Adultery Priya Didi

[shailu4ever]

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Priya Didi had the kind of beauty that didn’t need announcing. It was the quiet kind, the kind that slipped into a room and changed its air without a word.
 
Her face held no trace of makeup, just the calm, luminous freshness of someone at peace with herself. A faint wisp of hair framed her temple, catching the light when she turned.
 
Even her simplest gestures, reaching for a cup, folding a cloth, brushing a stray strand aside, felt measured and graceful.
 
There was something timeless about her presence. She reminded Ravi of old songs played softly in the background, steady, familiar, yet capable of stirring something deep within.
 
The saree was plain, her ornaments few, but she carried herself with such quiet dignity that the simplicity became her strength.
 
It wasn’t what she wore that drew the eye, but the calm that seemed to live beneath her skin.
 
She was the most beautiful person, but it hurt to see, because he knew he cannot talk to her or get close to her anymore.
 
Ravi turned toward the table, his gaze fixed on the coffee cup in front of him, his hands still. He thought of the past, before everything had fallen apart.
 
The laughter they’d shared, the way she used to talk to him as if they were equals, partners in life. Now, there was no talking, no connection.
 
He felt more alone than he ever had. And that was saying something, because even before he’d done what he did, he’d often felt lonely.
 
But this? This was different. This was desolation.
 
The clock ticked in the background.
Tick. Tick. Tick.
The minutes moved slowly, but time seemed to be slipping away.
 
The phone buzzed on the table, pulling him from his thoughts. It was Amit, asking if he was ready for the weekend’s work. Ravi stared at the screen for a moment, then typed a quick reply:
“Yes, ready. See you in an hour.”
 
He didn’t bother to reply to Priya Didi’s small acknowledgment of his presence, just as he didn’t try to break the silence with her.
 
The weight of it felt so suffocating now. Every time he thought about asking for forgiveness, or even just speaking freely, something inside him pulled back.
 
He didn’t have the right to ask for more. And even if he did, he feared the answer would be a reminder of just how far they had drifted.
 
He finished his coffee, now lukewarm, and stood up.
“I’ll be in my office,” he said quietly, though he wasn’t sure if she even heard him.
 
Priya Didi didn’t look up. She simply nodded, her back to him as she arranged some papers on the counter.
 
Ravi walked to his office, but the familiar rhythm of the day had lost its meaning. He would spend the next few hours working in silence, occasionally glancing toward the living room where Priya Didi was, but he didn’t expect anything to change. Not today.
 
Another Thursday, another day of existing under the same roof but in separate worlds. His body was there, but his mind was still somewhere else, in the past, in the space between them, aching with the knowledge that no matter how much he wanted it, everything had already been broken.
 

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