Domestic Abuse

Ch-29

Two Months Later…

On a certain day-night….

Laya slept on the bed as she changed her clothes into something comfortable. In the past two months, she was wearing her husband's T-shirts as her nightwear. She felt they were comfortable than anything in the world.

Today… she was having bad stomach pain and back pain. And her muscles were aching too. All these days the work she was doing was too hectic. Like typical Hindi serial Mother-in-law, her Maha Lakshmi was making Laya do all the things she wants in the house. She has to make breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks if she asked. And have to do dishes all day. If Maha Lakshmi asks her to massage her body, Laya has to do it by stopping whatever she was doing.

Her mother-in-law would say that doing house chores would make her body comfortable when she gets pregnant. She hid the fact that she got her period last month. She has to thank her sister-in-law for helping her during those days. But she couldn't hide that fact this month as her sister-in-law was out of town. She only hopes she wouldn't get the ire of her mother-in-law anymore.

She closed her eyes and tried to sleep but she couldn't. So, she took her phone and called her husband hoping that he would be free.

Rahul picked the call when he saw it's his wife. This was what happens between them for the past two months. Phone calls and video calls were the only for them to meet each other and contact each other. He was worried about her because as days passed, she was turning thinner. He wondered if she was eating well or not. But whenever he asked whether something was bad… she would say everything was good.

Maybe he needed to talk to his sister, only then he would get to know the things. But it's just that she was out. He would call her after she returned to Hyderabad.

"Hello, wifey. Did you miss me?" he asked with a smile making her smile.

Laya's only comfort was her husband. Her father-in-law loves her so much but he would never speak against his wife. So… his comfort and his love were useless to her. Her sister-in-law would get into trouble when she tried to stand up for Laya. So… she never allowed Saranya to get punished again. Whenever she tried to stand up for her… she would make her go back to her room and send her away to do something. So… she was kind of exhausted with the people and situations here. She doesn't know why but her maternal family members never called her. She missed them despite their treatment. She felt heartbreak but what she can do? She wondered if Rahul was there would her life be good.

"I missed you," she said without hiding for the first time.

"I want to be with you," she added, surprising him beyond the limits.

"One more month… everything will be fixed. Wait for me," he said with a serious expression, making her unable to say anymore.

There was silence between them. She noticed he was getting thin due to the heavy workload. She felt heartache for him. She should let him rest instead of calling him and disturbing him.

"Did you have dinner?" she asked yawning.

"Nope," he said.

"Order dinner and have it while you turn on the video," she said.

He wanted to say something but he knew convincing her was the hardest thing. Like magic the Laya saw Rahul's face… sleep started inviting her. But she fought with her sleep and tried to stay awake. She waited till his order came and ate. She bid goodbye to him and slept. And next day as usual she got up early and started doing her chores. When she was about to go out after getting fresh-up to light the lamp, she realized her great aunt came to her.

Running inside the bathroom, she took out the sanitary napkin packet and used one of it.

After that, she went down and called a maid to cook food. Her mother-in-law doesn't like it when people enter the kitchen during periods. She called the restaurant services during those five days with different names. She thought Maha Lakshmi caught the news about her periods… but she was lucky enough to be saved by her sister-in-law.

"Why does the taste seem different today?" Maha Lakshmi asked as she took a bite from her food.

"I got the maid to do the work for today, Atayagaru (Mother-in-law)," Laya said to her nervously.

"Why?" she asked sternly.

"I am not well," Laya said.

"Shall I call the doctor?" she asked.

"No," Laya answered.

"Is it periods?" Maha Lakshmi asked.

Laya nodded her head at her meekly feeling nervous.

Maha Lakshmi put her cutlery down and slapped Laya hard making her fall from her chair to the ground.

"Aunt!!!" Abhinav's voice could be heard from the entrance. While Raghuram looked at Laya in shock and then at Maha Lakshmi. There were tears in Sharada's eyes. She thought marrying her to Rahul was a good thing but she realized it's the worst thing that happened to her.

"Where is Rahul?" was the only thing that came out of Sharada's mouth before anyone could say something.

"He is in Chennai from the fourth day he got married to Akka, Amma," Abhinav replied to her instead of Laya.

Laya got up from her position. She neither cried nor felt angry. She was being scolded by her mother-in-law daily. She used to feel scared that she might beat her one day and it came today. And that was supposed to have happened in front of her parents, who didn't even contact her for the past two months.

She was already having back pain and due to the fall, it's worsened. She limped towards the guests who came to her door. She gave a full look to them and gave them a pained smile which made them feel even worse.

"Please leave," Laya said to them.