The car was creeping through the road. From their villa on the hill, it looked like a toy track....the toy car moving around it. Driving was a passion and also an outlet of emotions. He had something on his mind today....something that was eating him up. He had already taken around 30 laps of the local road which was dead in the night.

His daily routine of coming back home was openly perfunctory. The marriage didnt mean anything. Work was for money. Life really didnt mean anything.

The only thing he enjoyed doing was driving. It came to him instinctively, as if he were programmed to do it. In traffic jams, his machine moved in the maze like a miracle. Almost as if the machine was programmed to find its way. The few occasions when She was bestowed the privilege of accompanying him for a drive, She nearly forgot about Him, such was the finesse he displayed on the wheels.

Friends were few and far between. And She was a responsibility, like any other common responsibilities like keeping rooms clean, procuring groceries, maintaining the lawn. How could life just go on without energy. Energy which was generated not only from food & drink, but also from socialising, love etc. Can a man have no love to give or share?

She tried everything, but was nonplussed with her constant failure. Rarely had someone given up absolutely everything for another. Friends, family, wealth, leisure....all apparently compulsory elements of a happy life. But for her the greater happiness lay in his arms. He did get married to her for a strange reason, but never had he shown the love & care, an ingredient of any rational beings union. Travelling didnt change anything. Nor did attempts to socialise. He didnt want children, sex had no meaning either. He was normal yet abnormal. She pitied him, his inability to bring out what he really wanted. He was not unlike the ordinary, happy with the superficial.

And then she had an idea. She could free the bird from its cage.

When she woke up next morning, he had already left for work. But today he took the other car. Which meant that he'd race his machine again tonight. She called the mechanic....

He came home at the usual time. Look his customary bath. Drank his glass of watermelon juice, standing in the balcony, staring at the sea.

There was a faint tinge of change on his face. He looked strangely refreshed. But old habits die hard......he didnt utter a word. She knew he tried. But she had tried all these years herself to get it out of him. Why did God allow injustice to prevail in his case?

He juggled with his keys for a few seconds, picked his cellphone & stormed through. Just as he was about to leave, she caught his arm & stared at him. He couldnt look at her, her eyes were too powerful to look back. She drew him close and kissed him. He nearly gave away & then suddenly pulled back.....it had been so all these years. He closed the door. Tears rolled down both their eyes.....only after the doors closed.

She didnt like the idea, but there was no choice after all. And this was the best alternative for Him. Moving ahead, with the thing he liked the most. She hoped for an instant exit, with the feeling of satisfaction afresh. She prayed, while she awaited his machine to zap through the villa gate.

But it was nearly 10 minutes and there was no sign of him driving out. What could have been the matter? Did he somehow find out? Sigh....And then the doorbell rang....someone was ringing it madly. She rushed and peeped through the eyehole. It was Him, and there was a Smile on his face....no it wasnt true. She opened the door. He clasped her with both his hands and picked her up in the air. Shouting and laughing out aloud he brought her down and kissed her......numerous kisses. It was surreal for Her. She wanted to pinch herself, but he just played and danced with her joyously......like a old toy retrieved.

"I'm safe Rina....i'm safe."

"Varun....i dont understand. What do you mean by being safe?"

"I'm sorry Rina, i have been such a beast. I always wanted to tell you everything....but it was so unjust, the whole thing. I was and have been so selfish!"

"Varun....get a hold over yourself and tell me. Here, calm down....come sit near me."

"Rina, i was diagnosed with lung cancer in college. The day i was given the verdict, i saw you. God had played this aweful game with me....on one hand he was snatching away Life and on the other hand he was giving it back to me. A dilemma that tore me apart for all these years. I took the selfish decision of marrying you, fully aware that i would be ruining your life but keeping it a secret.......not confiding in you or your parents. The doctor kept his professional promise.

I died daily all these years....not with pain, but of remorse. In turn, i killed you daily, i know. But do you remember Keats poem on Hope.....'Sweet Hope, ethereal balm upon me shed, and wave thy silver pinions over my head'? It was hope that i treasured the most, hope that kept showing me a door to break free of the dilemma's stronghold.

And it is Hope, Rina,  that has gifted You to me......today after all these years. You, the greatest treasure of all, a gift God bestows only a few.I have got You after all these years and You have me for real.....for real Rina.....its the real Varun. The doctor called me to say that my cancer was completely cured.....almost miracuously. Will power, he says. Whatever it is, im just overjoyed Rina......lets go for a drive Rina."

Rina, felt as if she was beamed to a different planet. She couldnt anything she saw or heard. In a few minutes God had gifted her what she had asked for all these years.......something she had eagerly awaited all her life.

And she was not giving it away so easily.

"Drive Varun......im dying for one. But i have a request.....please take the office car and not your machine. I think the machine needs some repair......please please please Varun....for my sake?"

When he drove, the wind seemed alive.

BIO: I’m Aniruddha Chatterjee, a working professional, for whom writing is a passion. “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, thus, is not an act, but a habit” is something I believe in. I believe in the PEN, that brings permanence to a thought or imagination and live for writing.

Address: A23/203 Happy Valley, Near Tikuji-ni-Wadi, Manpada Chitalsar Thane-400607