My husband hates me

Chapter 19

Jahangir Shaikh sat beside her as she drank the tea next day, he would occasionally glance at her. She had never seen her father this nervous around her as she was done with her tea, he poured her more. "Have more...", he offered and she couldn't say no, because she rarely sat with her father like this.

He was lost in his thoughts, Seher done with his silence so she placed the cup down, "What's wrong Baba?"

He sighed rubbing his forehead, "I made a huge mistake...", he turned to look at the sky, "When you were younger, I always thought you were like your mother, and a man who has similar countenance will suit you. A man with a strong will who would look after you... I never thought Saad would marry another woman and betray you like that".

Just when she thought her father understood, he said the last line. The other woman was never the problem, it didn't to matter to her then and it didn't matter to her now. The problem was the man, he was abusive, he was an animal, she could no longer live with him.

"Baba I can't live with him anymore", This was her chance, let him think it was because of the other woman, maybe this could be her way out. "And now he has a heir too, Baba ask him to divorce me. I will stay here my entire life, people have already started talking about Jahangir Shaikh's daughter being childless..."

She used his name knowing how much he cared about his reputation, a little more than he cared about his family. He took Seher to the graveyard yesterday not because he didn't wanted to lose her mother, but because of the aftermath and how it would affect his reputation.

"How is he with you?" Her father suddenly asked, this was her chance, She couldn't cry about the abuse because it was a norm in her father's eyes. What her father cared about was treatment... how a man treated his wife? How much time he spent with her..

"He doesn't smile, he doesn't laugh. The only emotion I see on his face is anger. He hates everything about me, my views, my dressing sense and my thoughts. It's not like I challenged his views on purpose, I tried my best to follow the rules of the village, but it seems like he hates the very sight of me. How can I live with such a man? a man who despises my very existence. He hates me Baba, my husband hates me", Woman would stand infront of him in every Panchayat complaining about their problems, their husbands and their fathers. This time it was his own daughter, he was the culprit and the judge.

"I was angry myself when I heard about the marriage that's why I did something for you, I tried to kill him but he... survived", Jahangir narrated with a regretful look, he regretted not shooting him, but there was risk it could be traced back to him, "You seem to hate him suddenly", Seher remarked realising it wasn't an ego or reputation problem, there was something more. Saad and her father must have had a clash.

"It's nothing, you don't have to worry about it. Seher I have prepared a vile of arsenic, I want you to mix it in his food", as he gave her the small bottle, Seher's hand shook. She could stab him, because he deserved to die, for every slap to her face, for every scar on her stomach and for the child he crushed.

"Baba why didn't you drag him to the panchayat when you discovered about Ayesha. Wasn't that Zinah too?" The two met before they were married, and when Saad was married to Seher. That was cheating and Zinah. If the roles were reversed, Seher would have long been dead.

"A man can take numerous wives, a woman can't think about a man other than her husband, because she can't marry him. It's zinah if the woman does it"

_____

A man laid on the bed, his body covered with bandages, his face swollen and covered with a gauze. His eyes were barely open, and young woman sat by his side massaging his legs as the doctor has advised her to, he had twisted it and had to go through physiotherapy every day but the aftermath was he would feel the pain and whimper in his comatose like state.