Adultery No One Dies a Saint [Completed]

She got phone calls from her dad and her friends in the evening. She answered all of them. She was confident. She felt she had it under control.

And then, she had Rajyavardhan's phone call, in the night. Her heart began to race even before she answered it.

"Dad..."

She thought her voice was stuck inside her throat.

"How did it go?"

Rajyavardhan asked straightaway.

"Horrible," Anvita didn't think twice. "It went horribly, dad. I want to see you..."

She cried.

"What happened, my child?"

Rajyavardhan's voice softened.

"I slept with him, dad. But..but... After that Rajat came here. He forced me to...he..." Anvita couldn't find words. "Prithvi attacked him to save me. And he...I think he's..."

"Anvita. Just calm down first, Anvita. Are you safe?"

"Yes. But I'm scared, dad. I fear he'll come back."

"Who, Rajat?"

"Yes. He tried to assault me and Prithvi hit him with a stool. He fell unconscious. We've moved him to his apartment but I'm scared if he'd come back. And I'm also scared if he's dead too. I don't know what to do."

"Where's Prithvi now?"

"He's gone. He went back."

"When did all this happen?"

"Right after we talked. Prithvi had come with a gift. A sandal. And he..." Anvita swallowed. She remembered it again. "I slept with him, dad." She said.

Rajyavardhan's response came after a brief pause.

"And?"

"And then I got the doorbell. It was Rajat. I told him Atul is here but he knew the truth. He walked into the hall. I had asked Prithvi to hide already. Rajat had come with a motive. He forcefully dragged me to my room and...he slapped me...and... But before he could do anything Prithvi attacked from behind and felled him down."

"Did he see the boy?"

"No. He fell before he could see Prithvi. He had hit him with the stool, hit him behind his head."

"Just one blow?"

"Yeah."

"So he isn't dead, yet."

A shiver went down Anvita's spine.

"He laid hand on something he shouldn’t have.” She remembered Rajyavardhan's words.

"I gave him a choice and named its mercy."

"Dad..."

Her voice was wary.

"So you're worried about him coming back to you," Rajyavardhan said. "It's too late for me to leave now, but you shouldn't worry. You can handle it yourself for now. If he comes again, do not open the door. Call for help from your other neighbours; I mean the families from the other floors. Like Chandrakant - I know him; you can trust him. Tell them the truth that you're alone and ask them to come to your door to turn away Rajat. No matter what he says. Don't be scared. I'll be there tomorrow and I'll handle it myself."

"When... When will you come?"

That was all Anvita wanted to know, desperately.

"By evening."

"Can't you hurry a little, please?"

"You have nothing to worry, my child. No one can harm you. I promise you.'

Anvita believed him. Tears were rolling down her cheeks. However, she felt at peace now.

"If you want to go out of the house in the morning, make sure you have someone accompany you. Anyone but your friend Neeti."

"Okay."

"Now go to bed and sleep peacefully. It's going to be alright, my child."

He said before he ended the phone call.

Anvita wished he was right there to comfort her. To calm down her. Somehow she was able to find sleep very soon.

In the morning she woke up early and phoned Rajyavardhan right away.

"I'm on my way, child," he assured her.

"Thank you, dad."

Anvita said graciously. There was nothing to worry now.

He's gonna set everything right today. Anvita was sure.

However, her worst fears became real that noon.

Anvita was pushed out of her self-imposed solitude with a panic-inducing doorbell, and she spent a moment to peep through the hole before opening the door.

It was Shashank uncle, one of their neighbours.

"Where is Atul, child?"

"He's not here, uncle. He's in Mumbai. What happened?"

"There's sad news. Our Rajat passed away!"

"What!"

Anvita's awful cry luckily did not escape her throat. She felt her world upside down, and a feeling of dizziness gripped her body and mind. She held on to the wall for support.

"But how?"

Her voice was shaky.

Shashank uncle looked at her.

"Rajat's brother-in-law found him dead in his bed. Please leave a message for Atul."

Anvita nodded.

"Do you want to have a look?"

"No!" Anvita said quickly.

"Everyone should move out. The security officer are coming."

She heard someone saying aloud from the Rajat's apartment. Men began to walk out, and Anvita froze. She slowly closed her door and cried.

It was happening. Her worst fears had come true. She and her boyfriend together had murdered her neighbour. She remembered Rajat's wife Pooja and their new-born baby.

Oh, God!

She cried.

She thought she was the one got Rajat killed. She wouldn't have answered the door in the first place, had she been alone in the house. She was charged with anger when he rang the doorbell and it had led her into act foolishly.

She phoned Rajyavardhan and told him.

“Don't panic, Anvita. We can still handle it. Don't do anything stupid now; I mean don't tell anything to anyone. You didn't do anything wrong but Prithvi's involvement might make it a bit complicated. You better stay home, for now, that's enough to keep you out of trouble. Just remain calm, my child. Nothing will happen to you."

Anvita sat in silence for long after the phone call ended. Rajyavardhan's assurance had failed to calm her down, for the first time. Perhaps her mind was crippled by fear as well as guilt; she could not make her believe anything good. The only thing she knew she could do was to wait with dread until the security officer showed up at her doorstep to arrest her. She thought of getting arrested on the eve of her wedding anniversary.

Oh God! I can't live that moment.

At one crazy moment she even picked up a pen and began to write a note - a suicide note - but she couldn't decide how to put it into words. She had a big story to tell without which people would blame Atul for her death. There was the only way to tell Atul why she wanted to die; a confession.

I must seek his pardon. Anvita decided.

Eventually, the security officer came. Anvita said her husband was not home.

"He's gone to Mumbai."

The cops asked about Rajat. Anvita said she had no idea when he had come to his house.

"He doesn't come here very often, since his wife's pregnancy he stays with them. So I have no idea when he comes and leaves. Sometimes we see him here, that's it."

Half an hour later the cops returned to ask about Atul.

"He works at Walzec Systems. He's not here since yesterday; he’s in Mumbai right now."

She repeated. They noted down Atul’s details. Anvita was sure it was just a matter of time the cops would return and tell her that you're the prime suspect.

There could be evidence which Prithvi couldn't erase.

They'll come and arrest me. They'll take me to the security officer station. They'll take my mobile as evidence. Anvita envisaged.

Suddenly she thought about the video she had shot a few months ago; the proof of George exploiting her. She has shot it to keep George coming after her again. One blackmail to counter another one. It wasn't needed though, because of Rajyavardhan's intervention.

She didn't want to lose it, yet. Rajyavardhan had made it sure George wouldn't think of her for a while. But who knows? Anvita thought of ways preserving the evidence. There was only one way; keeping it in cloud storage. But her own cloud storage wouldn't make it secure. The cops might trace it and once someone has it, it'll be simply leaked and shared by horny men.

Anvita had to rush before the time ticked out. At the back of her mind, she was anticipating the cops showing up at her doorstep; with a handcuff.

Anvita had to think wisely. She chose to upload it to Dropbox, a file hosting service. She knew Atul's Gmail password and logged on to it. He had never used it before, and he will never use it, probably and Anvita knew it was the perfect place to hide something.

She uploaded the video to his Dropbox account and deleted it from her phone.

Now, no one will find out.

She thought confidently.

She was waiting for the doorbell, but it never happened throughout the evening. Her tension mounted and Atul was still not home.

She phoned him but her call went unanswered.

As time passed she was convinced of how she should deal with it. Confession. She was going to tell Atul about everything. The only thing she could pray was to delay her arrest until his return.

However, when Atul arrived, it was a hell of anti-climax.

He was not in his usual self. He was drunk again; maybe for his friend's demise, but then the cops showed up to claim and prove that he was lying about his trip. He was not in Mumbai; instead, he was staying in a hotel suite in Delhi with a woman.

Anvita was shattered. Has he cheated on me? What's his relationship with that lady? Who's that? Does he know that I've cheated on him?

She thought of the wedding eve when she had made love to Prithvi first and then to Atul. She had thought she was caught red-handed but then Rajyavardhan helped her to think otherwise.

What if I were right?

Anvita was restless. Her worst fear was Atul learning of her betrayal and then bringing himself to involve with another woman. She knew he could not do it without a reason. Atul was not a man who would get impressed easily by any random women, no matter how beautiful they may be. He needed a motive. And Anvita feared that her betrayal was fittingly one.

When Atul was arrested and taken into custody by the cops, Anvita was taken to hell filled with guilt. She knew security officer can falsely arrest a person and put him in jail.

She remembered that a few weeks ago Atul had a spat with Rajat.

What if Rajat had mentioned this to someone else, proving their enmity?

Anvita was worried.

Two hours had gone and Atul was yet to return. Anvita wanted to talk to Rajyavardhan and her parents but she did not know how to speak of Atul's involvement with a woman.

They shouldn't know.

Her phone rang. It was Prithvi. Anvita told him the news.

"And there is some confusion. The security officer arrested Atul," she said.

Prithvi was stunned.

"What? Why?"

Atul hadn't gone to Mumbai, he was in Delhi only. So the security officer think we lied to save him. And he and Rajat had a small verbal argument over me a couple of months ago. They have taken him."

"They'll release him, don't worry."

"No, I don't feel anything right about it. They'll torture him because he's not going to concede. He's innocent; we know that, don't we? We killed Rajat, we know that."

"Anvita..." Prithvi's voice was shaking. "Don't do anything stupid now..."

"No, Prithvi. I can't just sit and watch this. I'm... I'm going to surrender."

Anvita cried.

"No! Don't do this, Anvi. Please."

"I have no other choice. I must save him."

"But what about me? I'll go to jail."

"Listen to me, Prithvi. I've done many bad things to my husband. But I still love him. He's being tortured for the crime I have committed. If I did nothing to save him, then what's the point in saying I love him?"

"What about me, Anvi? Is this what you give me for saving you?"

"I...I will say I've killed him myself. You were not there."

"That's foolish, Anvi. They'll easily prove you were helped by someone else. He was trying to assault you and how can you say you hit behind his head with that stool? Anvi, this isn't what we planned. You're just..."

"I have no time for this, Prithvi. I have to..."

"Then I'll tell you about my choice. I'm not going to surrender. I'll end my life before they get to me. I can't be a disgrace to my family."

"So do I," Anvita said and suddenly she heard something falling down from the other end.

"Prithvi?"

The line went dead.

Anvita heard a slow knock on the door.

Atul?

She ran to the door and opened it. There was him.

Anvita couldn't hold back her tears.

"Oh my God! You're safe!"

Atul was standing there and watching her.

"Come in, Atul," she led him inside.

It was a moment to feel home and safe again, but Anvita felt far from it.

Atul was sitting in the couch, his eyes down to his feet.

"Atul..." Anvita spoke. "Atul, I want to tell you about something."

She was thinking of where to begin.

From Prithvi? From Shreyas? Varun? Rajat? Or from Manhas?

Before she could begin, Atul stood up straight.

He had a story to tell. A story about how he had betrayed her. The clues and bits he had dropped during the brief security officer interrogation were merely a part of it. He had not only slept with a woman but also had impregnated her.

Anvita sat down with him. She shed tears with him.

Atul was broken with remorse, and he had asked the unfortunate woman to kill her unborn child as a corrective measure. A sin to undo another. There were enough to break the heart of a man for himself.
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