Page 34 of Married in Vengeance

“Arrey, but look at her!” Dhanvantri Gadde would not be deterred. “The lipstick is also the wrong shade. This doesn’t work with her dusky skin tone at all. She’s too dark for this colour.”

Aadhya’s face tightened, the insult slicing through her already frayed composure.

“I said she looks fine.” Ram’s father had clearly had enough.

“Shelooks better than fine.” Ram’s voice cut through the rising argument. “She looks beautiful. And her name, for those of you who seem to have forgotten it,” he added mildly. “Is Aadhya.”

Silence fell around the little group. Aadhya shut her mouth, her perception of her marriage making the ground under her feet shift a little.

“Let’s go, Nanna.” Ram swept a hand towards the door. “I thought we were late. Either we leave now or I’m going back to my room to get into bed. Take your pick.”

With a muttered huff, his father walked out, with his mother trailing behind. Ram held out his arm to Aadhya.

“Shall we?” he asked. “If you still want to go that is.”

As she slipped her hand into the crook of his arm, Aadhya was surprised to realise that yes, she really did want to.

Nineteen

RAM

Breakfastthe next morning was a quiet affair. His father spent most of it buried behind his newspaper, occasionally muttering to himself. His mother nibbled at her bowl of fruit, not bothering to look up from her phone.

Ram’s gaze snagged on Aadhya who ate her boiled eggs and toast with single minded focus, like she needed to swallow it all in seconds and bolt from the horror that was a Gadde family meal.

Would it kill anyone in this family to eat a masala dosa? Or some puri aloo? Or an aloo paratha? He stared down at his cereal, his stomach revolting at the thought of another bland, tasteless, healthy meal.

“Excuse me.” Aadhya dabbed at her mouth with her napkin and pushed back from the table. “I have to get to work. I have early meetings. Bye Athama, bye Mamagaru.”

She ducked beneath the marble dining table and quickly touched their feet before dashing for the door. A second later, she was gone. She either hadn’t noticed she hadn’t said bye to him or she didn’t care to.

Did he care? Interestingly, he didn’t know the answer. He knew he shouldn’t but there was a small portion of his heart that still chafed at being shut out by her.

“Amma,” he said, dragging his eyes from the door as it shut behind Aadhya.

“Hmm?” His mother tapped on something on her phone.

“You can’t talk to Aadhya the way you did last night.”

The newspaper to his right stopped rustling even as his mother slowly put her phone down and met his gaze.

“Excuse me?” she asked, frost coating her words. It was the most emotion he’d seen her show in years.

Ram swallowed, knowing this was going to be unpleasant but not willing to back down. “You can’t make remarks about her complexion.”

“Everything I said was a fact.”

“How would you like it if someone said something like that to Raashi or Veda?”

His mother looked mildly bewildered. “They’re not dark.”

“Amma.” Ram’s patience was fraying. “You know what I’m trying to tell you. Don’t act like you don’t.”

To his right, the newspaper slowly lowered. “Don’t talk to your mother like that.”

“Then tell her not to talk to my wife like that,” Ram returned coolly. “I won’t stand for it.”

His father’s eyebrows shot up. “It’s like that, is it?” he asked, wry derision in his voice.

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