Three months had passed since the day I was thrown into this hell. The life I dreamed of after my wedding had turned into nothing but a delusion. The man I married—oh no, the animal I married, made it very clear that he wanted nothing from me other than to be his sex slave. He left home every morning, and I was left behind to face the devil, his mother until he returned at night.
The woman who pretended to be pious and kind was nothing but a demon in disguise. She threw Leela out of work and now I was officially the maid, taking care of all the chores from dawn till night.
Nothing ever changed in my routine, except that the animal satisfied his hunger at night, adding to my misery. I never spoke to him, never asked him for anything.
As for the people who brought me into this world only to throw me into this hell and they tried to contact me during the first month, but I refused to talk to them. In the second month, they visited, but I ignored them. My so-called honorable husband and his mother royally insulted them, and since then, they stopped visiting.
The devil’s wedding was fixed, and two weeks ago Kavitha aunty came to invite me. But I wasn’t allowed to leave the house. Not that I was interested in watching another girl’s life being ruined. Sometimes I wished he had died before he married her.
I saw the wedding photo in my amma’s WhatsApp status. The girl looked beautiful and happy, while he smiled at her like she was his whole world. Shameless bastard.
Life here sucks.
None of the neighbors ever spoke to me. The aunty from the adjacent house once saw me crying on the terrace and looked at me with pity but never said anything. After that day, she would always smile at me, as if she wanted to speak but never dared to. Maybe one day she would.
My trance broke when I heard the screech of my mother-in-law’s voice echoing from her room. Wiping my hands on the pallu of my saree, I walked out of the kitchen and saw her standing at the threshold.
“Meera, have you cooked lunch? How long will you take? Do you plan to kill me by starving me to death?” she shrieked.
“Wish I could do that,” I thought, forcing a smile.
“Lunch is ready, aunty,” I replied, and she immediately settled herself comfortably while I started serving her.
One thing I could be grateful to her for was that she never let me starve. She would scream at me to eat before resuming work, not out of kindness, but because she didn’t want me to fall sick. According to her, she was too old to handle the chores and didn’t want to spend money hiring another maid so she wanted me healthy.
I laughed to myself the day she claimed it would be risky to keep a maid at home. According to her, a maid might take my place and treat me like a slave. If only she knew that her precious son had already been having an affair with the maid who worked here before I arrived.
I heard footsteps, and my father-in-law came to sit opposite his wife. As usual, he was silent. I hated both of them, these two people who chose to be deaf to my screams at night, who turned a blind eye to the bruises their son left all over my skin.
I served the food and returned to the kitchen when my mobile started ringing. It was my mother. As always, I ignored it and switched it to silent mode. Almost immediately, my mother-in-law’s phone began to ring. She answered, and her face darkened with a frown. From her expression, I knew it wasn’t good news. She cut the call and called out for me.
“Your mother called me. Your grandma passed away. She wanted me to convey the news to you,” she said.
My heart broke. Tears streamed down my face as I crumbled with the weight of her words. The woman who had carried the burden of her son’s family her entire life had finally found peace in death. She was the only one who had truly cared for me, the only one who tried her best to help me chase my dreams. But she, too, had been powerless against fate.
I was about to leave when my mother-in-law stopped me and called her son. She conveyed the message to him before turning to me.
“Go get ready. Rakesh will be back to take you. But don’t stay for too long, return as soon as possible,” she ordered.
I returned to my room, changed into a better saree, and combed my hair. Soon after, Rakesh returned from his office and called me to serve him lunch.
“I have a lot of work at the office, so don’t think about staying long for the funeral. I can only spare a few hours. We’ll return home right after. If you plan to stay longer, then don’t bother coming back here at all. Pack your bags and go back to your parents. But make sure you return every penny I’ve spent on you,” he spat, his words laced with venom.
I grit my teeth but kept quiet.
He grabbed my chin in a painful grip, his jaw tight with rage.
“You dare grit your teeth at me? Do you want me to remind you of your place here?” he scoffed. I shook my head. I had better things to deal with than being trapped in a room with this animal.
He smirked, continuing to eat. I wiped my tears and waited for him to finish. Later he drove me to my grandmother’s house. Most of our relatives, including my parents, were there, mourning. My amma tried to hug me to share her grief, but I moved past her and went straight to the freezer box where my grandmother lay in peace. I cried and thanked her quietly, then stood in a corner while Priya hugged me, both of us sobbing for the loss.
We watched the crowd offer condolences to Kavitha aunty and my father. I scanned the room for the man I had married and found him talking with that monster while the so-called devil, his son offered water to his new wife. My father stood nearby, listening intently. A coward.
How pathetic—every demon in one place.
I wanted to spit on them and run away.
Maybe one day.
After three hours, someone cleared their throat. Rakesh looked at me. “Let’s go. I can’t wait any longer. Unlike you, I have a business to manage,” he muttered. I nodded and followed him to the car.
Throughout the drive I stayed silent, bracing myself for whatever filth he would spew next. He chuckled and finally spoke. “Your uncle’s son is a lucky bastard. I spent so many lakhs to get a submissive wife, and that bastard got a beautiful girl with so much dowry,” he said, and I felt sick.
“You’re talking about someone’s wife,” I said quietly.
He laughed aloud. “Relax. I’m just talking. Maybe I should have waited and found a girl from the city instead of spending so much on you,” he sneered. Something inside me snapped.
“I never asked for this, you act as if I live like a queen here. I work like a maid during the day and sleep beside you at night. The money you paid didn’t buy me, this life is my punishment.” I snapped back.
He slammed the brakes so hard the car lurched; my head nearly struck the dashboard, though the seatbelt saved me. He seized a clump of my hair with such force that my scalp stung and I hissed, trying to wrench free.
“How dare you talk to me like that? You lived in a rural village and I brought you to the city. You wear good clothes, you get three meals a day, and your family’s living improved because of me, you ungrateful bitch, wait for us to reach home and I will teach you a lesson ” he ground out, his teeth clenched. He pushed me against the window and continued driving, the road blurring past us.
It was almost 9 p.m. when we returned home. I took a bath first and was about to leave to check for dinner when Rakesh stopped me and locked the door. I gulped and stepped back, clutching the pallu of my saree.
“You were speaking all nonsense, and now you want to leave as if you never said anything?” he growled, grabbing my throat. I struggled to free myself, but he shoved me against the wall and began assaulting me.
I hit his arm when he bit my neck, but he slapped me hard and pushed me onto the couch. What happened after that made me regret ever speaking against him.
He looked down at me like I was trash, then picked up his shirt from the floor.
“Hope you’ve learned your lesson. Beware of your place, and don’t you dare talk back to me again,” he spat before storming out, slamming the door behind him.
I lay on the couch, pulling the saree from the floor to cover myself. Tears streamed down my cheeks.
He never returned to the room that night, and I slept there until my alarm blared, dragging me back into my routine.
I got ready and entered the kitchen to start my work. I made coffee and walked out, just in time to see my mother-in-law and her son settling on the couch. I placed the coffee on the table before them and went back to the kitchen to prepare breakfast.
“It’s been close to four months, but still there’s no news from her. You’re not getting any younger, Rakesh. Our family needs an heir,” my mother-in-law said. I froze, the knife still in my hand as I cut the onions.
An heir? I would be more than thankful if I never got pregnant by this animal. I didn’t want to bring another Meera or another Rakesh into this world. Until now I had pushed those thoughts away, but at that moment I knew, I needed to find a way to protect myself.
I had to buy some pills as soon as possible. Maybe even look for some home remedies too. One thing was certain, I would never give them an heir.
That evening I got ready to leave, my plan set. My mother-in-law’s eyes scanned me from head to toe as though I was hiding something under my clothes.
“Where do you think you’re going, all dressed up? Don’t you know you’re supposed to prepare dinner? Rakesh might come early today,” she said sharply.
I smiled softly, masking my thoughts.
“Aunty, I just wanted to visit the nearby temple. It’s been four months, and I heard you talking about an heir this morning. I thought I should pray to God.”
She paused, considering, then looked at the clock on the wall.
“All right. But don’t be out too long. Come back early and prepare something good to eat. Dress properly and smile to impress your husband instead of carrying that scowl and frown on your face all the time. I’m sure he feels disgusted looking at you — always crying, frowning. How do you expect him to be fond of you? Stupid girl,” she muttered, walking away to her room.
I walked out, knowing I had little time to finish what I had planned. I went to the nearby temple, offered my prayers, then covered my face with a mask before slipping into the nearest pharmacy to buy the pills.
When I returned home, I hid them carefully beneath my clothes. I would never tie myself to this animal forever.
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A/N:
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