Naina
It had been two months and the scars were as fresh as yesterday. The wounds never seemed to heal. Maybe Maya did not want them to heal. After all these wounds were what had brought a new friend in her life.
Maya sat lost in her thoughts with her morning coffee as she looked out at the lush garden below from the twelfth floor balcony.
Her thoughts carried her back to the day she found her new friend-a friend for life.
In their twenty-nine years of marriage, Sahil had never been so much of a mystery to her as he has been since the past two years. He was an ideal husband and father, always predictable and yet never failed to surprise Maya on their anniversary every single year. He always knew how to bring a smile on her face.
Two years back, suddenly something changed in Sahil. He began to seem aloof, began coming home late, and forgot their twenty-seventh anniversary. He didn’t even come home that night!
Next morning when Sahil returned home, Maya quite simply asked him where he was the previous night and her question was met with a slap as an answer. And that was only the beginning. What followed was a series of nightmare for Maya for the next two years which became worse after Sahil lost his job.
It was a regular morbid evening of silence and Maya was in the kitchen frying fritters when Sahil strolled in and popped one fritter in his mouth. He immediately spat it out and began shouting at Maya that it wasn’t spicy enough and she is a horrible cook. As he took out his belt to hit her, Maya stepped back and the boiling hot oil in the wok spilled onto her hand and she screamed in pain. Sahil made no attempt at helping her and walked out of the kitchen.
Maya managed to soothe the burn under cold water. Suddenly the doorbell rang. As Maya opened the door, she stood in disbelief. There stood Naina, her estranged daughter. Naina had come home after three years to make amends, but what greeted her was beyond her wildest dreams. Without wasting a minute she rushed her mother to the hospital and on the way back she heard all about Maya’s two years of turmoil.
Naina took her mother away with her and filed for divorce. Maya had now found back her daughter in the form of a new friend, a friend who will stand by her - always.
Through a private investigator, Naina found out that Sahil had run into debts due to his gambling addiction and lost his job as he had embezzled money from his company.
Maya was jolted back from her thoughts as Naina nursed the wounds on her arm that she had been scratching mindlessly lost in her memories. Maya kissed her daughter and said, “You are a friend that every mother should have.”
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