I met my little wife in another world

11. Revenge

Today, this morning the reason for the disappearance of the missing friend group was known to Subham.

"Should I say you lots are lucky or unlucky?" Miss Sudha shook her head in disappointment.

Turns out this group of people were trapped in the basement of the Queen Fort. Yesterday they went for a tour of the Queen Fort, but they got separated from the tour guide, and when they entered the basement the overly smart Kartik pulled a gear out of curiosity and all of them got trapped in it. The staff didn't discover them until the moon was high in the sky. As compensation the manager provided them with a hotel room and a Royal Diner for free, of course, they didn't know that it was Kartik who messed up.

"It's an advantage obtained through the course of unlucky events," Subham told his mother.

"We didn't know! we thought it was a secret passage of the Queen Fort but who knew it was a trap house invented for the enemy."  Devdutta defended their action.

"Tsk, lying to them wasn't a part of your plan at first, how did you make it like it was their mistake," Raghav asked, a little curious.

"What if they demand compensation if we tell them the truth? That's why I lied." Devdutta replied looking at Kartik who had been quite calm since the accident. 

"Smart." Miss Sudha commented.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it." Kartik felt a little guilty since they were not able to attend their friend's reception party.

"It's not that serious you don't need to apologize."   everyone comforted him and told Subham that they had to leave today. Subham expressed his understanding.

Before leaving Subham's house, his friends turned to Mrinal and spoke, "By the way, here's the gift since we were unable to attend the reception, we still haven't given the gifts to our sister-in-law."  Anand reminded everyone about this book out of a small wooden box and handed it to Mrinal who standing beside Subham. 

Sister-in-law? Subham was a little confused, who were they calling sister-in-law, Mrinal is a boy. However, he didn't ask them about it as in his inherited memory there's no clear concept about this issue.

Raghav gave him something wrapped in a velvet fabric with a tassel sewn around it, Devdutta gave an envelope containing money and Kartik gave him a large pink box, saying it was prepared with his fiancé's help.

After all of them left Subham asked Mrinal. "Why did they call you sister-in-law?"

"Because I'm married to you," Mrinal replied feeling a little shy and confused.

"Silly boy! Of course, I know that. What I mean is as far as I know, in legal terms, for Twins the pronoun used is 'he' or 'him' so why did you call you sister-in-law?" Subham rubbed Mrinal's hair as he spoke.

"Oh, that. As far as I have read or know it's because, although the Twins look similar to a man however, from centuries before Twins played the role of caretaker of the home, child bearer, and submissive partner in a marriage. In terms of restriction and oppression Twins aren't any better than women. The most Ironic thing is that although we look similar to men but aren't completely men or women.  In most of the cases, the society decides our identity." Mrinal replied seriously.

Listening to Mrinal, Subham felt he needed to know more about this third gender. This situation sounds similar to that of a transgender or an intersex person's identity however, there's still a difference to that as Twins have a recognized identity.

In the afternoon, Subham, his mother, and Mrinal sat in the living room with Rakesh and counted the money. Subham wrote the name in a diary, Mrinal and Rakesh opened the envelopes and gifts while his mother kept those in a separate place.