Kavita was stunned for a moment after hearing Deryl’s ramblings.
“Karin’s school fees, electricity, water, kitchen needs too ...” Kavita commented, while Yura just hugged the tray and didn’t comment.
“Yes, oh ... Don’t tell me you forgot to transfer!”
“No, I didn’t forget—but ....”
“But what, Kavita? Hurry up, don’t keep me waiting!”
“Wait for what?”
“Waiting for the bill! We’ll get fined if we’re late with our water and electricity bills, Kavita!”
Kavita takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly to give the impression that she’s carrying a much bigger burden than she should.
“Kavita, why are you doing nothing?” Deryl urges again. “Where’s the money?”
“I’m so tired, Deryl.”
“Then finish the drink first, okay?” said Deryl in a tone as sweet as honey. “To make your tiredness go away, Yura is very good at making tea!”
Yura only gave a forced smile in response to her husband’s words.
“Not that, I want to rest first. Working all day is hard, you know.” Kavita walked away with a hostess—like gesture as she passed in front of Yura.
Deryl shared a look with Yura.
“It must be because the tea you served wasn’t good enough,” Deryl commented as if regretting.
“Why am I being blamed anyway?” protested Yura unhappily. “It’s me who should be complaining, Deryl! I haven’t even been your wife long, I’m already being told what to do ... Am I the maid?”
Deryl immediately softened his expression.
“That’s not it, darling! You and Kavita are both my wives, so ....”
“Then why did you ask me to make her a drink? You said I’m your wife too, which means I’m not fit to serve her like a servant.”
“Yura!” hissed Deryl as he placed an index finger on his second wife’s lips. “Don’t protest so much, it’s better if you just manage the shop. The profit is not bad ....”
Yura smiled sarcastically. When she first accepted Deryl’s proposal, of course, she expected to be treated like a real hostess and just receive monthly money without the need to work hard out there.
However, she had yet to be ordered to make a drink for her big sister.
“Damn it, don’t like sticking your finger to my lips! Your finger smells of cigarettes, Deryl!” snorted Yura as she folded her hands in annoyance.
“That’s it, you just obey me. I’m also like this, so I can feed you regularly, Yura.”
“Oh yeah? You said that you opened a shop, so why are you still asking Kavita for electricity and other expenses?”
Deryl reflexively smiled in embarrassment at his second wife’s words.
“Because ... it’s because I pay him a salary, right? So of course that includes electricity, water, kitchen, and other things!”
“Oh, but I heard it wasn’t like that earlier. You’re obviously asking for money from her, so don’t you think you’ll be asking for money from the salary you’ve been paying me in the future?” asked Yura as she snuggled into Deryl’s arm.
“Of course not, darling!”
“Really? I don’t want that to happen? I just want the monthly money to be clean, intact, and not mixed with other house expenses.”
“Yes, I’m the financial officer here. It’s easy, I can organize it for you!”
“Well, that’s nice!”
On the other side of the wall, Kavita stood back and listened intently to the conversation between the two humans in love.
So it is, she thought with her hands clenched and her chest thundering. I’ve worked so hard, but these two are planning to reap all the fruits of my labor!
“We’ll see,” Kavita muttered as she continued her walk towards her room.
Ever since she’d witnessed Yura setting foot in the master suite, even daring to make love on the bed she was supposed to be sleeping on, Kavita had never wanted to sleep there again.
Luckily, the house she shared with Deryl had an extra room that had been utilized as a workspace. Instead of kicking her honey sister out of Karin’s room, Kavita chose to be alone in her own study.
Sitting back, Kavita wrote a note to her boss.
[Sorry, Sir, I’m not coming home tonight].
After the message was successfully sent, Kavita placed her mobile phone on the table and checked the financial book she’d left behind in the hope that Deryl would be diligent in recording the shop’s income and expenses.
However, it turned out to be pointless. Each sheet of the book Kavita had provided was rarely used to record the shop’s activities.
Kavita’s reverie is broken when she hears a notification on her mobile phone. She frowned in surprise as she checked the screen and found a new message that Ezra had sent her.
[Do you still miss your two-wife husband?]
Kavita held her forehead, not expecting Ezra to reply to her message with this sentence.
[No Sir, but leaving the house for my husband to live with his second wife is not a wise choice either]
Kavita hesitantly sent the message, wondering how she could turn the situation around in a very elegant way.
***
The door to the room was slightly ajar when Kavita arrived, she didn’t care and barged right in.
“Kavita!” Deryl, who was passionately kissing Yura, almost bit his second wife’s lips when he noticed Kavita’s arrival.
“Go ahead, I’m just taking a shower.” Kavita walked away with an unconcerned expression.
“Taking a bath? Is there no other bathroom here?”
Kavita still had time to hear Yura’s comment, which was immediately met with a reprimand from Deryl right after she closed the bathroom door.
The cold shower water pounded Kavita’s head until her eyes opened wide, as if to make her realize that reality wasn’t as beautiful as she’d imagined.
If it weren’t for Deryl’s approval, Kavita wouldn’t have signed the contract with Ezra, even if the idea had just popped into her head.
“Your boss’s contract wife?”
“Yes, Deryl ... I know it’s crazy, but my boss has a lot of money and ....”
“It’s okay if your boss can pay you well, Kavita!”
Kavita was stunned by Deryl’s response to her, as he was willing to let her sign a marriage contract with his boss at work for the money to pay off his debts.
“You’re not jealous at all, Deryl?”
“Of course I’m jealous, but I have too much debt and I need to repay it in installments. If I just rely on my office salary and the shop’s erratic income, when will those debts be paid off?”
The ease with which Deryl gave his permission at the time made Kavita suspicious.
About how much her husband loved her, wouldn’t great love be seen in how strong his jealousy was?
“But my boss is young, rich, charming and ....”
“I trust that you will be faithful to me, Kavita. After all, it’s your boss’s money that matters.”
“Are you sure? As a contract wife, I’ll live under the same roof as him, Deryl.”
“Just not in the same room, okay? Go see your boss, ask for a high salary, so I can pay off my debt quickly!”
That was the beginning of Kavita’s life as a contract wife to another man. Luckily, Ezra Danadyaksa was not a womanizer.
During her contract marriage with him, Kavita was treated quite politely and humanely.
“Kavita, are you done yet?”
The banging on the door and Deryl’s voice instantly forced Kavita back to reality. She knew that Deryl could at least restrain himself when his wife was taking a long bath like this.
In the past, what Kavita did was a code she gave to Deryl that she was ready to be pampered into the night.
“Land crocodile,” Kavita thought to herself as she scrubbed her body with soap. Then she rinsed herself off until she was completely clean and smelling good.
“What the hell, Deryl? People are showering too, why are you banging on the door?” Yura grumbled, feeling stuffy when she saw Deryl who was no different from an energized horse.
Seeing the husband who had married her now waiting for biological pleasure from the first wife, made Yura’s chest feel as if she was being beaten until it hurt.
“You should go to the next room first, Yura.”
“What, are you kicking me out now that Kavita is here?”
“Shhh, not so loud, this is the main room that Vita is supposed to use.”
Yura pursed her lips tightly, but her teeth chattered loudly.
Their little argument was interrupted when the bathroom door opened to reveal Kavita wearing only a kimono towel to cover her entire body.
To Be Continued—