I felt like a puppet as I sat in the chair waiting for Naira to finish my make up.
Her family had been quick to welcome me after she explained most of the situation to them. Her mother had been super understanding but I knew that was surface level. Sure, they liked me, but it was clearly visible in her eyes that she was judging me. A married woman staying anywhere other than her in-laws place or where her husband stays is always judged.
"You can look now." I opened my eyes and turned around to face the mirror. Naira had done a great job enhancing my natural features without exaggerating anything too much. It didn't seem like bridal make up, but it made me feel good. Plus, the most important part of the look, the red lip, was there so it was perfect.
"Thank you. This looks amazing."
She beamed at me and then flipped her hair dramatically. "That's cause I did it and not you." She teased. Then her expression got serious again. "Are you sure you want to do this? You don't have to do it. You can stay here for a while then we'll both move out. As soon as we can find an appropriate apartment, we'll move out. It'll be just like we used to talk about. We'll be roommates."
As much as I wanted that, I couldn't do that. I had responsibilities. Ritwik and I may not truly believe in our marriage, but I still didn't want to humiliate him.
"Yeah? And how many years later would we find the appropriate apartment, Miss I need everything to be perfect?"
She rolled her eyes. "Do you want to live in an unsafe area or an unaffordable place or a place that's literally like the middle of no where? And what's wrong with wanting everything to be perfect?"
"Nothing." I smiled at her and then wrapped my arms around her waist. She was one of the few people that didn't make me feel weird and uncomfortable about being touched.
"Oi, you'll ruin your make up. Shoo." She gently nudged me away but I still held on to her like a baby. She reminded me of my mother with the way she took care of me. After a couple more nudges, she finally gave in and began to gently massage my head. My grip tightened on her as I tried to stop myself from crying. I was having horrible thoughts and mood swings and I couldn't understand how much of it was due to my up coming periods and how much of it was from the sheer mental stress of all this drama.
"It doesn't matter what happens, you'll always be welcomed here. It doesn't matter if it's 3 am in the morning, come to me. Don't ever hesitate. I'll keep finding us an apartment in the meanwhile."
I made a sound of agreement.
"Are you crying?"
"No."
This time she pushed me harder and I finally let her go. "Dyuti, look at me. I swear if you ruin the make up."
I swallowed and opened my eyes trying to blink away the tears. Her eyes softened.
"It hurts. I don't know why. But it hurts so bad. My dad didn't even care and my mom thinks of them as her family. I know I am too old for the no one loves me drama but.." My voice broke and I looked away. God, this was the second time in just two days, that someone saw me crying.
What the hell is wrong with me?
I breathed quickly and tried to regain my composure. She held my face and turned me to face her. "I love you, isn't that enough?"
I nodded. "Yes. Yes, it is."
"Are you really sure you want to do this?"
"Yeah. I am sorry I got emotional. Just hormones. Sorry for ruining the make up."
She didn't say anything for a second then said, "I can fix the make up again but I can't help you out of this if you stay."
"I know. But I have this under control. The deal works in my favour. Once we move abroad, I'll settle everything quickly and you'll come with me, right?"
Even though she nodded, I saw that split second of hesitation in her eyes. I felt like screaming. Arunav was taking her away from me. He was the reason of that hesitation. I felt like a horrible friend for not asking her about her troubles.
"Hey, do you want to talk about Arunav? What happened with him?"
She shrugged. "It's fine. I over reacted a little. He was being dramatic and saying stuff like he couldn't be with such an insecure woman and then I sent him a pic and he came crawling back." She smirked but there was something off about it.
"He forgave you because you sent him a sexual pic?"
"I never said it was sexual?" She giggled.
I rolled my eyes. "Bitch..."
"Okay yeah."
"Tell me you cropped your face out of it."
"What do you think I am, 5? Of course I did. But even if I didn't, it's just him. I trust him and we have done it quite a few times."
"Regardless. Tell me you never keep your face in those."
"Of course I don't, mom."
"I know you can take care of yourself but it doesn't help my paranoia."
"I know and it doesn't help mine to know you'll go stay with those people. What if they hurt you?" She was back to her serious self.
"Then you'll avenge me. They'll get the full Naira experience."
"Yes and I will not listen to you. I will murder them then hide their bodies and run away with you. We'll take the jewellery you get with us. It's yours after all."
"Deal." I grinned.
She pulled out the Naker Nath , a huge nose hoop, and held it up. "Now take off your nose pin and let me put this on."
I did that and hesitated. "Are you sure you don't mind?"
She rolled her eyes. "Bitch, it's you. I'll do anything for you."
"So will I but I will never put my finger in your nose."
"Then good for you, I don't have a piercing. Now shut up and let me put this on before your weird piercing closes off."
She carefully put one end of the huge nose hoop through my nose piercing and then pushed the other part, clicking it into place. My eyes teared up a little and I knew my nose was red. I have had that nose piercing for over a year and it still hurts.
"You weren't kidding. Your nose really got red."
"I know." I huffed. "Stupid thick skin."
My skin healed way too fast and it didn't like the nose piercing being there. And for some reason, despite the small nose, I still had super thick nose skin.
I turned around to see the mirror again. The nose hoop tied the look together. The slight redness on my nose was worth it, I looked good enough to ignore whatever I felt.
Time to deal with some responsibilities.
*********†*****†*********
The guard let me in through the gates without any problem. He already knew me as Ritwik's assistant but I wasn't sure if he knew me as his wi-partner yet. It didn't matter as such.
Surya was waiting for me just inside the gate.
"Where's Pratyush?" I asked looking around for him.
"He couldn't make it."
"What? He couldn't make it to his best friend's reception?"
Surya shrugged. "He's a doctor. He has obligations."
I cursed myself for not getting his number. I had an idea of why Dr. Pratyush couldn't make it the reception.
"Can you call him?" I asked Surya.
I could feel Naira looking at me curiously. I looked at her and gestured with my eyes that I would tell her later.
"Why?" Surya raised an eyebrow.
"He's clearly the only one with a functioning brain. And I don't want to deal with anymore dumbasses today."
"He's busy. I don't think he'll be ab-"
"Just call him and let me speak. Or give me his number. Actually yeah, give me his number."
"Fine, I'm calling him."
He dialled it and I immediately snatched the phone out of his hand so that he couldn't say anything.
"Hey, Surya. What happened?"
"It's me, Dyuti."
"What do you want?" There was a hard edge to his voice.
"Why aren't you here?"
"That's none of your concern."
"Yes, it is. Now tell me."
He cut the call to my face. I gasped at his audacity.
I called again. He cut it. And I called again, he cut it again. This repeated for a few times until he have up and recieved the call. "WHAT?!"
"Why are you not here?"
"Why the fuck does it matter? Go through your reception and be done it with it. I am not your fucking babysitter."
"I'm sorry for dragging you into the situation. I'll clear it up with him. I jus-"
He cut the call again. But this time I didn't bother him. Instead I quickly memorized his number and handed the phone back to it's rightful owner.
I put the number on Truecaller, an app that let's you see whose number it is, and it returned his name. I saved it and shot him a quick apology text and mentioned who I was.
"Why are you so concerned about him?" Surya sounded annoyed.
I didn't have to answer it as Naira did me the favour. "Why wouldn't she be? The guy she thought of her as her friend pushed her to marry someone she didn't want to while Pratyush, an almost stranger took care of her."
Surya tried to say something, but we both ignored it and walked forward until we met Meenu. She guided us to the house entrance. I had already called Surya and told him that I was going to come so none of the Sinha family members were shocked when I stepped in. They looked at Naira curiously but didn't say anything.
I awkwardly stood there until Kaju spoke up. "Who's she?"
"My best friend, Naira."
"Naira, that's Ritwik's sister, Kajol."
"Hello." Naira politely greeted her.
"Hi." Kaju shyly greeted back. She really reminded me of Kanak.
"Where were you and why didn't you come back in the morning? All the rituals are pending." Ritwik's grandfather asked.
"Do you really expect her to know the importance of rituals?" Kaju's mother scoffed.
"I don't believe in those. In fact I hate the idea of someone taking responsibility of my bhat-kapor. I can take care of it myself."
"Is that the reason you trapped my son!"
"Let the girl sit down, Boudi." Surprisingly it was Surya's mother who came to my rescue. It made some sense, since she was his mother. Surya probably explained most of the things to her. I felt better knowing I probably had one less enemy.
"She will be sitting on our head for the rest of our lives and you want me to let her sit down?! Did Joy put you up to this?" Ritwik's mother's outburst caused Surya's mother to sigh.
Beside me I could see Naira tensing up. I reached out and touched her shoulder.
"That's enough, Bouma. No more." Ritwik's grandfather's voice boomed.
"Come in. Naira, take a seat please." He then looked at Meenu. "Make sure she's comfortable. See if she needs anything and bring her some food."
"It's fine." Naira smiled like a polite little angel but to anyone who knew her, that was the smile before the storm.
I hope they don't talk shit about me. For their own good.
"Dyuti, come with me. I need to talk to you."
This doesn't sound good.
Regardless, he wasn't just my boss, or even big boss, no he was the super boss. I couldn't deny him.
"Don't li-" Kaju's mother started but shut up when Ranajit Sinha stared at her blankly. That was one thing the Sinhas did really well. Their stares would make anyone who's not used it (with the exception of Naira, seriously she feared nothing, it was kinda creepy) pee there pants.
I followed him, feeling like the sheep before the sacrifice. He lead me into a luxurious room. "Wait."
I obeyed.
He pulled a bunch of keys out of his dhuti pocket. Then opened the cupboard. He took out a thick gold and diamond necklace and I felt like my eyes would pop out of their sockets.
I had seen those thick neck pieces, mostly in fake jewellery selling shops. The couple times that I did visit a real jewellery shop, I only looked at them in their glass cases and sighed.
He seemed to be walking towards me. I began to get a strange smell, a comparatively rarer sign of my anxiety.
"We had this made for Babu's wife. This is yours."
He tried to hand it to me but I backed up. "No. Thank you but no."
"Don't worry about his mother. She will come around. She is just shocked. As Babu's wife, this is your right."
"I am alergic to gold!" I blurted.
"Then how are you wearing all those?" He seemed amused.
At least one of us was having fun.
"Made of special gold." I lied.
"What? You think this is made of cheap gold?"
"What? No! Of course not! I...I didn't mean that."
"You're the Laxmi of this house and Maa Laxmi doesn't look good with an empty neck."
Empty neck? Empty neck?
I was literally wearing like three gold necklaces of different sizes. Sure, none of them were nearly as gorgeous or expensive as the one he was holding but they were there!
But it didn't matter to him. He thought my neck was empty without the one he gave. It got on my nerves.
"No, thank you. I don't need anything from you or this family. I don't need to be wearing that and then having your daughters-in-law think that they were right. That I trapped your grandson."
"I told you they'll come around. Pratyush explained everything to me and so did Babu and Joy. I know you didn't choose this."
"Then why are trying to make it seem like I did? With all due respect, sir, I don't need anything from you or any other Sinha simply because of my marriage to Ritwik. Your company pays me decently. I can live off it."
I turned around and walked away as fast as I humanly could. I knew what those were. Golden shackles tying me down to the family. I wasn't going to wear it.
On my way back to the living room, I found Ritwik's room and decided to peak in to see if he was still mad at me. The door was opened, so I peaked in.
There stood Ritwik and his Mishti Boudi wrapped in each other's embrace.
Oh how the tables turn.
*********†*****†*********
Bhaat-kapor - Means food and clothes. It's a ritual in Bengali marriages when the husband takes responsibility of the wife's food and clothes for life