WOUNDS OF silk

8. Eeva

Eeva hardly ate anything during dinner, her husband's promise to take what was rightfully his, was rolling in her mind. She had been lucky on their wedding night that entering their room her husband quickly fell asleep. High intake of alcohol with his escalating age, didn't bode well with his awareness.

But it seemed Eeva's luck was running out because tonight she couldn't get away from her duties.

Her stomach churned and threatened to spew out of her mouth whatever the bits of food she swallowed during dinner. Now, Eeva really regretted that she should have accepted when her husband offered her a glass of wine. At least then, she wouldn't feel so devastated.

Eeva was never keen on drinking alcohol but she had a sip or two when her father hosted parties at their home. She always hated the bitter taste but it made her brave enough to endure those evenings.

Tonight there was no option to dull her senses and made her feel convinced that what was about to happen was completely normal, nothing out of ordinary, in their social circle.

Girls married off to the highest bidder, and they accepted their fates without making a fuss and spent their entire life with their husbands. There was never an option of divorce. It was too risky, completely out of the context.

But whenever Eeva tried to imagine her husband into the fold, she somehow couldn't do it without letting her skin crawl and urging her to run away from her new life.

As long as Eeva could remember, she had been grooming to take the role of a wife from a younger age, when the concept seemed vague.

Studying in a catholic girls school, Eeva always had to maintain some extra strict rules but she was always a little rule breaker as her mother used to call her.

Eeva bit off Tanner's head off until he agreed to take her to the ice-cream parlour after classes, his duty entailed to drive her from home to school and vice-versa but sometimes, upon her insistence, they took a little detour.

Eeva noticed how her mother always tried her best to be the best wife and tried to induce the same teachings to her daughters. She even taught Eeva from her young age how to cook and take care of the household.

But one thing was always missing, her father's approval and Eeva was so eager to impress her father with her little achievements. She even baked her father's favourite lemon cake every weekend following her mother's instructions, later she found out her father was diabetic and never tasted her cake and probably distributed among his servants.

Growing up, Eeva thought her father was some knight in shining armour, always protected her from bad boys as his father used to say that those boys only wanted to take advantage of rich, innocent girls. So, she should never leave her house alone and give them a reason to hurt her.

Eeva wanted to ask her father then how could he married her off with someone who was probably his age. For heaven's sake, her husband had two sons, and probably the younger son was older than her too.

How could her father do this to her? Marrying Eeva with someone who would never utter a word of love. All she could see the lust in her husband's eyes without a shred of warmth.

How could Eeva share the same bed with someone who made her skin crawl?

The door scraped against the floor took Eeva's mind off from her thoughts and focused on the subject, staring at her from the doorway.

"Be a good girl and you can have anything you wish for. Even your own bedroom. I don't have the time nor the energy to entertain you, to hear your constant nagging. You can have your own space. And I value my privacy and freedom. How's that sound?"