The old man Romanov

Romanov was reinstated in the army soon after he got discharged . The great war was now over and the remaining officers were resigned to their offices and political work . Romanov was too stationed at his office on Moscow . Spending his days mostly looking out of the office window . He was distracted and not as focused as he was before . Days went ahead , and even months passed by . He still went to the office and saw the same things through the window . He realized he was less interested in the work these days . But , what he did not realize was that he was growing distant with his family as well . There were a few hellos in the evening with this his wife , and that too slowly started disappearing . The focus in Romanovs life now was the window and the light that passed through it . And a few days , he would try to scribble down the thoughts about the war . And he especially went into detail about the ending of the war . And he used to shut the book when it came to the trenches where he lost control of his actions . He would simply shut the book down and go to the nearest bar and start drinking . The watering hole was mostly covered with officers and politicians who would be discussing something important or sharing stories with each other . Romanov would sit in the corner alone drinking quietly , watching them . Soon unknowingly he started to despise them , if the crowd got louder or there were a lot many cheers . He would walk away from the bar . And as he walked away , there were whispers around him . That is Romanov , The Romanov ? the question would arise . Before the conversation went ahead , Romanov would be long gone . A long time had passed , and the office kept him and even once in a while promoted him to keep him happy . After all he was a hero . Not many people spoke to him , in the office or even outside . He was a very docile man now man , but the people kept away from him . And once in a while , a load of documents would enter his cubicle and he would get down to work . Sitting from morning till the office shut in the evening , he would be buried into his work . The scribblings in his diary were gone and the memory of the great war was also gone . Even the fighter in him was gone , long gone . He was a white collar man now . And he was fine with it . Sometimes , when he used to be in the office , new recruits used to arrive and then he would get the curiosity to find out the real truth about what happened there in the trenches . So he would dial the old officers who he was close with him and he would get the same response . Romanov , they would say . No matter what how many times you ask the answer is going to remain the same . For a while Romanov would believe that he did really snap right there , in that battlefield . And then a few days later , he would convince himself that he did not do that . And he would get back to square one . His friends and family tolerated him , and some of the new recruits would come up to him . He would try to dissuade them from asking any questions . But he could not stop them , he was a hero to them . He was a war hero to them , an honest and brave man who inspired thousands . They never asked him about the trench , mostly because they did not care or that they did not know about it . Although he seemed disinterested with the talks while it went on . He felt a lot happier after the conversation was over . He would tell his wife excitedly , that these kids came in and told him about how he was a hero to them . His wife felt happy for a second and then after on did not pretended to care . At this point of time , the both of them knew that the marriage hanged by a thread . And they stayed together only for the sake of their kids . His wife was always trying to point out some mistakes in his work , activities , home , anything . Romanov tried his best to stay oblivious to their falling out , but he too would burst out sometimes . He would utter " do not mistake my silence as weakness " . I have once ordered thousands of men with guns in the battlefield . I have stood at the front of the line staring at the enemies , staring at death itself . His wife would start crying " I know , and what happened to you ? You were a warrior a, a great man , and now you are a shadow of yourself , and I cannot stand to see it , I cannot stand to see it for one more second , she would say and sit on the couch " . Romanov would simply Whisper " I don't know dear , I really don't " and he would walk out of the house .