Four years ago, my world turned upside down when I discovered that my husband Arjun had been cheating on me with our young nanny. The betrayal cut deep — especially because he was the only man I had ever been with since our arranged marriage. I had always taken care of myself, kept in shape, dressed nicely for him, and given him everything a wife could. Yet it wasn’t enough. In my anger, I kicked him out of our beautiful 3BHK apartment in Hyderabad’s Banjara Hills and started divorce proceedings immediately. For months we lived separately while the legal battle continued. One evening, Arjun’s father — Uncle Vikram, who was 62 at the time — came over to collect some of his son’s remaining documents and clothes. Uncle Vikram and I had always shared a warm, respectful relationship. He was a retired army officer, tall, well-built, and carried himself with quiet dignity. He asked me gently what had really happened, because Arjun had been blaming me for everything and he didn’t believe a wor...
Every weekend, my husband Vikram and I love hosting small game nights at our 2BHK apartment in Pune’s Hinjewadi. It’s usually just us and one close friend — this time it was our common friend Karan, who works in the same IT park as Vikram. We had ordered some snacks, cracked open a few beers, and were playing a mix of Left 4 Dead 2 and some horror games, taking turns on the couch. The small living room got really warm quickly with the TV and console running, plus three slightly tipsy bodies packed together. After a while, Karan got tired of playing and lay down on the other side of the couch, scrolling through his phone. Now it was just Vikram and me continuing the game. It was getting uncomfortably hot, so I went to the bedroom and changed into something lighter — a thin white tank top with no bra underneath and loose cotton shorts that rode up my thighs. When I came back and sat cross-legged on the couch, I noticed Karan glancing over from time to time. At first I thought not...