It had been two years since the wedding, and Anya was finally starting to feel settled. She didn’t think that she was in love with Rajon yet, but she cared for him deeply and they had some good times together. In all honesty, she had lucked out. She knew that all arranged marriages didn’t work out as well as hers. A couple of her cousins and friends were miserable and saw no hope for a comfortable marriage, let alone a loving one.

In contrast to his domineering appearance, Rajon was kind and gentle with Anya. She had seen him lose his temper numerous times while on the phone with his business partners, but he never let that side show with her. He even shielded her from the calls as much as possible, taking most of them in the basement in case they became too heated. Anya was grateful that his temper seemed to be reserved for work only. She couldn’t imagine having to live in fear of his outbursts on a regular basis.

One summer evening, Anya was relaxing in the living room with the windows open to let the breeze cool down the room. She was on the phone with one of her cousins, listening to her vent about the state of her marriage, but she was only halfway paying attention. Anya was thinking about the romantic dinner Rajon had surprised her with earlier that week, and how he had talked about taking a step back from his work and spending more time with her. Rajon was making an effort to increase the romance in their relationship, and she was thinking about how she could do the same.

The sound of tires screeching interrupted Anya’s thoughts. Several seconds later, her front door slammed shut as Rajon stormed into the house and ran down into the basement.

“Raj,” Anya called out, but the door was already closed.

“Anya, is something wrong?” her cousin asked.

Anya pulled the phone away from her ear, looking at it as if she was surprised that she was still holding it. She needed to get her cousin off the phone without making too big of a deal about it. Besides being miserable, her cousin was also nosey and loved to gossip. Anya didn’t want any rumors getting out about things going on in her household before she even knew what was happening herself.

“No, nothing’s wrong,” she finally answered her cousin in a light-hearted voice. “But Rajon just got home from a long day at the office so I’m going to heat up some dinner for him. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

Anya hung up without waiting for a response. She looked towards the hall that led to the basement, debating her next move. Rajon owned the house long before they were married, and he only had one rule: Anya was never to go into the basement. She had free reign to redecorate, refurnish, and do whatever she wanted with the rest of the house, but she could not go into the basement. He explained that his home office was down there and it was important that the space was never disturbed. Which went hand in hand with an unspoken rule: Anya was not to ask too many questions about his work.

She knew that he worked in finance. He spoke to her about it in vague, casual ways, but whenever she began asking too many specific questions, he changed the subject. Rajon was happy to talk to her about money, and give her access to accounts so that she felt financially secure, but that was it. The rules, spoken and unspoken, hadn’t bothered her too much until that very moment. She wanted to know what was going on. What was with all the secrets? Why shouldn’t she know more details about what he actually did during the day? And was that blood that she saw on his sleeve as he raced past her? Was he hurt?

Anya took a deep breath and walked briskly to the basement door before she could change her mind….

Read the rest in Scattered Thoughtz, Vol 1

Written By: S.M. Grady

© 2019 S.M. Grady

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