𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐀𝐓𝐄

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝙸𝚇: 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙳𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚘𝚛 𝙰𝚕𝚒𝚟𝚎?

“Lhamo! Lhamo!” A familiar voice of a woman entered through my ears. 

Immediately, I opened my eyes and wiped my tears. Unfortunately, I could not dry my clothes which were drenched heavily with the rain. I turned myself as if nothing had happened.

“What are you doing here in the rain?” The familiar woman was Tashi’s aunt who had been my hostage for a month. She was driving the car that uncle used to drive.

“While I was running from the shop, I lost one of my slippers down the bridge. Now, it has been washed away”, I showed my left foot which was without a slipper. I threw the slipper intentionally and I was about to throw the other too.

“Where are you heading, aunt?” I asked her.

“I am here to visit you. I hope everything is good. Get into the car! You are getting wetter. Let’s talk once we are home!” Aunt escorted me into her umbrella and we drove back home

. 

Aunt was visiting our house for the first time and she was staring at how we have maintained it. She was happy with the condition of house and the rent imposed. Normally, the house rent in Thimphu is more than some people’s monthly salary.

I went to the kitchen to prepare a tea without milk powder. Luckily, I had few hundreds saved for myself. I could get a litre of milk and prepare the tea. I offered her along with some biscuits. 

While she was drinking tea, I changed my clothes and joined her. She was carrying few kilograms of vegetables like potato and spinach followed by tomatoes, chilli and onion in small quantity.

“Lhamo, be honest today! How are you two doing here at home? I heard something’s wrong in between”, aunt was questioning me.

“Ah! Nothing serious has happened. It is normal thing that happens between every married couple. We had some arguments”, I tried to lie again with the sweet smile. 

“Why are you lying when I already know the truth? If you continue to lie, you are going to suffer yourself”. She added.

Then, I started crying. I was not strong enough to tell the truth fearing that it might reach to my mom’s ears.

“I am sorry, aunt. I had to lie because I didn’t get enough courage to pour the truth out. Since I was with you as a guest, I was pregnant. I tried to share but I could not. I was happy to share with Tashi. Sadly, he denied that he isn’t the father of the baby as if I had been sleeping with other men”. 

“He comes home late at the night and he is always drunk. He is coming with lesser money everyday though he is busy performing rituals. . I could not share with anyone because I was worried about what our parents might think”, I explained in broken voices. 

I could see tears falling from aunt’s eyes as well. She knew the difficulty of being a woman and being a mother. I could also see frustration glooming in her eyes.

“Dear child, don’t worry about the child. I will be there to help you. I will find a job for you and inform. It is high time you must prepare for the birth. Otherwise, it will be difficult for you to adjust at the last. Anyways, I will remind uncle to advice Tashi. I will inform about the job. Last time, one of my friends was asking for sale girl. She has a clothes store”. She said.

“Thank you for visiting me. I would like you to keep all these as secrets between you and me. I don’t want my mom to hear about it”. I requested her.

“Agreed dear. Take care and don’t worry. I will be there to help you”, she drove away when the heavy rain subsided.

That evening, Tashi came without drinking. Although he was not drunk, he was rather angry. I have seen him getting so furious. 

“Who told you to complain about our problems to my uncle? He was scolding me a lot but I didn’t listen. It didn’t make any sense to me. Lhamo, I have some important things to tell you. I want you to listen carefully!” He exclaimed.

I kept listening to what he had got to say.

“Firstly, I didn’t love you at all. You know I was arranged to you by our parents. All my friends are marrying the woman of their choice. Girls at drayang are much better than you. I am in love with one of them. You are nothing more than a spare. The woman I wanted as a pleasure. Secondly, I can’t accept the baby inside your stomach. Thirdly, I want a divorce with you. I was wrong to marry to you”, those were the most painful words I have heard in my life.

What did he mean to say by ‘The woman of pleasure?’ But, I had to agree. It was an arranged marriage by our parents. 

“It’s okay Tashi. If you have found a woman of your choice, I don’t want to hold you back. The door is always open. You don’t even have to bear the name of father for the baby that is inside my belly. I can take the responsibility. But remember, I agreed to marry to you and given up on education. I have agreed to come here in Thimphu respecting your decision. I think we don’t even need a legal procedure to divorce. We don’t even have marriage certificate”, I cried.

“I will be moving out today. I don’t want to take anything from here. It’s all yours. Thank you for everything”, he left. 

I was alone carrying the baby without a father. I was just a housewife and I was counting the blessings of aunt. I was willing to work anything for the baby.

𝘓𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘜𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘗𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴