FORTUNATE BRIDE?

/1/ XANDER RUSHWORTH, MY HUSBAND

It was an extremely cloudy and harsh night. Most of the shops on the streets had been closed, and not many people were around. The serene atmosphere of the place was soon disturbed with the wails of a woman who was running on the cold street barefoot while four guards were chasing behind her.

Due to the darkness that surrounded her, she successfully managed to dodge them and reached farther away. Though her feet were hurting immensely, she still kept moving while wiping the sweat by the cloth of the draped end of her saree.

Soon, her steps halted when a car pulled in front of her. The man came out of the car with a grin evident on his face. Niti began to grit her teeth and mumbled ‘sorry’ in a low voice. There was not only a sense of dejection but also fear in her mind. It was evident when she stepped back a little.

The nearer he got, the further she attempted to move. The guards had been following her. Therefore, after they caught up with her, they stood behind her waiting for the boss’s instruction. The man, on the other hand, was fast approaching her from the front. As she looked around, she realised that she was stuck between them with no possible escape. The moment he grabbed her wrist, few tears escaped her miserable eyes.

"Don't be scared, dear. I am not going to hurt you. But you should remember that I have instructed you several times to not leave me behind, but you still dare to have the nerve to go against my word, Niti? … You didn't even care to look at the time. It's almost 11 pm. Is this the time to run around the streets like hooligans?" The man glared in eagerness to receive a response.

As Niti had been running for a considerable amount of time, she appeared quite exhausted and was panting heavily. Since she hadn’t been able to catch her breath back, she struggled invariably to explain anything at that moment. He wasn't the kind of man to wait around for her to speak. While Niti's gaze was fixated on the ground, the man reminded her, "Remember, I'm your husband. You belong to me. That’s why you must always ask me before leaving the house."

She became extremely anxious to hear him say that, for obvious reasons.

Due to the lack of response from her side, he firmed his grasp over her wrist, and then dragged her towards the car. Since she knew his habit of hatred for resistance, she gave in.

Thereupon, he declared, "Come on! Let's go now. Enough running away for today."

Niti appeared vulnerable and complied with what the man had told her to do as she couldn't defy his words, for the man was her lawfully wedded husband. Without any defiance, she got inside the car. Though she hadn’t opposed going back to the villa with him, there still was fear in her mind. This was particularly why she retained her gaze outside the window during their journey back to their ‘home’.

As they reached the estate, the man got out of the car and went towards her side to unlock the door. Niti was surprised by the sudden display of gentleness as he had never cared to open the door for her in the past two months of their marriage.

"Come, let's go inside, " implored the man. He stretched his hand in her direction, but she failed to respond. As Niti was in a pensive state of mind, she failed to hear him when he called out her name.

"Niti? Don't your ears work???" yelled the husband while shaking her. Niti flinched due to the sudden disruption, apologised, and then made her way out of his car. The moment she placed her foot on the ground, she winced in pain. Xander observed her wails but stood aloof to her pain.

"Who told you to run off barefoot? Now, pay for your stupidity!" said the man as he pushed her back into the car, and shut the main door on her face. While she struggled to gain back the balance, he didn’t bother to look for her and left her outside in the harsh night.

The poor woman stood while garnering the support from the pillar which was adjacent to her, and managed to move ahead while wobbling. As the door was locked, she stood at the entrance and glared hopelessly.

Her husband, Xander was delighted to see her suffer. As he had enough fun, he reclined on the couch out of exhaustion. Niti anticipated from his actions that he wasn't coming back. Therefore, she peeked at the exit door, but guards were prowling around it while eying her in the most feral manner. There was no choice. If she had stayed outside, she didn’t know what might transpire with her. Due to the huge drop in temperature, her fingers shivered as she knocked on the door while calling out his name, "Xander! Open up, please! It's cold! I'm cold! ... Please!"

Xander opened up his eyes and responded, "Honey, you just took a run. It's good that it's cold. You need to cool yourself, right?"

She finally fell on her knees and let out a painful sob, cursing that very moment when she decided to marry him. Since she realised he wasn’t going to come out, she stopped crying and settled on the floor at one corner.

After realising that there was no wailing noise anymore, Xander finally stood and felt he might have been too lenient as she didn’t cry for long. Just then he decided to let her in to punish her further. He galloped to the main door and smiled while even imagining what he was going to do.

While opening the door for her, he grinned like Cheshire cat to see her falling apart.

“Do you feel remorse now?” Xander stood proudly in front of her. While covering her shivering body with her saree, she looked away while refusing to respond.

Infuriated by the ignorance, he promptly moved to her side and went closer to grumble, "How many times shall I say the same thing again? … It seems that you don't understand me.”

Niti shook her head while trembling consistently. She still maintained the silence and decided to not speak to him. Further inraged, he pushed her inside the house with a sluggish thrust. Due to the sudden force, she ended up falling harshly on her face. Due to which, she had her knees scraped. Instead of helping the poor woman, Xander laughed to see the trail of blood on her knees. Nonetheless, Niti picked herself up but failed pitifully. Therefore, Xander moved towards her and decided to carry her in his arms as he understood that she couldn't walk. After taking her to the bedroom, he threw her roughly on their bed.

The moment she glared into his vicious eyes, her legs began to shiver on their own. Subsequently, he moved closer to her and placed his hand upon her cheek. Niti winced as she began to crawl backwards. Xander smiled proudly to peek into her terrified eyes.

"You look so beautiful now, wife. I love it when you're so submissive. It just makes me want to tease you more, my love, " uttered the husband.

Niti gave him a disgusted look and removed his hand away from her cheek. Like a lamb in a lion’s den, Niti pleaded, "P… please, leave me alone. I don't want to… I mean, don't hurt me. Please."

Xander, on the other hand, mocked her pitifulness while scampering towards her. Her pleas fell on deaf ears as he began undraping her saree. Her eyes widened in astonishment as he snatched the whole saree away. She tried to cover her upper body with her hands while there was a skirt beneath to protect her chastity.

While glaring at her dumbfounded face, Xander bounded her legs and hands sternly with the saree as she whimpered like a child, and attempted to get away from him. He then held one of her legs in his hand and glared at the bruises intensely.

"Your legs are heavily bruised. Wait for me, I will come back after fetching an ointment for you, “ exclaimed Xander.

Niti shivered constantly because she knew he wasn't that forgiving and aiding. He just doesn't let people be, especially after they've crossed him. Just when she heard his steps approaching her, she closed her eyes and prayed from her Gods to help her escape the devil.

The man instead of an ointment returned with an iron rod. The moment she saw the man with a devious grin moving towards her with the rod in his hand, Niti stirred continuously to free herself from the bondage but it was of no use.

"Love, you said that you will not leave, but you still did, " spoke Xander while leaning towards her.

Niti trembled relentlessly while pleading, "I will never do that … Don't hurt me. Please."

Not willing to forgive, Xander gave a harsh beating to her right foot. Due to the burning pain, she cried in helplessness.

Then, he held the same foot in his hands and asked in a soft voice, "It hurts, doesn't it? …. That's how I feel when you cross me or ignore my instruction. Niti, my love, I have told you several times to only do what you're told, but you never understood any of that. Why would you do that? You take me for a fool, right?"

Niti's eyes were filled with tears as the pain was too extreme to ignore. Unable to take any more of the insult and hardship, she closed her eyes and begged, "Please don't hurt me!... I can't!"

The more she pleaded, the more excited he got. As a result, he gave her another rough beating on her other foot as well while she yelled and cried in extreme agony.

"I will … never leave you! … Please… Don't hurt me," pleaded the poor wife while joining her hands for the sake of procuring mercy from him.

But, the demon just couldn't stop himself now that he has seen her cries.

He just simply grabbed her neck and yelled, "When I told you not to leave me … I think I pleaded too, didn't I? … But you didn't listen."

Niti shook her head to express her disapproval, and said, "I will change. Yes, I...will change but please don't hurt me!"

Xander smirked to see he finally apologise for a mistake she didn’t even commit, and turned her over and placed two gentle kisses upon her feet. She finally stopped weeping. Just when he finally saw her calm down a little, he dug his teeth inside the torn skin of her feet, and she squealed. It was extremely heart wrenching to witness something of that sort. Though the servants were listening discreetly, they couldn't do anything. They had tears in their eyes due to the guilt for not being able to be there to help the poor woman.

As she couldn't take the pain anymore, she lost her consciousness.

After beating her relentlessly, Xander grabbed her listless body and took her to a dark room. He left her in that room and smiled to observe her sleeping face. He knew Niti was scared of the dark. So, he deliberately chose the room to torture her.

Moreover, it was the room in which his mother had been slaughtered, and Niti was well aware of that. Xander moved towards the poor woman, sat beside her and called out her name while caressing her cheek, "My wife, open up your eyes. Your husband is waiting."

Niti didn't even flinch. The man was beginning to lose his patience. So, he pinched her cheek while humming, "Wake up! Wake up! … My dear wife!"

Niti finally moved a little and groaned due to the burning sensation upon her foot. Xander, on the other hand, grabbed her head and placed it over his lap.

Niti closed her eyes and pleaded in a broken voice, "P… Please, I can't take it anymore. Don't hurt me… If you won't stop, I will die."

Xander chuckled as he grabbed her hairs fiercely and yelled, "I know your limit, love. You don't! … I will decide to do whatever I want with you. When we got married, everyone told me, you belong to me now. That means you are my belonging … like a toy. It is my wish if I will choose to play with you or break you. The toy doesn't get to decide."

Niti was shocked to her core after listening to his explanation and closed her eyes in defeat.

Xander let go of her hairs and went out while Niti stirred continuously to get herself free. Usually, he comes back within a second, but this time he took longer. So, she understood he was up to something. She tried to take advantage of his absence and crawled towards the corner of the bed.

The moment she placed her feet on the floor, she winced in pain. The pain was so unbearable but she had to escape or she would have to go through a whole lot of worse pain, she told herself.

"The last time I tried to lock myself inside the bathroom, he made me walk around the house… entirely naked for the whole day. I can't hide there anymore. With my current condition, I can't even walk to another room… Where will I go?" Niti whined while sobbing.

The sound of the footsteps soon came towards the room and she knelt and crawled beneath the bed. She could see the footsteps of the man getting closer to the bed as her heart began to pound loudly in her chest. Xander kept something heavy upon the bed and moved along the room while checking the bathroom and the huge cupboard.

"Where did you go, my wife? … How can you still defy your husband when I just taught you a lesson… Is this how you repay the generous person, my wife?" Xander asked while Niti, who was hiding inside the bed had covered her mouth to stop herself from making any sound.

He continued, "Dear wife, I know what to do. I will just visit the orphanage and do the opposite of what I have promised. You wouldn't mind, right?"

Niti furrowed her brows as a painful whimper escaped her mouth. Her eyes widened in astonishment as her mouth betrayed her at that moment because of fear.

Xander heard her soft cry. So, he knelt and peaked beneath the bed to observe his woman and grinned deviously to see her trembling. 

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AUTHOR’S NOTE

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