Homecoming

By Debanjan S Kundu

It has been over five years, Sree thought to herself as the plane touched the runway. Homecoming has never felt better. “Good afternoon once again, ladies and gentlemen, we have reached our destination Kolkata having landed at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport, 20 minutes before schedule, the outside temperature is…….” Monsoon has arrived early this season. Sree looked outside the window, it had rained a while back here, and the tarmac was still wet. She got up from her window seat and picked out her red trolley after a considerable amount of passengers have alighted.

Coming out of the exit gate, she felt the air of Kolkata after 5 long years and 3 months, to be precise. She took out her cell phone and called up her brother. “I have finally landed re; where the hell have you parked?”

“Which gate? Is it 3A/B?”

“3A!” replied Sree hastily.

In approximately the next 5 minutes, the white sedan parked itself right in front of her. The airport was relatively empty, although the pandemic has finally subsided extensively. Loading the trolley behind, she sat on the front passenger side. As they drove outside the airport, Sree started narrating the reasoning for her sudden visit into the bustling city life.

“I caught Rahul, red-handed…..Ronny, how could have I sustained it?”

It was the beginning of autumn. After 23 tiring months of work from home, they had finally started going back to their offices. Sumita was a young and intelligent paralegal who had joined a couple of months since on particular recommendation. She was outstanding and meticulous. Sumita became highly close to Rahul over the last few weeks, especially for her work. “Rahul was more smitten than impressed”, Sree said, her temper now starting to soar. Ronny noticed that tears had already swelled up in the corners of her right eye. In just a little over two months, Sumita began to hang out after work with the couple on weekends. Although Sree was okay with this initially, the increased frequency of her visits indeed made her a little awkward.

“Why do Sumita have to visit us every weekend? She sees us throughout the day at the office, isn’t that enough?”

“She is new in this town, and she really works hard! We are like her family here. Don’t overreact. She loves to spend time with us”, quipped Rahul.

“Stop saying us, tell the truth, that she loves spending time with you”, retorted Sree quickly.

“Are you insinuating something here, Sree? Please be clear?” Rahul told in a loud voice. It was true Rahul knew deep inside that he had developed an attraction towards Sumita. He can deny it to Sree, but can he deny it to himself? Sree didn’t sleep in their bedroom that night. She had undoubtedly hoped that things will subside, and maybe she was indeed overthinking. They haven’t had a baby yet in over four years of marriage. Was he feeling insecure because of that?

On 16th October, Sree remembers, she had gone out with her old friend Rumi for lunch. She kept narrating to Ronny. Rahul had stayed back at home owing to get some sleep. As much as Rahul had tried sleeping, after surfing Netflix for a while, he couldn’t. He texted Sumita and invited her over for lunch. Sumita used to stay around half an hour from their place and readily agreed to come over. It was a weekend anyway, and she meant to come over for a while.

Post lunch, she insisted on leaving and that she would back in the evening, but Rahul insisted on staying back for some more time. He wanted to confront Sumita about what he felt for her despite being constantly ripped apart inside.

“Sumita, I guess this must be a phase, but I am quite sure I am fatally attracted towards you.”

“But Rahul, what are you saying, and what do you mean by that?”

“You exactly know what I mean; as much as I am attracted towards you for your intelligence, I am also attracted to you physically as well.”

“But isn’t this wrong?” asked Sumita, a little worried. She had felt a connection, true, but she has never acted upon it; she knew it was wrong.

“Sumita, try and understand. As much as I hate this to say and I love Sree to the core, but I just go a little crazy with you around”, Rahul said, his voice shaking. He walked towards Sumita in slow steps, who sat still in the bed. Rahul knelt down, slowly keeping her head on her lap. Sumita felt an emotional connection, and she thought that she was being drawn into this swarming black hole as she ran her fingers through his hair. He looked up, right into her eyes, glistening with unbound joy. It was mixed with a bit of guilt and sorrow as they slowly arrived at kissing each other with every last bit of passion.

Rahul’s and Sree’s bedroom were on the second floor, so it was natural that they missed the arrival of Sree. She always used to carry a bunch of keys. Reaching outside their room, she slowly pushed the door open. She heard the last part of their conversation and waited for the right moment of invasion, although she couldn’t decide the timing. When the door was flung open, much out of rage, Rahul and Sumita turned red with embarrassment. Sree threw her bag on the floor and ran down the flight of stairs.

“I filed for the divorce early December citing irreconcilable differences, much on the request of Rahul, and just so to save him from all the blemishes of the society. Sumita resigned from her position the following week, citing personal reasons. “The divorce was successful and mutual, finalised in May. I decided to resign immediately. Ronny, I had fulfilled a lot of my dreams. This company, money, marriage, everything is flawed in the end. And I had loved it all, with all their flaws.”

They had reached their home. “Chotobela er baari te nie eli? Sei baranda ta na?” asked Sree.

“Yes, after all, it is your homecoming”, Ronny said with a glitter in his eyes and a smile on his lips.

By Debanjan S Kundu