In love with my husband

Making a claim

Jealousy is a pain in the ass. All these years, thinking about this woman, it was not exactly jealousy that I felt, it was curiosity. But now, she is right in front of me and I couldn't help the feeling. I was jealous. 

Especially when Avishek started coming home early ever since Ruchika came to our house. Each evening I saw those two sitting in the garden, drinking tea, talking. Garden was visible from the kitchen and I was a live audience to their chat show. The first time I saw Avishek laughing, I burnt the food. Not on purpose, it's just that I had never seen him laugh like that. He was a happy guy, laughing, smiling, making others laugh, but not this kind. His laugh when he was with her was beautiful. He laughed like he had no worries, no pressure, he laughed like it was his favorite moment, sitting with a woman whom he loved, talking to her after so many years.

Like he was content.

I was so lost in the thought; I burnt the food. My heart hurt whenever I saw them together. I wanted to leave but my mind reminded that I had nowhere to go. I wanted to go and live alone but my mind reminded that I had no skills to survive in the world alone. I was scared, worried, angry, jealous, envious. It was exhausting.

To be honest, I never really had a thought to make a move to be more than strangers with him. I was always the obedient kind, the one who was happy with what they had, never tried to go out there and grab what I liked. I was a coward basically. 

Now, looking at them I realized I never thought of making a move because I believed he was mine. Stranger but mine. Even though his heart was with someone else, he was mine because I was his present. Even though we became intimate just once in our lives, I knew he was mine because I was the mother of his kids.

Sadly, he wasn't. I was delusional. He was never mine. He stayed because he had no option.

But now, I wanted to make a claim. I wanted to show Ruchika that he was mine. I wanted her to know that this is my family. I wanted to be the one who made him laugh like that, I wanted to be the one who made his worries fade away, I wanted him to smile at me the way he smiles at her.

That's why, I called everyone home the coming Sunday. Mom, dad, Rahul, Payal, everyone. I wanted to stake a claim on my family in front of her.

I woke up early that Sunday, made everyone's favorite. By the time Ruchika and Avishek woke up, I was halfway done.

"Why so many dishes?" Avishek asked.

"Everyone is coming here today." I answer.

"Everyone?" I heard Ruchika asked.

I looked back to see her confused and Avishek staring at me. More like frowning at me.

I ignored him and answered to Ruchika, "Mom, dad, our kids. Everyone."

"Oh really? I can finally meet them." She said excited. "What should I do to help?" she offered.

"No, it's fine. I can do it." I smile at her.

She smiled and started on tea for us. I looked at Avishek to see him narrowing his eyes me.

I quickly avert my eyes and turn back to my cooking.

Few hours later, when everyone arrived. I ushered them inside and saw mom and dad freeze when they saw Ruchika. They recognized her that easily.

"You look exactly the same." Mom said patting her head when she bent down to take blessings.

"No, I aged so much. See I have so may wrinkles." She laughed while answering.

"How are you? It's been so long since we saw you." dad asked, patting her head affectionately.

My heart dropped. They knew her and liked her.

"I'm good uncle. You look still handsome as you did 20 years ago." She teased him.

I looked around to see kids waiting to be introduced. Avishek must've noticed too because he pulled Ruchika's attention to kids.

"Ru, this is Rahul and Payal. My kids." he introduced them. "And this is Shiksha, Rahul's wife and Anil, Payal's husband."

"This is Ruchika, my" he hesitated before saying, "old friend."

"Hi, so nice to meet you. I've heard a lot about you guys." She said shaking hands with everyone.

"Are you his college friend?" Payal asked.

"We are actually school friends" she answered.

"Oh, we've never heard about you before. Did you recently come in touch?" Rahul asked.

"Actually, yes. I just came to India 2 weeks ago. I landed here and realized I knew no one here and remembered your dad. I'm really grateful of your parents for letting me stay here." She said looking at me and Avishek.

"I told you to stop with that grateful talk. Aren't you guys hungry? Come on, let's eat." Avishek said and led them to kitchen.

I stood alone in the living room looking at them walking away. What have I done? I wanted to stake my claim, but here, she is seeping into the family.

"Mom, what are you doing here? Come on. I'm hungry." Payal came and dragged me to the kitchen.

My legs felt heavy and I felt like I was walking to my own destruction. 

Did you like it? Her, at least trying to make a change in her life, even though it didn't exactly go as she planned? 

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