After the immense amount of rituals were complete, I had time to eat. They gave a banana and some milk; it was yet another sacred ritual. I thought they had given us food and was dramatically overexcited on my part. Ever since Aniket confessed, he's been abnormally quiet. It's starting to worry me.
"What's wrong?" I ask him, placing my hand on his thigh for his comfort.
"Nothing," he says monotonously and gives me smile that never reaches his eyes.
I leave the subject and I am suddenly ushered into a room by my giggling cousins.
"Why the heck are you giggling so much?"
"Because," starts Preesha, one of my least favorite cousins of all time. "It's your wedding night."
I totally forgot that.
They stripped me of my clothing and my muscled, toned body came into view. I frowned at my reflection. My mother says I am fat, even though she sees my intense workouts in the morning.
They started to adorn me in new clothes, and touched up the makeup from this morning. When I asked for food, they said I won't be getting any. I frowned in confusion. "You had food before you came here; why are you so hungry?" My cousins asked. "I practically live on coffee and smoothies," Preesha says.
"I don't know. 'Cause I am a normal human being who eats every few hours? Otherwise, I'll never survive on my forty eight hour shifts with with no sleep and no food."
"Uh, no wonder you're so muscled up."
"What's wrong with me having muscles?"
"It's just that, you look too fit and too much like a man."
"I am strong and independent. I could lift more than a average man. Why is that so wrong?"
"Because, you're trying to become a man."
"I am not trying to be anything. I want to be healthy and fit and not drink smoothies to stay fit and look like a freakishly bony Supermodel. That's definitely not attractive."
"Whatever."
"Yeah, whatever. Say that when you're forty and you feel like you're freaking eighty."
"It doesn't matter."
"Yes, it does. You're being lazy and taking the easy way out. Drinking coffee and smoothies will keep you undernourished and you will age quicker. You look young to a man now, but in a few years, he will leave you because you'll be fatigued and unwell."
"Thanks for the lecture but I know how to take of myself."
I sigh, and shake my head. Girls these days. You can't change them. I pull out a makeup box and rip the label off it. With the eyebrow pencil, I prescribe her a medicine that will raise her hemoglobin. I hand it to her, "take it once a day in the morning, everyday. Doctors orders. Your welcome." I smirk and turn around, smiling at my reflection.
The rest of my hyper frenzied cousins touch up my makeup, and brushed my long hair until it was soft like a pillow. I fell asleep for a while, like I always do while people are doing my makeup (because it takes forever) and was awoken by my mother in law.
"You sleep a lot?" So she noticed.
I smile, "I try to sleep whenever I can."
She laughs and pinches my cheeks in a motherly fashion. "You sleep like a rabbit, all curled up."
I yawn loudly. "Tell that to your son. He thinks I sleep like a hibernating bear."
"He's seen you sleep?"
"Yeah, apparently. The first time I saw him, he was opening the curtains to wake me up."
"That's not nice. I'll tell him to let you sleep in from now on."
"Oh no, I am an early riser. I just sleep after long shifts at the hospital. Sometimes I sleep at the hospital in a chair and come home a day later."
"Oh," she says, looking disappointed.
"I only work during the weekdays though. So it's alright." I try and reassure her.
Her eyes emit a strong emotion as if she is depressed. She is clearly worried about something else.
She diverts her eyes and leads me away from my cousins. She takes hold of my hands and looks into my eyes. "I have raised my son properly, but, if he forces—"
"I understand. We already spoke about it. You have nothing to worry about. I'll take care of it." I kiss her on the cheek, already growing very fond of her. "From now on, you don't have to worry ma," I put stress on my words, insinuating that I know about her family condition.
She smiles at me. Firmly clutches my hands once again and leaves the room.
When everyone has left to eat, my mother approches me.
"What was that about?" My mother asks, pinning the two strands of my hair at the back of my head.
"Nothing."
"I have to talk to you."
"About what?"
"I need you to do whatever he asks you. Do you understand?" My mother asks putting her hand under my chin and lifting my head to meet her gaze.
I am furious. "Mother, how could you say that?" I am her daughter, she should be protecting me and telling me take my time.
"I mean with the state his family is in—
"So you knew! You knew what sort of trouble he was in, yet you still married me to him? How could you?"
"I did it for both our families. We were planning to marry you to him forever now. Do you know when they asked for your permission? When you were twenty. We wanted you to finish your education and your residency before we married you off. He is a wonderful person and his family is well-known and they are good people. Your father was childhood friends with his father. This is absolutely the best match we could have ever found for a stubborn, ungrateful girl like you." My mother stops herself, knowing the words would have hurt me. "I didn't mean—
"Yes you did ma. You know you did. When I asked if my purpose was to bear children and be a housewife, you said the same thing to convince me to marry. I believed you were doing it for my own good. Now I understand that you were doing it for your own selfish reasons."
"Selfish?" My mother shrieks. "I have raised you, fed you, clothed you, made you what you are today, and you call me selfish?"
"Don't distract me. I meant that the only reason you married me was because you claimed that you need to see grandchildren. You thought I would run off with a man like other girls. Isn't that true? Isn't it?" I shake her. "I know the truth ma."
"I never—
"You know you do, so don't you dare say that."
"Yes, maybe I did, with the way you were acting. Headstrong, taking bold moves and always, always so stubborn. I wanted to protect you. I didn't want you to make bad choices and end up in a divorce. It is normal at your age. That's why I gave you so much freedom with your father, because, as much as I was jealous of your relationship, I wanted you to be able to share anything with him. He could never be strict with you; he loved you too much despite your flaws, so I had to protect you by being the evil mother. Think of me like the evil witch all you want, but I only do what's best for you. Don't you dare criticize me."
I turned my back and stared outside through the window. "I'm sorry."
Why am I so forgiving with my mother?
"I am too, Kuty. I shouldn't have said those words. But still, just do whatever your husband asks for. That's all I am asking. Don't bring shame on our family."
"I don't understand ma. Aniket agrees that we can't get intimate until we get to know each other. Then, why would I bring shame?"
"My dear daughter. This society is evil, it will shame you and shun you if you are not proper. Some of the practices of our family are wrong, but they are tradition."
"You mean—
"Yes, they will check for blood on the sheets tomorrow morning. It's alright though. If I planned it correctly, your monthly cycle should start tomorrow. Wake early like always and cover the sheets with the blood. I'll take care of the rest."
I hug her. "I'm really sorry ma. I didn't know your plan."
"Mother knows best."
I laugh. "That's what the evil witch mother says in Rapunzel."
She laughs, and pats my cheeks. I get armed like I am going for war.
************************************
I carry the milk in and set it on the night stand. My cousins immediately close the door from the outside, probably locking it too. I sighed.
Aniket sits on the bed, cross legged and eating badam. I don't think he knows the impact of the nuts.
I smirk. "Aniket?"
I might as well change. I try to take off the pin of the sarees' pallu.
"Yes, darlin'?"
I groan at the nickname and glare at him. He smirks. "Put the nuts down," I order.
He looks at the cup of seeds, confused. He knits his eyebrows together, observing the cup as if it is going to explode. Men. "Why? I'm hungry."
"Eat the rest of the fruits then," I argue.
"I can eat whatever I want. Why are you so against me eating these harmless nuts?"
I burst out laughing. "If you must know, Aniket." I walk towards the bed, sashaying and sit on the bed slowly, blinkly too many times for my liking.
He looks at me, then at the cup, and stares down at his sweat pants. I think he got what I'm trying to get at.
He smiles sheepishly, and puts the cup down as if he ate poison.
I get up from the bed, internally laughing my head off, and start trying to remove the pins, to no avail. I get frustrated. When I about to remove it with my teeth, Aniket speaks. "I didn't know you wanted me that much, sweetheart." I can't remove the million pins on my body and he's laughing at me. Maybe he is taking revenge on me for embarrassing him. "Let me help." He gets closer and takes off the pins swiftly. He didn't once actually touch me. I sigh. He's such a gentleman.
"Aniket."
"Yes?" He asks, removing the pins at my hip.
"Why are you not touching me?"
He lifts his gaze, looking me in the eyes. "Do you want me to touch you?"
"It's almost as if you're repulsed of me."
"No, no. Not at all. In fact—." He stops, choking down his words. His ears turn into a shade of light pink. "I like you. I don't doubt it at all. I've been thinking, is all."
He helps me remove my heavy earrings. I sigh in relief when he manages to get one off. "About?" I ask, curiously.
"About how you said that you were the perfect choice. It made me feel selfish. I feel like I'm using you."
"Aniket, I would have had to get married one day. I couldn't have stayed unmarried in the Indian culture. People were already thinking ill about me and my family. I am grateful I got married to you."
"You are?"
"Of course. I think I like you too. Besides, if anyone else had been your situation, they wouldn't have given the time you're willing to give me. Even if they weren't in such a situation. It's expected of a woman to consummate on the wedding night."
Aniket sighs. "Krithi?"
"Yeah?" I say, taking off the golden belt around my waist.
"I have a certain situation."
"What?"
He looks down at his pants. "What do I do with this?"
I laugh, snorting. I laugh until I'm clutching my stomach and crying tears of joy.
"It's not funny." Aniket glares at me and frowns. He begins to smile half-heartedly, seeing the goofy smile I'm probably wearing on my face. He scratches his neck and goes outside in the balcony, breathing in the fresh air.
After I secured the golden belt on the vanity table set up for me, I head out into the closet to change. I remove the rest of my clothes and wear one of his dark blue shirts and grey sweat pants. I tie the shirt into a knot at the bottom, which makes it a little less baggy on me. I neatly fold the saree and the blouse and arrange the gold I wore inside the saree so it wouldn't get lost. I place the sanitary pads on top of the saree, just in case I need it tomorrow morning. I wash off the makeup in the bathroom and I sigh in content.
I navigate through his lavish closet and decide to bring him a towel, and some underclothes, sweat pants and a white shirt to wear. I go out into the balcony where my husband was admiring the gorgeous sunset.
"Here." I hand him the clothes and the towel. "Go have a cold shower. It'll help," I looked at his pants and then met his gaze, "with your issue."
He took a look at my current attire and
yanked the clothes off my hands, glaring at me. His ears turned that cute shade of pink as he turned away from me and headed towards the en-suite bathroom.
I walked my way back to the bed, and started to doze off when he can out of the washroom. I rested my head in my hands, laying on the bed comfortably. He was wearing the sweat pants and no shirt. He was drying his hair and the sight was too amusing to miss.
"You're not scrawny after all."
"You still haven't told me what you thought about that jogging date."
"I want to sleep. I am already sleep deprived these last few weeks, taking care of every one of our relatives' wants."
"Fine, how about the next day?"
"It's a date."
"We have no clue how a date should look like, do we?"
"Nope. I'm not spending time on setting flowers and arranging immaculate dinning cutlery."
We both laugh. "Then we're too much alike."
I bite my lips, smiling. "Did the shower help?" I dropped my gaze.
"Kind of." He looks at the bed I am sitting on and then throws the towel straight into the hamper on the other side of the room. Show off.
"You can sleep here, on the bed."
He smiles. "I want the right side."
"No, I want the right side," I argue.
"No way, I can't sleep on that side."
"Fine, how about we alternate each day and today I get to keep the right side?" I meet in the middle.
"That's not fair. Why do you get it today?"
"Because I've endured the spa, makeup, dress up, gossip and no food. I need sleep."
"Uh, fine you crazy woman. You do drive a hard bargain."
He sleeps on the other side of the bed, turned towards me. I turn the other way, smiling and blushing.
"That I do," I whisper into the night.
*************************************