The Forgotten Dusty Diary
Fiction
“Good morning, Doctor,” Raj greets his wife as he opens up his eyes on his bed. She is awake, leaning on the bedroom-wall and sitting beside him. She offers no reply.
He looks up at her. Her eyes are red, wet, and swollen.
“My love, are you crying?”
He couldn’t figure out what upset her this morning.
After a few moments of silence, he hears, “I have good news for you. One of your biggest dreams is coming true soon,”
Her last word alerts him and yet excites him. He focuses all of his attention on her. Meanwhile, he thinks, “are we welcoming our princess soon? Why did she hide them with me?”
He glares at her eyes to share the happiness he has witnessed through her. “Wow? And you know what? This news makes me the happiest person in the world today.”
Seeing his excitement, she is confused, but she takes no time to understand what has gone through his mind. With a veil of shyness and blush, she interrogates, “Whhhaaat? It is not what you are thinking.”
“I thought…”
“That might come true some fine day in HIS (LORD’s) time, but I have greater news for you today.”
He gets restless and eager to hear what she might say. He crawls a step towards her to hold her tighter, almost keeping no distance between their lips and their eye. In the minimal space of visibility, he whispers, “Tell me, Doctor, what is that unfulfilled dream of mine I have forgotten when your beauty surrounds me.”
His words make her smile fade away lightly, but in no time, she gathers them back. “Don’t call me doctor. It sounds so unromantic in this beautiful morning,”
“Is it? So please make it romantic by singing our favourite number.” In reply to his requests, she drawls, “Your Doctor is officially a singer!”
Her last sentence astonishes him. How on earth did she come to know about this dream?
She continues, “Your doctor had released a music album last winter. The songs in the album were not only famous, but she also won the ‘People’s choice award for the best female singer.’ The world shall recognize her as a singer more than as a doctor.
He recaps the ancient days. Before he met his wife, he was in a relationship with a girl. Coincidentally, she was also a doctor, and one skill he admired on her was her melodious voice. He had only one dream then, to see her as a successful singer.
But all past was gone, and he had never shared them with his wife. He has many questions for himself. “How did she get to know? Is it because of The Last Letter? Did she find that diary while cleaning his cupboard? Did she read all of them? Did she read it for the entire night?”
Farther within his room, he sees a dusty diary that was forgotten and hidden till yesterday. He had never opened that diary since he found his wife in his life. He looks deep into her eyes to realize they are reddish today. She looks at him.
She finds pain and guilt at the same time. She hugs him and is sobbing. She consoles, “No, baby, you didn’t cheat on me. You had a past relationship before your marriage, and it doesn’t mean you cheated on me. You need not carry any guilt at all.”
Both of them understand each other, and once again, words are expressed in the form of silence.
Tears start rolling through her eyes, which had already crossed the threshold of swelling before this dawn. She was tired and sleepless, and this is all because she took the entire night to read the most mysterious book of his life.
Today she not only knows about his dream, but she also learns to what extent he had suffered waiting for his genuine love. He knows that she knows everything.
She asks him, “How could you? How did you pass through all these miserable phases alone? Didn’t you ever feel like sharing with me?
He gently rubs her tears. “I was not alone. In all those times, you were praying for me. Your prayers, even in our strangeness, had comforted and motivated me to wait for HIS time in our life. You were there with me, my love, weren’t you?”
She knows he is quick enough to make her smile. She also extends her hand to pull his cheeks to make sure he smiles back. She says, “Yes, I was always there.”
“And I had to face all those painful times alone because, at some point in time when I was destined to meet you, I needed you to see in me a man of integrity, love, and your dream. I needed to pass through these to understand the genuine love that you and I are sharing today.”
“I love you, Happy Marriage Anniversary to both of us, my darling.”
“Happy Anniversary to us, my love.”
He knows the ending is joyous, and it is full of love and understanding. All that happens for good. On this morning, she is aware of those unshared things, and yet they love each other as if they have always loved each other.
Still, he knows that dream of his means nothing today. Had she not read that dusty diary, all of his past would have remained hidden. What might have happened had she not found it? Had it not happened?
But even with this happening, the dusty and forgettable diary has brought a new morning into their life.
