7. Coffee with friend

Two years later:

Dipika was pregnant. She and Dipesh were very happy because both will soon have a baby to play with round the clock.

Dipika had gone to her mother's house for pregnancy and currently, Dipesh was alone in his flat.

One day Akshay visited Dipesh at his flat with just short notice on the phone in the morning. That day it was the first shift for Dipesh and hence he was home at 3 pm. Akshay had bought some liquor with him.

They arranged a table and put the salted peanuts and boiled eggs on plates.

Akshay poured a glass of whisky for him and when tried the same for Dipesh, he said, "No Akshay, though earlier I used to drink occasionally, after marriage I almost stopped drinking!"

"Oh, so it is my Bhabhi effect or influence. Isn't it?"

"No, not exactly. No such restrictions from her but I put it on myself. The more you stay away from any type of addiction, the better!"

Then Dipesh took coffee to give him company.

"Wav. I am impressed. I wanted to arrange a family get-together for both of our families but somehow it didn't happen due to work pressure and all!"

"Arey, it will happen soon. You all come once our baby comes into the world!"

"No, that won't be possible."

"Why?"

"I am going to the UK for a few months."

"Wav. That's pretty good news. Congratulations. So, are you going with family?"

"No, it's not much a long-term assignment. Disturbing my children's education isn't a good idea."

"Yeah. That's right. Once you are back, we will arrange a get-together for our families!"

"What else? How is your married life?"

Dipesh was surprised by such a sudden change of subject from Akshay.

Then he answered, "Honestly speaking, I am very happy. We enjoy sex a lot. It is a very divine experience. It gives us a sense of contentment. People say many wrong things about marriage and joke about it and circulate husband-wife jokes, but I feel that marriage is a divine gift. I don't think we both would get bored of each other, never! "

"Wav. Your words seem something straight out of some classic novel. Like living happily together ever after! It's your arranged marriage and still, after 2 years you are not bored?"

"Not at all my friend."

"Great and as, I believe you didn't have an affair before marriage!"

Dipesh paused for a while, his eyes were rolling and then convincingly he finally said-

"No!"

"Really!"

"Yes, it's the truth."

"Not even love? Forget about the sexual experience!"

"No!"

"Oh, you are such a saint. Saint Dipesh Babu, cheers!"

"Cheers!"

Both clinked with one cup and another glass!

Dipesh asked, "By the way, what about you? Your married life? Is everything okay? I mean I am less experienced than you in this regard but still, you can share it. Your experience may help me in fact in the future."

Akshay was expecting this question. He leaned backwards with glass in one hand and said, "Well, I can tell you as we are close enough but..."

He seemed apprehensive.

"Please tell me without hesitation. Believe me, I won't share it with anyone."

"It's not that I don't believe you. I am trying to find correct words to express it."

"Take your time, I will wait. Till then I will switch on the TV, and we will watch some songs to change the mood."

After some time-

"Somewhere something is missing in our married life", Akshay started speaking from the bottom of his heart.

By then, Dipesh had ordered a pizza.

Akshay continued, "As you know ours was a love marriage. We got married early in court before our education was completed. My wife is from Delhi. She is Richa Roy. And I am Akshay Sutre. Both of our families were not ready for our marriage because it was an inter-caste and inter-state marriage. I was a bit aggressive in college but when it came to convincing our families, I was fearful and couldn't gather the courage to do that!"

"Oh. Then who did it for both of you? Any cousin, relative, or common friend?'

"No, it was Richa who finally took the lead and convinced not only her parents but mine too. Her parents agreed easily but mine wouldn't. Finally, she won their hearts and they agreed!"

Akshay paused and took a sip and spoke again, "Initially they had a fear about what relatives and people will say? But you know nowadays people are also becoming mature and open to accepting such things in society. However, still, there was one condition from our parents!"

"And what was that?"

"They accepted us on the condition that we have to give them a gift of grandchildren as soon as possible! Because they might have thought that we are marrying because of just youthful infatuation, and we may quarrel and break up later. Hence, probably they tried to tie us forever with the child link."

"And you guys followed it?", Dipesh said, smiling and wondering.

"Yes, we had to. The circumstances were like that. We loved each other like anything at that time!"

"Oh, that's great to hear! Otherwise, parents most of the time don't take responsibility for their son and daughter-in-law financially when none of them earns!"

"Exactly. However, her and my parents were financially strong and supportive till I got a job and supported Richa if she also wanted to complete her education. But, as she was involved in raising our kids, she chose to stay home while I was out for a job search!"

"So far, so good. Lovely love story! And now what happened?"

Akshay's phone rang and he said, "Friend, I need to leave now. Some critical office work came up which needs my urgent attention as a manager. This is important for my upcoming UK assignment. See you later. Bye!"

He left hurriedly saying, "Next part of the story next time! Let us keep in touch regularly."