“I could have asked you to leave her after that phone call. But commitments mean something to me. I regret not asking you then. I regret not asking you over our emails, and chats and phone calls.”

“We may not be together, but we are not apart,” he said.

“Small consolation, but let it be.”

“You had to say this after all these years.”

“You didn’t say it either.”

“I thought you would never say yes.”

“At what point did you think so?”

“Right through. You were so committed when we met. And when I did hint it, you pushed me away to my commitment. You always held up a mirror to me.”

“I was too young then. And I couldn’t hurt someone else. What’s to say I wasn’t taking on another woman’s hurt? It’s tempting in retrospect. But I couldn’t do it then. For the same reason, I can’t walk away now. He’s not a bad man; just needs a lot of working on. My mother always told me, ‘marry someone who loves you more’. He does and I’ve told him that. I don’t and perhaps that is good enough.”

“You were never prepared to have me at the cost of me leaving someone else. And yet, I thought I could have you.”

“That’s the same mistake he made. As a man it is acceptable to want this and that; as a woman I have to make choices. If I had asked you to leave her, I would have become the bad one, the other woman – no one will see you were equally complicit.”

“Which is why we never asked.”

“I loved you but I also knew the price I would have to pay. After all, only the woman is held up to a yardstick.”

“Come for my wedding.”

He didn’t go. The day after the wedding he sent her a message: “Peace?”

She replied, “At last.”

To read the first part of 26 Mails, click here.