Jealousy

*Sigh*

Our main character sighs. It was a sigh of regret. Because he is getting divorced soon. He is standing outside his in-law's house.

"What did I ever do to deserve this?"

He asks himself because this divorce hit him quite hard. He was not expecting a divorce all of a sudden.

But he presses the doorbell. A woman in her late 50's opens the door.

"Hello, mother."

He can only greet her with a regretful smile. She also has a painful look on her face. No one was expecting this. He followed her inside to the drawing room where everyone was present.

He sees his father in law and sister in law with his soon to be divorced wife.

He is a man in his mid 30's and an Associate Professor of English at a public university. By no means he is a bad person. On the contrary people have a good impression of him.

His wife is also a beautiful woman. She has a job and is independent. They did not fight often and were on good terms.

They were married for 6 years and were pretty happy. However this all came crashing down a month ago.

She sent him a divorce notice. Which totally caught him off guard and he had to take an extended leave from work to deal with it.

The divorce notice was not serious the first time but it meant that she is considering it. He has no idea as to why she would do something like that.

"Now that we are all here, let's begin."

His father in law said with a withdrawn voice. He is by no means happy at this. No one is for that matter. Even his wife looks like she has a lot to say.

"Natasha, are you sure you want to go through this?"

He asks his wife. He is trying to be calm.

"Normally I would not even considering doing something like this. However you forced me." (Natasha)

"I forced you? What did I do?"

He is completely clueless. He has not the slightest of ideas why she would do this?

"We have been married for 6 years. And in all these six years, have you ever uttered the words, "I love you".?" (Natasha)

"Now that you mentioned it, I really haven't. But is that all?"

"No. I can keep going. When was the last time we went out somewhere?" (Natasha)

"Probably last year. It has been a while since we went out somewhere."

"And how dare you cheat on me so blatantly?" (Natasha)

She raised her voice. The previous two times, she was calm. However this time, she is worked up.

"I cheated on you? When? How?"

"I have been noticing it from a year ago. You meet a woman once a month. For the past 12 months, you have been meeting with her. You thought I wouldn't notice when you were meeting with her right beside my office?" (Natasha)

At this, he stops to think about it. He remembers the incidents from a year ago and tries to identify the woman in question. But after this he starts laughing.

This startled everyone. He is laughing his guts out at a serious moment.

"Why are you laughing?" (Natasha)

"No. I am laughing at my own stupidity. I knew something like this would happen eventually."

"So you admit that you were cheating?" (Natasha)

"No. I forgot to introduce you to my family, that's all."

Everyone is stunned at this. His family? He was supposed to be alone. His father died 10 years ago and his mother died 7 years ago. He has no remaining family. Not even distant relatives. That's what his in-law's knew.

"Your family? Do you have any family members?" (Father-in-law)

"Well, my parents are dead. And with them are dead my ties to my family. However, my cousin just moved to this place and contacted me. So I meet with her from time to time to catch up on everything."

He explained it simply. However Natasha is still not convinced.

"I accept that she is your cousin. But why did I see you coming out of the red light district? Were you going there to satisfy your urges?" (Natasha)

They have been married for 6 years. However he has not touched her. Not even once. Normally, this type of marriage doesn't last long. However both of them were busy so it didn't cross there minds.

"You actually saw that. That's a mistake on my part. But I will tell you that I was not their customer. I was there to interview some people."

"Interview people? Who could you be interviewing there?" (Natasha)

She has become highly suspicious. Because no man goes there to interview people.

"The people working there. I asked them about their reasons and their lifestyles. It's for my thesis papers. If I publish this, I will become a full Professor."

"Oh..that's good news...that's not it. Don't lie to me." (Natasha)

"Have I ever lied to you?"

He says earnestly. Natasha can not get back at him. Because he has never lied to her. Not even once.

"Why did you start working out all of a sudden?" (Natasha)

"That's because I was out of shape. My fried opened a new gym as a side business so I thought I would give it a try. Besides I can't do any heavy exercise due to my constitution anyway."

He heaves another sigh. He has high blood pressure. And that is also severe.

"However, since it has come to this, I have a confession."

He says.

"What? Do you have anything left to tell me?" (Natasha)

"Yeah. I know that you will probably call off this divorce. However it would be better if we separate."

The tension which was starting to dissipate came back all at once. Natasha was actually thinking of canceling the divorce.

"Natasha, I never told you the reason. Why did I marry you?"

Everyone is silent. Because no one actually knows why he married Natasha.

"My life was perfect. I have a good job. I can cook. I can clean. I can do most of the housework. I am not that busy but I do spend an awful amount of time on my hobbies. Then why did I marry you?"

"The reason is a promise. When my grandma died, she made promise her that I would marry someone. When my father died, he made me promise the same thing. Even my mother did the same. Three person on their deathbeds, made me promise the same thing. So I had to keep it."

"I started looking for a wife. It was extremely tough though. Finding someone who will actually get married to me was especially tough. But I got lucky with you."

"However, my childish personality got in the way. When I was young, I used to say that I would never marry. I still think that I should be forever alone. But the promises kind of forced me into it."

"I was always thinking of myself. I never actually put myself in your shoes. It must be awful living with someone you don't even like. I tried to fulfill your every demand. You didn't like my snoring, I moved to another room. You didn't want to cook, I cooked for you. You didn't do the housework, I did it. You needed some extra money, I gave you the money. Never have I thought that you would be dissatisfied with it. So I guess, divorce is the only option left."

He finished his one sided monologue. Our main character is what you would call a calm type.

He has given up on many things. And it has become a habit. He can easily give up on things. He has given up expectations.

His thoughts are, "If you don't expect anything, you won't be disappointed. You won't be disillusioned."

He never expected anything from anyone. Not even himself. So he can easily give up and move on. He is not attached to anything.

But that makes him destructive. He isn't attached to his own life. He can give up his life easily.

He is expecting a positive answer. He has presented his case and fair argument. He is waiting for his positive response.

But when he looks at his wife, his wait ends. He thinks that his answer is there.

However, that didn't happen. His wife comes to him and smacks his right cheek. That's not all, she smacks his left cheek as well.

"I always thought that you were strange. But never in my wildest dreams did I think you were straight up mad." (Natasha)

"It has been a while since someone said that."

She isn't the first one to point it out. He has been called mad many times before.

"What do you take me for? Do I look like someone who would leave her husband?" (Natasha)

"No. But you do look like you would leave someone like me."

She doesn't say anything. Because he is absolutely correct. No sane person would live with someone who doesn't even love you.

"Damn right you are. But you are my husband. For 6 years, we have lived under the same roof. We are in the deep now. I can't leave you." (Natasha)

"Natasha, calm down. You have become used to me. It is animal instinct. You have gotten used to having me around. But if I leave, you will get used to someone else."

He is still trying to persuade her. However she is adamant.

"No. I am not divorcing you. It was my misunderstanding that it happened. However, I will not divorce you. I feel that you will disappear without a notice if I let go of you." (Natasha)

He is in a bind. She isn't wrong about that. He was planning on going on a long trip. He even bought a bike for that.

And the timing couldn't be worse.

*Ring ring* His phone rang.

"I have to take it." He picked it up.

"Hello, is the delivery here?"

"Yes sir. We are at your current location. Please come down and receive it."

"Ok."

He ended the call.

"Natasha, do you want to go and check it out?"

"Check what out? Something you had delivered to our place?" (Natasha)

She said that but still went with him. After they went to receive the delivery, the family started discussing.

"What do you think of it, mom?"

"It's utterly stupid. My daughter is actually head over heels for that guy. She just doesn't understand it." (Mother-in-law)

Natasha's sister asked her mother.

"But the problem is that guy. From what he said, he always treated our daughter well. Still, he wants a divorce because he thinks Natasha isn't happy with him." (Father-in-law)

"That's the problem. His reason for marrying our daughter is also questionable. But our daughter doesn't want to let him go." (Mother-in-law)

"This is their choice at the end. We can not say anything." (Father-in-law)

"That's why I keep telling you, find a good man or you will be confused just like your sister." (Mother-in-law)

"He isn't bad. It's just that he keeps to himself a little too much." (Sister-in-law)

They finished talking when they heard their voice. They entered the house while arguing.

"Why did you buy such a thing?" (Natasha)

"I thought it looked nice and I was wanting to go on a road trip as well."

"But how much did that cost?" (Natasha)

"It is cheaper than it looks. Only 30 grand. It's a nice bike."

He pleads his cause again. But Natasha is seriously angry.

"You can't expect me to be happy when you blew off 30000 dollars on a motorcycle." (Natasha)

"But both of us could go on a road trip. I ordered it thinking that. It took 6 six months to receive it but it's finally here."

He is thrilled. But Natasha is sighing.

"So, I guess your problems are all over." (Father-in-law)

"I won't say over…"

"But you don't want to divorce him either." (Mother-in-law)

"No. That, I won't." (Natasha)

"Then it's settled."

And just like that, they were kicked out.

"How about we go home?"

"Let's do that. I'll cook dinner tonight." (Natasha)

"It's been a while since you last cooked. I miss your cooking."

He said that. Natasha looks at him from his side. She knows that he won't flatter her. He always speaks his mind.

"Let's do a lot of couple like things. Let's try to recover all those 6 years little by little."

He says and takes her hand. They go down to the garage where the bike was parked.

It already has two helmets and enough safety equipments.

"How about we consider having kids?" (Natasha)

This actually caught him off guard.

"You want kids?"

"Why won't I?" (Natasha)

"You didn't seem the type who would want kids. You give off a strong career woman feeling."

"I am always amazed at how you casually compliment and diss me at the same time." (Natasha)

"Sorry. But kids, huh? Will I be a good father?"

"We are in this together. I want a son." (Natasha)

"But I always wanted a daughter."

"Then we will have to work harder." (Natasha)

They got on the bike and he started it. It's a cruiser bike which is really comfortable to sit on and is quite fast.

"But you really got jealous, huh?"

"I did. I am going to meet all your female acquaintances." (Natasha)

"I will introduce you to them. Let's take a few steps a time and do it right, this time."

And the curtain dropped on a stupid story about a divorce. It ended up bringing them even closer than before and made them a real family. How it ended? They had two kids and were regarded as the perfect family. In the end, he was a splendid father and a good husband.