Chapter 17: chapter 17

CHAPTER -72 Months Later...........SHIVAI am a narcissistic and egocentric and a hypocrite and whatever name that indicates a selfish person because I am ruining a woman's life and her chances of romance by marrying her when I still couldn't move on from my past.I don’t know what she was thinking when she promised me that she will divorce me in a year but as the days go I realize she is different than I had originally judged her. She doesn’t seem like the money digger I thought her to be. Two months have passed since our marriage with no drama or incidents that will interest you. The only thing of interest was that our wedding night has not yet happened because I somehow convinced my mother that I am on a tight business schedule and don't have time for it.Gowri has been following all the rules and I have never seen her after the car ride. I do keep tabs on what she is doing. Her daily routine is to make coffee before seven. Cook food from seven-thirty to eight-thirty and then leave for her office at nine. When I return home at seven, Gowri would be in her room. Then again, she cooks dinner for her from eight and leaves for her room at sharp nine. A gold digger woman would not do this. She would have tried all possible ways to seduce me and get my money but Gowri doesn't even seem to care that I am here.  I am happy that she is keeping her promise and hopes she stays like that.So, I am second-guessing my judgements about this woman. 🍀🍀🍀🍀I park the car in the car shed and walk slowly to the house seeing that her room windows are dark.  That is unusual. She has never gone out in these two months. I see the shoe stand and notice her sneakers. I mentally sigh. Yeah, this marriage doesn't mean anything to me. But that doesn't mean I don't care about the safe being of a woman. One thing my mother told me about Gowri on my wedding day was that Gowri has no prior experience of living away from her parents. So, staying here is a new experience for her and I just want to make sure she is okay without her knowing it.I insert my key in the hole and open the door. DAMN IT!Gowri is sitting on the sofa. I ignore her and walk to my room with annoyance. She is breaking the rules. Her voice stops me in my tracks.“Mr. Shiva, can you spare a few seconds?” she asks politely.My curiosity arises. I nod and sit down on the other side of the sofa seeing her for the first time in two months. WAIT, SOMETHING IS DEFINITELY WRONG WITH ME.Gowri looks very different from our marriage day. Her long hair is in a braid but it is not neat as it was when I met her in her office. Few strands are out of the braid and she isn't wearing any makeup. I am surprised she looks the same as she appeared during my first meeting with her. She is wearing a pink full sleeve T-shirt that says ‘I am a loser’ and yellow PJ pants that have honey bees. It is the most notoriously worst colour combination ever. Yet, yet, I find her cute. She clears her throat and I realize I am staring at her for too long. I look up to meet her eyes and her gaze is cold. She takes in my work outfit and something passes in her mind. A question and she is trying hard not to ask it out aloud.WAIT, WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING TO ME? WHY CAN I READ HER LIKE THIS?I shake my head and see a brown envelope in her hand.“Take this money for accommodating me in your house. I am not a gold digger. I don’t want to stay here for free,” she says giving me the envelope.SURPRISE! No, This Is Not Something I Expected.I mean this woman is something. She is proving day by day that my initial judgments about her are wrong. I slowly nod and take the envelope from her hand. She looks at me expectantly to open it but I don’t open it to verify the money because I am starting to trust her and besides I don’t need the money. I will put it somewhere and return it to her when we get a divorce.🍀🍀🍀🍀In all honesty, I feel guilty for marrying her. It is not her fault that she wasn’t able to stop the marriage. I must have done something but instead, I drowned myself in sorrow because my ex had got a new boyfriend. I even switched off my phone for a few days before my marriage. So, even if Gowri wanted to tell me that she couldn’t call off the wedding she couldn’t have been able to contact me until the wedding day.  I shouldn't have blamed her like that. So, yeah the fault is on me. The more Gowri agrees to my conditions and follows all the rules, the more I feel bad and angry at myself for ruining her life. Because everyone deserves a chance in love. I had mine during my college days but this woman wasn't even in a relationship. I am not sure what is her plans after the divorce but if she is about to remarry then it will be difficult with her being a divorcee and I hate myself for putting her in that position. But divorce is the best option for us. I am still not sure why she readily agreed to the divorce idea but I know a couple of things about her now.1)She is no gold digger.2)She married me only under her parents' condition.There is more to this woman and a yearning to know more about her sets in my heart. 🍀🍀🍀🍀