DANGEROUS ARRANGEMENTS

CHAIN OF COMMAND

I surrendered to the fact that I traded one nightmare for another.

But despite the sadness I felt, I convinced myself that I needed to make the best of a crummy situation for the sake of continued peace between me and my father.

With this in mind, I got out of bed while my husband was still fast asleep and proceeded to make my way to the kitchen where my in-laws were gathered.

After receiving a cup of hot tea from my mother in law, I was told that I was expected to stay in the kitchen during the day to assist her and learn how to cook.

I complied with her request and stayed put, now following her every lead.

Since I was headed back to the US in a little over ten days, I thought it a worthy idea to get better acquainted with them. 

And despite my poor attempts to speak Malayalam fluently, and them not knowing any English, we did our best to make good with the time we had left together.

Even though my stay there was considered relatively brief, the days passed ever so slowly, and I really couldn't wait to return home to New York to see my daughter again.

Most days since we got married, my husband would leave me with his family shortly after he woke up to go out with his younger brother and friends, only to return home late at night completely drunk.

I would pretend to be fast asleep by the time he arrived home, praying that he would pass out, and not attempt to have sex with me.

But much to my disappointment and misfortune, I was never able to escape his grip. 

Many a night, I was buried under the weight of his body and the distinct fog of drunken breath, that left me with fresh bruises on my neck, arms and inner thighs.

And like clockwork, this became the steady order of events.

Completely confined to my in-laws home with little or no contact with the outside world, I began to feel the hefty regrets of my decision to go along with an arranged marriage.

 It was plain to see that even after a week of being newly married, my husband and I were still very much strangers.

And as a welcome distraction, I began to count down the hours until my departure to the US, now less than four days away.

Aside from speaking to Charisma daily, I didn't hear from anyone else in my family, in particular, my parents. Instead of waiting for them to reach out, I took the initiative to call them up and was able to get my Father on the line.

I could hear that he was short in both tone and conversation.

When I asked him why he didn't call, he wasted no time in communicating that he and my mother were very busy, overseeing the construction of their new vacation home.