She brewed the most aromatic ginger milk tea. “Today let me live life to its fullest,” she thought. After days of worrying and fretting over what the result would be, she finally closed that chapter the previous day.
Aisha was twenty-three when she got married to Aarav. “A match made in heaven,” whoever looked at them said so.
“Do you like it?” Aarav asked Aisha as he pulled her near him stroking her neck and squeezing her in his arms. He had already booked a 2 BHK flat in Pune.
“Looks like someone wants to ditch his parents for his wife,” Aisha managed to get herself free of him.
“What to do, I have a beautiful wife and I can’t wait to listen to her moans which she hides in that house,” he again tried getting hold of her.
It was as if Aisha could hear the slightest sound in the 700 sq. foot flat in Mumbai. Given her big house in Kolkata, she was not used to such small apartments. It looked like a matchbox to her. As if her entire life was trapped in a cage.
“Who was on the phone?” Aisha asked with a hint of suspicion.
“No one. Just a lady from work.” Aarav’s answer made Aisha’s suspicion strong. She playfully took his mobile in her hand and checked the number. Nothing! There was no existence of the number he contacted a few minutes ago as if it never happened.
“Where’s the number you just talked to?” Aisha could not stop herself.
“Wait…What? Are you spying on me now?”
“I was checking your business associate’s number. Can’t I do that? As if you do not check my phone after coming from the office.”
“I deleted the number. I sometimes do that. Happy! Now give my phone back.”
Aisha did not believe him instead raised her voice which led Jyoti into her room.
“Are you fighting again?”
“Look what your son did? He deleted the number he talked to at 7.30.”
“He must not be talking.”
“I saw him talking secretly to someone. But you will always take his side.” Aisha fumed out of the room.
She hired detectives to get the pictures of her husband. It cost her a hefty one lakh as they were professional bikers who did this kind of shady work. Within two days they gave her pictures of her husband with a woman.
“What? Why on Earth did he choose her over me?” But the worst was about to come. More pictures with another woman. One was the maid working in her house and another one was a friend of her previous maid. Aisha’s head started spinning; she could not leave him so easily. She was not among those weaklings who cry and leave their husbands’ houses taking shelter in their parents’ houses.
“Why does he care so much about Anjani? She is his brother’s wife. He just keeps going to her house again and again,” said Aisha to Jyoti who was busy mending the hooks of her blouse.
“What are you saying? Have you gone out of your mind? Let him come today. No, I will call your papaji and tell him first.” Jyoti immediately called Rajeev who rushed home within fifteen minutes. He tried sorting it out with Aisha but to no avail. She was too adamant to listen to him.
The small house was packed with Aarav’s relatives. The Holi get-together was buzzing with the laughter of kids and elderlies ordering tea without sugar and a cup without milk. Aisha was running from the kitchen to the living room fulfilling the demands of each of the relatives. As soon as she got the perfect moment, she chuckled, “Aren’t you sitting too close to bhabi?”
Aarav shied away and sat on a different chair. But Anjani was burning inside. As soon as other relatives left, Anjani bombarded, “Keep your husband to yourself and never dare say such a thing otherwise I will tear open your husband’s clothes in front of all.” Aisha was startled by this reaction. She had not expected this.
“How dare you say that in front of all the relatives? What will they think of our family? Don’t you have any shame?” thundered Jyoti.
“At least I am not a whore like your elder daughter-in-law?” And there came a slap after slap from Aarav who could not tolerate her for a minute then.
“Oh! Now I understand why your dear bhabi was willing to tear your clothes.” The next moment her head hit the table and she bled to unconsciousness.
“If we do not take her to hospital, she might die,” Rajeev inspected the wound and declared.
Aarav called Dr. Mehta who gladly came and treated Aisha. “Thankfully the wound is not too deep. Since when she had been fainting.” He asked casually while prescribing medicines and asked Aarav to pay him five thousand rupees.
“That is way…” Jyoti bit her lips and said, “Since she had a miscarriage in January.”
“You better consult a psychiatrist. Such incidents are often hard for the mind to accept.”
“Sure!” Aarav showed the way out to the doctor.
The next day police came to the house. “Where is Aisha?” they inquired. Jyoti called for Aisha in a trembling voice. “We have received a complaint that you were beaten in your house yesterday.” Jyoti started panting; Aisha asked the house help to give her a glass of water.
“Yes, I was. You can see my condition.”
“Who beat you up?” a lady constable questioned.
“My husband! Upon instigation of maaji! Even papaji did not take me to the hospital. I felt I would eventually die,” sobbed Aisha.
Rajeev, Jyoti and Aarav were arrested in the case of domestic violence.
“I told you it would work,” Divya caressed Aisha. “The CCTV footage was a masterstroke.” She gently bent to kiss Aisha.
“Thank you, I thought we would never be together again. I wish dada had not married me off after seeing us together in the room. It took two long years for everything to work out.” She gave the most passionate kiss to the love of her life.
After a year of trials and hearings, the case settled with a 2 BHK flat and twenty-five lakh rupees. Aisha heaved a sigh of relief that day. After all, she had been looking for the weakness of Aarav since marriage, and within a few months, she found him making out with a house help. However, it took another year to find out the secrets of the family; the strained relationship between Anjani and Aarav which turned out to be related to Anjani’s daughter.
It was just a day after Aarav had made the payment for the flat that he told his mother about moving out. ‘Don’t do that beta? It was a mistake. You would never do that to Sanaya again, right?’
“I don’t know maa. If Aisha finds out then it will ruin my marriage. I don’t want to face Anjani either.”
“Anjani will never say a word. We have borne a lot. Papa and I left the comfortable house of your bhaiya because of your doings. Now, you want to leave us after you got everything in life. That sounds like a great son. Do you think we can go back to Anjani after supporting you?” Aarav could not say a word.
Present day:
“These people are such hypocrites, aren’t they? How could a mother sit with or even talk to a man who molested her daughter?” Aisha asked sipping the freshly brewed tea.
“This is how relationships work. Weren’t you raped every other day? That rapist! I could not have tolerated that for a day. My heart broke on hearing that you took the pills after getting pregnant. That man will rot in hell.” Divya looked at the clear sky sipping the tea.
“He surely will. But look at us now. A house to call ours…away from our families… I cook and you work…just like perfect couples,” said Aisha slurping the divine morning in. The scar on her forehead shone in the morning light telling the story of what this woman went through to change her fate. “Today let me live life to its fullest…” she thought then murmured, “…from today!”
About the author and writing coach:
Sneha Goel is a British Council–certified IELTS trainer and Scholastic India–mentored short story writer. She is a published author, poet and diarist. Her reviews, blogs, poems, stories and thoughts are appreciated by writers of international repute. Apart from writing, she is passionate about teaching English to children. She teaches English grammar, literature, creative writing, academic writing, story writing, poetry writing and Spoken English to students from class 1 up to grown-ups. To know more about her writing workshops and English language teaching services click here.