Deryl’s saliva seemed to drip from his lips when Kavita’s arm reached out to fix the towel covering her head.
“Yura, you go out first and help mum!” shooed Deryl with an annoying expression. “Kavita, I didn’t get to spend the night with you yesterday ....”
“No need,” Kavita refused with class, from the corner of her eye she could see how upset Yura was with the attitude Deryl was displaying in front of them both.
“No how? I’m trying to be fair to both of you!” Deryl said indignantly. “I would feel very sinful if there was one of you who didn’t get his due ....”
“Example?” Kavita gives Deryl an icy stare.
“Yes, for example, physical and mental maintenance, both of which must be balanced, right?”
“Physical maintenance? When was the last time you gave me physical support?” Kavita asks, remembering.
Kavita’s words struck Deryl dead, especially since she said them right in front of his second wife.
“Ah, the point is ... I have to be fair to both of you!” said Deryl to cover his awkwardness. “So tonight, it’s your turn to sleep in this main room ....”
“Deryl!” protested Yura who could no longer cover her objections.
“That’s right, you should sleep in Mum or Karin’s room because this room is actually a throne for me and Vita.” Deryl clarified.
Kavita just stares at Deryl, knowing that all her husband has in mind is money and inner satisfaction.
“I’ve been very fair, haven’t I?” asked Deryl when he saw his two wives standing still.
“Whatever, I want to rest.” Kavita shakes her hand and moves on.
“Wait, Kavita-don’t tell me you’re leaving again?”
“No, I’m just going to take a nap.”
“Just sleep in this room, I’ve made the blankets-look!”
Kavita turns her head, then grunts as she looks at her precious bed, which is haphazardly made up with the ends of the sheets tucked under the mattress. Not to mention Deryl’s impromptu folding of the duvet, which is enough to show just how much influence Yura has over their master suite.
“Just put it on,” Kavita nodded with her face turned away and quickly stepped away from Deryl.
“Kavita, wait!”
“You, Deryl! It’s like you don’t have a wife,” said Yura, who couldn’t help but grumble.
Deryl seemed to have woken up, he turned his head to look at Yura with a longing gaze.
“Yura, darling ...?”
“What?” cut in Yura fiercely. “Need a quick release for being rejected by your first wife?”
Deryl smiled sickeningly. “You ... wouldn’t have the heart to torture your husband, would you?”
“No need to woo, Deryl. You want Kavita anyway, not me!”
“Yura, don’t be like that. At a time like this, you should be able to show me that I wasn’t wrong to choose you as my wife.” Deryl began to make his deadly advances.
“Your second wife, does that mean?”
“I’ve been honest with you from the start that I have a wife.”
“But you haven’t forgotten your promise to make me happy, have you?”
“Of course, darling!”
And they both started exchanging saliva again.
Kavita arrived at the study and rested her body, she had deliberately left the main room not to give in to Yura. Rather, it was to prove that her ‘sister’ was just a backup alternative in her absence.
The first wife comes first, especially if the husband can only look up to her.
That night, for the first time, Kavita slept in her own home, but in a position that looked like she was spending the night at someone else’s husband’s house.
Early in the morning, Kavita’s sleep was disturbed by a shouting match.
“... what’s going on, Deryl?”
“What?”
“My school fees, you have to pay!”
“Can’t you see that Kavita is still sleeping? Have a little patience!”
“How am I impatient? Three months, brother! Three months I’ve been waiting ....”
“Later when shr wake up! Now you better prepare breakfast for your sister-in-law there, while helping Kak Yura-we have to make my wife’s heart happy first!”
“Which wife?”
Kavita covers her ears with the palms of her hands and pretends to be in a deep sleep until the noises outside stop.
An hour later, Kavita is astonished by the somber look on the kitchen table when she appears.
“Kavita, I skipped school today!” Karin immediately complained to her sister-in-law.
“Why?”
“It’s all because Deryl used my money to ....”
“Shut up, Karin!” snapped Deryl when his sister tried to explain to Kavita.
“It’s a fact,” Karin said with irritation. “What should I do now, Kavita?”
Among the noisy humans, only the mother-in-law and Yura didn’t want to say much.
“I think we should all talk,” Kavita says, casting her eyes over everyone.
“Okay, this must be about our finances that I’m managing, right?” asks Deryl enthusiastically. “Just tell me which one to pay, Kavita.”
Kavita smiles, then looks at Deryl with a look that makes Yura’s jealousy flare.
“Which ones do you have to pay? Okay,” Kavita nods calmly. “They include Karin’s school fees, electricity, water, daily necessities, house installments, and your outstanding debts.”
Upon hearing the word debt, Yura’s expression changes.
“No problem, it all has to be paid according to obligations.” Deryl was still smiling incoherently.
“You’re right,” Kavita said as she poured tea into her empty cup.
“So just prepare the money, I’ll manage it wisely.”
“What money?”
“Money to pay for all those things you said yourself, Kavita!”
“I don’t have any money.”
“What?”
“Yes, I don’t have any money.” Kavita clarifies.
“It’s this late, and you don’t have any money?” Deryl asks indignantly. “Don’t joke, Vita!”
The mother-in-law began to steal glances at Kavita and Deryl in turn.
“I’m not joking, Deryl.”
“So how are we going to pay for all this if we don’t use money? What are we going to use?”
“With money.”
“Where’s the money?”
“I don’t have it, I just came back here because I’m expecting our shop’s revenue.” Kavita reasoned.
“Nonsense, the shop’s revenue is nothing compared to your boss’s salary!” Deryl rubbed his panicked face.
“My office salary is already used for my personal needs.”
“Where’s the money from your boss from the additional contract? It’s usually transferred in the middle of the month, right? It’s the end of the month, how come you haven’t got the money yet?” Deryl asked incredulously.
Kavita sighed. “Yesterday, my contract with my boss was less than a week old, so I’ll probably get my salary once the contract is officially over. I don’t dare force my boss to pay my salary now.”
Deryl shook his head, as if he was expecting his own salary that had not come down despite his patient waiting.
“Call your boss now,” Deryl ordered casually. “Ask him to transfer your salary immediately.”
Kavita didn’t respond immediately.
“Sis, my tuition fee ...” Karin pleads pleadingly, but Kavita deliberately doesn’t look at her sister-in-law.
That’s because Kavita has a fragile heart and easily feels sorry for others.
“The electricity and water could be cut off if we don’t pay on time,” says her mother-in-law cautiously.
“Not to mention the mortgage, do you want us to get fined?” adds Deryl in frustration, just as he looks for the partner who deposited his money for investment, but can’t find him.
“I don’t want this to happen either, so let’s think for a while.” Kavita massaged her forehead. “Maybe it’s time to take our shop more seriously ....”
“You don’t think I’ve been serious about the shop?” Deryl interrupts.
“I didn’t say that, did I mention your name earlier?”
“You know, Deryl!” snapped Karin, making Deryl glance at her sharply.
“The shop will be profitable if managed with the right financial system,” Kavita said slowly. “So from now on, you have to use simple bookkeeping, at least you know how much profit the shop makes every day. You can use that profit to pay for your monthly expenses. Including Karin’s school fees, electricity and water.”
Deryl’s face was now as gloomy as Karin’s.
“Seriously, the profit from the next few days is enough to cover it all!” Deryl said, with a headache.
To Be Continued—