Chapter 27
Mantra sat in the study at Yash’s house working on her thesis. It was Friday night, and he was out of town to check on the new resort he had bought a few months back and was going to open shortly. It had been a few weeks since she started spending time with him, and she missed him more than she had expected.
She stopped and looked at the words in front of her. She was writing about the part where couples have trouble, and one of them resorts to cheating. She paused unable to stop thinking about when she saw Gaurav with another woman.
Mantra wasn’t thrilled with herself for not sharing it with Yash. She had no reason to share or not share. She pushed the chair back and walked to the kitchen where Yash had a few phone numbers scribbled on a sticky note.
Mantra read through his chicken scratches and saw Sona’s phone number. She wasn’t sure what the right course of action was, but she felt like she needed to tell Sona what she saw, and what it appeared he was doing that night at the hotel.
With her heart thudding, she dialed Sona’s phone number.
“This is Sona.” Mantra heard the cheerful voice of Yash’s sister.
“Sona… this is Mantra, we met…” Sona did not let her finish.
“Mantra, how are you?”
Mantra could sense the shift in Sona’s tone.
“I’m good, Sona. Did I catch you at a bad time?” Mantra was having a difficult time talking.
“Is Yash okay?”
“Yes, he is out at the resort. I… I need to talk to you… do you have a few minutes?”
Sona paused for a moment. “Does Yash know?”
“What?”
“Does Yash know you saw Gaurav with the woman that night?”
Sona knows?
“No… I wasn’t sure…”
“Good… I do want to talk to you about it and wasn’t sure how you would handle it. Are you at Yash’s place?”
“Yes.”
“I’m expecting company later tonight, but I can come meet you now if you are available.” Sona sounded calm.
“Yes.” Mantra’s palms were getting sweaty.
“I’ll see you in ten minutes.”
Mantra spent the time from when she ended the call with Sona feeling like she was on pins and needles. She just could not get over the fact that Sona knew and didn’t seem to be upset.
Sona was an entrepreneur and had her own company with her best friend as a partner. She wondered if she was with Gaurav for money, but that didn’t add up.
Mantra went to the door when she heard the bell ring.
“Hi, Mantra. I’m glad you called.”
“Sona, I don’t want to jump to conclusions, but I felt like…”
Sona smiled. “I know what he is doing, and I was the one who suggested it to him.”
“What?” Mantra was sure she was having a weird dream.
“Can we sit down?”
Mantra nodded and sat at the dining table, and Sona took the chair next to hers.
“Mantra, my husband is not cheating on me… he is doing it because we agreed it was okay for him to sleep with other women.”
Mantra swallowed. “Are you in a… an open relationship?”
“Call it what you like, but I had to do it to save my marriage.”
Mantra wanted to ask all kinds of questions, but she bit her tongue and looked at Sona in silence to calm herself down before speaking.
“Sona, you don’t need to tell me if you don’t want to but… is everything okay?” She was still recovering from the revelations and was numb from everything she heard.
Sona broke into tears, and all Mantra could think about was to put her arms around her. The woman who Mantra had thought had it all—a loving husband, a supporting brother, and a successful career—was totally miserable.
“Sona, please. Talk to me.”
“I need your help. I have been thinking about it, and you are the only one who can help me.” She pulled back to look at Mantra with her eyes filled with tears.
She did not know Sona at all. She had met her once before for coffee, and Yash hadn’t talked much about his family.
“Sona…”
“My marriage is a mess, and I am the sole reason,” she blurted out catching Mantra by surprise.
“How can I help?” She had no idea why Sona was sharing such intimate details with someone she had met just once.
“You are a therapist, aren’t you? Only you can help me.”
“Sona, please.” She took Sona’s palms into hers to comfort her. “I am not a licensed therapist. I can get you a reference for the help you need.”
“No, it has to be you. I know you can fix this for me. You’ve changed Yash. He is a different guy. I’ve never seen him so happy in my life… ever, and the number of times we talked in the last few months is more than our entire lifetime.”
“What… what are you talking about?”
“Yash… I’ve never had him around growing up and now…”
Mantra interrupted her. “I want to talk more about Yash, but tell me what’s going on with you and Gaurav?”
She wiped her tears away. “It’s embarrassing… but… I can’t have sex anymore.”
“Sona, there is nothing to be embarrassed about. How long has this been an issue?”
“Two years.”
“How long have guys been together?” Mantra asked, following her standard question sequence.
“We met right out of college and have been together since… almost ten years.”
“Did you have trouble with intimacy before that?”
Sona shook her head. “No, we were good.”
“What happened?”
“It started about two years ago… and every time we had sex, I would feel an unbearable burn, and my body just revolted, every part of it ached, and my skin crawled.”
“Did you see your gynecologist?”
“Yes, multiple times and after numerous tests and biopsies, there was no diagnosis.” Sona wiped off a bead of moisture from her eye.
“I’m sorry, but I have to ask you this. Is your husband sexually abusive?”
“No… he is a very smooth and sweet lover, and I don’t know why, but it just blew up in my face.”
“Why does he have to see other women? Can you not pleasure him in any other way if intercourse is not working?”
“I can’t. I can’t do anything with him, and it was driving me nuts to see him so miserable.”
“Are you not attracted to him… is there someone else for you?”
“No… I love my husband, and I could not see him pay for my issues.”
“So, you asked him to see other women?”
“He didn’t want to do it… he does it when I set him up with someone,” Sona confessed.
“You felt it was the right thing to do? Have him see other women?”
“Yeah, he needed it, and it was just a few times that we did that. When you saw him that night, he came home and told me. I fully expected Yash to come barging into my house the next day wanting to punch Gaurav. I was so sure you would have told him.”
“I… I’m guilty of thinking he was cheating on you.”
“If you were sure, you would have told Yash… I’m glad you called me…”
“Sona, what changed?” Mantra couldn’t understand why Sona suddenly seemed to have lost interest in having a love life.
She shook her head slowly. “I don’t know.”
“Sona, this is something to do with your state if mind. I think you are perfectly fine physically.”
“What do I do now?”
“Can you bring Gaurav to the clinic where I work for a session?”
“If you think that would help…” Her voice trailed off as the doorbell began ringing.
“Is Yash supposed to be back tonight?”
“No, he is not back until tomorrow night.” Mantra stood up to walk to the main door.
Mantra opened the door and stood looking at an elderly couple who looked very unsure of themselves. “Hello… can I help you?”
“Is Yash home?” the elderly man asked.
“I’m sorry he is not available… is he expecting you?” Mantra looked from the man to the woman’s face and back again.
“Mom… Dad… what are you guys doing here?” Mantra heard Sona squeal from behind her.
Mantra stepped aside and sheepishly smiled as Sona hugged her mother and father. “I thought you were meeting your friends before you came home… you came to see Yash?”
“It’s been such a long time since we’ve seen Yash, your mother wanted to surprise him.” Sona’s father stepped into the living area looking around the house.
“Yash is away and oh… Mom and Dad, this is Mantra… Yash’s girlfriend.”
“Good to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Birla.” Mantra shook hands with the elderly couple.
“Sona, baby, why do you have tears in your eyes?” The elderly woman placed her hand on her daughter’s cheek.
Sona froze in her spot and stared at her mother, a blank expression on her face.
“I… I just told her about Yash’s new resort opening.” Mantra blurted out. “Tears of joy.”
“New resort?”
“Yes, Mom… it’ll be the best resort along the West Coast.”
Yash’s mom looked relieved. “That is such good news. We should go there when we are here.”
“It’s not open yet. It’s going to open in a few weeks. That’s the best time to be there.” Mantra tried to distract them further.
“Raj, we should come back for the opening.” Yash’s mom looked at her husband.
“Yes, absolutely!” Mantra said cheerfully as Sona made a smooth exit to the restroom to wipe off the mascara that had run down with her tears.
“Mantra, it’s okay if Yash is not here. You should tell us all about how you and Yash met.”
Mantra smiled and led the elderly couple to the living room and tried to be a good hostess. She was glad Sona joined them and ended up leaving shortly after along with her parents.
Mantra made a note in her thesis about cheating and added the note about the kind that kept a couple together.