Parijat was sitting on her usual chair, a cup of tea and a saucer in her hands. She didn’t understand the point of a saucer but the latest kitty she had joined swore by the gracefulness of having tea with a cup and saucer. So, she had purchased a pretty blue and white set. Aravind had graciously allowed her the expense as long as she didn’t tell him to follow suit.
She loved mornings like these where the children were away in school, she could hear a shower running in the background, Aravind getting dressed for a hard day of work, sunshine pouring into their bedroom, the soft clink of the cup to saucer as she sipped her tea…she could almost believe she was happy; that this indeed was what happiness looked like.
When Aravind walked into the room, wrapped in a towel, she turned away. He did not like her seeing him naked. He cleared his throat after a while, signalling it was okay to look. She did, sitting up straighter, head tilted to one side, offering her right cheek for the customary goodbye kiss.
But there was none this morning. He simply grunted a goodbye, picked up his ugly black briefcase, and not the one she had bought him for his birthday, and left. Taken aback by the abrupt departure, she didn’t think to complain.
*
The phone call had come only fifteen minutes prior to whip up a lunch and some dessert for an important client. Parijat was just about to finish up in the kitchen when she heard the key turning in the lock. She ran to the bedroom for a quick check on her makeup, hair and clothes.
Dressed in straight white pants and a flowing bright yellow top, she looked fresh as a flower. Her face was ordinary, long, with big eyes and a nose that just stopped short of being fat. But she knew how to artfully line her eyes, line her lip with primrose pink lipstick and a heavenly scent which made her look close to beautiful. She smiled at her reflection and walked out of the room.
The lunch went well. Parijat and Aravind played their parts superbly. And though he hadn’t kissed her goodbye in the morning, he did not hesitate to peck her before leaving with the client. She blushed, feeling she had earned back whatever had made her lose the privilege of a kiss that morning.
*
By the time Aravind came back, the children were asleep and Parijat was sitting in her usual chair in her room, reading one of her horror novels. Though he did not approve of her choice, he had been half afraid they would give her radical ideas, he had decided to indulge her vice.
He had been annoyed with her in the morning because his shirt hadn’t been ironed and he had had to wear another one. He was particular about what he wore to work and this overlooking of her duties led to him punishing her by bringing a client home.
Of course, he never would have done that had he not been utterly confident that she would be up for the challenge.
“Today was good,” he said, removing his shirt and carefully putting it on one of the silver hangers to indicate it needed to be washed.
Delighted, Parijat closed her book, marking where she had stopped then thought better of it. She went back a few pages to a more appropriate page and added the bookmark. Though she knew Aravind wouldn’t touch the book, he may out of curiosity. She didn’t need him to know what she was reading.
Her mother had given her two pieces of advice on the day of her wedding and she had held onto them tenaciously. One had been to build an egg nest for herself and the other was to have a private life that her husband knew nothing about. Her mother had said men liked mysteries and thus must never come to a point where they thought they knew their woman completely. That’s when d-i-v-o-r-c-e happened and Parijat would not be that woman.
“Thank you. I am glad you liked it.” She approached him carefully, maintaining eye contact, hands slightly raised so he could see them.
Aravind’s face softened as the love and admiration he had for his wife poured through and out of him. Normally he wouldn’t let her get so far but tonight he was in a good mood.
Parijat couldn’t believe he was letting her come close. Her heart quickened. Feeling hot and flushed, she struggled to contain her arousal. She didn’t want anything to show on her face lest she scared him away.
As he saw his wife approach, his nostrils flared as his pants tightened. Dressed as she was in a white shirt and pyjama bottoms, she looked breathtakingly gorgeous. Her lips were parted slightly and she was breathing heavily. It never ceased to amaze him that he could still arouse his wife just by letting her approach him.
Before he had consummated his marriage, he had been given two pieces of advice by his father. One had been to use sex as a reward for good behaviour and the second was to always underplay the amount of money he made. He had held onto that advice all through his married life.
She waited patiently after reaching him. Thirteen years ago, she would have rushed him. But over the years, Parijat had come to appreciate the push-pull.
*
She was happy, she thought with a smug smile, as she lay sated in bed an hour later. Three of her friends were on their way to a divorce, one was deeply unhappy and most of her friends from the kitty party were cheating on their spouses. If the price of her happiness was giving up some control to Aravind, why, it was no price at all.
I’m happy, she whispered to herself as she turned to her right, away from Aravind’s sleeping form, as she closed her eyes.
This time, she believed it.
Song: Carnival of Rust by Poets of the Fall
Check out the other posts for 2023 here. Written as part of #BlogchatterA2Z
tales of Suchita 
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