My husband and I have been married for five years. Married life isn’t always peaceful, but I’ve always considered myself lucky to have such a considerate mother-in-law. She was always polite, rarely interfered, and often gave me kind advice.Recently, I was exhausted from work, my heart heavy. My husband, Hitesh, was busy all day and barely had time for me. Seeing me so drained, one afternoon my mother-in-law, Mrs. Sarla, called me into the living room of our house in Gurugram and placed a thick envelope in front of me:“Here you go. It’s 2 million rupees. Go and take a break and travel around Europe. Go for a few weeks, then come back and think things over.”I was stunned. My mother-in-law had never given me such a large sum of money, nor had she ever suggested I take a trip. At first, I was thrilled—I thought maybe she really did care about me. But then I started to get suspicious: why did she want me to leave the house right now?
Even so, I accepted her suggestion: I packed my bags and bought a ticket from Terminal 3 at IGI Airport. Hitesh didn’t object—she simply said, “Go, get some fresh air. Mom will take care of things at home.” That sentence confused me even more.The day I was to leave for the airport, my mother-in-law personally accompanied me, giving me all sorts of instructions. I hugged her goodbye with a strange smile. But when she turned her face away, I made a decision: I would pretend to leave, but I would secretly return. I wanted to know what was happening at the house while I was gone. took a taxi back to DLF Phase 3, got out a few hundred meters from the house, and walked the rest of the way. When I reached the end of the alley, my heart started pounding. The front door was open, and I could hear loud laughter coming from inside. I leaned against the wall and peeked in.What I saw left me speechless: in the living room, Hitesh was sitting next to a young woman—her hair pulled back, dressed in bright clothes—and she was resting her head on his shoulder, laughing and chatting.
