J is a woman who bakes cakes.
K never baked a cake, a cookie or made a sandwich for him.
J was his nurse, friend, mother, sister, back-up date, cleaner, et al.
K was the woman who strolled in and out of his bedroom, never halting at the kitchen or the drawing room.
J was the quintessential ‘good girl’
K was just a ‘girl having a good time’.
Almost half a decade later, K very unwittingly bumped into her at the lights and chandelier store. She did secretly want to bump into her, but probably with a speeding car!
J was standing there critically appreciating a tiny piece of wall lighting that K thought was unpraktisch. Her halo was the unchanged, silky hair, every strand in place. Sans crease churidaar draped with a south cotton dupatta. Perfectly color coordinated shoes and bag.
Contrasting her sanitized demeanor; K looked like a jamboree: Her wild her left loose, silver hoops dangling from her lobes; denim capris, white and blue floral shirt, her awkwardly matched brown Baggit tote with beige ACG’s – were incomparable even with her shadow.
K was about to suck in her breath and rush out without purchasing her ‘best buy’ light fixture; when J turned! K swelled her bosom, sucked in her paunch and just like a ‘blast from the past, greeted her. Pleasantries were exchanged.
J’s accompanist, an olderly lady, (who was shown no recognition for staring at K), remarked – “Isn’t she the one ‘the hustler’ was screwing behind your back?” I appreciated both – her galls and my restrain.
J: “Ya, K, I've never asked you how it felt to be the second woman?”
K: “Well, it was fantastic, almost Utopian! You get the perks, without the brunt. So tell me how does it feel being a successful human dishwasher?
J: “Ohhh, the famous caustic tongue! He had forewarned me. However, I am his wife now. We tied a knot last year. I wanted to invite you, but he never let me post it through. He didn’t want you there! He said, ‘He did not want to face his mistake.’ Do you know what that means K?
K (smirking at the jerk): “I bless you for your ignorance, and for what you have. It is something I could never live with…”
K turned to leave and as the guard opened the door, J yelled – “What is it that you could never live with?”
Him.
