The Decoration
By: Vedashree Jha
Tags: Couples, Weddings, Storytelling, Love, Short Story

A normal story of a normal couple

Picture from Pixabay

“I’m home!” he cried as soon as he unlatched the door. “Rita? Where are you?” Everything was dark. After calling out for Rita a few more times, Mark got a little worried. He fidgeted to find the switch, but on pressing it won’t work.

“Rita! Are you all right?” Mark was getting nervous by the minute. As he was about to call for help —

“SURPRISE!”

It was Rita with a candle in her hand.

“Rita are you all right? Baby I was so worried!” said Mark, pulling her close and pressing her head against his chest. “And are you crazy! Why didn’t you answer my calls? I called your name at least a hundred times since I came home.”

“I wanted to surprise you. Now wait a minute. I will be back.” Saying so Rita went out the door. Now confused and a little annoyed, Mark shook his head, exhaling a helpless sigh. Amidst all his exhaling, the lights came back on and Rita entered through the door.

“How is it?” she asked.

“What? You had switched off our main board? How would that — ”

“No…How is this?” she said, turning Mark around. The living room was completely different than what Mark had left in the morning. It was full of colours. The curtains were different, the cushions were different, the walls had colourful paintings. As Mark turned towards the main wall, exactly opposite the door, it had a large photograph from their wedding hung to it, almost covering the entire wall.

“This wall — ”

“I know, you would love this wall the most, I just knew it. I know we were unable to decide what to do with it for so long. But I knew exactly what would look nice on such a big blank piece of wall — our love!” chirped Rita full of enthusiasm.

“I love everything baby, and I love this wall too. But don’t you think, our wedding photo suits more in our bedroom?” said Mark.

“So, are we making another one for our bedroom?” asked Rita.

“No, no!” exclaimed Mark immediately.

“Then what did you mean?”

“I just…well…nothing. The room looks fabulous honey. And I loved the surprise!” said Mark, drawing her close.

“Now you are not angry for the lights-off part, right?” asked Rita apologetically.

“Not at all. I am not annoyed for anything!”

Both talked and talked until it was time to dine. She had a surprise there too, with the most unexpected of dishes, some of which Mark liked, some he did not, but he went with the flow and praised all the dishes equally, dramatically showcasing it to her.

After dinner, Rita was extremely tired and headed straight to the bedroom. Mark was not sleepy. He sat in the living room browsing his phone. Somehow, the wall opposite the entrance wouldn’t stop staring at him. With every passing minute, Mark glanced at it once, so much so, that he left the phone aside and started staring at it continuously. There was something bothering him. The more he looked at that huge photo hung on the wall, almost covering whole of it, the more he missed seeing the empty wall. He remembered the numerous times he had complained that the wall is too empty and needed a filler to look good, and looked at it again.

“Not like this!” he murmured. He tried to distract himself, but the photo kept bothering him. So, he got up and checked on Rita. She was fast asleep on the bed. Mark returned to the living room and dismounted the photograph from the wall.

“Ah! This feels better” he said, exhaling a sigh of relief. He got to finishing up a few tasks on his computer peacefully. After a while, he found himself yawning at every breath.

“That means I need to sleep” he exclaimed, checking the watch. It was almost 3 am. He headed to the bedroom. But as soon as he got into the blanket, he remembered he had not put back the photograph on the wall. So, he woke up and tiptoed to the hall to fix his amendment.

The next morning, everything went on as usual and Mark, though not liking the new wall of the new room, commended everything and went to office. Rita left for her office too, extremely satisfied with her interior decoration. Rita was in marketing and had to travel a lot, within and outside the city. Whenever Rita had work in her zonal office, she and Mark used to meet for lunch as that office was an immediate neighbour of Mark’s office.

Today was one such day so Rita and Mark met for lunch. “Hi Darling!” said Mark, greeting Rita with a kiss on her cheek.

“I have something to tell you, but first we shall have lunch” she said.

A little scared, due to the recent shock, Mark hardly smiled and said, “Tell me, I can’t wait until we finish eating”

“I am glad you can’t! Even I can’t” exclaimed Rita, all ready to give the surprise.

“I have invited all of our friends to party at our place tonight!” cried Rita, grinning ear to ear.

“Why?” came the spontaneous reaction from Mark.

“What do you mean why! To flaunt our new living room! I want people to see the decoration I have worked so hard on” exclaimed Rita.

Nodding in silence, Mark resumed eating.

“Why aren’t you excited? Did you have some other plans? We can change the date if you want. I should have asked you!” said Rita, feeling a little guilty.

“Yes. You should have asked, at least given a little heads up.”

“I am really sorry Honey. I will call them to tell the party is — “

“No. Not the party. About the decoration”

“But I wanted to surprise you!” started Rita, “But you are right. So, tell me, which part do you not like? I am sure the lights. I know they are a bit too many. I will get them down today itself — ”

“No! They look fine” interrupted annoyed Mark.

“Then what is it? The colour of the cushions? Too bright right? Those can be changed easily!”

“The cushions are fine too” said Mark dryly.

“Then what else have I changed that you can possibly hate? If you don’t like that wall texture, I can’t help that. We will have to get it mended by the — ”

“The texture looks great Rita. Forget it. Everything is fine” saying so, Mark got up. “I have a meeting to attend. Don’t cancel the party, I am sure I will make it in time.”

“But — ” started Rita.

“Call me if you need me to pick anything up on my way home” saying so, Mark left.

Mark proceeded to the office and got busy with the meeting preparations. It was a client his department had worked very hard for. The meeting took place for a long time, with many clashes and arguments. But finally, they could get the required deal with the client. As Mark headed out the meeting room, he had to accompany the client to dinner. Mark had completely forgotten about the party back home.

It was ten minutes past ten when Mark sprung up in his seat.

“What is it Mark?” asked his Boss.

“I need to get going Tony. I have a personal commitment” saying so, Mark left for home, trying to call Rita on the way. He raced his car, impatiently fidgeting with the steering wheel on red lights.

Till he actually reached home, the party was over and only a few of his friends were still waiting for him.

“I am so sorry guys! I had this meeting and it totally slipped my mind!” he said as soon as he unlocked the door. Though disappointed, his friends nodded, trying hard to fake a smile.

“Where is Rita?”

“She has gone to get more beer. We consumed all that was there” said Peter, gesturing a fist bump at Mark.

“Ah! I could have got it on my way!” exclaimed Mark, “And I am really sorry again guys. But, Rita planned this suddenly and — ”

“We know. But the makeover of your house is superb! It looks just amazing!” cried Sabrina.

“All credits to Rita I am sure” she continued.

Mark nodded and gazed at the door, restless to see Rita.

“Mark, just one question” said Sabrina,

“The entire room is well decorated. Then why has this wall been left blank?” asked Sabrina, pointing to the wall opposite the door.