Scar

"Yes.. We're just around the corner.. No no, don't take the bus - we'll be there in 2 min.. Please stop crying .. We're coming right away.."

We spotted her standing at the opposite end of the road. It was dark and I could not see her face, but her stride reflected her agony. She crossed over to our side and got into the car. We sat in silence for sometime before Kunal asked her -
"What happened.. ? You guys had a fight or something..?"

She started unfolding the story. Knowing the couple pretty well, we had already guessed some of the story while going to pick her up and most of our guesses were true. Except one small detail that came in between sobs -
".. so he slapped me across the face"

I did not want to believe that I heard that right. I shuddered inside - and my hands started shivering.. I don't know whether it was anger or shock or disgust.

"Slapped??? He hit you?!"

I looked back at her and the red swelling at the corner of her left eye suddenly became prominently visible inside the dim light of the car.

She touched the wound - " It's the ring - his ring cut me near the eye.."

I swallowed the lump in my throat - "How did he.. I.. I can't believe he hit you.. He knows you're expecting.. and... "

She cut me short - "Yeah well.. It hasn't happened for the first time. I've been slapped in public once - out on the road. At least this time it was within closed doors - maybe that's the discount this time because I am pregnant now.."

I did not know what to say. We happen to be very close to this couple and hearing her say all this was shocking. We took her to our place and tried to cheer her up a bit. Her husband came over to our place looking for her later that night. We left them alone so that they could talk it out and they both left together some time later. I will never forget the look on her face as she left that night - her eyes seemed to say.. "This is not the last time ..."

All these days when I used to hear about domestic violence, I automatically associated it with illiterate people living in dire financial conditions. It was something I associated with house maids, construction workers and the like. Never with normal people like us. And here I was, trying to console a woman as literate as me, who was hit not once but multiple times, by her well-educated husband.

I am no one to judge the reasons behind their fight. I don't know who was right and who was wrong. But nothing justifies a physical assault. Nothing.

I have no clue if they will find a solution and resolve everything the right way. All I hope is that there is no "next time".