He thought about it for a while. He seemed to
be making a great effort to be able to come up
with something and I didn’t like that. I wanted
to see that it came from his heart. And that
was not what I was seeing. But all the same, I
stayed calm, hoping to get the best response
from him.
MD sighed. He was ready to talk. “Give me
two months,” he finally said, his eyes looking
everywhere but at me.
“Two months?” I retorted. “Is that not too long
for a small family introduction? No, MD, that is
not acceptable,” I said to him.
“Come on, Anita, two months is only a few
weeks away,” he explained. “Remember, I
need to plan this carefully. And besides, we
are going to travel, aren’t we? Your parents
are not here and I may have to take one or
two people with me. So, its not quite as small
as you think it is, it still requires planning.”
“So, you can’t give me a date now?” I
demanded, my face plastered with
desperation.
“No, dear, not now,” MD answered. “I need to
look at my business schedules in the office,
look at my free dates where I have no serious
business engagements and then pick a date
from one of them.”
“Okay, MD, I hear you, and I hope you will
keep to your word because it won’t be funny if
I inform my family that you’re coming and then
you end up not showing up and asking to
reschedule the visit again, I will be very mad.
And do not blame me then for whatever action
I take,” I let out a subtle threat.
“There you go again, still threatening to do
something stupid,” MD returned, rubbing his
hand on my face and trying to get me to smile.
“Something stupid, you say?” I returned,
looking at him with a glint of anger in my eyes.
“I swear, MD, you won’t find it amusing any
more if you continue to treat me the way
you’re doing. I am not a girl you picked on the
street, for crying out loud, I am the mother of
your child, your only child for that matter! And
I guess I have to keep reminding you of that
fact.”
MD smiled. He drew me closer. “You have
nothing to worry about, my dear, I have
assured you countless times. And you do not
need to remind me, I know you’re the mother
of my child, my ONLY child for that matter,” he
whispered in my ears, emphasising ONLY the
way I emphasise it when I say the same
words to him.
“Then treat me like one, MD, treat me like I
mean something to you…Put a ring on my
finger, or is that too much to ask for? Two
months, MD, two months and not a day more,
otherwise, it’s over between us!”
MD was silent. He was speechless. He just
sat there, watching me, a cold look on his
face. No doubt about it, he didn’t find it
amusing that I was putting my foot down with
him, he didn’t like it all.
“I have heard you, Anita, but I have said it
before and I will say it again, stop threatening
me, I do not appreciate it!” he shot at me. “I
have assured you I will handle this matter and
make sure things go according to plan. But
you won’t listen to me, you keep threatening
me, you keep threatening to take my son
away from me…is that what you really want to
do?”
I shook my head, looking him straight in the
eye. “I am not planning to do such thing yet,
MD, all I am saying is that I need you to do
the needful so that I am not pushed to do
something you won’t like.”
He was gazing at me, listening to me as I
talked. “This is not about threatening you, MD,
it’s about looking out for myself and for my
son,” I continued, some measure of anger in
my voice. “You and I know we have been on
this issue for a while now, yet you keep
making promises. You have not said anything
to guarantee me that this time, those
promises you made will be kept. They have
been nothing but empty promises all this time.
So, if now, I am ‘threatening,’ as you put it, to
walk away with my child and look for a better
future for us, can you blame me for doing so?”
MD beamed me a wry smile. Then he said:
“Let me ask you, Anita, do you actually think
you can live the kind of comfortable life you’re
living right now without me in your life?” MD
fired. “Do you think because you’re a young
and beautiful lady, every man out there would
want to marry you along with my son and take
care of him like me, the father, would? How
many men do you even think will be ready to
settle down with a single mom, if you choose
to walk away from me and live alone all by
yourself along with my child? Do you think life
is as rosy out there as you think?”
He may be right. Things may not go as
smoothly as I think they would go if I leave
him. Definitely, I would have to go through
some rough patches without MD in my life. I
know all of these and I was willing to take the
risk. But, more than anything else, I could also
see what the man was doing. He was trying to
scare me. He was trying to put great fear of
the unknown into me. Knowing I wouldn’t
know for certain what could come out of
taking such decisive step, he was trying to
create doubts in my mind so that the
uncertainties of walking away from him and
living alone would make me begin to have
second thoughts. But more than anything
else, what it also means is that MD was not
really being sincere with me about his
intention for us to get married.
“MD, if I can read your mind correctly, going
by what you just said, it is like you have no
sincere intention to do the wedding! You are
just taking me on a wild goose chase that you
know will lead to nowhere! Is that what this is
about? This is a lie, right? You have such
plans to make me your legally married wife,
right?”
MD opened his mouth to speak but, at first, no
word came forth. He was shocked by my
outburst.
“Anita, why would you say something like
that?” he asked, looking bewildered. And I
wondered why. The man must be a good
actor himself.
I looked him coldly in the eyes and said to
him: “Because, with what you just told me
now, it is very obvious that I am wasting my
life with you!”
…To Be Continued
