Adultery Chess Game by urbanslut

[Ramesh_Rocky]

I laid out the breakfast on the table and called Dhruv to join me. He walked to the table, and took no note of the new dress at all. He was always bad at these things, and I knew he would not notice it. He had some printouts in his hand, and a busy look on his face as he read them. Without saying anything to me, he sat down, cut off a piece of the omelette and put it on his mouth.

"Thoo!!!" he said as he spat it out. "What the fuck!!!"

"What happened?" I asked, worried.

"There is no salt in this omelette. It is completely tasteless." Dhruv said, in an annoyed voice. He then picked up the cup of tea, took a sip and made a face. "And there is no sugar in the tea!"

"Oh shit! I am so sorry, Dhruv. I was distracted." I said, running to the kitchen to get sugar and salt.

"Distracted? Hahh!" Dhruv said derisively raising his voice. "What the hell do you have to be distracted by? You sit at home all day doing nothing. And you can't even do simple things like adding salt and sugar where they belong."

"Shut up Dhruv!" I shot back, struggling to not cry in front of Ratna. "Don't make a mountain out of a molehill."

"Hmpff..mountains...molehills..." he mumbled as I walked out with the salt and sugar. "Let it be. I am leaving. I'll get breakfast on the way."

"Come on, Dhruv. I made it for you. Don't walk away from food."

"You're saying you made it for me as if it is some gourmet delicacy. It's fucking omelette, Prerna. Even kids can get it right, but you can't." he said, putting his shoes on.

"Fine, you don't want to eat? Don't eat!" I screamed. Ratna, who was standing at the kitchen door, looked surprised, and rushed back inside the kitchen.

"There comes another tantrum. I can't deal with this stupidity right now." Dhruv said, picked up his bag and started walking out. I got so peeved at his calling me stupid, I picked up the plate with his uneaten omelette and threw it at him. But he had already closed the door behind him and the plate hit the door with a loud clang.

As I saw the mess that I made on the floor, I sat on the chair and started crying, not caring that Ratna could see it. Ratna gingerly walked out of the kitchen after a while and went to the door. Although cleaning was not part of her job, she started picking up the omelette and toast pieces from the floor and put them on the plate. She then got a rag from the kitchen and wiped the floor. By then I had stopped crying.

"It happens, memsaab. This is what marriage is." she feebly said. I stayed silent.

"My husband also acts like this. And so I have made mistakes." she continued. "But you are intelligent, educated. You should not make mistakes."

"Mistakes?" I said. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Any mistakes. Just because our husbands act badly at times, we should not do something wrong." she said.

"Ratna." I said, pressing my forehead. "I am really not in the mood for this mumbo jumbo. Don't you have clothes to wash?"

"Yes. Okay." she went to the bathroom to wash the clothes.

I was feeling like crap. I thought of telling the colonel to postpone our chess match. But then decided against it. A game of chess and winning some money is exactly what I needed to get Dhruv's nonsense out of my head. I needed to unwind and chess helped me unwind. In fact I needed to unwind before I started getting weepy and upset again.

So I went to the sink, washed my face and wiped it. I then took off the apron, and went to the bathroom,

"Ratna, I am going out. When you're done with the clothes, just pull the door shut when you leave, and the latch will lock." I said, and turned to leave when,

"Wait!" Ratna said. "Where are you going?"

"What? it's none of your business where I am going. Focus on your work, Ratna." I said, pissed off at her nosiness.

"You are going to his house, aren't you? Don't go, memsaab. Just stay away from him." Ratna started saying. But I was already walking away. She was still saying something, but I was out of earshot, walking out of the apartment and closing the door behind me.

"You're early!" the colonel said with a smile when I walked in through his unlocked door.

"Yes. Let's get on with it." I said curtly and walked to the chair.

"No hello? No good morning?" the colonel said smirking as he sat down in his chair.

"I am really not in the mood, colonel. Let's just play chess." I shot back.

"Okay. Okay. But first, let me see the money." he said.

"What?" I asked.

"The money. The 3200 rupees. Let's have it on the table." he said.

"I don't have it with me right now." I said.

"Why not? And what do I get if I win, then?" he asked.

"Trust me, you won't win." I said arrogantly.

"Yes, but what if I do?"

"You won't!" I said.

"Yes, but what if I do? Why don't you just go to your house and get it?" he said. I stayed silent. "What happened?"

"I don't have it. I spent it all. On this dress." I pointed to it. "I bought this dress."

"For 3200 rupees? That's one heck of an expensive dress!" the major who had been silent until now piped up.

"So what? What is it to you?" I snapped at him.

"Okay, you don't have that money. But you must have some money at home. Get that." the colonel said.

"I... it won't be much." I said.

"Fine. Whatever it is, we'll play for it. But we're not playing unless you put some money on the table."

I looked at him angrily for a few seconds and then walked out of the apartment without a word. I went back to the house, into the bedroom and opened the cupboard. This is where we kept the money for our daily expenses. I could at least double that, I thought. I counted it - 2135 rupees. I grabbed the money, and went back to the colonel's apartment.