A memory flashed through her mind …
She was eight years old. She had a school project and they didn’t have enough paper glue at home. Her father was at work. Her mother reassured her that she would find a solution. Her mother wasn’t allowed to drive, so she proposed that they walk to the corner shop to buy glue. They were gone for less than 15minutes. That night when her father got home, he checked the cameras like he did every night. Their every move was monitored. He saw that they’d gone to the shop. He locked her mother in her bedroom for two straight days. He went to work, leaving her locked in the room. Her mother never called for help. Her mother didn’t even try to break down the door. She just accepted her punishment like she always did. If the tea was too hot or she didn’t come when he called the first time, she would be punished. Locked outdoors all night. Not allowed to eat for days. And she just took it.
Kaavi’s cellphone rang again. It was Sen’s mother.
‘Kaavi, babygirl, are you okay?’
‘Yes, Aunty Marls.’
‘We’re booking a flight to your mom. We’ll book a ticket for you too?’
‘No. But thanks for thinking of me,’ Kaavi said.
‘Babygirl, it’s okay. We understand. I just wish Senthil was here. We can’t leave you alone in Rally,’ she said.
‘Aunty Marls, I’ll be fine. Is Granddad going too?’
‘To be there for your mother. For no other reason,’ her aunt replied.
‘I promise I’m fine,’ Kaavi said. They spoke for a few more minutes before ending the call.
Sen’s parents and her grandfather tried everything to get her mother to leave her father. But her mother wouldn’t cooperate. It was almost as if she enjoyed being a prisoner!
Kaavi should be having a panic attack. She should be crying.But she was completely calm.
She looked at her cellphone in her hand. She scrolled and found the number. She pressed connect. He answered on the second ring.
‘Kaavi? Are you okay?’
‘You’re the third person to ask me that in the last ten minutes. Hello Neel. I’m okay,’ she said.
‘What happened in the last ten minutes?’
She twisted a thread hanging off her pyjama pants.
‘My father is dying.’
There was silence.
‘I’m coming over.’
‘No, Neel. You don’t have to. I just … I don’t know why I called you.’
‘Maybe you needed a friend?’
‘But are you my friend?’ she asked.
‘Nope.’
Kaavi laughed.
‘I thought as much.’
‘A friend wouldn’t have the thoughts I have about you,’ he admitted.
Kaavi didn’t know what to say.
‘Kaavi, I don’t know a single thing about your family and I’m your husband. Does that sound right to you?’
