And the announcement was made: The woman of the year award will now be presented by our special guest of honour….
At this moment, she looked up and all she could do was stare at him….with bitterness and pain!
This was meant to be HER special night. it was the night when she was to be rewarded for helping acid attack survivors and it was all ruined by this announcement. She was being awarded by a person whom she had no respect at all. But without any fuss, she got up and walked towards the stage. She flashed a fake smile for all those present while he handed over the award to her, but her eyes told a different story. They held the pain of the past, the vengeance and the insult she has faced.
All her past came flashing before her eyes. She didn’t look at him even once while he honoured her. Minutes later, when everyone was busy enjoying the party and she stood there alone looking out of the window, he approached her.
Congratulations, it’s so good to see you successful… She looked at him in disgust and turned away. Hey listen, I just wanted to… What? Wanted to say sorry? Oh… You don’t need to say sorry. Please. I knew it. You would forgive me. Excuse me? Forgive you? That would not even be the last thing I would do.
But you just said, please. I said that because I don’t want to waste my time with people like you. I am sorry. I am sorry for everything that happened in the past. I am sorry for what I did to you. I know you still love me and I suppose if you can forgive me we can get back together? She was awestruck.
You are such a selfish and inhuman person. How the hell could you even think so? You left me when I needed you the most. Each day I spent with you, reminded me how imperfect you were for me. When I was beautiful, I had no acid scars, you loved me and used to compliment me. You were proud to call me your girl. When I suffered from the acid attack, when I got the scars, suddenly I became not good enough. Why? Because you could not show to other people how pretty my face was. I needed you to be my side. I wanted to hear that you still love me no matter how bad my face had become. But you…you left me. You dumped me because all you had ever done was to love me physically. You never knew how to love the real me.
And today, I am so happy that you left me. Because you are the one who inspired me to do this. You made me work hard so that I could help other acid attack survivors for I knew the pain of suddenly turning into something which people would always stare at. And then a tear slipped from her eyes.
And you know what, you are right. I still love you. I love you so much even after what you did to me. But another fact is I love myself too. And I need respect too. No doubt I will always love you, but I would never let you enter my life again. I would never ever let you disrespect me again.
And today, you just lost the person who was worth the fight. She wiped the tear with a smile and walked away from him. And when she folded the past, the present was there to be unfolded by her then, the present that gave her dignity and pride, something that she will always carry.
