WOUNDS OF silk

2. Eeva

Eeva couldn't recall a single moment when she had been more terrified of her life than spending her wedding night with her husband. Alone and helpless.

Husband.

The word tasted foreign in her tongue and repulsive to even mutter out loud for only her ear to catch alone. It made her sick in her stomach so she forced to gulp down the rest of her thoughts.

A new chapter of Eeva's life had already begun and now she was realising, the other half of her life before marriage was just an echo from the past. When her father had handed her over to her new husband, her old life had stopped existing all at once and put it on a shelf for only the purpose of remembrance.

Her body shuddered thinking about what her husband would do to her tonight. Alone and completely at his mercy. Her heart was drumming in her chest so hard it ached, and her mind was restless, conjuring all the probable circs that could befall her? Would her husband be a gentle, patient lover? Would he stop if she told him to or would he use his force to get what was promised from their union?

The bedsheet plastered to her sweat licked skin on her back and fresh beads of moisture swelling at her hairline. Fear slithered its way up her arms and legs, seizing her heart in its vice grip. Eeva struggled but she couldn't breathe. It felt too much effort to inhale and exhale. Suddenly, the air felt suffocating, her lungs expanding, demanding for its fill.

Eeva jumped out of the bed and sprinted into the adjoining bathroom. Opening the faucet, she filled water into her cupped hands and splashed it over her face a few times. She gulped a mouthful of water from the running tap. The cool liquid passed down her throat jolted her senses to action and brought her out of her dazed state.

Eeva returned to the bedroom, pacing alongside the bed knowing full well there was nowhere to hide, nowhere to run from her awful fate. Even if she screamed at the top of her lungs for help, the guests strolling in the garden wouldn't even bat an eye.

The quicker she would come in terms with her life, the faster she would learn how to survive in her new life. Because there was no way out of this marriage, especially in their customs and families.

Once you were in. You were in until death claimed you first.

Eeva got up on the bed and lie down, waiting for her husband and doing her duties as expected and demanded from her.

She cranked her neck over to her side, to peer at the clock rested over the stack of books on the nightstand. It was difficult to see in the dark what time it was but she was certain it was way past midnight.

And her husband would be here soon as promised.

When the newly married couple made their way through the crowd saying their goodbyes to retire for the night, a few men urged her husband to join them for a few drinks in honour to celebrate his marriage. Her husband was reluctant to leave her side but when someone mentioned something about business, her husband easily agreed to stay behind. The business was of utmost importance in their life. When there was money involved, nothing could beat it. Eeva didn't complain. She was glad to have a few more minutes to herself to calm her erratic heartbeats and finally took a breathe alone, away from the prying eyes. 

But her husband's parting words and her lust-filled gaze still resounding in her ears and chilled her down to the bones, Strip off your gown and wait for me in bed. If you fell asleep, I will still fuck you.

And so here she was, waiting for her husband just like the way he had commanded, under the canopy of whispering puffs and over the red silk. 

Eeva was jittery and shaky. Rest was a distant notion in the back of her mind, but her body couldn't fight its natural inclination. Her muscles were strained with tension bubbling underneath. The longer the time stretched, the more her eyelids started to droop, begging her to surrender to her primal need.