Ahanay had changed into track pants and a plain t-shirt, leaving his wife to shrivel like a raisin in the water. He expected her to wake up soon or die from hypothermia, but all he heard were sempiternal snores. Sighing, he picked her up from the pool, wrapped her in a fuzzy towel like a burrito and carried her next door, placing her on the large bed. Her wet hair fell around her head in thick clumps and gently, he began untwining them. Her hair was as wild as her, a mix of waves and curls that couldn't decide on their own identity. Grabbing another towel and sitting next to her, he began rubbing her soaked hair, being as light and tender as he could with his heavy hands.

She twitched suddenly in her sleep and he froze, his heart beating fast.

Why was she so reckless? He recalled the instinctual panic kicking him in the gut when she didn't try to swim back up in the pool. And to pass out in a pool, half-naked? How could she trust a man she had hardly been married to like that? Was she so rash with that special friend of hers as well?

He hadn't forgotten about him. He had to know who was frolicking with his wife at odd hours and getting her drunk. It had to stop. He would make it stop.

Drying her hair till the frizz cropped up and curled on top of her head like little springs, he let go, pulling the blanket to her chin. Just as he stooped to kiss her forehead, his phone buzzed, drawing his eyes to the nightstand. A good night message from his girlfriend- Priya.

Swallowing the lump that lodged itself in his throat at that message, he picked up his phone and texted her back. He wasn't cheating on her by getting naked in front of Naina. He had informed her of the seduction plan and she approved it as long as it meant getting rid of his wife. But how was he supposed to seduce this snoring creature and kill her when she was barely awake for him?

It had never been this hard with other women. Or rather, he had never been this hard for other women.

Running a hand through his damp hair in frustration and taking one last look at her sleeping figure, he stormed out of the room. He wouldn't be able to hold back if he slept next to her, it would be as torturous as a beautiful deer standing in front of a starving and caged lion. Quickly, he exited the bathroom for a cold shower.

* * *

Ahanay woke up sneezing. He had been in that bath, then again under the cold shower for way too long. He was literally falling sick for love.

"No," he reminded himself. "Not love. Murder."

Just at the thought of that word as if the invisible spirits of the universe were listening to him, his phone buzzed and he absently picked the call up. "Hello, son."

Ahanay didn't say anything, his blood running cold at that familiar voice.

"I know you will never forgive me," the voice dragged on and Ahanay remembered how his mother's body was writhing in his arms as she took her last breaths. "But there are doctors here to treat and bring my stress levels down. You won't recognize me now. I'm a changed man. I'm much calmer---"

"What do you want?" he bellowed, his voice crisp and barely under his control.

"Take care of her," he said, referring to Naina. "It's only because of her dad that our company could get so successful today. He helped us in making deals and getting lands where the beggars built their dirty chawls. If it wasn't for---"

Ahanay threw his phone away, feeling his blood pump hotly in his veins. His bastard of a father had reminded him of his roots, the son of a corrupt murderer. That was all he was and could be like all powerful men in this world, a hamster running endlessly on a wheel. Trapping itself into an illusion of power and progress.

He wanted to break free, if only it wasn't for his girlfriend, Priya.

"Sir," his assistant cut his string of thoughts by knocking on the door. "Should we finalise the dinner event for the weekend?"

"Yes," he said, remembering his roots.

"Also sir." His assistant looked strangely at him. "Priya ma'am is here."

* * *

Priya sat among silk and satin dresses with dainty embroidery, puffed sleeves and price tags that could buy an entire house. Her mother carelessly threw more dresses around her till she drowned in them, clicking her tongue at the tiniest flaw like a loose thread. Despite her mother's fuss, she sat there with a stoic face, not even one word of protest.

"You have to look the best," her mother said with eyes scarily wide, sindoor smudged everywhere in her hair. "He must have forgotten how beautiful you are or else he would have never married her." She placed the dress in front of Priya, analysing her like an important painting. "Anyway, she doesn't stand a chance next to you. He'll come back to you soon. Why don't we go shopping today and get you a new dress for the dinner?"

"Maa," Priya said in almost a warning tone, but her mother was quick to dismiss her.

"We can use his card. You know he's our last hope. Word about our company's losses is already getting out, you have to marry him before that. Fast," her mother urged, still browsing the wardrobe to find something that could get her daughter married. Priya was silent through it all, she had always lived her life like that, in silence. Her life was mapped out to her by her parents and one such destination was Ahanay.

"He will marry me," she said aloud and suddenly, earning a proud smile from her mother. "I will make him marry me."

With that, she made herself more beautiful and appeared in front of Ahanay's office, determined to get married by hook or by crook. The moment she entered his office, she walked straight up to him and stood on her tiptoes, pressing her lips against his. But why was he so rigid?

She pulled away, catching the fleeting, conflicting look in his eyes before he smiled. "I didn't know you would come."

"Kiss me," she whispered, throwing her arms around him and rubbing her body against his. It was as if she was rubbing against a wall. He was never like this before. "Kiss me now."

He hesitated, but before she could point that out, he held her head and kissed her, his movements hard and mechanical. What was happening? Was her mother right? Did her beauty stop working on him?

She reached out to unbutton his shirt, but he instinctively caught her wrist.

"I have a meeting in five minutes," he lied, she could see the lie in his eyes. After all, she had known him for five years. "I'm hosting a dinner this weekend for an important deal. I sent the invitation to your house. Did you receive it?"

She should have known about this dinner before everyone else, not received a formal invitation like an outsider. "Yes."

"I will you see then," he said, hesitating once again to kiss her goodbye before leaving.

Priya stood there alone in silence, her mind loud with plans and plots to kill Naina the next time she would see her- at the dinner, this weekend.