Page 96 of 12 Years
Payal and I looked at each other.
‘I’m going there now. Would you two like to come with me?’ the man said.
The lift doors opened at the third floor. I looked at Payal. She nodded.
‘Thank you so much, sir,’ I said.
The man, Mr Agrawal, led us to the office of Agrawal and Bansal Legal Associates. The Agrawal–Bansal-powered law firm occupied the entire third floor and a part of the tenth floor. Young associates scurried around, printing documents and typing away at their computers. We passed an empty meeting room, and Mr Agrawal gestured that we could use it.
‘Thanks again, sir. We’ll only be ten minutes,’ I said.
‘Take your time, no rush,’ Mr Agrawal said as he left us there.
Payal and I entered the meeting room which was filled with legal books. It reminded me of the meetings with my lawyers, where we’d haggled and argued over my divorce settlement for hours. Today, however, I was here to close a marriage deal. And I only had ten minutes do it.
Payal called her mother. ‘Hi Mom. I forgot to get a printout. Yes … Just ten minutes. I’ll be down soon,’ she said on the phone before turning to me. ‘How have you been?’ she said.
‘You blocked me. Everywhere. You changed your number. Never tried to reach out. And now you ask how I’m doing?’
‘Saket, you know what happened. That day, you landed up drunk and—’
‘What choice did I have?’ I interrupted her, my voice rising.
‘Please don’t shout,’ Payal said, hands on her ears. ‘Everyone only shouts at me these days.’
‘I’m not shouting. I’m just in pain. I’m distressed. Lost. Empty. Purposeless. Depressed. That’s how I’ve been. And I wish you’d reached out.’
‘Have you thought even once about asking me how I’ve been? Or what I’ve been going through?’ Payal said, her eyes welling up.
‘What happened, Payal?’ I said, my voice softening.
‘It’s too much, Saket. I can’t. I can’t put up with all this. They’re tracking my location, and controlling my life. They stop eating if I protest. They threaten to jump off the roof.’
‘Have you tried talking to them?’
‘Yes. A million times. They think I have a mental problem. That I’ve been brainwashed. They’ve put me in therapy.’
‘What?’
‘They don’t get it. After the two episodes at home, they don’t understand why I want to be with you, not Parimal.’
‘Doyouunderstand it?’
Payal looked straight into my eyes for one long minute. She didn’t answer my question.
‘Do you miss me?’
‘You have no idea how much,’ Payal said as a tear ran down her cheek.
‘You do?’
‘I can’t think, work or eat. But at the same time, I’m so scared about what my parents will do. I know I might becoming across as cold and uncaring right now, but it doesn’t mean I’m not in pain.’
‘I’ll marry you,’ I said.
‘Stop,’ Payal said.
I continued speaking. ‘I said I wasn’t sure about marrying again. But I’m sure of one thing—I can’t be away from you, Payal. It’s not possible. I can’t function. I can’t even do normal everyday things. And if marrying you is what it takes to be with you, then let’s do it. In fact, we’re in a law office right now. Can’t we do it here? Or do we need to go to a court? Is there a night court?’
