Madhu had parked her car on the roadside; a single streetlamp was before her. It flickered continuously. It was five minutes past midnight. Madhu had calmed down by now; she had no intention to kill the lover. She wanted to confront her husband and force him to choose who he wanted. She took a few deep breaths before leaving her car and proceeded to the house where her husband’s car was parked.

Ding dong!

She waited for her husband or his lover to answer, but no one did; she couldn’t even hear any noise from inside. She rang the doorbell again. The curtains were closed, so she couldn’t see if anyone was inside. One of the rooms had its light on. Madhu stood on the doormat and waited impatiently for them to open the door.

She looked around to see the surrounding houses; they all had their lights turned off, and a few had their front gate lights turned on. Her husband’s car was parked in the paved front yard of the house, and on either side was a small garden area. To her right, some clothes were hanging, and to her left was the scooter of her husband’s lover.

She was annoyed and rang the doorbell for the third time. This time, she also spoke out loud: “It’s me, Madhu. Open the door, Manoj. I know you are in there.”

Madhu heard some noises from within. Someone opened the door slightly and peeked outside. It was Manoj, her husband.

“Madhu?” said Manoj sheepishly.

“Can I come in?”

He hesitated momentarily but opened the door wide and let her in. She entered the hall with no lights on; the only light spilled from a room ahead of her. She faced her husband, who had a flustered look. The guy who stood before her had changed so much in years. From the guy she met in college who was muscular and had a fancy hairstyle to a slightly stout and balding man. He was still handsome despite it, and Madhu was still attracted to him. He was sweating, and his dark eyes seemed filled with tears from the dim house light.

“I know about your lover, so why don’t you bring her out? We will end this facade,” said Madhu.

Manoj didn’t reply. Instead, tears began to roll down his eyes. She couldn’t help but notice for the millionth time how much her son looked just like his father. Manoj fell on his knees, held her hands to his face, and cried. He began to murmur between sniffs about how sorry he was. Strangely, this made Madhu feel a bit happy that he wanted her over the lover. But she couldn’t believe him so easily. She took her hands away from his grasp.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“Bring her out here. I want to talk to her. Where is she? Is she in that room?” asked Madhu, pointing to the room with the lights on.

Manoj tried to get a hold of her hands, but Madhu quickly got away from him and walked briskly to the room with the lights on. Standing at the entrance, she was not ready for the shock waiting for her in that room. It was a kitchen with the kitchen counter opposite to her and a dining table separating her from it. What lay between the table and the entrance was the cause of her shock. She gasped in horror as she saw a woman in her late thirties whom she recognized as Manoj’s lover through the photos shared by the private investigator sprawled on the floor with a painful expression on her face. There was a pool of blood below where her head was, and her dark hair was soaked in that blood. Madhu saw a bloody spot on one edge of the dining table.

Before she realized she felt weak and dizzy in her knees, Manoj picked her up before she could fall and took her to a sofa away from the kitchen and the light. Madhu felt a vomiting sensation, but she controlled it as there was something more important that she had to do.

“Did you kill her?” she asked her husband hushedly with a slight anger in her tone.

“It was an accident, believe me! I will tell you the whole thing,” said Manoj, whose face had turned red from crying. The dim light of their room made him look more sinister.

“I felt guilty about cheating on you, and I realized if I continue to do this, I will lose you and Suraj. So, I decided to end this affair, and when Urmila called me for the night, I came here to talk to her and convince her to end this. But she didn’t want to; it led to an argument, and she got physical. In an attempt at self-defense, I pushed her away from me, which led to her head hitting the edge of the dining table, and she was dead in a few seconds.”

Manoj placed his hands over his face and began to bawl uncontrollably as he began to repeat that he had no intention to kill her.

Some of Madhu was skeptical about the story, but most of her wanted to believe in his story. She had lived with Manoj for almost 18 years and thought she knew what kind of person he was. He was a loving and caring husband and father who made a wrong decision when he began an affair, but he was not capable of murder. She knew she hadn’t married a murderer.

“What will happen to you and Suraj when I am in jail?” asked Manoj with tears rolling down his cheeks.

Madhu looked at him; she convinced herself that he was telling her the truth and this death was accidental. She couldn’t let him go to jail; that would be devastating for Suraj, who really loved his father. She decided to get rid of this body before the police found it.

“You are not going to jail. We will get rid of her body and get out of the city for a few days.”

“But, the police will find out it was me; neighbors would have seen my car parked in the front yard.”

“Let’s get rid of your car, too; now get up. We have a lot to do tonight.”

“How do we do that?”

“I have a plan,” replied Madhu after thinking about it momentarily.

Madhu and Manoj spent an hour wrapping up the lover’s body in her bed sheet and wiped the floor and the table of her blood. Then, they carried the body covered in sheets and placed it in the trunk of Manoj’s car. It was well past midnight, and everyone was sleeping with their lights off, leaving only the flickering street lights.

Manoj drove his car out of the front yard with Urmila’s body in the trunk. Madhu went in her car and drove away, and Manoj followed. After driving for half an hour, they reached a deep lake surrounded by wild bushes. Manoj and Madhu pushed the car into the lake and waited until it was submerged.

“Do you think this is enough?” asked Manoj, still very nervous.

Madhu had to be strong and affirm to him that this was enough.

“We must pack our bags and leave the city before the dawn breaks. I have to think about what lie to tell Suraj,” said Madhu.

“Where do we go?”

Madhu smiled, “I think I know a good place.”