"Tum theek ho?" Standing against the railings to enjoy the September's light wind and gaze at the sprawled stars which was their daily routine when they were unmarried and jobless. Sameer solemnly asked his wife.
"Hmm, I am fine. Just can't get over Sharad's bad touch and disgusting words." Naina said in a low voice while placing her hands on the steel flat piping, somberly looking down at the empty street.
Sameer seized his furious eyes to kill his desire to put the sinful human behind bars and never allow him to come out of it.
He hadn't just made his girl feel uncomfortable and scared under his dominating presence with his chauvinist thinking, judgemental looks, and supremely impermissible questions about her personal life. But also gave her a lifetime lesson to always be careful around boys, especially those who aren't gentlemanly enough to provide security and comfort to a woman, because they can harm her, touch her wrongly, and try to attack her anytime.
Sameer couldn't help but feel a strong sense of aversion towards the people who were at the restaurant. He overheard several individuals making absurd and derogatory comments about his wife, all based on their narrow-minded and conservative beliefs surrounding sensitive issues. According to these individuals, it was his wife's fault for simply existing as a woman, as they believed that women were responsible for evoking a man's thirst and desire -- He found himself disgusted by these archaic beliefs and could not fathom how people could hold such backward views in the modern world.
Having bravery and confidence isn't what a woman should have in her character if she is raised by good parents.
Real girls are those who wear suits, cover their bodies with a dupatta, always keep their eyes lowered, do not respond to boys' flirtatious and offensive remarks on their bodies, stay quiet, follow their elders' commands like submissive children, have no male friends to comfort her, coming home before the dusk, attending no parties, just keeping all of her attention to impressing the aunties of her neighborhood with her excellent cooking skills, to the ones who are supposedly the god's sent angels in her life to bring her a suitable groom with stable income. However, it doesn't matter to them if the guy had an affair with someone in his office was a drunkard, had no ethics to talk, was a born ruffian, or wasn't even a man. All they care about is "Izzat" and the respect of the house should be maintained by the woman of the house.
That's all he heard from several namesake high-class humans while ruthlessly fighting with Sharad.
He wanted to give them an earful for speaking utter nonsense to aggravate his girl's pain.
But he kept quiet because telling anything to such orthodox people is a waste of time.
And he was already too enraged at the immoral man that he couldn't think of anything else.
"He just touched me on my wrist, par still mujhe itna weird feel ho raha hai na...I just can't tell you. Sameer." Subsequent to a minute, Naina's voice carried a trace of frustration, as evidenced by her meek tone. Sameer, who was in close proximity, was on the verge of acting impulsively and striking the grilling with his bandaged palm. However, at that very moment, he was inundated with images of his wife wailing upon witnessing his pain. The memories of his spouse's distress extinguished his rage, and he quickly withdrew his hand, admonishing himself for his momentary lapse in judgment. He realized that his actions were rash and that they lacked maturity.
"Sirf wrist na?" He turned to question her in a gentle voice, and she hummed, still aimlessly gazing down at the barking dog roaming on the street with his owner.
Sameer released a heavy sigh as he approached Naina, gently clasping her slender wrist where the nefarious man had touched her. Naina watched inquisitively as Sameer stood calmly before her, wondering what he had in mind. Then, his head tilted downwards, a serene smile gracing his face as he tenderly brushed his lips against the delicate nerves in her wrist. The miniature silver star charms dangling from her dusty-rose bracelet jingled softly as his lips leisurely collided with them. A gentle whisper escaped his lips, carried away by the peaceful breeze.
