There is a complete silence for a little too long. Neither of them speaks until Viraj finally breaks the silence.
“I’m really sorry mate,” he says.” I shouldn’t have brought this up.”
Ritwik says nothing. Viraj heads to Ritwik’s car and returns with a bottle of mineral water.
“Here, have some water pal,” Viraj offers the water bottle.
“What do you want from me man,” Ritwik says. I ain’t got no money. You can take the car if you want, that’s all I have to give you.
Viraj looks at the empty bottles of scotch and whisky lying on the gravel footpath. And the stench of booze was enough to know that Ritwik was dead drunk.
“You know mate what you’re problem is,” he says. You’re a coward. That’s what you are man. You don’t have courage to face to odds, courage to stand strong, courage to fight. And you’re giving up at a time when your family needs you the most.
“I don’t have a fuckin’ FAMILY,” Ritwik shouts. And who the hell you think you are, telling me all this shit.
“Whatever you say buddy, but I ain’t gonna let you do what you were trying to do here,” says Viraj.
Ritwik didn’t say anything. Instead, he faced toward his right.
“This…this is where I proposed to her four years ago,” Ritwik laughs in pain. “She was standing right there and I bent down on my knees. How happy we were back then and now, now, nothing is left for me to stay here.”
Ritwik broke down again. Tears emerged from his eyes and smothered his face. Once again, there was a complete silence and once again, Viraj broke the ice.
“Listen Bro, I know it must have been very hard for you,” Viraj says. “But this is not the way. You must keep fighting. You have your whole life ahead of you. This certainly isn’t the end.”
“To hell with your sermons and leave me alone,” Ritwik warns in a gentle voice.” What do you know about love anyway? Do you even know how it feels when you lose someone you love? Forget it. You’ll never understand.”
“You’re right,” says Viraj, being more lenient. I’ll never understand. How could I? I’ve never lost someone I love after all. Or wait, there was someone. You wanna know who that was?
Viraj pulled out his wallet, opened the flap and showed it to him.
“Look at this photograph,” he says. Look at him. He is my son. And I loved him more than life. I still love him and I always will. Radhika and I,…we lost him five years ago. But call us mean, selfish or whatever, but we can’t stop living. Because if we do, then two families will fall apart.
The words fell heavy on Ritwik and sedated him for a while. He didn’t say a word and listened to him patiently while Viraj narrated his story.
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