Paakhi

N I N E

She didn't know the exact moment she realized the change, but by the time she had spent an entire day with Mohit after her return, Vandana knew any plans of another escape had become a hundred times tougher than before.

It was always easy to strike an unsuspecting person with surprise.

But now, Mohit was alert. Now, Mohit was paranoid. Now, Mohit wouldn't even let his 'love' for her blind him in taking his decisions.

He had found a way to work from home, the details of which he didn't care to disclose to her. The only way for her to find out if it was a temporary or permanent arrangement was to wait patiently; asking him anything could arouse suspicion.

She hadn't had it in her to talk about re-joining her job, not because she wanted her life to return to 'normal'; but because if she had to plan a better escape this time; she needed to step out of the house. Something within her warned her that broaching that subject about her job too would only make Mohit more alert than he already was.

She couldn't risk it.

He was learning how to cook from the internet too; so she could tell he didn't intend on giving her a single reason to step out of the house. No excuse for grocery shopping.

Groceries were now ordered online, something which he had earlier hated.

Mohit was out of those people who hated any form of change. He had taken forever to accept that smartphones were now the way to be, and had taken even longer to just start using the internet banking facilities instead of physically visiting a bank every time he wanted to transfer a large sum of money.

Hence, grocery shopping through an app had been scandalous for him. But a drowning man clutches on even to a straw. He would do everything it would take to be with his wife.

Vandana sighed, she had left her phone behind in the train. And Mohit had pretended to not address the fact that she needed a new one. At this point, she didn't know how even a new phone could help. She'd lost all her contacts, lost all her money and with Mohit hovering around at all times, there was no way that she could make a call without him noticing.

Sitting on the sofa, barely registering the multi-coloured movement on the TV before her eyes, Vandana's ears remained alert. Mohit was in the kitchen, the one place in the entire house she had gotten privacy when she had needed it.

Of course, his presence hadn't made her claustrophobic before. She'd actually enjoyed his company once upon a time. But when she'd made up her mind to leave, the kitchen had been where she'd chalked everything out for herself.

The clanking of utensils lead to the hair on her arms to stand up with fear. She snapped her head back, watching as Mohit tried to reach for the container of spices from one of the upper shelves.

When he found what he needed, he refocused on the pan before him, and Vandana let out a breath of relief.

On the shelf above the one he'd touched, was a dented and messy steel container in which she stored her flour. Behind that, was another old Complan box that she had willed herself not to touch until the direst situation. Even admitting that such a dire situation had come, caused her body to feel faint with fear.

To this day, she didn't know why she harboured this habit. It could be because of the strained financial conditions in which she'd been brought up, it could be her earliest childhood memory of seeing her Mother stash some emergency cash in a similar steel box she hid in the kitchen or just a psychological problem of constant paranoia about her finances she possessed, but she had saved little sums of money for years in that box.