On our wedding night, I saw a black shadow hovering over the courtyard. Early in the morning, my father-in-law came running to our room and asked us a shocking question.

On the night of the wedding, I saw a black shadow hovering over the courtyard, and early in the morning my father-in-law came running into the room and asked us a startling question…
Suddenly, on the very first day of becoming a daughter-in-law, something happened in my husband’s house that caused chaos in the whole family.

Before we decided to get married, Akhil and I dated for over two years. Akhil’s mother – Mrs. Suman – worked as a housekeeper for many years, while his father worked on a steady income of around Rs ₱200,000 per month. Whenever I visited her before marriage, Mrs. Suman would always give me a warm welcome and bring all the delicious dishes of the house to serve me. In contrast to his delight, Mr. Mahesh had a stern and stern face.

Once, I was upstairs and I heard him muttering in the kitchen:

“Why do you cook so many dishes?” You don’t earn money at home, so you don’t know the meaning of saving. Clean up a little stuff, what are you standing here for?”

When Mrs. Suman said that I will make some more dishes when I come, he was silent. Since then, whenever I spoke to Akhil’s father, I feared getting caught.

We had a wedding last Saturday. On the night of the wedding, when everyone was asleep, I heard footsteps in the courtyard, so I peeped through the window. The mango tree was blocking my view, yet I saw someone coming towards the gate. I panicked and called Akhil to wake me up. He went to look outside, but saw no one, he told me, “Think of the hen as a crow” and told me to sleep. Thinking that my husband was right, I didn’t pay any more attention.

The next morning, while we were still asleep, Mr. Mahesh repeatedly knocked on the door. As soon as the door opened, he said angrily…

“Do you know where Mom went? It’s time for Dad to go to work and he hasn’t made breakfast yet. They haven’t even finished all the housework all day!”

I suddenly told me I saw someone in the courtyard last night, maybe Mom had gone out at night. Hearing this, Akhil ran to the mother’s room and found a piece of paper under the pillow.

In the letter, Mrs. Suman summarized: She had fulfilled her responsibility as a mother, had endured enough humiliation from her cruel husband; From now on they have to live for themselves, now they can no longer be “stones” to vent their anger every day for their husbands.

Upon learning that Mom was gone, Akhil was upset and told Papa plainly: Dad had treated Mom like a maid for so many years, never praised her good deeds, and yelled at her when she made mistakes. Papa was kind to outsiders, but he treated his mother badly. If Dad doesn’t change and doesn’t bring Mom back, he’ll be alone in old age.

Mr. Mahesh kept quiet and went to his room to change clothes for work. For the past few days, we know where Mrs Suman is staying temporarily and we have tried several times to convince her, but she is still refusing to come back.

What should I do to improve my in-laws’ marriage?

Part 2 – The Promise Under the Mango Tree in Lucknow

Even after three days of marriage, Suman’s voice was missing from our house. In the morning I made masala chai, placed the cup on a cold stone table, smelled cardamom and then disappeared. Mahesh still went to work on time, his shirt was ironed, his tie had thin stripes, his face was cold as if nothing had happened. Only Akhil – my husband – occasionally peeped into the courtyard, where the long shadows of dense mango trees were like a gloomy streak.

That afternoon, we found his home: a small rented room near the Hanuman Setu temple. The light blue door was slightly open, the scent of new clothes and detergent was coming in. She was sitting on an old sewing machine stitching straight lines on a simple saree.

“Are you here?” – he looked up, his voice was calm, his eyes deep but bright.

Akhil sat down on the rattan chair and squeezed his mother’s hand gently, saying, “Mom, go home. I told my dad. I promise… If Papa keeps yelling at you, we’ll leave the house. ”

Mrs. Suman put down the scissors, smiling as if suppressing some old pain: “Mom didn’t leave the house. Bus… Where there was a sound of screaming, she left. Here, I can hear the sound of the sewing machine, my own voice. Mom didn’t come back and be a ‘rock’, my child. ”

Naglakas-loob akong magsabi, “Ma, paano kung… maglagay tayo ng ilang kondisyon? Hindi naman korte ang bahay natin, pero ang mga alituntunin ay puwedeng magdala ng init at maayos na samahan dito.”

Sandali niya akong tinitigan. “Bago ka pa lang na manugang, pero kaya mong sabihin ’yan, mainit sa pakiramdam. Sige, isulat mo. Pero tandaan mo—ang mga patakaran ay para isabuhay, hindi para manumbat.”

Kinagabihan, si Akhil at ako ay naghanda lamang ng dalawang putahe—dal tadka at aloo gobi—sadyang hindi nagluto nang sobra. Pag-uwi ni Ginoong Mahesh, nakita niya ang maayos na hapag-kainan at agad na nagtanong:

“Wala ba kayong niluto? Ganyan ba ang hapunan ngayong gabi?”

Kalma lang na sumagot si Akhil, “Ngayong gabi po ay kayo ang nakatoka sa pagluluto ayon sa bago nating iskedyul sa pamilya, Papa.”

Nagulat siya. “Kailan pa nagkaroon ng ‘bagong iskedyul’?”

Kinuha ko ang isang papel na A4 at marahang inilapag sa harap niya.

‘Kasunduan ng Pamilya ng Lucknow – 4 na Bagay’

Bawal ang sigawan sa kusina at sa hapag-kainan.

Ang pagluluto – paglalaba – pamamalengke ay may nakatakdang araw para sa lahat.

Magpasalamat kapag may naghanda ng pagkain o tumulong; humingi ng paumanhin kapag may nasabing mali.

Transparent na badyet – maglaan buwan-buwan ng tiyak na halaga para kay Mama para maging aktibo siya sa sarili niyang buhay.

Sabi niya, “Ang bagong manugang ay nagtakda ng mga patakaran.”

Sumagot si Akhil, “May trabaho rin po ako, at nilagdaan ko na ito.”

Nakita niya ang pirma ng anak. Makalipas ang ilang sandali, ibinaba niya ang bolpen at nagsulat ng maiikling linya—tapos nilagdaan din niya. Ngumiti ako. “Kaya ang ika-limang patakaran ay: Ipaalam ang pag-anyaya sa mga bisita isang araw bago. Ayos ba, Papa?”

He didn’t say anything, just nodded slightly.

That night, I heard the sound of the stove cracking. Mr. Mahesh, who had spent his entire life sitting at the dining table, was struggling to add salt. There was a faint burnt smell of fried garlic. He opened his phone and found the video “How to make tempering properly”. I stood outside the door, not going in, so that they could have their first private moment with the stove.

On the day of Raksha Bandhan, Mr. Mahesh’s younger sister – Savita aunty – arrived. He tied a rakhi on his brother’s hand and looked straight at him: “Brother, you have spent your whole life protecting the world, when did you protect your sister-in-law?”

He said that his father had scolded him a lot for dropping a bowl of rice in the courtyard. “From that day on, I felt that ‘money’ is the shield. Anyone who doesn’t make money is guilty. I did not know that my sister-in-law had fed the entire family peacefully. ”

The conversation went quiet. Akhil put the consent letter in my aunt’s hand: “Chachi, is there anything lacking?”

They nodded: “The only drawback is ‘seeing each other as human beings’. Just add one more line. ”

I added paragraph 6 with blue ink: Every day, look into each other’s eyes once and ask: “How was your/your/mom’s/mother’s day?”

Mr. Mahesh looked at the words and was silent for a long time. Then he got up, picked up the box of laddoos he had bought quickly and whispered: “Tonight… Let’s go see your mother. ”

We reached Hanuman Setu in the evening. Mrs. Suman was distributing sweets to the girls of the sewing class. She stopped when she saw us. Mr. Mahesh hesitantly pushed the laddoo forward:

“Rakshabandhan… I don’t have a rakhi, but I want to protect someone. Suman, me… Sorry. ”

I could hear the two words trembling as if they had just learned to pronounce them. Mrs. Suman took the sweets, put them aside and said softly:

“Forgiveness is not the master key. It only opens the first door. ”

Akhil gave the “Lucknow House Agreement” to his mother. He read every line slowly. When she reached section 4, she stopped and looked up: “The money is not because I want to spend it, but because I want the right to say ‘no’ to hastily prepared food and chatter. ”

Mr. Mahesh nodded: “From this month, 1/5 of the income will go to your personal account. Not ‘pocket money’, but landlord’s money. ”

She smiled lightly: “The landlord doesn’t have to have money to be the owner; It is important to respect the landlord. But… Think of me as halfway through. ”

I dared to say: ‘Mother, why won’t you come back for a month?’ Not to return to the same position as before, but to make a fresh start. If someone breaks the rules, he will be the first to get up from the table. ”

She looked at Akhil, then looked deeply into Mr. Mahesh’s eyes: “Okay. One month. But remember – shout at me again, I will go away, nothing will stop me. ”

He closed his eyes and said softly: “I remember. ”

The day she came back, we made a simple khichdi. The meal began with Mr. Mahesh’s awkward question: “How was it… “Your day?” she replied calmly: “Better than yesterday.” Akhil brought curd, I added more hot water. When the meal was over, she took the initiative to clean the dishes. I heard the sound of running water in the sink, the sound of soap bubbles bursting – sounds this house had never heard before.

Late at night, when I went to the courtyard to water the plants, my phone suddenly rang. A message from an unknown number:

“On the wedding night, Suman wasn’t the only one who stepped out of the gate. ”

Adding to it was a blurry image of the gate at 2:03 a.m. – under the mango tree, two shadows violently shaking.

I just stood there, my hands soaked. Inside, there was still the sound of spoons hitting the bowls. I looked up at the living room window where Mr. Mahesh had just hung the Lucknow House Agreement in a frame, then looked down at the screen.

Who was the second shadow?

And could an apology be the only way to keep the things that had just been made?

(To be continued – Part 3: “The Secret to the 2:03 AM Picture”)