One Indian Girl by Chetan Bhagat

pain every time the taxi passes Old Peak Road.’
‘There are other routes to your house, I am sure,’ I said.
He looked at me. I stared back.
‘I am sorry, Radhika. I loved you. So much. You were the best thing to ever happen to me. Or
ever will. Smart, young, beautiful, compatible and successful. I had you. You loved me. And what did
I do with it? Nothing.’
I didn’t respond.
‘I made the biggest mistake of my life. I really did,’ he said.
Now, where else had I heard that line recently?
He placed the brown envelope on the table. He clasped his hands and lifted them in front of
me.
‘I know you don’t believe me. But only I know the hell I went through after you left. That is
why I am here.’
‘I believe you, Neel. I missed you too. However, we couldn’t do anything about it, right? So
yeah, what’s the point of you being here?’
‘For the second thing I am going to tell you.’
He picked up the brown envelope. He pulled out a set of A4-sized sheets. The first page had a
stamp paper.
‘I am leaving Kusum. These are the documents,’ he said.
I felt dizzy. The suite spun around me. He gave me the papers in my hand. He and Kusum had
filed for a mutual consent divorce at the Hong Kong Family Court. My hand began to tremble.
I put the divorce documents on the table.
‘Why?’ I said.
‘You are asking me why?’ he said. ‘You, of all people?’
‘You had a perfect family.’
‘If I did, why did we have what we had?’
I kept silent. His eyes became wet.
‘What about the kids?’
‘We plan to co-parent. Share custody.’
‘What did Kusum say?’
‘Not happy, of course. However, she gets it. She knew something was amiss in our marriage.
We had grown too far apart.’
‘What will she do?’ I said. I don’t know why I had such concern for his ex-wife.
‘She will figure it out. Financially, she is more than okay. I gave her half of whatever I had. No
questions asked. In return, she agreed to co-parenting and mutual consent.’
I couldn’t believe I was discussing a divorce at my wedding venue.
Neel continued, ‘I am sorry, I will skip the details. The point is,’ he said and exhaled, ‘my
marriage is over.’
‘I am sorry, Neel,’ I said.
‘It’s okay,’ he said and massaged his temples. ‘It had to happen. Should have happened long
ago.’
I checked my phone. I had missed calls from two of my cousins.
‘I hope you are okay. I need to go now. You had something else to say? The third thing?’ I said.
‘Yes. There’s a small plane waiting at the Dabolim airport.’
‘Your chartered flight?’