Arranged Marriage to Kill Him

Chapter 45 : Protective

The skeleton man unzipped his pants that were hanging low on his waist with his bottom sticking out, shaking his pee such that it sprayed over the walls like a wavering fountain. Suddenly, a lathi struck his bottom and the skeleton man turned around, spraying the fountain all over the two hawaldars, cackling in laughter. Before the hawaldars could recuperate from the disgust, the skeleton man took off, with his manhood swinging outside his pants like an elephant's trunk.

Shocked mothers hastily covered the eyes of their children as he ran past a school and a market, everyone making way for him as if he were an important, dangerous man. The skeleton man reveled in this importance, howling and shaking his wild dirty hair, running towards the apartment where he knew she lived. Pressing all the buttons of the old elevator at once, he pulled his pants up and tied them tightly around his waist with a wire lying on the ground. He knew such a high, snooty creature like her wouldn't open her door for a man like him.

Standing outside her door, he knocked carefully like a gentleman would, and to his pleasant surprise, she opened the door wide enough for him to quickly lodge his feet in between.

At seeing her beautiful, alarmed face, he smiled almost kindly. "Priya madam, how are you?"

"What do you want?" She asked calmly, although he noticed her fingers clutching the door a little too tightly.

"You know what I want," he said, smirking and running his eyes down her body. He could enter her house to do anything to her, but she was one of them now. He felt a strong surge of sudden brotherly protection and pity for her like one feels looking at images of starving children while eating a five-course meal. He revelled in that feeling of being able to feel sympathy for her which floated at the surface, below, a sea of satisfaction lay to watch her downfall from a rich heiress to a destitute.

"I have paid the full amount for the past. I don't need your services anymore."

"But I wish to serve you, madam," he cooed, popping his head inside her house and taking a quick scan. "Is this where you want to live forever? Didn't you want a big mansion, fancy cars, that rich husband?"

"I have repeated myself enough. Leave."

"Don't get angry." He clicked his tongue, gently stroking her cheeks as she stood motionless like a porcelain doll. "I'm at your side. I want to kill that bitch as much as you want to."

"No. I don't want to kill her."

"You don't want to kill Naina madam?" He cocked his head, trying to meet her downcast eyes. "She's a fucking gold digger trying to rise above her status when in the end, she's just one of us. Pretending to be high and mighty. Don't you hate her fucking guts?"

"I don't care anymore. Leave."

He was growing agitated at her doll-like, mechanized responses, how could she not see what he was seeing? "But I do! I have observed that bitch living in luxury for long enough while we men bust our asses off by doing menial jobs. She has done nothing, nothing in her life to deserve that!" He peered down at Priya's face, noticing her eyes gleaming with tears, and said, "I'm doing this for you, you deserve that. Remember to thank and welcome me to your home next time, alright?"

With that, the skeleton man took off on his bony legs, haunting the decaying four walls that Priya had started to call home.

* * *

Priya slumped on the little chair, thoughts about the skeleton man weighing her head down that she had to rest her cheeks on the coffee table. She should have known how the car washer was before offering him the job of killing Naina some months back, she should have known that he was a psycho.

He had seemed more eager at the prospect of killing someone than the money.
raising her head from the coffee table as she heard a voice, "All okay, madam?"

"Don't call me madam," she said, looking tiredly at the plumber. "Would you kill someone if I offered you money?"

"What are you saying?" The plumber laughed, placing his equipment back into the rusted tin box. "I know this house is giving you a tough time with all the repairs, but that doesn't mean you should kill the landlord."

"No, not him," she said quietly, and just then, a shadow of a large man fell over her like the shade of an oak tree. Priya looked up, visibly startled to see Ohas towering over her, glaring at the plumber. "What are you doing here? How did you get in?"

"Leave," Ohas ordered the plumber who quickly closed the tin box, scrambling to get up and dashing to the door. "You shouldn't let any man in."

"Then will you fix these pipes for me?" He nodded with quiet rage and she stood there, still reeling from his mere presence, let alone his quiet, but firm nod. Not wanting him to catch her having this effect, she resorted to confident teasing, "Alright, don't complain when I'll call you every second for this." He didn't laugh or smile, as if calling him every second was her birthright. Again, she leaned on her leftover confidence to ask, "Why are you here anyway? Don't you have anything better to do?"

"Your neighbors said one man forced himself into your house last night."

"Oh, that." She rolled her eyes, turning around to hide her lips quivering as if it was chilly and she couldn't stop her body from shaking. "That's nothing."

"Who was it?"

"Who else? My dear father."

"He still bothers you?" She didn't respond to that and following the sound of two footsteps, she found her head being grabbed forcefully and turned, cat eyes prying into her soul. "He did this to you?"

"Oh, it still shows. Maybe that's why the plumber felt a little jittery at the start." She felt her eyes tickle her cheeks with tears as if her eyes could feel her emotions that her stubborn heart refused to and her tired mind was habituated to. His fingers briefly touched her cheeks, wiping a lone tear before he snapped out of it and stepped back. She turned around once again, scoffing at her own weakness. "Would you like tea?"

He didn't agree or disagree, both standing there listening to the boiling sound of the water violently dancing with tea leaves and watching the sun hurling its enraged colors of red and orange across the sky. Just as the burn from the hot tea melted into sweetness on their lips and the sun soothed the sky with soft pink hues, Priya and Ohas exchanged a silent glance, seated next to each other at the coffee table facing the window. She wasn't left shocked why he came here or showed his concern, she understood now that just like her, he needed someone around. It showed in his clumsiness in returning her teacup, in his hesitation to leave. She knew he would come back without her calls and he did.

But the one man who stopped coming exactly from that day onwards was her dear father who was beaten and bruised, fearing cats when he woke up after days, delirious and scared.