Epilogue

New Delhi Airport -- Terminal T3: About 3 years and a few months after Sid's 'That Night on the Train' experience.

Sid looked around the lounge looking for a quiet corner. Even though it was just past 4 AM, the lounge was packed. He sighed, shook his head and just exited the lounge. He headed towards his departure gate. About two gates from his departure gate, even though not the most comfortable, he found a quiet spot beside the large windows, where he could watch the taxiways.

After almost close to two years of phone calls, emails and negotiations, he was now on the verge of finalizing a key deal for his company and was waiting to get on his flight to Pune for two, maybe three days of back-to-back meetings with his prospective clients.

Although his flight was not for another couple of hours, he had been restless, woken up earlier than he had intended to and had just decided to leave home and get to the airport. Gently kissing Rhea and his eight-month-old daughter, Pooja goodbye, both of whom were fast asleep, he had met Ro, who was down waiting in the car and had dropped him off at the airport.

He was tired, he knew he had a long day ahead of him with travel followed by all-day prep meetings. Elbows on his knees, he cupped his cheeks in his palms and closed his eyes. Pooja's smiling face came to mind, warming his heart. Before he knew it, the last two and a half odd years were replaying in his mind.

So much had changed.

Seeing Rhea at the mall for the first time, to being married to her in six months.

At Rhea and his wedding reception, Ro had seen Juhi and had experienced a Rhea-Sid mall kind of moment.

Ro and Juhi's wedding a few months later.

The greatest joy of all, Rhea giving birth to their little girl, her mini-me, complete with his sparkling eyes.

His business was thriving, his family was happy, and for the first time in a long while, given his challenging teenage years, life seemed to have given him everything he could have wished for.

God had truly checked all the happiness boxes for him and he was eternally grateful.

In the distance he heard some departure announcements.

Opening his eyes, he stood up and strolled over to the big window and looked out onto the taxiway but not really looking. He did not even realize he had pulled out the scarf from his jacket pocket... the scarf belonging to his Other Wife, which he always carried with him.

No one knew about her, he had never told anyone!

Ro had given up asking him about his scar or asking him about how he got that scar when he had seen Sid lost in thoughts.

Rhea had chosen not to ask about his scar. Even during their most intimate moments, she had never once touched it. Sid sometimes wondered whether she deliberately avoided it, hoping that, by leaving it alone, she could spare him whatever memories it held. Perhaps she had simply decided to respect his silence. He would never know.

But his Other Wife was always there, living in his mind.

In that parallel world he had created for himself, they were husband and wife. He teased her, kissed her gently, and loved her with the same playful affection he imagined she returned. There, he was simply a husband with his beautiful wife. There were no unanswered questions, no separation, no need to explain what had happened between them.

After all, what had begun as an inexplicable carnal lust for each other that brought them together, it was his blood that eventually bound them together for life.

Not blood drawn from an ordinary wound, but blood from directly above his heart. His actions had led her to his heart; she had bitten him there, drawing blood from the wound. Then, through tears of erotic ecstasy and remorse filled pain, she had smeared that blood across her forehead as Sindoor (vermillion).

She had marked him for life with that scar!

He looked down at the scarf; the only physical reminder he had of her. He did not even know her name. Sometimes, in the privacy of his thoughts, he called her Diya--a lamp, a light. That was what she had become to him: a radiant presence whose face returned to him whenever his fingers touched the scar.

Almost instinctively, his hand moved to the scar. And there she was, just as she always appeared in his mind, smiling at him, radiant as ever.

He knew she was married and had a life of her own in the physical world. Yet he held on to the unshakable feeling that he lived in her mind just as surely as she lived in his.

He rarely ever wondered, when or how he would get to see his Other Wife again. That decision belonged to God! He had made his peace with leaving it there.

Yet something had been troubling him for weeks.

As the business deal approached its conclusion and the inevitable Pune trip drew nearer, he had found it increasingly difficult to shake off the feeling that something was about to change.

He could not explain it. At times, he wondered whether it had something to do with the deal. At others, his thoughts drifted to his family. And then there were moments when the unease seemed connected to that other life that he carried inside him--the one in which he was still a husband to a woman whose name he did not know.

He sighed, looked towards the heavens, and reminded himself of his own strong belief -- "Whatever happens, happens for the good as per God's wish"

The announcement for his Pune flight interrupted his thoughts. He kissed the scarf, tucked it safely in his jacket. He picked up his bag and headed towards the boarding gate.

He glanced at his phone. Group 1. Seat 6F.

Everything seemed ordinary. Just another business trip. Just another flight.

Sid Sharma had no idea that events were already unfolding in ways he could never have anticipated.

He had no idea that God was already setting events in motion.

In about two odd hours, he would be looking out of his window of the plane as the plane got close to landing.

His Other Wife would be waving at him, and not just in his mind!

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Authors Note: I hope my readers enjoyed this series. As always, all feedback - good, bad or ugly is always welcome. Please share the feedback either via comments or directly with me.

On an extended note, I have kind of finalized my story plans on making Anjali & Sid's paths cross again. Now I have to just write it and I hope to do that soon. ????