Arranged Marriage to Kill Him

Chapter 57 : The Proposal

Priya groggily woke up, strands of her wispy hair sticking to her lips as she stretched her naked, sore body under the blanket. Through squinted eyes, she searched longingly for Ohas, but he was nowhere to be found. From his caring behaviour disguised under his grumpy mood these past couple of months, she didn't expect him to be the fuck-and-dash kind. Despite convincing herself that she was least affected by his actions, her heart dropped to her stomach like the last petal of a withered flower when she checked the bathroom and he wasn't there. He was truly gone.

Gathering the blanket around her body, she walked back to the bed, ignoring the tears burning her eyes. Why did it matter so much to her that he was gone? After all, it was only a pity fuck for him. But last night, it didn't seem like a pity fuck. Heck, the past few months were anything but that, the way his hands caressed her back in melancholy comfort as he entered her, those hands that had brought her groceries every day. Was she like a stray kitten whom he fed, caressed, and pitied?

As the sunshine left her soul and she wanted the apartment to swallow her, the door clicked open and she clutched her blanket around her body, startled.

"Oh, it's you," her voice was barely a whisper as his cat eyes penetrated her from across the room. "I thought you left." He appeared confused by her remark but said nothing as he gave her a hotel takeaway bag. Peeping inside, she saw plastic containers of idlis and chutneys. "Ah, you got breakfast. Didn't take you for the breakfast-in-bed kind of gentleman."

Both of them sat on the bed, but Priya was amused by his sudden quietness as he hunched on the edge with a deep, uneasy look. His knee bounced as if the thoughts that unnerved him flitted through his mind like mindless butterflies. Ohas wasn't the talkative kind, but he surely wasn't the shy or nervous one either. Did he feel awkward because they had sex three times yesterday, ending with round 3 last night?

Priya couldn't fathom why she was overthinking so much about this man as she removed the containers from the plastic bags in a trance. Suddenly, she felt a small leather box grazing her fingers and she took it out. It had the imprint of a local jewellery store and as she opened it, she was confronted by a simple gold ring.

"What-what is this?" She stuttered, not daring to touch it. Not daring to dream. Then she laughed cruelly, trying to hide her hope. "Aw, are you the sort of man to propose to a woman after a fuck? How decent of you."

Ohas was deadly quiet; his feet had stopped bouncing, and his eyes focused only on her.

"You're proposing to me," she said slowly in realisation, reaching out to touch his veiny hand, not noticing his little finger twitching in nervousness. "Why?"

"Because I'll marry you," he declared, then his eyes scanned the apartment and she followed his unsteady gaze. "All this will be officially yours. This apartment, food, tv, fridge, ac... You can have a car too."

"Never had a man offer me a dowry before," she said flatly, still not believing him. "What's in it for you?"

Ohas looked at her long and hard as if he wanted to say a million things, but said none. "It's time I take a wife."

"Time? I thought you didn't answer anyone. You're your own boss. For whatever reason you need a wife?" She was blabbering now, her angelic face flaming hotly as she felt sweat trickle down her face. "You can have a maid if you want someone to cook and clean. And if you just want somebody to fuck, you're hand-I mean, not bad-looking. You can get girls."

"Will you or will you not?" He said, slipping the ring on her finger, not waiting for her answer.

"Wait." She looked at the shiny ring on her slender finger, it fit her so perfectly that she briefly wondered how he knew her size. She still couldn't comprehend what this marriage meant for him- she was penniless, she had no connections or future prospects, and she was an orphan. After her miscarriage, she wasn't sure if her body was capable of even reproducing and giving him a child. When her parents went bankrupt and Ahanay had started to love that tiny chit of a girl, she had lost all hopes of marriage. All her life, she was trained to marry a rich man, and now, when she finally was presented with this opportunity, with the man she truly loved, she realized that she had nothing to offer him.

His cat eyes bore into her, unnerving her, urging her to speak her mind. Suddenly, she smiled cruelly and let out a laugh. "So you think I'll ever marry a roguelike you? How fucking entitled." Each word that stumbled out of her careless, pretty mouth steadied itself and launched straight into both their hearts, piercing them. "Don't get me wrong, I know I came too strong onto you. I seduced you, but that's just because I'm lonely, darling. I have nobody now."

Tears were stinging her own eyes as she uttered every lie, looking unwaveringly into his eyes. To her surprise, his cat eyes now were cloudy grey and soft, but he didn't look away. It made it even more difficult for her to lie.

"But I'm ambitious," she said, loosening the ring. "One day, I'll marry an actual rich and civilized man. Somebody who didn't make dirty money on the streets." God, she could no longer continue insulting him, so she removed the ring and held it in front of his face. "This. This is a fucking joke."

And she tossed it, the ring flew across the room, hit the wall, and lay spinning on the floor, the metallic sound resonating in the deadly quiet room. The moment the ring stopped spinning, Ohas stood up. Priya suddenly wanted to grasp his rough and calloused hand, place her face in his palm and apologise to him profusely, but she didn't. As he towered over her, suddenly, he grabbed their neck and kissed the top of her head lightly, the softest kiss that a man had ever given her.

In an instant, he was gone, leaving the ghost of his kiss lingering on her aching head. Her tears streamed uncontrollably as she cursed herself for being so harsh, so ungrateful to the man who had helped her rise again. Hours later as the sun sank below the skyscrapers of Mumbai, her phone rang countless times like a restless child throwing a tantrum. Finally, she picked it up.

"Madam! Madam!" The familiar mocking voice of the skeleton man boomed through the phone. "Today, I finish your job."

All of Priya's senses were on high alert. "What-what job?"

"Madam.... You asked me to kill Naina Memsaab. How can you forget so soon?"

"Don't fucking do it!" She screamed through the phone as he giggled like a teenage girl. "I asked you to drop it! I'm not going to pay you a penny for this! Why, why do you want to hurt her then?"

"She betrayed us, madam! She seduced and trapped that rich guy to escape her poverty! She was one of us and now she thinks she's high and mighty!"

Priya took a sharp breath. "Listen, it's not---"

"Don't worry madam, I'm already on my way."

"I said don't fucking kill her! I'll report you to the police! Stop!"

He burst out tittering so loudly that he drowned all her sensibility into senselessness till Priya had no other option but to cut the call and dash to wherever the hell Naina was.

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