Bemu(sin)g
They say the Trojan War was fought for a woman. Now that's adultery
worthy of legend. Why not of disgrace? Moreover, what if the act is devoid of
the thrill of secrecy and risque behavior even, let alone worthy of lore? As
J.M. Coetzee writes - "In adultery, all tedium of marriage
rediscovered."
It's the end of a six-month long trial separation. Seated in the hallowed chambers of civil justice, where a stranger is about to decide the fate of his marriage, he's waiting for his wife. "Coup de foudre, ha! More like coup de grace!" he grimaces in silence.
Nearly a decade ago, he had met his femme fatale, albeit on a night which had nothing extraordinary about it. It was just another tiring day at his law firm, where another spoilt brat was dumped on his lap. "You must save him, and the senior partnership is yours!" So he went through the rounds of deflating his client's ego, self-entitlement and knocked some sense in him. After the day's heavy work, he stopped by his favorite pub, one not frequented by fellow suits, for a pint. At the counter, sitting alone was a dusky beauty with deep blue eyes set behind sharp glasses, absorbed in a book. "Why not?" thought he, and went up to her to chat. But before he could even form an opening, she shot him down, saying "I'm not your conquest after a day that beat you. If life is hard, I'm merciless." Something in him moved and he thought, “I’ve met my match". A year later, he carried her over the threshold of his house. Now their house.
Life in matrimony can get dull. Everyone who has ever married, has welcomed it with this in mind. But his problem was that eight years into it, it got too much too handle! The whip-like intellect which always beat him, crossed the line from recreational punishment to absolute torture. He couldn't keep up and the whetstone ground his sword so much that it grew brittle and broke. Tired of the Go game his life had become, he longed for some mindless ping-pong, where he could rest his mind in some rhythmic back and forth. That's when he found his inamorata, in what can only be called a cruel joke by the cosmos, in the same bar, on the same stool at the counter, reading not a book, but twitter feeds. Moreover, he found out that she was a law student and thinking of all the amorous affairs his partners have had, he considered her fair game. The girl, shy at first, acquiesced to his advances. She did see his wedding ring, but thought, "Surely, if I get to learn from his experience, why can't I call on him for consult?" Cons(ult)(ort).
A lot happened in the course of next two years. He thought his femme fatale was not so much fatally observant as she was intelligent. His inamorata on the other hand, turned out a bright bird after all and graduated suma cum laude from law school, seeing which his firm made an offer to her which she took up in a heartbeat. Wife at home, paramour at work. Life was hale and hearty! But happiness is eternally short-lived for the duplicitous. He saw that the questions on his whereabouts stopped from his wife, and every excuse he gave was received without challenge. Initially he was amused but then he got irritated at how easy his wife made it for him. Further, he saw that his bright cherry was in reality dumb as a stone when it came to work. He grew tired of covering up for her mistakes. In fact, so astounded was he, that he began questioning himself on why he ever kept this going, and especially with a nincompoop. So much for mindless ping pong!
It didn't take long for people at his firm to figure out what was going on at the office and they in turn reported it to the partners. It wasn't as if the partners weren't suspicious themselves and the complaint only served as justification. A confidential inquiry was launched and the girl, whimpering and fearing for her barely started career, toed the line and spilled the beans on him. The next day, he was called in and in a unanimous decision by other partners, was coerced into quitting with a non-compete agreement. Unfortunately, his amour didn’t last long either as with him gone, there was no one to cover up her blunders and she was fired. Worse still for him, she quit with a vendetta against him and filed a harassment suit. So while he was still trying in vain to put a positive spin to moving to a different city to practice to his wife, he got served with the court summons. If that wasn’t horrific enough for him, when he confronted his wife about it, she laughed at him and said,” You’re pathetic. I forgave you for being dumb enough to think you could fool me. It was amusing even, you trying so hard to come up with excuses that could make some sense to me. It was like watching a monkey dance! I knew the monkey business would end some day when you’d realize the stupidity of it. But looks like desires ate away at your brain more than I thought was possible. To be cornered by that blonde? I’m leaving you. Expect another summons any day now.” And true to her word, she left him within the hour and served him with papers in the next.
Wife gone. Lover gone. Job gone. Self-respect annihilated. He had never been beaten this bad in his life. Now was the time for damage control. And for that he needed to start with his femme fatale, who now he realized was also the strength and drive behind his ambitions all those years. He declined to give her a divorce and by the skin of his teeth, convinced the judge to grant a six-month trial separation. Next he settled the suit with his inamorata outside the court and then convinced her to in turn sue his former firm for both his and her wrongful termination. Surprisingly he didn’t have to move mountains as he had thought, she was persuaded rather easily. She confessed that she knew she was just a concubine nevertheless she couldn’t help having soft feelings for him. That confession, didn’t leave him guilt-ridden, but embarrassed as to how could he ever have fallen for someone so weak. At that moment, he empathized with his wife for leaving him. Next up, when the legal battle with his firm came, he threatened to spill the beans on the numerous borderline illegal, several blatantly illegal, and a few felonious dealings his firm had did in the past of which he had damning evidence. Both parties remained at loggerheads for months, until finally coming to this agreement – the girl would be given her job back with compensation and the non-compete against him would be lifted. He didn’t need a dime from them and set himself to sucking them dry of clients and all business in the next five years.
The chamber doors open and his wife enters. He looks up at her and wonders, “I’ll always lose to her. But she makes me win against the world! I need her in my corner. Life is bad, and she’s merciless but I wooed her then and I’ll woo her again.” During the course of the hearing and his statement, his wife sees in him what she saw then, an egotistical womanizer, however with one significant difference. She sees in him a deference towards her, a sort of tipping of his hat to her intellectual superiority. Moreover, there’s that devilish grin, what bedazzled her in the first place! She decides to give him a second chance, and in her statement just says,” Better keep up this time, dear husband.”
It's the end of a six-month long trial separation. Seated in the hallowed chambers of civil justice, where a stranger is about to decide the fate of his marriage, he's waiting for his wife. "Coup de foudre, ha! More like coup de grace!" he grimaces in silence.
Nearly a decade ago, he had met his femme fatale, albeit on a night which had nothing extraordinary about it. It was just another tiring day at his law firm, where another spoilt brat was dumped on his lap. "You must save him, and the senior partnership is yours!" So he went through the rounds of deflating his client's ego, self-entitlement and knocked some sense in him. After the day's heavy work, he stopped by his favorite pub, one not frequented by fellow suits, for a pint. At the counter, sitting alone was a dusky beauty with deep blue eyes set behind sharp glasses, absorbed in a book. "Why not?" thought he, and went up to her to chat. But before he could even form an opening, she shot him down, saying "I'm not your conquest after a day that beat you. If life is hard, I'm merciless." Something in him moved and he thought, “I’ve met my match". A year later, he carried her over the threshold of his house. Now their house.
Life in matrimony can get dull. Everyone who has ever married, has welcomed it with this in mind. But his problem was that eight years into it, it got too much too handle! The whip-like intellect which always beat him, crossed the line from recreational punishment to absolute torture. He couldn't keep up and the whetstone ground his sword so much that it grew brittle and broke. Tired of the Go game his life had become, he longed for some mindless ping-pong, where he could rest his mind in some rhythmic back and forth. That's when he found his inamorata, in what can only be called a cruel joke by the cosmos, in the same bar, on the same stool at the counter, reading not a book, but twitter feeds. Moreover, he found out that she was a law student and thinking of all the amorous affairs his partners have had, he considered her fair game. The girl, shy at first, acquiesced to his advances. She did see his wedding ring, but thought, "Surely, if I get to learn from his experience, why can't I call on him for consult?" Cons(ult)(ort).
A lot happened in the course of next two years. He thought his femme fatale was not so much fatally observant as she was intelligent. His inamorata on the other hand, turned out a bright bird after all and graduated suma cum laude from law school, seeing which his firm made an offer to her which she took up in a heartbeat. Wife at home, paramour at work. Life was hale and hearty! But happiness is eternally short-lived for the duplicitous. He saw that the questions on his whereabouts stopped from his wife, and every excuse he gave was received without challenge. Initially he was amused but then he got irritated at how easy his wife made it for him. Further, he saw that his bright cherry was in reality dumb as a stone when it came to work. He grew tired of covering up for her mistakes. In fact, so astounded was he, that he began questioning himself on why he ever kept this going, and especially with a nincompoop. So much for mindless ping pong!
It didn't take long for people at his firm to figure out what was going on at the office and they in turn reported it to the partners. It wasn't as if the partners weren't suspicious themselves and the complaint only served as justification. A confidential inquiry was launched and the girl, whimpering and fearing for her barely started career, toed the line and spilled the beans on him. The next day, he was called in and in a unanimous decision by other partners, was coerced into quitting with a non-compete agreement. Unfortunately, his amour didn’t last long either as with him gone, there was no one to cover up her blunders and she was fired. Worse still for him, she quit with a vendetta against him and filed a harassment suit. So while he was still trying in vain to put a positive spin to moving to a different city to practice to his wife, he got served with the court summons. If that wasn’t horrific enough for him, when he confronted his wife about it, she laughed at him and said,” You’re pathetic. I forgave you for being dumb enough to think you could fool me. It was amusing even, you trying so hard to come up with excuses that could make some sense to me. It was like watching a monkey dance! I knew the monkey business would end some day when you’d realize the stupidity of it. But looks like desires ate away at your brain more than I thought was possible. To be cornered by that blonde? I’m leaving you. Expect another summons any day now.” And true to her word, she left him within the hour and served him with papers in the next.
Wife gone. Lover gone. Job gone. Self-respect annihilated. He had never been beaten this bad in his life. Now was the time for damage control. And for that he needed to start with his femme fatale, who now he realized was also the strength and drive behind his ambitions all those years. He declined to give her a divorce and by the skin of his teeth, convinced the judge to grant a six-month trial separation. Next he settled the suit with his inamorata outside the court and then convinced her to in turn sue his former firm for both his and her wrongful termination. Surprisingly he didn’t have to move mountains as he had thought, she was persuaded rather easily. She confessed that she knew she was just a concubine nevertheless she couldn’t help having soft feelings for him. That confession, didn’t leave him guilt-ridden, but embarrassed as to how could he ever have fallen for someone so weak. At that moment, he empathized with his wife for leaving him. Next up, when the legal battle with his firm came, he threatened to spill the beans on the numerous borderline illegal, several blatantly illegal, and a few felonious dealings his firm had did in the past of which he had damning evidence. Both parties remained at loggerheads for months, until finally coming to this agreement – the girl would be given her job back with compensation and the non-compete against him would be lifted. He didn’t need a dime from them and set himself to sucking them dry of clients and all business in the next five years.
The chamber doors open and his wife enters. He looks up at her and wonders, “I’ll always lose to her. But she makes me win against the world! I need her in my corner. Life is bad, and she’s merciless but I wooed her then and I’ll woo her again.” During the course of the hearing and his statement, his wife sees in him what she saw then, an egotistical womanizer, however with one significant difference. She sees in him a deference towards her, a sort of tipping of his hat to her intellectual superiority. Moreover, there’s that devilish grin, what bedazzled her in the first place! She decides to give him a second chance, and in her statement just says,” Better keep up this time, dear husband.”
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