Inside their contemporary mansion, Madrat whistles sweet melodies with his mouth as he walks to the kitchen to meet his favorite smoothie in the refrigerator. He can't wait to quench his throat, particularly after being enticed by his beloved wife.
After all, life is moving in his favor _ exactly how he calculated.
He pulled the refrigerator door open as soon as he approached it. Eyes on the ice cold blue plastic two litre bottle relaxing down in the middle section of the wide fridge, Madrat sighed, mesmerized.
"Dont worry smoothie, I got you!"
And picked it out, exhibiting crave.
'Shake well before you drink' _ as the saying goes, well remembered, Madrat shook the drink thrice in a row, opened it up and poured down the throat instantly. Imitating his wife, joyously proving his unwavering appetite for what he just drank:
"Aaaah.., so refreshing!"
Giving the juice bottle an intense look after three good swallows, Madrat decided to treat himself with some more before he stepped out of the kitchen.
Next destination, his wife at the pool side, so that he can smear some lotion on her back and shoulders, and maybe her legs, then accompany the smear with a perfect relaxing massage. Rest assured, he is the best at it and Shee Bah complements him regularly. Of course a massage from her husband is one of the nutritious diets she craves from him at any given time. And now, as a romantic man, a happy home first before driving out to meet habits.
So punctual and accurate, Madrat closed the refrigerator door and found his way out of the smart kitchen, too bossy.
*****
Fifteen minutes later, after she had waited by the pool hands crossed for the smoothie trap she devised as a bait to catch a suspected lier, Shee Bah stood up under a lot of tension about her decision to drug the husband. She wasn't sure of what to expect when she goes to enter inside the mansion.
Clinging on remorse, Shee Bah's mind lost focus somehow.
"This is, overall, a terrible idea."
But she remembered her main aim for doing what she had done. So, she had to stay anchored, not to loose focus, refusing to be weakened.
Nervously, she said to herself:
"Relax Shee Bah. You've done what you had to do. No need to cowardice."
Twisting her face in nervous anticipation, she finally walked majestically upto the front door. Courageously, Shee Bah stretched a hand and pushed the door open before she walked in. Ready to taste the waters inorder to get the results, she began to call, looking around the living room anxiously:
"Honey! Sweetheart...!"
Having opened the door partially, a quater way before she walked in, she passed by him almost behind the door.
And when she turned her head, there Madrat was, knocked unconscious by the smoothie, down on the floor laying on his stomach like a sleeping drunkard. Dead or alive, her husband's vegetable condition gave her a simple grin. By a wide margin, also the whole smoothie had spilled out of the bottle, down on the marble floor.
Later on in the evening, Madrat wakes up well laid under white sheets on their matrimonial bed. Shee Bah was right there watching over him so patiently.
She blurted immediately he arose from a long sleep:
"Oh, finally! Didn't know you were that tired to sleep for six hours nonstop. And, since you hate bothering you during your sleep, I chose to watch from a distance."
He jumped out of bed sheets as if there was a termite inversion.
"What?! Oh, no..!"
Carrying both hands on top of the head like his favorite team had missed by a whisker to score in the last minute, eyes moving around, he asks desperately:
"My phone?"
Of Course Shee Bah had it in hand. She gave it back randomly unbothered:
"Here."
In panicked, Madrat collected it out of her hand. Looking at the clock on the phone screen:
"Goddammit!"
Immediately after cursing, here they came _ ten missed calls and a text message _ not from his manager but from the new model on the block; his wife's nightmare Angie. A guilty eye turned to the wife. She shrugged and sat back on the bedroom chair facing their smart kingsize bed _ a clear sign that she needed to talk about it.
Of course, Madrat read the writings on the wall perfectly well.
For all the two years of marriage, on finger tips he can tell the difference in each of his wife's gesture. So, he sat down uncomfortably on the bed before he faced her.
Defensively, Madrat started:
"Look, um... it's my manager's plan."
Shee Bah was attentively listening, Knowing more than what he thought she knew. But, respectfully, she needed to here more, and nothing but the truth from him, a person she cherished with total submissiveness as her husband.
He added asking:
"You trust me, right?"
Obediently, Shee Bah didn't hesitate to node her head yes. Looking like he had something of reason to say about the matter but he was only going in circles.
"I can't cheat on you. And you know that, right?"
Frankly speaking, Shee Bah replied with distaste:
"I never said you're cheating on me!"
Madrat's guilt was written in his face. Finally, tension brought him to blame his lack of a clear explanation on how she's staring:
"Your eyes, it's your eyes here now!"
She asked wondering:
"My eyes?! What about my eyes?"
Shee Bah sighed a relief and looked straight in his face. Composed, it was her turn now to speak. So, she asked sensitively:
"Are both of you dating?"
Denying instantly like he was behind police lines:
"No, just a public stunt, and it will end soon."
Shee Bah stood up from the chair, hands akimbo:
"Then, how comes it's only me, your wife, who doesn't know about the so called public stunt?"
With fingers she gestured (so called public stunt) in apostrophe quotes. And before he opened his mouth to give an answer, on the side table Shee Bah's phone was laying undisturbed. She stepped nearer and picked it, opened direct where the recieved photos saved and, straight to his face near his eyes she turned the screen.
"I guess you can as well stutter a reasonable explanation for this!"
Now, this was another show to run. Watching pictures of himself in a close combat _ not of deadly kicks and blows or even Kung fu. This was an intimate one, involving two people of opposite sex. In the first take, both are holding hands,walking shoulder to shoulder on a red carpet. And in the second take, still the same people, Madrat and Angie seems like they're in a kissing competition whereby the winning team was to keep their heads on their necks and the looser were to die.
Interpreting the photo, their lips strongly crashed wet.
By mere thinking of it, Shee Bah felt so much betrayed. And now that she opened her inbox and set eyes on the photos again, she automatically had herself lost in pain again.
She began to loose control.