The Workaholic Wife ✅

Sleep comes first!

I'm a workaholic and I don't believe in 'no.' If I'm not sleeping, nobody's sleeping.

-Beyonce Knowles

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"Get up, you stupid! They're here. Get up now!" My mother yells.

"One more minute Ma!" I scream from my very comfortable bed.

"You've been saying that for the past two hours. The next time you say that, I'm going to dump a bucket of cold water on your good for nothing head," she whispers from outside my room's threshold. Why is she whispering?

"Okay. Okay, I'm up," I lie. There. That would give me a few more minutes of peace.

I was waiting for my mother to wake me up again, but her screeching voice never reaches my ears.

My peaceful sleep is disturbed by someone opening the curtains. I wake up to find a man—scratch that—a beautiful man in my bedroom, standing before my curtains, looking innocent. Smiling.

What the? Then it hits me. What is a man doing in my room?

"Ahhhh!" I scream at the top of my lungs, probably breaking a few glass windows and my mother's expensive China tea sets.
"Ma! Ma! There's a man in my room! Oh god! Why is there a man in my room?Ma!"

"It's okay! Calm down." The pretty man puts his ginormous hands up in surrender. He cautiously takes a step towards me.

That does it. "Ahhhhh!"

The man puts his fingers in his ears, trying to block my shrill voice from entering his ears. My mother's footsteps are loud and clear, followed by heavy ones, which are probably my father's.

"What happened?" My father asks, wheezing heavily.

"Who is he, and why is he in my room?"
My mother deflects the question as if it wasn't important. "You're still not ready? I thought you were ready!" My mother screams, taking a step towards my bed.

"What? It's Sunday. The one day I actually get to sleep. You expect me to be ready and frolicking around before ten in the morning?" I pause, expecting a response but getting none. "I'm a doctor Ma! I don't get rest. I haven't slept in three days." I put up three of my fingers to emphasize my point. "If you excuse me, I'm going back to sleep. And get this man out of my bedroom before I smash his pretty face into pieces. Now, goodnight!!" I cover my bedsheet over my face and try to get back to sleep.

I faintly hear my mother trying to wake me up again. "It's okay aunty. Let her sleep. She must be tired." The door closes gently.

Sleep coaxes me towards the darkness and I willingly fall into the abyss.

~🌷🌷🌷~

I sat at the oval dining table, intensely monitoring my blackened reflection. My mother was once again screeching in my poor ears. She's been yelling for so many hours, I can feel blood pooling in my ears.

"I'm sorry Ma! I won't do it again. I was so tired. I did three open heart surgeries yesterday. I couldn't get out of bed." I lower my head, pretending to be ashamed.

"Do you know how hard it was to find a good guy like him? If he were to be your husband! You missed a wonderful opportunity—"

"A wonderful opportunity to bear children and be a housewife for him? No way!" I whine, stopping her from making a valid argument.

"You idiot! Stop putting words in my mouth. I meant you missed a wonderful opportunity to get married to a boy like him. If only I was your age! I would take one look at him and happily agree to marry him." My mother sighs longingly, her head tilted and her knuckles pressed against her right cheek.

My father clears his throat. "I'm still here you know." He murmurs, his nose stuck in today's newspaper. He was sitting on the other side of our dining table, trying to find peace as he reads.

"Hhmm. What difference does it make? You still can't get her to agree to marry."

"Krithika, she's an adult now. Let her be. It should be her choice." Papi says, revealing his square face.

"You just don't want her to leave the nest. You want your daughter to yourself. The neighbours, no, no, everyone, has been asking me why my adult daughter is not getting married. Their asking me if she has a medical condition."

"Ma! Ok. That's it. Fine. I get it. I'm a issue in your perfect house. You want me out. You won't see me in the morning. I'll leave."

"Again, stop putting words in my mouth. You're twenty six. Girls you're age are giving their mothers beautiful grandchildren. You? Always career, independence, and privacy. Do you care about your parents? No! Nothing. Stupid!"

"Ma! You want me to get married now?That's what this is about?" I remembered the handsome man from this morning, standing in his beautiful glory. My cheeks were getting hot. I have never been so thankful for my dark complexion.

"I have raised a stupid, stupid girl. Did you not hear a single word I was talking about?"

"Ok, if it's marriage thats the problem, I'll get married. Is it that guy from this morning?" I sigh. "Okay, when is the marriage? I have to prepare for taking a day off from work."

My father laughs. He puts the newspaper on his lap. "Oh, Kuty. You're truly funny. Marriage is sacred. It's forever. I get that I have raised you be independent. But you have to stop being a workaholic. Which is why we wanted you to get married. We looked at so many guys for you. He was our only and final guy we selected. He was the only man who met all of your mothers' strict requirements. The marriage brokers in town are quite scared of our family now." He looks at my mother, as if she were the reason. "Now that you've scared the so called 'pretty man' away, I think a guy has to be born again to be married to you." My father pulls the newspaper from his lap, and goes back to reading intently.

"Papi, I didn't scare him. I just wanted sleep." I reasoned.

He slams the newspaper against the dining table. He sighs, his peace ruined.
"Anyways, I don't care. I want to see you married, and give me some grandchildren by the end of the year. Do you understand? Now, take a leave off of work tomorrow. Since you messed up today's formal meeting, you'll have to endure one tomorrow morning. This time, I am going to be dumping cold water on your face!!" He says in a playful tone.

"That's so not fair. I have to take leave from work tomorrow?"

"You're an idiot. Why do I bother to try and change you!" My mother screams, throwing her hands in the air.

"Hey! My daughter is a doctor; she's quite knowledgeable. Don't doubt her knowledge. And she'll change after kids, you'll see."

I blushed. "Papi!"

The devils both laughed at me.

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Author's Note:

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