Adultery Beloved Mother

[your_harem_manager]

The next four nights passed with Mother sleeping fitfully beside Father, her body stiff even in sleep. Every time she turned, she winced at the bruises Rakesh left hadn’t fully faded. I watched her from my corner of the room, memorizing the way her fingers trembled when she braided her hair each morning.

Rakesh called me to the garage twice, his voice casual but his eyes sharp. "Your mother’s health?" he asked, polishing a wrench with an oily rag. I lied, saying she had fever. He hummed, tossing the rag aside. "Bad timing," he said, thumbing through a ledger. His grin made my stomach churn.

Then, on the fifth evening, he arrived unannounced. Three heavy thuds shook our flimsy door. I opened the door to his bulk filling the frame, he held roses wrapped in newsprint, petals wilting in the heat. "For your father’s health," he said loudly, stepping inside. The lie hung between us like a noose. I knew he had brought those flowers for my mother and not for my father. Mother froze in the kitchen doorway, her nightgown clinging to her damp back from steam. The neckline slipped, revealing a fading bruise.