Chapter 29: chapter 29

SRUTHI“This is my housekeeper, Jaya,” Madhav introduces me to a forty-plus woman. She is plump and short with hair greying in the roots and the ends black. Her face is lit with a friendly and curious smile. “And Jaya Ma, this is Sruthi, my—” Madhav starts but the woman waves him off with a flick of her hand.“Aye, Aye, I know. She is your wife for whom you harboured feelings all these years. I am done hearing those words. I am not interested in your love story that they keep playing in the news. I am more interested in knowing about her. Nice meeting you dear,” she speaks in a jovial tone. I instantly like her. I can see why Madhav is fond of her. This woman has something about her that makes people trust her. Maybe it is the genuine smile or the honesty with which she speaks but it is refreshing for me to meet people like her who don’t talk only for the sake of benefit.“It is my pleasure,” I reply with a smile.“You don’t have to be so formal with me,” she says with a shake of her head.“Alright then, I will head to the office. Just don’t bore her with your children’s stories, Jaya Ma,” teases Madhav with a knowing smile. Jaya looks mock offended before shooing him out of the kitchen. “Do you have kids?” I ask the older woman.“I do,” she answers. “Three. One boy and two girls.”“What are their ages?” I ask.“The boy is turning nineteen this year and the girls are fifteen and thirteen.”“What does your husband do?” I ask.“He passed away in an accident after my last daughter was born,” she says in a matter-of-fact tone.“I am sorry,” I say thinking how hard it must be for her to raise her three children of her own.“What are you sorry for? I am happier now than when he was alive. He never let me do my things. He wanted to keep me caged in the house and perform wifely duties. I obeyed him out of love and respect thinking that was the best thing to do. But only after he died, I realized how much I missed out on life. I didn’t even know how to use a mobile phone when he was alive. I asked him to teach me but he dismissed me by saying that I don’t have to learn things that I have no use for.”She shakes her head, “That doesn’t mean I don’t miss him. I do miss him a lot. When I see a couple out there or on a cold night when there is no one to keep me warm or when life becomes too complicated to handle, I miss him like crazy and wish he was here with me.”“That is conflicting,” I comment sitting on the kitchen counter and watching her slice the vegetables.“Oh dear! Love is always conflicting and complicated.”❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥“I never guessed you are the girl Madhav was in love with all these years,” Jaya comments joining me on the dining table.My ears perk up at that. Wait! Did I hear her right? Was Madhav in love with someone for real? Or is this some sort of plan that Madhav came up with?“But isn’t he a playboy?” I ask with a frown. “Oh! That is all the media bullshit,” Jaya dismisses with a wave. “To my knowledge, Madhav never brought a woman home. Not even once. You are the first one and I know you will be the last one. That boy is loyal and fierce when it comes to love.”“How did you know he was in love with a girl in the first place?” I ask. “Knowing Madhav, I am sure he wouldn’t have told you that,” I bait in hopes of learning something. I am on a new mission of knowing about my husband. I don’t know from where this insatiable curiosity to know things about Madhav appeared. But it did and I am going to satisfy it. “Oh! The small things are enough for me to find out.”“Like what?”“Like Madhav not glancing at any other woman or declining every time a woman approached him. He used to stare at his phone and smile to himself. One time I dared ask him why he kept declining every woman who approached him and do you know what answer he gave me?” asks Jaya.“What did he say?” I ask hooked on the conversation. “His exact words were, ‘Not every woman can become her.’”“Who?” I ask leaning forward. “I asked that question and he smiled at me, Sruthi. It was a genuine smile. One filled with fondness and affection as he replied, ‘The woman of my dreams’.”“And who is that woman?” I ask in frustration.“It is you of course,” she says with a grin. “Didn’t you realize it by now?”“Uh! I did,” I lie. I cannot tell her the kind of marriage we had. “Isn’t your birthday in June?” she asks.“No, I was born in July,” I say.She frowns, “Are you sure? Because Madhav used to buy a gift every year in June. Once I asked him for whom the gift is and he replied, ‘For the important woman in my life.’”“You never received any gifts from him on your birthdays?”  Jaya asks watching me keenly.“I..no..I didn’t,” I decide to go with the truth. “Before a week, I had no idea that Madhav liked me too. We never properly interacted with each other. I was always nervous around him.”“Oh, it happens when you are in love for the first time. I still remember how shy I would become whenever my husband came to speak with me before our marriage. It was the good old days that makes me miss him. Anyway, coming back to your story, what made you fall for Madhav?”I turn over the question in my head, “Just everything about him. There is not a single thing I can pinpoint,” the lie comes easily to me. “How very romantic,” gushes Jaya but the sound of the cooker whistle takes her attention off me. She walks to the kitchen and I fall in deep thought. The only thing I gathered from our conversation is that Madhav loved or probably still loves some other woman. I need to know who it is. A feeling of bitterness settles in me as I think about the woman he loves. I have no right to feel betrayed. It is not like Madhav was promised to me. Our marriage happened in a flash and I never knew anything about him. I am such a selfish!  I only wanted to keep my brother in his position then and didn’t even think to consider his feelings about this marriage with me.The revelation of Madhav’s past ignites a fire within me, a mixture of bitter resentment and jealousy. Why did he agree to this marriage if his heart belonged to someone else? Why do men in my life always have anotherwoman in their hearts when they are in a relationship with me? I am not going to get my heart broken again. If Madhav does love another woman, then, I will make sure he gets together with her. I am going to confront him about it today.❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥