Keerthi glared at the wall in front of her. The clock struck ten thirty. Her husband still wasn’t home.
He had left before she even woke up yesterday and came back after she had slept.
She missed him.
She only waited for him tonight because he said he didn’t have dinner in the office. She wanted to at least look at his face while he ate. She missed it.
Vikram walked into the house at Eleven fifteen, he pecked his wife in a greeting and made way to his room to freshen up.
Keerthi glared at her husband’s back, they hadn’t even kissed properly in the last few days, for crying out loud.
She thought he would want to spend time with her, make love to her.
But her husband’s priorities were clearly different.
She decided to wait till he ate though.
Vikram was famished by the time he came downstairs, to see his wife setting his plate.
“It’s late. Why didn’t you eat in the office?”
“I don’t like eating at office everyday”, Vikram shrugged.
“Fine”, Keerthi mumbled.
“Are you seriously going to work now?”, Keerthi asked, disbelief clear in her tone, when she saw her husband sitting on the couch in their bedroom, switching his laptop on.
“Just for a little while.”
“Come on. I am sleepy.”
“I didn’t ask you to stay up”, Vikram glanced at his wife.
Keerthi was getting irritated.”You can do it tomorrow.”
“No. I can’t.”, Vikram replied
“You got so busy”, Keerthi complained.
She didn’t even talk to her husband for more than five minutes in the last week.
“Keerthi”, Vikram snapped,”I am not having fun here. Understand when I say I have work. Go to bed if you are sleepy.”
“Fine”, Keerthi hissed, angry.
She switched the lights off, getting into bed.
Vikram glared at his wife, talk about overreaction.
He sighed, taking his laptop and walking into the study.
Keerthi jumped when the door slammed shut.
She turned to see that her husband disappeared. She was disappointed, she half expected him to come to bed.
It was only at sometime in the middle of the night that she felt herself pulled into a familiar warm chest, as she snuggled into it, slipping into a deep slumber, a smile on her face as she felt her husband place a kiss on her hair.
**
“Vikram”, Sakshi looked at her son, a frown on his face.
He looked tired.
Vikram had gone to the kitchen to drink a glass of water before he went to bed, surprised to meet his mother on the way.
He expected her to be asleep.
It was late.
“Goodnight Ma”, Vikram wished his mother, squeezing her hand.
Sakshi pondered if it was the right time to talk to her son. He was exhausted as it is.
But she sighed, making a decision.
“Let’s have a talk, yeah?”
Vikram was puzzled, though he followed his mother.
What did she want to talk about at midnight?
Sakshi nodded at the couch, signalling Vikram to sit.
“How’s work?”
Vikram was confused.”What?”
“The question is not so hard.”
Vikram stared at his mother. “Fine. Just busy.”
“So busy for you to leave home so early and return late?”
“Ma!”
Sakshi Rathore gave her son a sharp look.
“I’ve worked late a lot of times. You know that too”, Vikram pointed out.
“That was before you were married.”
“How does it make a difference?”, Work was work, if he was single or married didn’t matter.
“You have a wife waiting for you at home now.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“You’ve been married for over three months now. You took Keerthi out once. I barely see you spending time with each other. I thought it was good that you had planned to take her out, but you let her down”, Sakshi scolded her son,”And the time you are at home, you are stuck with work. Just because Keerthi is not saying anything doesn’t mean she is not feeling bad.”
Vikram stared at his mother, dumb founded, when Sakshi continued berating her son.
“You haven’t gone on your honeymoon too. The initial days are crucial for emotional attachment. You aren’t giving Keerthi the time and attention she deserves, merely taking advantage of her patience.”
It was important for Sakshi to tell that to her son.
She had been waiting for a long time to talk to her son, giving him time to see if he would rectify himself without interference.
But when she knew it was useless, Sakshi decided she had to intervene.
In her eyes, Vikram and Keerthi were the same.
She would do the same if Keerthi gave more importance to work than family.
“I will see something”, Vikram answered tight lipped.
“It’s for your own good”, Sakshi’s eyes softened when she saw her son’s clenched jaw and tight fist.
She held his hand, releasing it, as she patted it.
“Go to bed”, she advised, as she went to her own room.
Vikram’s head pounded in anger.
How dare his wife bitch about him to his mother behind his back? He saw red as made way to his room.
Keerthi was startled when her husband slammed the door shut behind him.
“Finally”, She sighed, when he walked towards her, her face turning blank when she saw Vikram’s own.
Vikram grabbed his wife’s arm, pulling her towards him roughly.
“If you have a problem with me, talk to me. How old are you even? Bitching about me behind my back”, Vikram seethed.
“What are you saying?”, Keerthi was confused , as she tried to wiggle out of her husband’s grasp.
“You are a working woman too, a literate. Don’t you understand when I say I am busy? What kind of wife are you? Complaining about our issues to others”, Vikram was thoroughly miffed with his mother’s involvement.
He wanted to keep his personal life just that , private.
It was none of other people’s business, including his mother.
His wife and his relationship with her was his business. He didn’t want people meddling. He could handle it.
But if his mother already knew a part of it, courtesy his wife, he could do nothing about it. He respected his mother too much to raise his voice at her.
“What did I do? What did I complain about?”, Keerthi cried, tears running down her cheeks.
Her husband frightened her.
“Have the balls to talk to me. You could have come to me and told me, that you were upset I cancelled that dinner, that you want to go out more often , that you want to go on a honeymoon”, Vikram gripped his wife hard, glaring at her menacingly, each word louder and bitter than the previous.
Keerthi was terrified, was she going to get the first hit of her married life, and thoroughly confused. “I don’t understand what you are talking about. What is all this even about?”
“Have some shame. You are going to lie to my face now?”, Vikram exploded.
“Why are you acting like this? At least tell me what I did”, Keerthi sniffed.
“Why did you complain to Mom about me?”
“What? I didn’t.”
“You are going to deny it now?”Vikram hissed.
“I.. I really didn’t.”
“How else would Mom know we didn’t go for that dinner? It was very late by the time I came home. She would have assumed we left and came back home early. She wouldn’t have known anything if you kept your mouth shut. If you want to go to a honeymoon, you come to me and tell me, not other people. And what is this nonsense about not giving you attention? Do you expect me to stop doing all of my work and run behind you all the time?”, Vikram yelled at his wife, the veins in his neck throbbing in anger.
Keerthi flinched at her husband’s tone, he was so scary, she opened and closed her mouth multiple times, gathering the courage to open her mouth,”I didn’t say anything to Mom about honeymoon or anything else. And about that dinner, Mom came to our room that day. She had asked me if you had come home or not–”
“And you decide to rant to her how much of a rubbish husband I am?”
“I didn’t”, Vikram’s words were hurting Keerthi more than his vice grip,”I didn’t say anything.”
“Stop lying”, Vikram warned, having enough.
Instead of admitting to her mistakes, his wife was defending herself.
“I really didn’t tell anything to Mom apart from saying you weren’t home”, Keerthi cried, tears streaming down her face,”Why would I even talk about that? I had told you it’s fine. And.. and we spend time together. Why would I go and complain about you then?”
“Get away from me”, Vikram spat, releasing his wife.
He hated being told what to do, even by his immediate family.
The fact that his mother told him how to deal with his wife pissed him off.
No man liked that.