"REVENGE"

It's been seven years of a happy marriage. For all these years Rose had fought every barrier with resilience and determination to keep her husband happy. It wasn't easy but she was happy that every impediment had been subdued in one way or another. A year after giving birth to her first child, Shalom, Lim decided to shift the family to the huge mansion that he had constructed in the countryside near his father's ranch. It was high time he learnt to manage his mother's property because Mrs Kelly, his mother, was growing old and no longer had the strength to do so.

It was a peaceful environment with the serenity of its seclusion. Mia, Lim's sister who never got along well with Rose ad changed soon after shalom's birth. She was now on good terms with Rose and had accepted her as part of their family. Often she would come to visit to spend time with her niece or would fetch her and take her to the park in town. Shalom was now a beautiful bubbly girl who had taken much from her mother, Rose. She was loved and cherished by everyone because of her cheerful character.

Being a holiday, Shalom was rarely at home. She would either be at her granny's or with Mia or Lim would go with her often on weekends to show her around. As for Rose, she loved animals and stayed at the ranch most of the time tending to them. She had always loved cows and now that she owned a lot of them felt satisfied.

That day, Mia had shown up in

the mansion in the morning requesting to take Shalom out to go visit her childhood friend in town. Rose was against the idea because her husband had promised to come early and take his daughter for an evening walk. After a lot of pleading and pestering, Rose had accepted but with much reluctance.

"I will make sure we return before evening," Mia had promised genuinely. Rose was convinced that she would stand by her word because she was aware that Lim would be upset if he didn't find his daughter home by the time he returned.

"Why are they not here yet?" she grumbled and flounced around with uneasiness. She kept peeking in the direction of the metallic gate. It was getting late and she wouldn't want to irritate her husband."Mia where are you. You promised to return early and now look at the time." She said with a grimace and lingered on her wristwatch. It was almost 4:30 pm. Lim always returned home this time unless he communicated that he would be home late.

A twinge of anxiety gripped her. She was getting tense. Shalom was her father's favourite. The truth is that Lim had always been a favourite with children and now that he had his own, he shared a very strong bond with her and often wanted to spend precious time with her after work.

"I hope Lim delays in town or else he will start fuming." She thought and made long strides towards the gate to peek. Perhaps they were close. She opened the gate halfway and stood poised waiting in anticipation. Every minute that passed brought her fear and distress. She paced back and forth but neither Mia nor Shalom was anywhere to be seen. "Perhaps they have gone to see mom." She muttered with an expression of uncertainty on her face. Rose referred to Mrs Kelly as her mom because she had always shown her affection. To her, She was more than a mother-in-law. Needless to say, she was her second mom. "Perhaps I should give her a call." She talked to herself. She thought and dashed into her room. She hadn't held the phone in her hands when Lim called. Rose's heart jerked. "That must be Mia." She intuited and her face shone."Thank God she finally called." She said and flicked her finger on the phone with verve and received the call,

"Yes, Mia, where are you?"

"Hello, darling!" She held her breath at the sound of Lim's voice.

'Ye..s honey, how.. are you?" She sputtered nervously.

"I am Ok. I miss you very much."

"Oh, dear, same here." Her mouth lifted a smile at the corner.

"May I talk to my princess? I want to hear her voice." She wrung her hands and clapped her mouth jittery.

She was confused. "What should I tell him? If I say she's out, he will be upset." She thought. It was taking her too long to answer such a simple question. She was stuck and now trembling.

"Honey, are you listening?" The pitch of his voice increased, making her shrink.

"Oh, yeah, but not clearly. It must be a poor network. So, honey, what did you say?"

" I would like to speak to Shalom. Please can you give her the phone now?"

"Ah, too bad. She's gone for a short call. Sorry, dear."

"No, it's ok, no worries. After all, I am almost home. Prepare her soon. I want to take her out for a sandwich. I must hang up now."

"Ok, darling." She spoke in a low tone and her face bore an injured look.

Her heart thumped fast. She was seized with nervousness.

"Why did I have to lie to him? I am such a fool. He ought to reprimand me for deception." She bumbled around and dialled Mia's number fidgeting.

"Pick up, Mia please pick !" She said nervously.

"The number you've called cannot be reached, please try again later." said the voice in the background.

She screamed, flushing with anger.

"This can't be happening. I am in deep shit." She said and slumped on the bed, her eyes filled with terror, her heart hammering violently in her chest as if it would rip out soon.

Suddenly she shifts to a sitting posture and mumbles, "wait," she furrowed her eyebrows. "Mia, don't tell me you have started your old habit again. Why did you do this? You are trying my patience this time. You know it wasn't easy for me. If you hadn't insisted I would never have agreed to your proposition. Now you might plunge me into trouble." A spurt of anger clutched at her heart.

In a moment a car honked outside the gate.

"Bless me! That must be him." She thought and went out hastily to open the gate." She had guessed right. It was her husband. She flung the gate open and wore a disguised smile on her face, but her heart was heavy with fear and anxiety anticipating that the consequences of her foolish action might spoil the peace between her and her husband.

Lim flashed a gaily smile as soon as he saw his wife. He had that rare dazzle in his eyes that always had a charm in it and filled warmth in the hearts of many. He drove through and parked the car in the garage. Later he would then go with shalom on a stroll as he had promised her.

As soon as he got out, Rose, who had been standing near eagerly waiting to greet him, crossed over and hugged him."Welcome, my love." She smiled broadly, "I missed you." She said softly raising her graceful face and giving him the eyes as she inhaled the inviting scent of his Jasmine perfume.

"You say the exact thing every time I return from work. Does it mean I am on your mind most times?" He asked with a propensity of humour.

"All the time, honey, every second." She said genuinely as she gazed into his eyes and smiled amiably, giving him a welcome kiss.

"I am blessed to have such a loving wife, hmh, come here," he said charmingly and kissed her with unbridled passion.

Rose prayed in her heart that he would forget about Shalom in the meantime. Perhaps she and Mia would return soon before he noticed his daughter's absence. "What can I do to distract him? I feel stuck." She thought and then remembered that she had prepared his favourite dinner; Lim loved soy sauce with macaroni and cheese. "This will surely work. He won't resist the savoury taste." She thought with a hopeful smile as she leaned on his shoulder. It would have been a perfect way to sway his mind off from Shalom for a moment but then she realised that it was offbeat. "Gee! How can I forget that he can't have dinner without his daughter?" She contemplated in exasperation.

She was tense but made a gallant attempt to retain her composure, biting her thumb that he would remain calm in case he learnt about Shalom's absence.

Moments later they disentangled, Rose clasped at the shopping bag in his hand taking it from him.

"What do we have here, honey?" She asked, bringing it close to her popping eyes and peeking through.

"Oh, that-it's Shalom's new pair of slippers. I hope she will like them." Talking of Shalom, he wandered his eyes around as if searching for something in particular. His face frowned until he asked," Where is Shalom? Why has she not come to greet me or doesn't she know I am already home?" Curiosity registered on his face as he craned his neck facing the direction of the entrance, "Shalom! One girl! Dad is home." He said excitedly with a broad grin. Rose stared at him as she trembled. "God have mercy on me. I need a miracle." She muttered and was scared to let it all out. Noticing that he was getting irritated with no indication that Shalom had heard his screaming, she tried reverting him to a different topic.

"Honey, let's go inside first. You can talk to her later." She said in apprehension, holding his hand and compelling him with her twinkling eyes. Although he took heed and submitted, the expression on his face was twisted and a lot of questions clouded his mind that generated a twinge of fear in his heart. "Where is she? I hope you are not hiding anything from me." He drew his eyes to his wife who seemed to be preoccupied with the sweet humming she had resorted to bolster her composure. "Is she taking a nap? no, this is impossible. It's out of the ordinary that she would at this time of the day." He thought and was confused. Rose made a flicking glimpse at him and smiled, but she already had an implicit feeling that the twist on his face was a harbinger of trouble that she'd predicted earlier.

Shalom's name was on his lips and as soon as he went in, all he wanted was to behold her. Rose noticed that his curiosity was heightening and she tried to calm him down with her usual pampering. "Come on, have a seat and relax first. I will remove your shoes." He obeyed but his heart was restless." My sweet husband must be tired after a long day's work." She said sniffing the shoe and then grimaced." Lim didn't stir. He was not in the mood to joke and wouldn't feel at peace until he had seen his daughter.

Wasn't it foolish to still try to hide the truth? Her being discrete might make matters worse? Perhaps she still believed that he would easily be convinced by her lies like a knife through butter.

Rose, like any loving and responsible wife, tried to make him feel the comfort of his home by doing the necessary things which did the least to please him who had a yearning for his only child. She got hold of the shoes and his tweed jacket and then made to climb upstairs to escape his indifferent gesture. She had just placed her foot on the staircase when he had him ask,

"She isn't here, is she?" The tone in his voice was solemn. It seemed the answer was lucid in his mind. Her heart palpitated. This was what she had feared. That he would ask

for Shalom and she wouldn't know what to answer. With nervousness, she halted and retreated slowly towards him, her eyes pleading for forgiveness. Lim stared at her, a frown forming naturally on his face.

She stood in front of him to explain.

His face immediately flushed with anger. Rose was scared to speak. Not once had she ever been at odds with him in all the seven years they had been married.

She stood dumbly, her legs trembling. "There isn't nearly a chance to give a valid excuse. I don't have any either. I have messed up this time." She thought and waited for her punishment. Lim was growing impatient and kept staring at her with accusing eyes.

"Why are you quiet? My dear loving wife, won't you tell me something?

Is my intuition right? And all this while you have been making a fool of me?" The tone of his voice changed. Rose stayed quiet as if her tongue had been cut. His eyes glistened with anger and turned carmine.

"How dare a woman lie to me? My wife is lying to me!" He asked himself and felt that his chauvinism was injured. He ballooned and hissed, gathering all his strength in his right arm and gave her a hard slap that made her slump obnoxiously on the sofa.

"Dad!" Shalom suddenly screamed up the stairs. He twisted and turned to look at Shalom and was consumed by shame. It was too late for him to undo the offensive action.

"You!"

Shalom looked at him with spite and seeing her mom sobbing on the chair broke into a stream of tears and sprinted to her room.

It was hard for him to discern where he got the audacity to lay a hand on his wife without thinking twice.

He stared at his defiant hand and then at Rose in return and then dropped. "It must be the small sips of gin I had earlier." He thought and hung his head in remorse.

Shalom sat on her bed in a sulking mood, tears welling through her.

"I am to blame for this. I shouldn't have heeded to Aunt Mia when she insisted on going out with me. I wish I hadn't allowed her to manipulate me." She regretted gasping in tears.

There was one aspect she could hardly discern; what beast had steered her father's mind into hitting her mom, something she hadn't witnessed in all her years? "Was he no longer in love with her, but love with another woman?" She wondered. It was hard for her to ascertain but she could tell that there was a likelihood that this incident could be eventuated by bitter scenarios in the unseen future and the thought of it made her shudder. She brushed off the tears from her eyes and looked for her drawing book. It was filled with evocative memories of her family. Often she would draw pictures of the highlights of the day before she went to sleep. As she idly flicked through the pages with watery eyes which had vehemently refused to dry, she came across a particular drawing of Lim and Rose and she randomly reflected on that day; they had gone out for a picnic out of town. They had the most memorable moments then. They had promised one another that they would always be happy together. As these memories were evoked in her mind, she became sadder.

In a moment, she heard the sound of footsteps and then a knock at the door and briskly curled on her bed facing the direction of the wall.

"Honey, please may I come in?"

It was Lim. Her heart somersaulted as soon as she had his voice. She didn't respond but gulped down the tears which had clogged her throat.

"I will take that as a yes." He said and forced himself to take a seat beside her.

"My child," he started naturally, laying his hand on her shoulder and caressing her.

Shalom recoiled and the tears now streamed down like a fountain. He withdrew his hand and placed it on his kneecaps feeling remorseful. Trying as much as to brave himself in front of his daughter, which seemed more complicated to him than the most difficult task he had encountered before, he carried on, his voice trembling.

"I know you are mad at your dad because you have every reason to. I wish I had been more patient. I have no valid reason to give for my mistake, honey." Shalom was feeling stifled by anger and didn't utter a word but could only listen to his utterances which she probably rated as a repellent because she was getting more irked by them.

He must have realised that his presence was only making matters worse instead of calming the situation because Shalom's gasps were now becoming more frequent than before. He got on his feet and after gazing at his daughter for some time made to go out but her unexpected question curtailed him.

"You don't love mom anymore, do you?"

She asked with a leaden heart in an emphatic voice characterised by rage and looked at him with an unflinching stare as tears rolled down her cheeks.

Lim was shocked. If stares could kill then he should have been a dead man by now. He could never have imagined that his daughter, young as she was, could ask such a question.

"Why would such a query be born in her mind? It is way more complex than her age. Laying a hand on his wife was a leap in the dark and he felt mired in this complex situation.

Slowly, he twisted his head and looked at her in awe. Shalom's gaze dropped instantly.

In any case, he was bound to give a clear clarification as an answer to her important question. He could have messed up, but in all sincerity, he had never thought of any other woman but his wife. That was the undaunted truth that his conscience was pleased with and to think that the most important person that he had intimated since she came to this world was now doubting his principles was a pang of deep pain through his heart.

He shuttled back and squatted in front of her unable to control his sentiments.

"Honey, I...I cross my heart!" He sputtered nervously and, having gulped, resumed, "I love your mother and you more than all the treasures of this world, believe...me." He said honestly with dewy eyes and turned away his face trying to stifle the tears back to their origin. He was not sure of what Shalom thought of him now nor could he imagine if his wife would forgive him for his mistake.

There was a sulking silence until a voice said,

"He's right, my child. I have never doubted his love and never will."

It was Rose, a woman with a light and forgiving heart. She would do anything to keep her family together and this was just a simple sacrifice that would change everything. She was typical of a few virtuous women who would rather forsake their happiness for others.