The Apology

It was a Friday evening. The beach was crowded with kids, parents, young couples and street vendors. The wind was slightly cool. 

The glass felt cold in his hand. He shook it a little bit and heard the ice cubes clinking against the glass. He sighed and leaned back on the woven cane chair. Krishan could see the beach and the rapid ocean to where he was seated in the open bar of the beach restaurant. The sun was like an enormous fireball in the far horizon, getting ready to jump into the sea. Seagulls and crows were flying home before the darkness fell. A couple of  men were sitting at the picnic tables kept on the beach, out of the hut. He knew they were waiting for their friends to join them. Suddenly his mobile phone rang. It was Priya. She called him in the morning saying she wanted to talk to him but it was a busy day for him at the office. He promised to call her back in the evening but now, he was not in the mood for a talk. 

“She can wait. After all, I’m going home tonight”. His mind spoke.

He noticed a young couple walking on the beach. The woman was heavily pregnant and clung to the man. Their eyes were glued to the kid who was playing with the waves while running away from his parents. The child screamed with joy when the waves hit his tiny feet. He remembered how joyful his life was. Everything changed with that tragic accident. He took a sip of the alcohol from his glass. The liquid ran down burning his throat and hit the empty stomach yet felt nothing worse than the throbbing pain in the heart.

“Look who is lonely tonight!” The voice startled Krishan and he looked up.

“You are late..” He sighed with a weak smile and relaxed in the chair. She dropped her expensive leather handbag on to the floor, fell into the chair next to him uninvitedly and poured a drink for herself. The flowery scent of her perfume instantly hit his nostrils. She knew he loved that scent. Her short skirt rolled up and the bare knees almost rubbed his thighs. He noticed that she was not wearing anything underneath the backless halter top. He felt the desire crawling up along his legs and wanted to get up and run. Instead, he kept staring up and down her body failing to look away. Her beautiful eyelashes were heavy with makeup and the eyelids were already drooping. Maybe she is tired or maybe she is doped. Who knows! She glugged some alcohol from her glass, leaned back on the chair with closed eyes and exhaled a deep breath.

Kanchi was a top model in the country to whom he was introduced by his colleague Gehan at a party four months ago. She was tall, slim and had beautiful hip long black spiral hair. In fact, she was three inches taller and eight years older than him but hey, who cares if the hottest girl in town is needy for you?! He knew his friends envied him because it’s only him who won her unchanged attention. “Damn it Krish, you are one lucky guy!” Gehan used to say every time he saw the woman. Krishan always felt proud of himself, secretly.

The sun had sunk in the ocean but the sky was still on fire. It was dark now and the beach had started to empty. Kids were walking away with parents, couples were slowly walking hesitant to part from each other and vendors were shouting in a high pitch to sell whatever is left over before going home. It was dark inside the bar now. A few gloomy lights lit the atmosphere and a three piece band had started to play music near the fireplace outside. As usual, the place has filled up with enough people, mostly usual customers.

Kanchi placed her glass on the table in front of them, got up, jumped onto his lap and started kissing him on the lips. He felt her fingers raking through his hair. Krishan suddenly felt drunk but he knew it was not the alcohol. This has to stop now. He pulled himself and looked away. She was not ready to give up. Then she started kissing along his nape. It had started to feel annoying.

“I am going home today.” Krishan voiced his thought. She stopped and gazed at his face through those hazy eyes.

“This is wrong….” He avoided her eyes and hung tightly on to the glass which was still in his hand. He felt the woman sitting on his lap suddenly going cold. She got up and dropped herself on to the chair again. Krishan filled up his glass again before looking at Kanchi. 

“I can’t get over Priya. She is my wife.” He felt guilty, but couldn’t understand if the cause was turning down the offer or the betrayal to his wife. 

“It was all because of the accident. Priya and I started to grow apart after the accident only.”

Krishan looked at Kanchi and realized she had already started to doze off. She was definitely doped. There was no point in talking to her. In fact, Kanchi was never close to his heart. She had never been a good listener. She was always either in a hurry or drugged.

He felt his phone ringing again in the pocket. He took it out. Yes, it was Priya again. “Hang on Priya, I’m on the way..” The words just slipped out of his mouth. He reserved a cab, paid the bill and advised one of the bar employees to help Kanchi to get in the cab when it arrives.

~~~~~~~~~~

Three hours later he was still driving. Usually it’s a two hours drive from the city he worked to their hometown but because of the heavy traffic on Friday evening it was an exhaustingly long drive. The phone rang again. Of course it was Priya. He watched her beautiful smile on his phone screen. There was a time he went crazy over her smile. She had this magical smile which could drive anybody, anybody, crazy! Her eyes were like blue diamonds. Oddly, she had short hair. He always wanted her to have long hair but she never liked it.

He could still remember how sad Priya was when he informed her about the new job four years ago. She knew he had to find an apartment closer to the office. She wanted to join him yet his parents didn't allow it as Priya was eight months pregnant at the time. They wanted her to stay with them so that they could look after her. He moved to an apartment closer to the office and visited her every weekend. She gave birth to a beautiful little boy on the sixth week he moved to the new apartment. When his office crew got to know the news the whole team visited to see the baby. Gehan and his wife, Amanda, visited them a several times. In fact, Priya and Amanda got along really well and they even spoke for hours over the telephone during weekdays too. The couple was married for eight years but did not have kids and loved Brendon so much. Yes, the baby was named as Brendon.

Priya had to leave her job after the marriage because his mother didn’t like the daughter in law to be a working woman. Even Though he didn't like it, he did not find any strong reasons to object to his mother. As a result, Priya became sort of a loner after the marriage. However, Krishan was glad to see her bonding pretty well with Amanda and Gihan.

Krishans’ three story house was located next to a beautiful paddy field. A couple of mountains surrounded the paddy fields. You had to drive through rubber estates and a tea estate to reach the house. The environment was cool and beautiful throughout all the seasons. Amanda was an enormous nature lover and fell in love with the surroundings immediately the day they first visited Krishan and Priya. Eventually, when the kid completed one year Priya moved in with Krishan. Amanda frequently visited them to play with the kid. Krishan and Priya visited their parents every other week. Most of the time, Gehan and Amanda joined them too. They spent happy times together until the tragic happened last November. 

It was a chilly morning. Priya has been planning for a picnic to the estates since days. However, when it started to drizzle in the early morning Amada hesitated to go for a walk through mountains and estates with a three year old. Nevertheless, after many discussions and negotiations they had breakfast and packed their lunch before leaving the house. After a tiring day they all were walking back home and it had started to drizzle again. Amanda was carrying Brendon. When they all stopped in the middle of a tea estate to relax she put the kid down and sat on a rock. 

“Brendon, baby, don’t go far, stay close.” Krishan sat on a rock and drank some water from a bottle.

“Tell Daddy not to worry.. We’re just looking around..” Priya went with Brendon through the tea bushes.

“Oh, dear look around! Amazing view. I can’t believe you own this place Krishan!” Amanda was carried away with the picturesque estate view. Gehan received a call and excused himself to answer it. He walked a bit here and there and climbed on a small rock where he could catch signals for his phone. 

A few minutes must have passed and a sudden tiny scream came through some of the tea bushes nearby. It was Brendon indeed. They all panicked and within seconds Priya came running to them with Brendon in her hands. The child was screaming and Priya was crying too.

“What happened??? Why is he crying??” Krishan shouted. Amanda started crying too. 

“I think a snake bit him! Ohh my baby!! what do we do now??!” Priya shouted through the noise. 

“What!!???” Gehan shouted and started to check the legs of the child. There were two red bleeding spots on his right calf. The child started to turn blue within seconds. Krishan grabbed him and started running towards the road. 

Suddenly he hit the breaks and found himself in the car. It was 12.30am and he had reached Priyas’ house. Tears were rolling down his cheeks. He sighed heavily, leaned in and kept his head on the steering wheel. He could still hear the cry of his late son in his ears. His hands still felt heavy with the weight of that little lifeless body. It took so much effort  for him to accept that Priya was not guilty of what happened to Brendon.

Priya was in her own agony after the tragedy. She drew herself away from everybody and moved in with her parents. Krishan hated her for letting the child walk away from them. He hated himself more for not being able to safeguard his innocent child. They grew apart each day no matter how hard Gehan and Amanda tried to patch them up. Weeks went by and Amanda invited both of them to spend the new years eve together with her family and friends. She suggested that it would be a good change for both of them and to start things new. However, things took a different turn after Gean introduced him to Kanchi during the party. He could not bear the sight of his wife and got drunk so hard. He danced like mad with her throughout the whole night. He wondered why the memory of Priya staring at him while dancing with Gehan was still haunting him after months. He could not remember if it was guilt or hate she had in her stare.

He got out of the car. The house was sunken in pitch black. Not even a street light was on. Must be a power cut. It was very common in this part of the country. He felt weak but slowly tapped on the door. Everyone must be asleep, the thought as nobody answered the door for a long while. After a long wait  an old man opened the door. He was holding a candle and the flame danced with the wind blowing via the opened door.

“Oh dear….. Is it really you son??” It was Dayan, Priyas’ father. “Malani, come quick!! See who has come!!”. His mother in law came out from a nearby room and gave him a sudden warm hug. “What took you so long sweetie?” She patted on his head.  He suddenly remembered what he had been missing all this time and started to cry. They made him seated on a comfortable chair and let him cry out his heart to them. Malani also cried but never let go of his hand. He felt safe with them.

The whole house was dipped in darkness. Dayan lighted another candle. “Wait. Let me wake Priya up.” Malani took one candle and walked up the stairs slowly. “Do you need anything to drink son? You must be tired.” Dayan asked. He just shook his head as of course he felt tired to speak up. A few minutes passed by. Suddenly they heard a deep throated scream from the upstairs, the scariest ever he had heard. It was followed by a painful cry and within milliseconds they realised it was Malini. Both of them ran up the stairs and found Malini on the floor by the door to Priyas’ room. The candle she took had fallen on to the floor and the flame was about to die. Krishan hurriedly peeked inside the room and saw nothing but blackness. He took out his mobile phone from his pant pocket and lit the torch. He was horrified with what he saw! His mouth fell open and felt the blood draining away from his face. He leaned back onto the door seeking support to be standing.

Priyas’ lifeless body was hanging from the roof above! She has hung herself! He felt his legs weakening and falling himself on to the floor. His ears rang with high pitched cries of his in laws. He didn’t feel his head anymore and didn’t know what to do. He felt cold and scared. He crawled, got up to his feet somehow and sprinted down the staircase. He came to the car, got in and started the engine. He wanted to run away from this nightmare. This is not what he had been expecting! Anyhow he dialed the emergency number and informed the police. Neighbours had heard the scream and were coming in with torches and sticks. A few came and surrounded the car too. “Who is there??” One questioned aloud. He stopped the engine and got out of the car calmly. 

~~~

The authorities came and took out the body. The house was sealed to protect evidence. The whole area was being searched for any suspects by the police and the neighbours. He had been questioned several times now. He was exhausted. He sat on a chair kept under the car porch of the house. He took out his mobile phone from the pocket and looked at the time on the screen. It was still 3.30am. Suddenly he noticed something on his phone. There were ten missed calls and a new text message. It was all from Priya! He noticed that the text message was received at 8.30pm. He opened it. 

“I am sorry Krish. I am so so sorry. I don't deserve you. I made a big mistake. I had an affair with Gehan. I killed our son… Please forgive me Krish. I'm sorry. I was on a telephone call with Gehan at the time Brendon got bitten by the snake. We lost our son because I didn’t look after him. I am a bad mother. And I am a bad wife. I'm sorry Krish.. I am so so sorry.” 

He looked at the covered dead body which was kept in the opened ambulance. Tears were pouring down his cheeks. Suddenly the whole area was illuminated with light.

“Oh thank god. Power cut is over!” Somebody said.