Damayanthi’s PoV
Ufff! He is a drug! A sweet drug! His toxic cologne never fails to take me to another realm altogether. My cheek is swollen and bears his hand imprint. With the force he hit me, there is no doubt I would be deaf if that hit had fallen on my ear. I realized how wrong I was when my aunty explained to me how irresponsible I was. His attention on me is making my heart leap in joy. I understand how this marriage is a compulsion to him. Yet, he had promised my dad my bright future. He is trying to educate me! He wants me to go to college and get a degree. I mean, who would do this to a girl who barged into his life?
I don't know why he didn't want to get married so far. I don't know if he even likes me or not. I don't know if there was a girl before me in his life. No matter what, now he is my husband! Mine! Only mine. I will do whatever it takes to earn his love.
As usual, we both woke up in our respective beds and from the days here so far, I knew that he wakes up at 5.30 and I made it a habit to wake up at the same time. The mornings are quite subtle and refreshing. He would smile at me awkwardly some days and turn his head away from me some days. He would use the restroom first and would head out for his jogging and would come back only to shut himself in his gym. After refreshing myself, I would run to the kitchen to make coffee for all three of us. My husband nowadays loves my coffee. I would then help Thulasi Aunty to cook the breakfast.
After his bath, he would have my coffee in our room, and we would descend together for our breakfast. I would serve him, and he would eat it with no talks.
***
“Hey, I have asked for a tutor for you. Until then, stay in the room and try to study on your own.” He told me the very next day the tutorial sent me home.
“Ok!” I told him like an obedient girl. I mean, he would go to the office and would only come back at night. What would he know if I stayed in the room or not?
After he went out, I let out a sigh of relief and ran out to play with Agalya. I would help her water the plants and rake out the dried leaves from the lawn. As we both do the work together, her work will be over before her usual time, and the rest of her work hours will pass by us playing hopscotch on the front portico of our house. We would also play Ludo.
“Damayanthi!” Athai called me.
“Yes, athai?” I ran in to know why she called me.
“Here, Krishna wants to talk to you.” She gave me her phone. Hmph, he is stupid. He had bought me a phone and would never call me on that number.
“Hello?” I took the phone from her and walked away.
“What are you doing?”
“Um… nothing.”
“I asked you to study.”
“Ok!” I told him. He is a Hitler.
“I know if you are not in your room.” He said, and I wonder how!
“I will study,” I told him, and he hung up the call.
“Athai! How will he know if I am in his room or not?” I asked her.
“Haha, he might have seen you playing outside. He wants you to study really seriously, Damayanthi. You really have to try.”
“Hmmm, ok! But how could he see me playing outside?”
“There is a camera outside the portico, and it is connected to his phone. He will be notified if there is a movement.”
“So he could see it like a video?” I asked her, astonished.
“Yes!”
Aiyayo! I felt so shy all of a sudden. He saw me hopping around like a monkey?! God! Talk about embarrassment!
I walked silently to our room and lay on his bed. I looked at the books that were stacked up on my study table. No way am I going to pass my tenth exam. Why is he torturing me to do something I clearly know is not my fort? I dozed off deeply, thinking about how to escape his clutches. My day went as usual, and I got a little busy in the evening helping in the kitchen. I am feeling one in this house. Everyone is very kind and loving to me, and they don't treat me like a newcomer.
“Dammu, get the coconut cracked outside.” Thulasi Aunty asked me, and I took the coconut to the front porch to crack it open. I started hitting it on the ground, and with the last hard hit, it cracked open, but that was not what I expected!
“Aiyayo!” I stood up!
“Idiot!” He came angrily at me. Yeah, a piece of coconut shell flew and hit his car windshield, and the windshield cracked in the place it hit.
“So… sorry.” I tried to gulp down the ball of fear that threatened to make my heart stop in anxiety.
“Shut up!” He growled at me, and my eyes welled up instantly. “I just cannot handle your irresponsibility and idiocy! Are you even a grown-up? Who in the world will crack open a coconut here?”
“Sorry! I didn't know you would come at this time. I didn't do it purposefully.”
“Do you know how much it's going to cost me to change this glass? Irresponsible idiot.”
“Sorry!” I stood there not knowing what else I could do. I truly didn't expect this to happen, and what is he expecting me to do? I can certainly not be able to pay the cost for the change of his car glass.
“Dei, Krishna. What happened? Why are you scolding her outside the doors?” Athai came in between us.
“Look what she had done.” He showed the glass to her, and I felt more humiliated. He talks as if I did it on purpose.
“It's ok. It is just a car. Look at her. She is crying. Go and refresh.” She scolded him and looked at me. “Come in, dear.” She hugged my shoulders and walked me into the house.
“Athai, I truly didn't see him coming. It was not my fault. It was the coconut’s fault.”
“Haha, it’s ok, Damayanthi. Relax. But there is a stone grinder (ammikallu) in the backyard you could have used to crack the coconut.” She said, and I nodded my head in agreement with her.
“I am really sorry, athai. He is very angry. Um… if you don't mind, can you help me take out the money that my dad put on a deposit? I will pay him to change the windshield.”
“Oh no. It is very unnecessary.”
“But athai, he is really angry,” I told her, and she stopped me, saying there was no need to do that. During dinner, he didn't even look at me, and that hurt me more than I thought it would.
We were not like other married couples. We were not even on good talking terms. He allowed me to stay in his room and will talk if necessary, more like a roommate with a stranger. I went straight to my bed after helping clean the kitchen. He didn't come even half an hour after I settled in my bed. Worried that he was too angry to come in, I went to the door and opened it just at the same time he tried to come in.
“Oops, sorry!” I took a step back after hitting my head on his chest. He grabbed my hand hard and pushed me into the room. He kept walking until I fell on his bed.
“What do you think of yourself? Huh? How dare you tell Mom that you will pay me for the damage you did?” He asked me. I got it! My mother-in-law has talked to him about what I said. I am sure she might have told him that to make him realize that I was really sorry for what happened. But this man is peculiar! He had taken it all in the wrong sense.
“I … I am sorry!” I said, looking down. I tried to get up from the bed.
“You can never change the damage that was already made. Don't you dare cross your limits? All I ever want from you is to study well, be independent, and leave me alone! Do you understand?” He asked me, and my head nodded in agreement voluntarily out of fear.
“If I ever hear you talk about repaying the money, I will just kill you. You are not here to cook and work in the garden. We have been paying the people here to do that. All you have to do is stay in the room and study.”
“Mmm!” I nodded my head at everything he said.
“Pch, I am sorry I scolded you. I know it was an accident.” He said and locked himself in the restroom. He has a split personality disorder! One man wants to be kind to me, and the other one wants to keep me away from him. Why?
Halfway through my sleep, when I shuffled on my bed, with my half-closed eyes, I saw my husband standing near my bed. I got scared at first but I decided to stay put. He looked at me intently. His eyes traveled from my face to the lower parts of my body, and I realized his eyes stayed a little longer on my bosoms. It weirdly made my tummy squirm, and it was hard for me to stay still. He brought his hands near me, and I waited, holding my breath.
“Idiot!” He mumbled before pulling my pajama shirt down and covering me with the blanket. He went to the restroom, and I let out that breath I was holding for a long time.
‘Pch, thookathula dress apdi ipdi velaga tha seiyum. Chumma ellathukum thititey irundha epdi? Kashtama iruntha kanna moodika vendiyathu thana? Kanda edathula kanna meya vidrathu apram athukum ennaya vey thiturathu. (pch, it's quite common to have disheveled clothes in sleep. He is scolding me for everything. If he doesn't like it, he could very well close his eyes. He would see me inappropriately and would scold me for the same.)’ I mumbled to myself and woke up to do my morning chores when I realized it was not night anymore. It was already 5.30 AM, and he had opened his eyes to my free show! I slapped my head for sleeping without self-consciousness.
“Hey!” He called me, emerging out of the restroom.
“Pch, good morning. How many times do I have to tell you that ‘hey’ is not my name.”
“Pch, don't start it in the morning. I will know if you step out of the room. Your punishment would be very hard if you disobeyed me. Do you understand?”
“I can go out to at least eat, right?” I asked him, for which he shook his head in disbelief and went out for his jog. Here, I was mesmerized by his thick arms and defined abs.
How would he know if I were not in the room? Has he placed any cameras in the room? The very thought of it made my insides twist. I have changed my dress here, I have talked to his life-size photo on the wall here, and I have laid on his bed hearing songs and playing on the phone!
“What are you still doing here?” He asked me as he came in drenched in sweat.
“Um… do you have a camera in this room?” I asked him, checking him out. God, how could he be so sexy all the time?
“Yes! I do!” He said, coming closer to me. I looked up at his eyes in shock, but he disregarded my looks and kept walking until my chin touched his chest.
“Intha mutta kanna vechutu apdi pakatha. Kanna nondiruven. (Don't look at me with your wide, wide eyes like this. I will pull out your eyeballs, if you do.)” He said, and I lowered my eyes in fear.
“Ninga en purushan thana? Nan paka kudatha? (You are my husband, right? Shouldn't I see you?)” I asked him. He can not control me on everything. I am not his slave!
“Go, eat your breakfast, and come to study. I will check on you after coming home.” He said as if he didn’t hear me talk.
“Where is the camera?” I asked the most important question.
“I will know if you step out of the door.” He showed the room door and went to his gym. So there is a camera focusing on the door? I searched for all the possible places and I could not find anything. He went to the office and I was left alone in the room.
“Dammu, come down,” Agalya called me from the garden. I was on the balcony.
“Pch, I can not come down. I am allowed to only go down to eat.”
“Why?”
“My husband said I have to study.”
“Haha, then finish your studies soon and come down.”
“Hey, wait a minute,” I told her and ran inside. I picked up all the pillows on his bed and my bed.
‘Happa, oru aal thungurathuku evlo thalagani! (uff, so many pillows for one man!)’ I thought to myself while picking up the six pillows.
“Agalya, place these pillows like a bed. I will jump out.”
“Hey, are you mad? You will break your leg.”
“Pch, I will manage to jump safely. Arrange it like a bed.” I told her and threw all the pillows and blankets. I jumped down on the pillows. Even though I hurt myself a little, I was ok. We played away from the portico where there were cameras.
“Aiyayo!” I hit my head hard. “How will I go to my room now?” I asked Agalya at the end of our game.
“Like everyone goes!” Agalya showed me the main entrance.
“Dumb head, if I go in, my husband would know that I have gone out secretly.”
“Pch, wait, I will bring the ladder.” Agalya ran to ask for a ladder from the watchman. We placed the ladder in place, and I climbed up to my room. I got a promise from the watchman not to tell anyone, especially my husband. Two days passed, and I got good at jumping out the balcony!