope so.”
“I am sure of it. Anyway now I am going to make myself scarce for a few days and spend some time with my sister in Pune. We’ll meet at the office next week and talk. Bye. Take Care.”
“Bye,” Prem says and he feels a flood of love, a unique kind of affection, a sort of warm gratitude for Priti.
Part 3: ANU AND HER “OFFICE HUSBAND”
Meanwhile, in Pune, Prem’s wife Anu aka Mrs. Anamika Prem Kumar leaves her office.
Anu walks across the corridor and enters the cabin of her “office husband”.
She enters and closes the door.
“You won’t believe it,” Anu laughs, “My husband Prem is having an affair...!”
“Your husband is having an affair? I cannot believe it...” the man says.
“The female was here. Her name is Priti. She works in my husband Prem’s office in Mumbai. She came here all the way from Mumbai,” Anu says.
Then Anu tells everything to her “office husband”.
(Well – having “office spouses (“office husband” and “office wife”) is quite a common phenomenon nowadays – especially in long distance marriages. Of course – in Anu’s case – the man is much more than a mere “office husband” – he is her companion, her soul-mate, her paramour, her lover – call him what you like – and yes – there is always a possibility that an “office husband” may become an actual husband...!!!)
The man, Anu’s “office husband”, listens intently, as Anu tells him each and everything that Priti told her about Prem and Priti – and their relationship .
“Just imagine, Anu – you were almost going to tell your husband about us – and you were feeling so guilty that you were cheating on him and having an extramarital affair with me. Now – what are you going to do?” the man asks.
“I am going to Mumbai to meet my husband Prem. I will throw a real tantrum about his affair with Priti – I will create a ruckus, I will tell Prem that he is a cheat – I will accuse him of infidelity, of being disloyal, of betraying me – I will tell him I want a divorce because of his adulterous relationship with Priti. Now – there is no need to tell him about us – there is no need for me to feel guilty. Let Prem think that he alone is fully responsible for our breakup – let him feel guilty – that it is all his fault. Rather than I have a guilty conscience because of our affair – I think it is better that he has the guilty conscience – isn't it?”
“Yes...” the man says, “it is much better that your husband has the guilty conscience.”
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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