My dilemma : Pain of the loss OR deceit

 I thoroughly despised myself, for allowing the unduly harsh policemen to handcuff me with such humiliating inconsideration. They bundled me inside a police van, and drove down to the police station. Once there, I was dumped into a cell measuring only 4 feet by 4. I was in Jail!

I had never felt so worthless before as I flinched under the scornful looks of the prison staff. I was unable to utter a word that day, and was too out of my senses to inform anyone. I spent the day crying uncontrollably, seeking comfort in vain. The constant turbulence of thoughts in my mind made my head spin giddily, and there was a dull depression and vague disappointment sickeningly curled up in the pit of my stomach.

My brain whizzed, regurgitating the same thoughts over and over again until I was exhausted , but I knew this was just the beginning. There were darker nights to follow.

24 hours after the nightmare began, I was composed sufficiently to make a phone call. For some reason, I could only think of calling Aarohi, my best friend, and colleague at work. The constable only let me talk enough to convey to her that I was in Ramnagar Police station before he rudely snatched the telephone receiver from my hand and banged it back into its cradle.

I was escorted back to my cell. I sat down despondently in a corner, and thought about how rapidly my world had fallen apart. There was no way my life could return to normalcy after taking this turn. I was rudely interrupted out of my reverie by the constable, who shouted out across the hallway to me, "HEY YOU! SOMEONE HAS COME TO SEE YOU!" Was it Aarohi?

I was let out of the cell by another constable, and I followed him across the dark hallway, lined on both side by cells into which were crammed criminals from all walks of life, like sardines in cans, and emerged into the sub-inspector's office. I saw with considerable relief, that it was indeed Aarohi, and she had brought an advocate along with her.

Aarohi asked me to explain to the advocate, the entire episode, in truthful detail.

I started in a trembling voice :-

"Anuj and I were childhood friends.We were neighbors.He was my elder brother's friend and my colleague at Elitecore technologies here in Amdavad.I knew him since I was a kid.I was a year younger to him so I considered him like my elder brother.He also treated me as his younger sister.Anuj worked as a search engine optimizer at the company.He had referred me and helped me to get a job there as a content writer."

I paused for a few minutes and then continued-

"Shalini was another colleague of mine there.Anuj and Shalini were seeing each other since a few months.Everything seemed great between the two of them.I worked under Anuj and I had nothing to do with Shalini 'cause she was a website designer there.Meanwhile a new guy Tanay joined our company as a senior PHP developer.Tanay was a very extrovert and lively guy.It came to my notice that in hardly no time,Shalini and Tanay became very good friends.Anuj was a very sober,introvert and reserved kind of a guy.He was in a relationship with Shalini but he never expressed anything publicly.Shalini,on the other hand was very outspoken and I could somehow sense it that she did not like the reticent behavior of Anuj.

I could also see Shalini and Tanay coming closer..But I overlooked all that.

One day it so happened that Anuj wanted to explain me something regarding the content of some domains.I was in his cabin to discuss the same.Shalini happened to come to meet Anuj at the same time and took everything wrong.She screamed at Anuj in front of me just because I was with him.I guessed that she would be insecure.I pondered a lot that day about it and came to a conclusion that I would talk to Anuj only if I had no other option.The next day I approached them and cleared things in front of Shalini that Anuj is more like a brother to me and she should not be insecure.I even apologized just for the sake of their relationship for a mistake I had not committed. I did not want Anuj and Shalini to get separated and that too because of a small  misunderstanding.After this incident,I hardly interacted with Anuj-Shalini...Everything seemed just fine between both of them.....

However, after a few days as I was going home from my office I noticed Shalini and Tanay at a Cafe Coffee Day near the office.I took it lightly and forgot about the incident...Suddenly,day before yesterday at night 8:30 PM,Shalini called me up and asked me to come to Anuj's place.She assured me that she had no problem with me and she wanted to celebrate with me and Anuj.I was pretty surprised by the phone call as Anuj did not talk to me.Anuj hardly stayed a kilometer away from my place so I thought to give it a shot and go there...."

Aarohi interrupted me:- "Divya, how can you be so silly!!!!! You should have kept your word and not gone there...I hate Shalini.Why didn't you tell me that you had seen her with Tanay?I had warned you before also regarding her...But you never listened to me"....

She was very disturbed and hurt by the way life had changed for me.I could see it all in her eyes.She would be feeling worse than me and all she could do was get an advocate for me.I could understand her helplessness too.

By the time I narrated the incident so far,I was almost into tears. Amidst those tears, I could see the advocate's expressionless face.It was a part of his routine and his profession to hear such cases.But for me it was not just a CASE.It was a lot more than that.It was a matter of life and death for me.Aarohi wiped my tears, gave me water and asked me to continue.

"You know what Aarohi...Now I'm getting to understand Shalini's plot.When I reached there,I could not see Shalini anywhere.The door was wide open and Anuj was lying on the floor unconscious or perhaps dead.I was shocked to see Anuj in that plight.I was almost in tears.I was near Anuj's body.I sprinkled water on him,tried to feel his pulse and heartbeat but he was no more by then.As I was picturing the biggest loss of my life in front of me,I saw three policemen approaching me.They accused me of the murder of Anuj who meant a lot to me.... and I watched my life come to a standstill as I was being questioned and judged by the police officers...I got framed in the conspiracy by Shalini just because I had Anuj's dead body.I still don't know whether I should cry on my loss or shed tears because of the ugly betrayal..."

While the Advocate's lack of empathy and concern was heartbreaking, and his expressionless face was more than I could bear to look at, what truly pained and baffled me was why Shalini made me the victim of such a contemptible conspiracy for such meager gains!