The Bride

Part 2 AMUSED

khushi felt the range building inside arnav . she can see the clutched fist and tensed body of him and hear his deep breaths as if to control himself. she closed her eyes in fear ,she has seen the result of mistakes made by her mother and  her screams when father slapped her kept resonating in her mind . she closed her eyes as she saw arnav walk towards her in range under the veil . her tiny body started shivering in anticipation of pain .

"how dare you! you .. you kicked me." arnav said gritting his teeth as if the debacle of this marriage was not enough to get on his nerves , now this ..this little girl had kicked him that to on his wound over his stomach  . her tiny leg wont have hurt him if not for the stupid cut he got while ploughing the fields as punishment from his grandfather.

the words spoken by arnav was in pure English which went completely over khushi's tiny brain .she was confused what he is going to do now .

"get off my bed right now. you don't deserve my sympathy . sleep on the floor ! "arnav  yelled making her flinch at the intensity of his voice as the words  still remained alien to her vocabulary . what he is saying? what he wanted from her ?.she hated when people dont get straight to the point and make her feel like a idiot .

why cant he just ..

"cant you hear me ? get up sleep on the floor" arnav said controlling himself from dragging her off the bed and throw her on the floor . he is better  man than  man handling  a girl.

"cant you speak hindi . or..just kick me back and lets get even . i am tired and very sleepy"

khushi  never answer back to your husband  understand .

why?

if he is going to slap you once earlier  , with your rebellious nature he might  drown you in the river 

i will drown him before he drowns me

khushi!!.

as the distant memory with her mother made into khushi's head ,she gulped hard tightening her hold on the bed-sheets. drowning equals to dying  she does not want to die ,that to  in the cold water of january she haven't yet learned the new game her friend was teaching her

arnav looked at her perplexed and shocked . he has never seen any bride of this house speak in such way to their husband . her childish voice still running in his mind over again and again. kick her ? is this girl for real. this time he spoke in hindi realising his mistake .

"if i kick you, you want be able to walk all your life . now get off the bed and sleep on the floor." anger is long gone from his posture , now he said the words in firm tone with great emphasis  as when speaking to discipline  a naughty child.

"is that my punishment for kicking you.?" khushi asked hoping that he say yes , sleeping on the floor is always better than kicking or slapping . she was off the bed before he even completed  saying "yes"

"next time you will think hundred times before kicking me" he said just to make sure she learns a lesson for future . he saw her lie down on the cold floor  clutching her knees to her chest ,shivering . just  few more minutes than he will tell her to sleep on the bed , making a child  sick in cold is certainly not his intention .

he closed his eyes and laid down on the bed not bothering to change his cloths , reminding himself to tell the girl to sleep on bed after few minutes .

he banged at the walls of room , screaming for help .he ran here and there to find a door or just a window but all he see was walls surrounding him, black as the night sky with no hope of light . he sat down dejected at his fate . his eyes opened suddenly as he heard a soft voice screaming in pain .