“ Just say it - It’s over. I have moved on!”

                    “ Just say it - It’s over. I have moved on!”

“Chiplab”, a bright tall handsome man was the hot favourite of the girls around him. “Hey Sweety! What's up? Give me your number dear” was his cliché line that he shared with almost every other female he met. “Born flirt “ - a tagline was given to him by his colleagues and friends in the hardware company he worked for.

He was not only charming but very observant as well. “Hey, Mr Kapoor, is this the new phone cover that you have just bought , well it looks amazing doesn’t it? “, and “What about your crushed sleeve, did you by any chance slipped down anywhere?”. Mr Kapoor was his reporting manager who got amazed at the observations he made of him.

“Well , No Chiplab I am afraid I have not fallen down anywhere but as I was cleaning the old pile of files , maybe my iron sleeved got a bit crushed due to it”, and “yes” he continued “ I just got the phone cover last night, thanks “

It was literally very difficult to hide things from him as his nature was to literally bang into other people’s life often without their permission.

“Hey Kavita, my payment for last month has not been cleared! I had taken paid leaves, so how can you deduct my salary, fix it up or I will go and complain to the boss” , he said to Kavita one morning when he met her in accounts department . Kavita was the accounts assistant very cunning and gossip monger as well and would always screw things up for others saving her own skin. He was hated by almost everyone in the office, “Hated”, because he was very mean hearted, who pulled down people and enjoyed their downfall as well. He may also be addressed as a “Sadist”.

One day , there was a new recruitment in the office , it was a shy , introvert and timid girl “Arti”. She has joined as an personal assistant to the director of the company.

“ Arti, Hi I am Kavita, have you worked anywhere before?”, asked Kavita with a curious look on her face. As “Kavita” was interested in everyone’s life around her except hers, so she wanted to know about the new girl that joined in. “Arti”, being in her thirties was quite matured but unfortunately, inside her heart she was an innocent child, who was being sent on the planet accidently. She was far away from the shrewdness of the world, and was very bad at studying people. To assess the mean heartedness, the diplomacy and the poison behind the sweetness of people was something impossible for her to guage.

“Hey Arti, Chiplab here how are you doing? If you need any help just let me know, and give me your number “ said Chiplab to her the moment he saw her offering her a handshake. At work, Arti was a very dedicated employee and a complete workaholic. Answering phones, checking mails, talking to clients , handling labours , she picked up all the tasks given to her very honestly.

Though she was very articulate in her work, as she used to speak less, often her silence and politeness were taken as signs of weakness and her colleagues tried to bully her and take advantage of her. As she was very soft as a person, she was very sensitive to office politics, and it used to disturb her a lot.

“Is Chiplab married?” , she enquired from someone at the reception and learnt that indeed he was and also was blessed with a sweet little daughter. “. As Chiplab was quite friendly with her , she was comfortable with him. But as he dint have a very good reputation with women, so Arti’s friends warned her . He in a way became a voice for her. As she was not able to speak for herself, he defended her and spoke for her. It made Arti very secured and protected and she felt as if she got a voice for herself.

With time their friendship became strong and she also promised him that she would visit his house and she eventually kept her promise . His wife , though being of suspicious and possessive nature somehow addressed her as “Didi- elder sister “ and greeted her. “You know ours was a love marriage and he is the best husband I could get”, saying this his wife kissed him and cuddled him in front of Arti. This made Arti, bit uneasy but she took it well and never showed any negative emotion. After all , she was his wife.

Arti came back home with mixed feelings, she was drawn towards Chiplab as her protector and lover and she was in a way ready to share him with his family as well. While all the other colleagues and friends warned her that Chiplab was only a womanizer and was playing with “Arti’s “ feelings , she was deluded by the feelings of “Love “ and “ Care” for Chiplab in her heart.

Chiplab hailed from a Village background and his language was very crude as compared to the decent upbringing of Arti and people at work did not approve of their relationship. He was already married and had a family and they felt Arti was trespassing and breaking his family. 

Despite all the accusations, Arti cared a damn for anyone trying to take away her love from her. She knew in her heart that she never wanted him to be separated from his wife or child, all she wanted from him was a true friend, a supporter and a lover.

Due to her growing closeness with Chiplab, people started gossiping about the couple. “Oh , dear where have you been, were you with Chiplab? How is his wife?” were the strange questions, Kavita would often ask her. Even Mr Kapoor indirectly taunted her about Chiplab. Even the boss and his brothers hinted her to stay off Chiplab. So overall, workplace had become a big cause of stress to Arti.

Mr Ranbir , brother of her boss rang up one day Chiplab’s wife and told her everything about Arti and Chiplab. To everyone’s anguish , Chiplab’s wife came shouting and accused Arti of her relationship with her husband and created a big scene. Arti really became very upset by all this.

Chiplab, told her that his wife was an ill character person and was having an affair with her boyfriend. He was infact planning to leave her. On hearing this Arti felt real guilty and upset.

One Sunday morning,she made a call to Chiplab , and could hear his wife abusing and blaming her. His wife even sent her texts containing very abusive language so Arti decided to stay away from Chiplab and forget him.

She even received a call from his wife later on, apologizing to her for her bad behaviour and warned her about his having affair with 5-6 girls. Arti , ignored the conversation as she had started to keep a distance from him and thought it would not bother her.

As they were in the same workplace, things seemed to mellow down a bit as the two were not seen together. But , human instincts never die. Arti, was not able to resist herself from meeting and talking to Chiplab and he also coaxed her into having relationship with her. He started controlling her as he wanted to take undue advantage of her.

Arti was an emotional fool and she again got into the relationship with Chiplab. Chiplab informed her, that he had a fight with his wife due to her affair and they have got legally separated so he has left the house and took a new accommodation and his wife returned to her village with the child in her custody.

This was a mixed news for ARTI ,she was happy that there was no one between her and her lover, while on the other hand she had a guilt that maybe she was a cause of separation between the two. This also made Arti really pity him and she decided she would stick by him through thick and thin and will always be supportive. 

“Chiplab, you really love me no, please be with me always “, were the affirmations required regularly by her. “I only love you and no one else” he would say.

Time flew, and Chiplab’s real nature of dominance and fight started affecting the relationship. There were often fights between them and even Arti started feeling that he had a natural urge for having as many girls around him as possible. She even caught some pictures and messages of romance of girls with him which made her feel insecured but whenever she confronted him he was always in a denial mode. Once when she went to his place, she found him sharing room with two girls, “Chiplab who the hell are they ? “, she shouted. “ Oh they are just college girls , they are just like my sisters don’t worry”, he replied.

It was a stressful situation for Arti , as she doubted and trusted him at the same time. After a couple of months, Chiplab got transferred to a different office branch and it was both a sorrow and relief for Arti.

Sorrow of missing him and relief of getting away from the traumatic situation she was into. Out of sight is out of mind, so she thought maybe its for the better , but Chiplab continued talking with her and at times he would also drop at her house. She trusted him again, as always . Love make you emotional and a fool out of you. You knowingly do things you know are not good for you. Chiplab was a womanizer, a shrewd person. He stalked her, dominated her, continued his affairs and always won over her because she was scared of him . He had criminal kind of behaviour a kind of psychotic person . They would off and on meet, breakup, patchup. She once moved to her sister’s place for a month to get rid of the depression. She changed her phone number but he found that out too. Hopelessly, he would always coax her back into the relationship, threatening her that he would kill himself if she informed the cops or her family about it.

Suddenly, a few weeks later there was a marked change in his behaviour, he started avoiding her calls. Whenever, he would meet her, he used to get phone calls on his phone which he never took in her presence and would walk off to a farther distance saying it was from his uncle who was far off , so wanted to check on him if he’s fine.

Arti became both furious and tensed as she was scared maybe he got involved with someone else. When she asked Chiplab , his answer was negative as always. A couple of times, Chiplab’s friends informed Arti that he was in a relationship with one of the girls in the neighbourhood , and that they were having an affair.

“Chiplab , are you involved with your neighbor?”, cried she. “Oh , cmon sweetheart that girl already has a boyfriend and I have told her about you and there is nothing about her. But something was not right, she checked his phone and saw romantic messages of girls. She grew very upset.

After a couple of days, Chiplab went to her house to meet her as she wanted to clarify his flings, suddenly Chiplab got a call at his phone which he this time took in Arti’s presence and asked the caller to call back after sometime. When Arti asked who it was he avoided. This time , Arti got a call on her number. “Hello , is it Arti?”, it was the sound of some girl on the other end. “Yes, whos it?”asked she. …. “Well, Its Chiplab’s wife here Smita”…… Arti was taken aback as Chiplab’s ex-wife name was Devi.

“Who’s this Smita, Chiplab ?”, Arti was not able to take it anymore. She was shaking with fear and anger at the sametime. “She is saying she is your wife!!!!”, “How could you do this to me?”, saying this Arti in a fit of rage, slapped him on his face 6 times and threw him out of the house. Coincidentally the caller girl met her after a while, in his presence and told her that they were living like husband and wife and that he was about to marry her.

“Such a deceit!!!!!!You cheat, you cheated me so badly”, Arti cried. As Arti was busy preparing for her competitive exams she wasn’t able to pay attention to him, that’s why Chiplab cheated her. That was the explanation he gave to her. Arti now remembered his wife, maybe it was her curse that had come back. The office people were right, friends were right , everyone was aware of the storm that had come in her life. Even she was warned by the heavens but she paid for it by being ignorant.

After the incident, Chiplab promised her that he would leave “Smita “ and shift to some other place which he did as well. He took Arti to his new house and tried to mend up things with her. She being a weak personality, continued meeting him. He had a close friend , sharing his room who coincidentally became her friend as well. He would often address her as Chiplab’s wife “Bhabhiji”, to which Arti had no clue whether to feel happy or sad. She really had no clue as Chiplab had cheated her so many times.

Once, while she was travelling to another city by train to take a competitive exam, she was called up by Chiplab’s friend informing her that Chiplab had got involved with a girl residing in the same area and that often, he brought hookers at his place. This was devastating for Arti, as it spoilt her mood so much, she ruined her exam and on her way back, messaged Chiplab that she is not interested in continuing with him and would call it quits.

Again , he threatened her as always and she took it from him as always as she lacked the courage to face him and throw him out of her life. She was becoming crazy.

 Arti, decided to take help. She consulted a counselor and an astrologer friend for help. The counselor advised her to keep off him, and the astrologer spoke on similar terms , saying that he was a womansier by nature so, no matter how much she would be loyal to her , he will betray her repeatedly. This made Arti really very depressed, her whole life was full of fears, anger and regret. The relationship was something that she could not get along nor quit as she was full of fears that Chiplab might harm himself her and her family.

Many times, she told him that she would inform cops and he would threaten her that she will face dire consequences if she did. He had taken full control of her, her psychology, her emotions and her feelings. He would deliberately have relationships with other women at the same time threatened her that she dare not leave him.

“Arti, my love I am only yours , you are only mine, we will never be separated “, her phone was flooded with such kind of messages. She herself was on the verge of killing herself as it was unbearable pain , hurt, agony, anger for her. She would sit and cry in the nearby park all by herself, as she was no way able to thing of a way to escape the monster. HE was all over her. He was as free as he could be and he made her a slave of his. She had no friend she could confide to……………Miracle was what she was praying for…………

The universe at last listened to her prayers and on seeing her in a real bad shape, her mother asked her what was wrong with her. All this time she was hiding things from her family and she finally broke down.

She confided to her everything. Her mother lost her temper. She rang up “Chiplab” immediately and asked her what were his plans with her daughter, what is he upto and what does he want? She was so furious on seeing her daughter’s plight, Chiplab on the other end also raised his voice and asked her to stay out of it as Arti was his mate. “She is my daughter !!!!!” Saying this she hung up the phone.

Arti, got her miracle, she got her strength from her own mother …………….She could not believe that her mother could actually say those words to him. In the evening Arti confided to her entire family. Chiplab tried to harass her family by giving advertisement of their car for sale. For 2 days their phone kept on ringing till they complained to the company.

Her brother talked to Chiplab on the phone and warned him to stay off her sister. His brother also spoke of the abusive messages that were sent by his wife to Arti, that were not at all tolerable and would have been escalated to the cops. This time Arti was a changed person. Her family was her support.

The relationship based on hurt, pain, deceit, fear, hopelessness, jealousy, possessiveness had finally ended. Finally, Arti dared to speak to Chiplab and told him it was over. She informed him of her decision firmly and as he came up with his threats again , She said it to Chiplab, “Its over!!”, I have moved on”. Yes she said it, finally once and for all.