"Lie there," he ordered, suddenly cutting through the silence and undoing the top button of his kurta. When she didn't move, still shocked at how she ended up marrying this man, he cocked his head towards the bed. "There."
* * *
Twenty-one year ol...
"March on people, march on!" Naina shouted, passionate power surging within as she strode forward, leading a group of fifty people toward Ahanay's office. To every command of hers, the people behind shouted back as if they were living, walking exclamation marks. Despite their sallow faces and weathered bodies, they marched forward with vigor, ready to start a riot if anyone dared to cross their way. Everyone around the group stopped and started, filming videos and clicking pictures to forward on WhatsApp. Some aimless wanderers even followed the group out of curiosity, multiplying them by numbers.
"March on people, march on!" She shouted again, glancing at Ohas who strode beside her with intensity sparking in his cat eyes. She knew exactly then what he thinking: murder. The hate towards the big and the bad surged within him, rippling through the entire group like electric waves. Placards of "Take down the empire!" and "Don't steal our homes!" were scrawled in different languages with different levels of creativity.
"He cannot ignore us with this," Naina shouted to Ohas over rhythmic anthems and chants rising behind her. But Ohas' face was hard and stoic, not nervous, but prepared to face straight on what was coming forward. The initial mirth and feverish excitement that had gripped Naina's salwar-clad body was wearing off as soon as they neared Ahanay's office. Her shouts rang with a nervousness tinged just a little bit with guilt. Ohas noticed it immediately and caught her hand in his.
"Focus," he commanded, his voice harsh at detecting her weakness.
"I am!" She fired back like a junior soldier to a senior officer, nervous and scared, but brimming with a passion to prove herself.
His hold on her hand tightened to the extent that her hand turned white as they marched towards the office building, grimy men, women, and even children standing tall and tiny in front of the massive, imposing building. Naina had never been to the office and was momentarily swayed by the shiny glass doors and windows, the length and breadth of the structure. One hard look from Ohas and she was brought back to reality. A building built on the homes of thousands of poor people like them.
The security guard came rushing down the flight of stairs as Naina took a bold step forward. "Call your boss!"
"You don't need to call our boss for this. He's a very busy man," the guard said wisely. "Here take this." He slapped crumpled notes of hundred rupees on her hand. "Here's your Ganpathi money."
"Sorry, what?"
"Aren't you guys from the Mandal to collect money for the Ganpathi?" He pointed at the bright orange and red t-shirts that they all wore which featured the God and the letters of the mandal in the back.
"We didn't have the budget, okay!" Naina shouted in frustration as Ohas held her arm back. "We're here on a protest."
The security guard now scanned the placards in their hands, confused. "Protest against what?"
"Against your boss!" A thin man who was hearing the exchange shouted from behind. "He wants to build luxurious apartments on our land! He wants to rule over us!"
"We will never let him!"
"Never!"
"Never!"
And the chanting and the hullabaloo broke off, causing the security guard to rush back inside the building. Noticing the panic on his face, Naina smiled in satisfaction. But Ohas still had the same stony expression on his face, his eyes fixed on the building.
Minutes later, the security guard came rushing back out and said, "Sir is on a trip!"
"A trip? Did he go to Maldives alone?!" The words slipped out of Naina's tongue, despite how many knots she tied to prevent speaking something irrational.
"A business trip! He won't be back for ten days!"
"Ten days!" Some people behind them heard, their protest quickly turning against Ahanay to against Naina. "Why didn't you tell us he was going to go away, lady!"
"Yes lady, do you think we have any time to waste?!"
"Do you think we're all jobless here?! What do you take us for?!"
"I'm here!" A voice bellowed through the protest as Ahanay strode briskly towards them from his car, dressed in a suit, his gaze never wavering from Naina.
At seeing the boss, the entire crowd broke out into furious shouts and yells, seconds away from absolute destruction and chaos. Still, Ahanay strode confidently towards them, fearless. The moment he was close enough to step directly in front of a flabbergasted, shaken Naina who had gone mute at his presence, Ohas stepped in front of her, blocking her from him.
"Move," Ahanay commanded, his eyes shooting bullets at Ohas as he stood close enough to strangle Ohas to death.
"Speak to me," Ohas commanded back, his eyes so cold that he could freeze anyone to death.
"I'm here to speak to my wife!"
"She's not your wife anymore!" Ohas threw papers at him that were rolled and kept safely in the pockets of his worn-out jeans. It took a minute for Ahanay to understand clearly what he was reading, he could barely believe it. "She's going to divorce you."
"Divorce?" Naina heard from behind Ohas, unable to look at Ahanay because of Ohas' giant body blocking her way. What was Ohas talking about? Divorce? The papers in his pocket? The papers she had signed without reading, thinking they were bills for food arrangements for the protest?
"Is this true, Naina?"
Before Naina could say anything, Ohas spoke for her, "Back off if you don't have anything else to discuss with us."
"Is this true, Naina?"
"Back the fuck off!" Ohas stepped forward to push him, but many more security guards came rushing towards them, pulling Ahanay away and pushing Ohas back. Seeing so many guards in uniforms and armed with lathis, the crowd grew angrier and picked up stones and sticks from the ground. Naina stood there motionless, unable to see or think anything clearly. It was Ohas who shouted at the crowd to drop their weapons, to not hurl anything. It was Ohas who spoke on her behalf. It was him. Not her.
* * *
A/N:
Double update :) I know that some chapters previously were a bit lousy, but I hope you can see the plot picking up now.
(Tap on the star if you're liking this story :))
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