So Not Love

Chapter 4

Two weeks later, my in-laws came to spend the Easter period with us. My husband's younger brother and his younger sister came to the house and I was almost relieved that at least with the presence of his siblings, he would minimize his ill-treatment towards me and hopefully his chronic philandering. One morning, I was cleaning the sitting room with a wet rag when the brother whom I was just a year older than came in carrying a pile of clothes in his arms.

"Victoria." He called me and I paused my work to look at him.

"Yes?"

"When you are done, I want you to wash these clothes." He dropped them on the floor.

I stared at him in disbelief. "What happened to your hands?"

He frowned. "What kind of question is that?"

"Last time I checked, you are not handicapped, which means that you are well enough to do your own laundry."

"And why would I be in my brother's house and still wash my own clothes?" He asked.

"Why should I wash your clothes when there's also a washing machine for you to use?"

"I don't want the washing machine, it doesn't wash my clothes clean."

"Then simply use your hands. If you cannot do that, go and call your girlfriend to do it for you. I'm not your maid."

His eyes narrowed in anger now. "The very day you married into this family was the very day we owned you. I'm your in-law and a man for that matter and you owe it to me to treat me the same way you treat my brother."

I scoffed and then clapped my hands in disbelief. "If you are so desperate to be treated like your brother, why not go and get married. After all, your mates out there are already taking up their own responsibilities instead of feeding off their brothers."

All of a sudden, he advanced towards me and struck me on the face with his hand. Stunned, the rag dropped from my hand as my hands flew to my face. "You slapped me?!" I asked in shock.

"Yes and you'll get a severe beating if by the time I return and my clothes are still unwashed. You gold digger! I wonder why my brother is still putting up with you? You are classless! You should be happy that we even accepted you into our family, you wretched-slut!"

I was about to retort when my husband came down the stairs and soon his younger sister who must have heard us, appeared from her room too. "What's going on here?" My husband asked.

My hand was still on my face as I stared at him with tears-filled eyes. "You brother slapped me." I told him.

He turned to his brother. "Kenny, is that true?"

His brother quickly explained to him and told him that not only had o refused to obey him, I had also insulted me. My husband simply pulled my hand away from my face and scrutinized my cheek. "It's not that serious. He didn't leave a mark."

I gaped at him in shock. "Your brother just slapped me and this is all you have to say?"

"What do you want me to say? Do you want me to send him away from my house all because of a harmless slap? Is that what you want, to cause a rift in my family? Listen Victoria, before I ever married you, I had my brother and there's no way on Earth that I'll do anything negative to him all because of you. You are at fault here. How would you refuse to wash his clothes? What kind of wife are you? Just clothes and you are proving so stubborn." Turning to his brother, he said, "And Kenny, you can't just do things like this. I understand that she can be very stubborn and unnerving but next time you want to slap her or lay your hands on her, seek my permission first!" Then he dismissed his brother and simply turned and walked out of the house without another word to me while my eyes followed him in speechless shock. I knew he was going out and soon I heard his car leave the compound.