CHAPTER SIXTY EIGHT

Jwala:

I woke up in the morning. I didn't find Agni or my princess in the room. Suddenly I felt lonely. I remembered the last night where Agni pressed my legs and massaged abdomen. I never expected Agni to be this sweet. I know he is very dominating and his pride is his everything.

But yesterday I saw new Agni. He kissed my feet apologising, sat on his knees, pressed my feet and legs. I understood that he is not egoistic. He is kind and loving. He cried for me yesterday asking me not to leave him. It means he didn't want to go. I was always insecure till yesterday thinking he may disown me if I do anything that angers him. But now I got the assurance that though he scolds me, he never leaves me even if I do wrong.

"Good morning, my sona," he said, and I hugged him.

"Good morning. Where is Jagni?"

"She is playing with Aneesh."

"Oh, he loves kids. Did you feed her?"

"Yes madam, I fed her, prepared food for you, gave coffee to your husband," he said dramatically.

"Your clothes madam, everything is ready for your shower."

"Okay, thank you," I said and took a shower and came out wearing clothes he gave.

"Coffee and breakfast madam," Agni said giving me the tray.

"Oh good, you are doing everything on time."

"My pleasure, madam."

"But I don't remember appointing you. Why are you here?"

"Your husband appointed me to care for you," he said.

"Why? Is he that busy to care for his wife? Too bad" I said.

"I love the people who care for me, not one who leaves me," I said pouting.

"Then leave your husband and marry me," he said.

"I will kill you. My husband is sweet. He cares for me, that's why he appointed you to take care of me. But you are a sick servant. I fired you, get lost" I said.

"Please madam, I can't leave without caring for you, without loving you, without teasing you and kissing you, don't fire me from the job," he said and kissed me.

He hugged me so tight as if he is going to miss his life if I leave. He broke the hug and gave me tea. He fed breakfast to me.

"Are you going to college today?"

"No, I will take rest," I said.

"Fine, take rest. I will prepare juice and lunch for you. Are your legs and stomach aching today too?"

"Not much. But I feel sleepy."

"Ok then rest."

"Give me my baby. I will play with her. Yesterday evening I didn't take her into my arms at all as I am unwell. I miss her. In the afternoon, I will feed my princess" I said.

"Ok, but are you going to feed only your princess? What about your king?" He said pouting.

"I will feed you with your favourite sweet after returning to India" I winked.

He opened his mouth in shock understanding the hidden meaning in my words.

"Give me a sample of that sweet now," he said holding my waist and pulling me closer to me.

"Agni, please leave me."

"How do you think that I can wait for two more years without having my favourite sweet?" He said.

"You should because you don't have any other option," I said.

"Mr Agni, I want to ask you one more thing," I said.

"What?"

"Who is that girl with whom you are in bed on my birthday?" I asked.

"I don't know."

"What?"

"I booked her to make you jealous. I don't know who is she. I just removed my shirt, and that girl is not naked under the blanket. Seeing me shirtless under the blanket, you thought that we both are naked. I did that to see your reaction. But you didn't react at all" he said.

"I felt so hurt that day. I regretted being helpless. I got frightened to question you as I have no right towards you at that time. I don't know why but I cried a lot seeing you like that with another woman. It almost killed me. I know I didn't love you at that time but got hurt" I said.

"Do you have feelings for me at that time?"

"I don't know, but I felt a pain seeing you with other women."

He smiled and took me closer to him.

"I love you. As I said earlier, your husband is all your's. Just remember, I never make you feel insecure about my behaviour. The only woman who is in my life and heart is you. Just focus on your education" he said.

He stayed with me for six days. This time I enjoyed time spent with my Agni and little princess. Agni showed me, true love. He didn't yell at me at least once these days. Of course, it's not that he didn't get angry. He becomes angry but is controlling himself. His friend invited us for their wedding anniversary. We went to the party and had a chit-chat.

His wife asked me.

"Jwala, shall I ask you something, if you don't mind?"

"Yes, tell me."

"You are a Hindu, am I right?"

"Yes!"

"Why didn't you wear mangal sutra and vermilion on your forehead? I mean you both got married, but I never saw you wearing them. Did you marry him?" She asked me.

I remembered removing Mangal sutra tied by Agni. I looked at him. I know he heard the conversation. I almost had tears in my eyes but stopped as he came and kept his hand on my shoulder.

"We are the real couple and got married," he said and showed our marriage photos and a picture of the wedding certificate.

"Oh I am sorry," she said.

"I want her to be free. So until she completes the study, she is not going to wear signs of marriage. When she returns India, she will wear everything" he said.

After the function, we returned home.

"Agni, please marry me," I asked him.

"I had already married you, baby," he said.

"Please Agni, I know you can understand what I mean. As you ordered, I am not wearing vermilion on my forehead. Asking a married woman not to wear mangal sutra and vermilion, though the husband is alive is a punishment."

"It's not my fault. It's you who removed the knot and vermilion though your husband is alive. So, of course, you have to bear the punishment."

"I am sorry Agni, I understood my fault now. Now I trust only you and no one else" I said with tears.

"Ok, we will get married again after your return to India. Don't cry, sweety. I don't want you to cry" he said wiping away my tears.

"I hope you understood the value of mangal sutra and vermilion now," he said.

"I learned your value now," I said to him as I mean it.

I hugged him.

"It's ok, don't cry my dear. Jagni is better than you. She won't cry much" he said teasing me.

"Jwala, within two days, I will leave. Did they shut their mouths and stop bullying you? Or shall we talk with my friend? Shall we complain about them?" He asked.

"It's ok, Agni. I solved the issue. I recorded their bullying. I complained to the principal. He warned them that he would suspend them if they repeat it. They didn't want that recording to come out" I said.

"That's good. Send that recording to my mobile and save it on your laptop too. Tell me if anything happens that upsets you. Don't hide anything from me and I can find whatever you do" he said.

"Okay, sure," I said.

"I will change the dress," I said and tried to go to the washroom, but he held my wrist pinning me to the wall.

"I said you shouldn't hide anything from me. So now tell me what did you hide from me" Agni asked.

I didn't reply. Agni kissed my neck senselessly and gave a small love bite making me pout.

"Are you going to tell me or you need more love bites?" He asked.

I didn't reply as he is playing with me. He was teasing me with his kisses and moving his fingers on my belly. He took off my top. I bent my head, and he rose it up.

"Look at me, don't close your eyes or bend your head" he ordered.

I nodded. Agni started kissing my breast valley, collarbone. He shut my senses altogether, and I am unable to stand with his sweet yet unbearable torture or love. I don't know how to name it as I am feeling unknown feelings.

"If you didn't say it out, what have you hidden from me, I will make love to you till you spit it out," he said and lifted me in his arms.

He kept me on the bed and came top of me.

"You are becoming too brave these days. It will have consequences baby" he said unhooking my bra but stopped.

I started breathing heavily. Agni looked at me.

"It seems as if my warning did not affect you. Aren't you scared of my warning?"

"You are my husband. You had that right on me. What's there to get scared of your proximity? Frankly, now I won't get scared of you rather I scare when you are away from me" I said smiling.

"Ok, I am asking you directly. Why are you working for part-time? Didn't I provide whatever you want or do you think that I can't provide what you want in future?"

"No Agni, I know you will provide everything for me. But, I want to experience the life."

"I didn't get you. How can you experience life through working?"

"I didn't want to depend on you Agni. I want to experience life by myself. I didn't mean to hurt you. I know if you are not with me, I won't be here. But.." I stopped as he got away from me.

"Agni, don't be angry."

"Tell me what you want to say," he said.

I love this change in him. These days he is listening to me than reacting at once. I can at least convey my point though I can't convince him.

"I want to manage my studies and everything by myself. I got selected for the scholarship. So there's no problem with fees. For other expenses, I want to work" I said holding my husband's hand.

"But Jwala, there's no need. I am there to manage everything."

"I know it Agni. But I didn't feel it right. I have wasted a lot of money which you earned working hard for years. You spent day and night for earning a single penny but being stupid; I wasted everything. I gave 15 lakhs to my parents without understanding their nature, to free me from that women trafficking gang and save my reputation you gave half of your property to them. You lost many deals because of me to save me. You left that orphanage. You paid my fees when I lost my scholarship due to ill health and cleared debt of my parents just for me" I said, and he looked at me shockingly.

"How do you know that I paid your fees? I didn't tell this to you."

"My principal told this to me on my convocation day. He said it's you who paid my three years term and hostel fees too. I got the scholarship only for one year."

"Jwala, whatever I did, I just did it for you. Nothing matters to me until you are happy" he said cupping my face.

Tears formed again in my eyes, but I think these are happy tears. I am lucky to have a good husband for whom money matters the least and his everything is his wife. Everyone betrayed and played with me for this money.

"Agni, I can't take more from you. It makes me guilty, and I know already that I can never clear this debt throughout my life. When you are harsh and told that you would do business with my body for earning twenty-five crores as you lost that orphanage because of me, I thought you are money minded person and a greedy. You didn't say at least once that you sponsored me. You helped me everywhere, but I trusted everyone except you."

"Jwala, it's ok. That's past, forget it. I didn't do anything great. After all, I am earning all this for you and baby, right? If it's not for you both, there's no meaning to earn all this" he said giving me a side hug.

"I want to see real life Agni. Only then I can become matured and more understanding. If you do everything for me, how can I learn what is life?"

"But I didn't want you to learn what life is in harsh ways. You were too weak when you were pregnant. I know I was the biggest reason for that. After that, that idiot tortured you. I still remember seeing you in a pool of blood" he said clenching his fist and looking another side to hide his tears from me.

"It's ok Agni; now your Jwala is fine."

"Jwala, please understand me too. You need mental peace and physical rest. So, please study and leave all this. You will get tired if you try handling both. I am warning you seriously; I want you to excel in your studies because I read in your diary that your goal is to score high here too."

"Ok, I will do one thing. I will try working but will quit if I get tired or feel weak."

"That's fine, but you should quit the job as soon as you realise that you are unable to work without any second thought. However, I will send money to you every month as usual, and you know my internet banking login details, right?"

I nodded.

"You can transfer amount anytime to your account if the money sent to me is not enough. No need to ask me, but keep a message that you transferred money to your account after the transaction."

"Ok, now stop this discussion about money," I said, and he smiled.

He spent a few more days with me and left for India. I felt more emotional than before because this time I experienced more love which I never expected from a person like Agni. I realised that I misunderstood him. He started calling me every day and talking to me and knowing every single thing about me. I started working part-time and trying to spend less as I didn't want to waste his money. However, being a stubborn husband, he used to transfer money to Aneesh account asking him to buy everything I need. He visited me many times whenever possible to him. Years passed by and finally, my convocation was held. I achieved my goal of getting a high score. Finally, the day came where I should return to my India, my husband and baby. Back to my world and to the place where my happiness lies. I reached India and got out of the airport. I didn't find Agni. Where is he? This person never changes. I expected him to come to the airport and receive me by giving me a warm hug. Being my husband, he never fails in disappointing me. I took a cab and started to my home.