Butter Heart

A week after marriage:


Meena: "That butter is gonna kill you some day."
Raj ignored his wife’s remark and continued applying butter on his toast generously.


Butter had been the love of his life till he met Meena. For the first month after they met his butter intake and declined sharply.


When he was first introduced to Meena, he was a massive 110 kgs, but by the time they got married he actually managed to lose 15 of them. For her it was an arranged marriage but for Raj, the first sight of Meena has triggered his love for her. He was enchanted by her beauty.


Meena was uncontrollably emotional after the marriage. She wept a lot. They never went for their honeymoon. Raj tried hard to be the good husband by giving Meena her personal space. He had tried getting close to her during the initial few nights but she had rejected his advances.


Raj knew something was wrong and the only solution he could think of was Time.
Time wipes away all pain, all troubles, all issues.


He gave Meena time.


Two days later:


Raj woke up in his bed alone. Meena would be busy cooking breakfast - he thought to himself. He brushed, shaved and took a shower as he always did.


He called out for Meena. No response.


The breakfast was served on the dining table. Few toasts spread out on a plate before him. And, his favourite pack of butter resting on the table.


There was a note tucked under the weight of the butter. It was from Meena.


"Dear Raj.
I have never loved you. My parents had forced me to marry you. I am going away from your life. Living together pains you more than it pains me. I cannot stand to watch such a gentleman as you going though so much pain daily.Please do not look for me. I do not intend to be found.
Forgive me if you can.
Meena"


Tears trickled from his eyes as he crumpled the letter and threw it on the floor. He did not know what to do. He tried calling her parents. But what would he say to them? That their daughter had run away from home citing a loveless marriage.


He picked up a bread toast and applied generous amount of butter on it. He cried even as he tried to eat the toast. He was unable to swallow the piece that he had bitten off. It needs more butter he said to himself.


He applied some more to the remaining toast.
The pain of losing his wife was overpowering. He cried out aloud -"Meena". The echo reverberated loud and clear. Meena had left him.


The pain had intensified. It was a heavy, suffocating experience-far more intense than anything he had felt in a while. Meena had left him.


He could barely breathe as the pain radiated through his chest.


Two days later cops find Raj’s dead body in the dining room with a crumpled note next to him.
"Failed marriage" the inspector smiled after he read the note.


Postmortem suggested a heart failure. ‘Failed marriage’ or ‘Butter’, I guess we will never know.


Regards,
Rosh