Page 23 of The Unwanted Husband
“I need to apologize to Ashok.” Her voice shook. “I don’t know why I behaved so badly.”
“Isha,” Aman took a deep breath. “What happened?”
“I…I…slapped Ashok and then instigated him by—”
“Isha…stop.” Aman was shocked. “I can’t believe this. This is so unlike you.”
“Don’t try to make me feel better. What I did was just an abomination and…” she lost her words unable to find the term for it. “Just ridiculous…juvenile.” As a lawyer she took pride in being composed and always responded, instead of reacting.
He shook his head. “I don’t believe what I’m hearing.”
“But Aman, I need to tell you what happened.” She needed to get it off her chest. She felt a dying need to justify her actions. “I’ve never behaved so badly—”
“Just forget what happened.” He insisted. “Apologize to Ashok and move on.”
Isha knew she would not be able to tell Aman anything at that point so she lowered her eyes and stayed silent.
“Isha, go to bed,” Aman said after a few moments of silence. “Everything will seem a lot easier to handle in the morning. I promise.”
She nodded; her eyes still lowered as she held her phone in front of her.
“Can I get you to look at me and promise me you will make a sincere effort to sleep?”
She looked up, her heart melting for the guy who was the sweetest person she had ever known. “I promise. I will go to sleep now.”
With those words. She put the phone away and turned off the light. She knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep but she had to give sleep a try, at least for Aman’s sake.
As promised, she fell asleep but she tossed around for a few hours before deciding to dial Chandini. She had to explain to someone why she behaved that way.
Without realizing what time it was, she dialed Chandini’s number. She answered almost immediately. “Isha,” her cousin panted, “you’re up so early.”
It seemed Chandini was on her evening run. Isha looked at the clock and chuckled. “It’s 5:55 in the morning for me.”
“Wow, angel number!”
Isha rolled her eyes. Her cousin was a huge believer of the concept of angel numbers and the significant messages they carry. She indulged her cousin only because she loved her. “And what does that mean?”
“That’s for change.” She sighed before adding, “For new beginnings.”
Isha let out a sigh wondering why she told her cousin the exact time, instead of saying it was almost six.
“Good,” she said instead of saying what she was thinking. That it was just her cousin being superstitious.
“Are you ready to embrace the change?”
“No,” her response was instantaneous. “If losing Ravi and Sami is the change, I don’t want this.”
Isha was angry, not at her cousin. Chandini went silent and Isha could tell she had stopped running at that point. “Chandini, I’m sorry. You know I’m not angry at you.”
Her cousin paused for a moment. “I know that.”
Isha felt guilty for snapping at her cousin and could not find the words to continue the conversation. “I’ve been doing stupid things all day and all night. Including yelling at you for no reason.”
“Well, youkindahad a reason.” Chandini laughed and added, “before you tell me whatever else you did, 555 means good change and all I’m saying is you need to open to it. And when you see all ones, make a wish. It’s good.”
A shudder passed through her in response to her cousin’s words. In the last few weeks, the number of times she had looked at the digital clock and it showed either eleven after eleven in the mornings when she woke up and when she woke up in the middle of the night with a nightmare when it was eleven after one in the morning.
Whatever this change was, it was making her do crazy stuff. She did have a few wishes that she could benefit from them being granted!!
