The rest of the day went uneventful thankfully. I am done with work for today and just have a meeting regarding this month cases. As usual, the department auditorium is filled, today, there are other departments including anesthesiology, paediatrics and plastic surgery. So Sid and Karthik are also there. Sid and his friends from paediatrics sat together whereas Karthik sat with the devil. I waved at them and went to sit with my department.

"Good evening everyone. Since there are other department residents and professors who also joined with us, let us first discuss the conjoined surgery with them and once they are done we will discuss the remaining cases. As we all need to work together for the case, for which surgery is in just three weeks, starting tomorrow we will do intense preparation. So, we will be dividing into teams for various stages of the surgery" Prof. Acharya opened the meeting.

And so the intense discussion and allotment of teams went on for almost two hours. Everyone is assigned a role. Totally four main surgery teams are created each containing neurosurgeons, paediatrics, anaesthesia and plastic surgery. Every department assigned its own residents in the corresponding teams. Also, nurses and other technical staff were also divided. The first team opens the skulls of the conjoined twins and separates all the nerves, blood vessels in the brains of the twins. This alone will take almost ten hours. Once separated, the plastic surgeons will separate the girls. Then the third and fourth teams will close the twins individually. The paediatrics will monitor the babies throughout the surgery.

Since this operation takes more than 20 hours, we need four teams as it is impossible for one doctor to do the surgery. The first team is headed by Prof. Acharya and Prof. Agarwal from plastic surgery who will be assisted by Dhruv sir and Arjun sir along with me, Hussain and Nidhi, other plastic surgeons and other nurses, technical staff. The second team is an entirely plastic surgeon team and some of our other residents. The third and fourth teams consist of a mix of neuro and plastic surgeons. They are headed by Dr Patel and Dr Chadda of our other neuro team doctors. Natasha mam and Ishaan sir were assigned with them along with Tanya, Joseph and Samar our other residents and some other junior residents.

So, the entire team has a total of 107 members including nurses, compounders and other technical staff. A surgery this big has to have so much preparation. Once the discussion is complete, the other departments left and we continued with our other cases. Once the meeting is done I left the hospital and went to the hostel to grab my things as I have to shift to this apartment. My mom's orders. Sid came to help me with the move. I didn't vacate the hostel because no one knows that I am married. I just grabbed most of my dresses leaving some there in the hostel for emergency purposes. I told Nidhi and Tanya that I am moving to my parent's apartment as they are staying in Delhi because of work and that I am staying with them.

When we brought the luggage downstairs I saw the devil's car. Sid told me that he gave Sid his car to help me shift as it is difficult to shift the luggage on Sid's motorbike and my scooty. I followed Sid on my scooty and parked. Sid left for his hostel as soon as getting my luggage to the apartment as he is sleepy. I too slept soon after that.

When I woke up in the morning, I noticed that the kitchen is almost empty with no groceries. So, I went to a mart and bought the groceries and other essentials for the apartment as it has practically nothing. Once I came back, I organised everything and cooked something for me and him as his shift will be done by 3 PM. I ate and left for my shift at noon. Since I am not in the hostel there is no cafeteria to eat, so I have to do the cooking and I highly doubt that he can cook.

The next month went on like that. I went to work as usual and he and I had minimal interaction. Even when practising for the conjoined surgery, I always practise with Dhruv sir and he practises with Hussain and Nidhi as we have different shifts. We only were together when our shifts overlapped as we have thirty-six-hour shifts. Sid and I have almost the same shifts, so he will come to the apartment for food. Karthik too joins him sometimes. Once or twice, the devil joined us, but we didn't talk that much. Mostly Sid and Karthik do the talking. We were just polite with each other. When he and I are alone in the house, he sometimes washes the dishes and cuts some vegetables. We barely talk.

I must say he is very lazy. He doesn't do laundry. On the third day when I was doing the vacuum, I went into his room to see the bed is filled with books, a laptop, his towel and his clothes. So from then, I cleaned his room. I hate tardiness. And he also didn't mention anything so I figured that if he didn't want me to do them he will tell me and he didn't so I did. Since it is difficult for me to do the housework after a gruelling 36-hour shift, I hired house help. So now I just have to cook.

I didn't forget Sharanya. I call her at least twice a day but her mobile is still switched off. I also didn't forget to think about how to come out of this marriage without hurting our families. I also want to see if there any clauses for divorce so that our companies won't suffer. For that, I need to see the contract and for that, I have to ask him. I can't ask my dad or Srikanth since they will worry about me. So today I will ask him when he comes home. I have a noon shift tomorrow and he has a week-off, so I will ask him tomorrow.

Thankfully, our families are giving us our space. They just call. I regularly speak with his parents, Amit dadu and sometimes with his sister. They didn't once come to the apartment. I am glad that they are not crowding us and pressuring us to be in a relation. Sid and Karthik also do not make any awkward comments even though I am sure that they are giving updates to our families. It is just as if we both are roommates. I hadn't even told my plans to Sid because he won't approve them. He is old school that way. He wants me to give this marriage a chance. So it is better to work alone in this.

The next morning, I was doing my work in the kitchen. I heard movement beside me to find him drinking water.

"Good Morning"

"Good morning Sir"

"Give me some work"

"Yes. You can cut these carrots and beans sir"

Then we silently did our work. He washed the dishes as I cooked. We both ate breakfast in silence. And when he was about to leave his room, I called him.

"Sir?" he turned and looked at me questioningly.

"Um...can we talk?" I asked him.

He nodded.

"Um...Can I see the contract once?" I asked him cautiously.

"Why?"

"Uh...I just want to see the contract once" I don't want to tell him that I am looking for any loopholes.

"I have it in my system. I will mail it to you. Please be careful that it won't fall into the hands of media" he told me.

"Yes Sir".

We both left to our respective rooms and I got the mail in the next hour but I don't have time to read it now as I have to go to work. I will read it once I come from work.

Once I came from work, I immediately opened the contract and started reading it. After one paragraph, I am lost. There are too many technical terms corresponding to business. It is better if I get professional help. I can't ask my family lawyer or his family lawyer because they will go straight to our parents with the information.

So I called one of my schoolmates who is a lawyer now. After some discussion with him, and his assurance that he won't tell anyone about the contract, I mailed him the contract and he asked me to meet him that evening so that he can study the contract in the meantime. I also messaged devil to come to my friend's office so that we both can get the information.

I reached my friend Gowtham's office and was chatting with him when the devil came glaring at me. Once the introductions were done, we sat and discussed this.

"Anu, I have gone through the contract. There is no mention of divorce. So you guys can get a divorce if you guys want and it won't affect the companies", Gowtham explained.

Arjun sir turned stiff and he was holding the armrest very forcefully. He is still angry that I involved an outside lawyer. But this discussion is necessary.

"That's good Gowtham. Is it possible to get an annulment? I think that's better in this situation" I asked him. The devil is silent next to me.

"Anu, you both are adults, not minors. So annulment is kind of difficult to get in your circumstances without slandering your families or your husband"

"What do you mean?" I asked him.

"Annulment can only be granted on certain conditions: Any of the spouses is a mentally disordered person but has given the valid consent for marriage; Any of the spouses is suffering from the venereal disease which is in a communicable form; The wife is pregnant with some other person at the time of marriage. These three conditions can be proved easily. There are two more conditions; one is any of the spouses did not provide free consent to it. For that, you have to say your or your husband's family forced you and him"

"No. I don't want my family to be involved in this. What is the last condition?" I asked Gowtham.

"Umm...No consummation of marriage because of incapacity of the partner..." he looked cautiously at Arjun sir as he told that.

"I am perfectly able to consummate this marriage without any problems", Arjun Sir sharply barked at Gowtham intimidating him.

Gowtham cleared his throat.

"And moreover, an annulment will nullify the marriage making your marriage certificate invalid. So the companies will face problems. That's why I didn't suggest you that. I think divorce is most suitable for you guys" he explained to me.

"But, you have to apply for mutual divorce since you guys don't want to slander each other. And it is difficult to get a divorce as of now. Because it's not even been a month since you guys married and you have to prove that you guys are living separately for at least a year. Even if you apply now, the court itself will reject the divorce showing the timeline and asks you to give the marriage a chance unless you want to prove that your husband is abusing you or that you are abusing him"

"So there is no chance for a divorce now".

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