Page 48 - Till the Last Breath . . .

relationship, Kajal was too awestruck to notice his absolute lack of

commitment to the relationship. Kajal had always wondered what he saw in
her. They broke up when he slept with someone on a business tour to
Shillong. She didn’t think the break-up was because he slept with someone

else. They had drifted apart long before that. What surprised her was her
indifference to his betrayal.

Without waking anyone, Kajal sneaked out of her place. ‘How are you
doing?’ Varun asked. He looked as if he had aged ten years in one. Long

hours in the office, she guessed. He had even lost some hair.
‘I am good. Much better now,’ she said. ‘How’s work?’

‘Let’s sit and talk?’ he said and led the way to the nearest Subway outlet.
‘Eating healthy these days?’ she mocked.
‘Doctor advised me to. He has asked me to start exercising too, but who

has the time?’
‘You don’t, for sure,’ Kajal taunted. ‘You should take care of your health.

You look like you have a couple of kids already.’
Varun shrugged. ‘So, tell me, what happened?’ he asked.

Kajal narrated her side of the story. She broke down a couple of times
and realized that everyone had turned towards them. He listened patiently,

ignoring all the uninvited looks from the nearby tables. Varun finished the
salad and they walked towards his car. She didn’t want to cry in public. A
girl like her, pretty and docile, why did she have to cry at all?

‘Will you be okay?’ Varun asked as they sat in the car.
‘I think so,’ she said and dug her face into her palms. And wept.

‘I still can’t believe he hit you.’
‘He was drunk,’ she murmured. She didn’t tell him the whole story.

‘Whatever the case may be, you’re in an abusive relationship, Kajal.
Before this, he used to shout at you and threaten you. Now he has hit you. If

you let him get away with this, he will keep doing it. First to you, then to
the others he dates after you. You have to realize that he is mentally unfit to
be in a relationship. He has no sense of boundaries. Hell! He doesn’t even

respect your privacy. You’ve got to see that. The sooner you do, the better it