Page 11 of Mrs. Pandey
They had no idea what it felt like to serve your country. To bleed for something that actually mattered.
My job was the one thing keeping me sane. And I was done pretending. I opened my email and started canceling the rest of my leave. I couldn't stay here another day.
I needed to breathe. I needed to breathe my duty again.
Sliding my phone in my jeans pocket I looked at nature. A soft smile tugged at my lips as I looked at the tree in front of me. A bird perched in its nest, feeding her tiny chicks with such quiet care. The sight made something ache deep in my chest.
It's hard to be human.
You're expected to endure everything. The words. The stares. The hands you didn't ask for. The pain no one sees.
And you do it. You keep enduring.
Until one day, you don't.
_____
Chapter 5
IRA
I went to my favourite restaurant and had brunch with my friends. They laughed, I laughed too, but it was fake. They talked, I talked too, but the words just floated through my head. They ate, I ate too, just for the sake of it. It had been weeks since Aryan called off our marriage. He had tried reaching out, but I had blocked him everywhere. Prashant, on the other hand, had simply erased my existence.
"You should've seen her face when she got caught with her ex-boyfriend," Meera laughed, mocking Tia who had spent eight years in a toxic relationship.
I didn't know how she found it funny, but suddenly I found myself laughing too. Maybe because Meera nudged my shoulder and gave me that look, the one that said laugh, or else.
It was a practiced sound that fooled even my closest friends. I watched them, their faces alight with genuine amusement, and envied the ease with which joy came to them. Mine was a performance, a hollow echo in a life that felt increasingly empty. We were just stepping out of the restaurant when I saw him.
Aryan.
My laughter died a painful death in my throat. My blood ran cold, and I froze. He was a ghost, standing there, so solid and real, when I had spent weeks trying to bury his betrayal.
"Hey..." he said, his voice a low rumble that sent shivers down my spine. I saw his nod to my friends, a silent dismissal, and watched them melt away, leaving us in the stark, terrifying spotlight of our shared past.
I couldn't breathe, and couldn't speak. All I could do was turn and walk, fast, away from him, away from the turmoil he brought to me. I was unable to forget how cruelly he sent me those texts.
"Ira..." he called, his voice following me, a relentless current pulling me back. "Just talk to me."
Talk? What was there to talk about? Every word was a blade, every memory a fresh wound. I kept walking, ignoring him, ignoring the ache in my chest. How could he do this? How could he show up now like a shameless bastard!
"Ira!" His voice was sharper this time, and I stopped. The suddenness of it almost made me stumble. He caught up in two long strides, his hand gently turning me. My heart hammered against my ribs, a frantic drum against the cage of my chest.
"What's wrong?" he asked, his eyes searching mine, as if he could truly see the desolation within, as if he didn't know what he just sent a few days ago.
"What's wrong?" I repeated, the words erupting, sharp and trembling, the carefully constructed dam finally cracking. "You were the one who told me to move on, Aryan. And now that I'm trying, you show up like this? Why can't you leave me alone?" The bitterness coated my tongue.
"Ira..." he began, confusion clouding his face, but I cut him off. I couldn't bear to hear his voice, not now.
"I don't need you," I snapped, my voice cracking with a pain I hadn't realized was still so raw. "Not anymore..."
He just stared at me, his gaze lingering on my face. I knew what he saw: the sharper cheekbones, the pale, lifeless skin, the hollow eyes. The ghost. That's all I was now, a pale imitation of the girl he once knew, fragile and haunted.
"What are you talking about?" he asked softly, and the softness was almost unbearable. It was the same Aryan who promised to marry me but his betrayal was still fresh in my chest.
"Please leave me alone!" I screamed, ripping my arm from his grasp. Tears shimmered in my eyes, hot and threatening, but I wouldn't let them fall. Not in front of him. I turned, bolting toward the road, toward my car parked across the street. My feet felt unsteady, my movements frantic, but I had to get away.
"And don't you dare come into my life again!" I shouted over my shoulder, the words torn from me by the wind and the agony. But I wasn't listening anymore because the very moment I saw the car. It just appeared out of nowhere, a blur of metal and speed, headlights glaring. A sick dread rooted me to the spot as I tried to run but...
