Stop Calling Me Baby

The day she had received a call from a reputable private hospital was the same day Mathew’s mum had invited them for an impromptu dinner. Serena was amazed when she met most of his family there and her mother. Mathew came from a large family, unlike her, who was an only child. 

The dinner had started on a good note even as she was filled with unease that the dinner would not just be a simple one. She had been proven right when one of Mathew’s nieces ran to her to admire her palazzo pants.

“I can see that children love Mathew’s wife,” the mother of the child had said promptly.

“That is true,” one of his aunts added. “That must mean that she will soon be giving birth to her children too.”

“Are you sure about that? Mathew’s wife is a certified nurse, you know. I believe that women like that do not like to start their families early. Career women,” someone else had said, as if Serena herself was not in their midst.

“Serena is not like that, you know,” her mother-in-law had said with a smile thrown in her direction. “She is a good child brought up in a good home who would surely know that her family comes first in everything. What good is a career for a woman when she will only end up in the kitchen at the end of the day? Am I right, Andrea?” The woman had turned to Andrea, who smiled tightly at her mother-in-law and nodded.

Andrea was the wife of Mathew’s eldest brother. Serena wondered what caused the strain on the woman’s face as she picked at her food. She could guess though, as her mother-in-law turned to Serena’s mother.

“What do you think, my inlaw? Wouldn’t it be best if Serena and my son started thinking of starting their own family now instead of chasing after frivolous things?”

Meimu dabbed the serviette lightly against her lips before saying with a smile, “Of course you are right, my inlaw. I wouldn’t mind having a full house like yours at my table as well whenever I made dinner. It had always been my husband, Serena, and I. My husband, may his dear soul rest in peace, would surely want the same thing.”

Serena looked sharply toward her mother as she thought her father would never have made her do something like that. She missed him terribly at that moment. He would have preferred that she do what would make her happy, unlike her mother, who thought she knew what was best for her child. Her mother was not looking at her though. Her eyes were on the woman she was talking to, her expression like that of someone who had found a kindred spirit.

Mathew’s mother saw the way Serena looked at the clueless woman though, and she laughed softly, “Don’t worry, my in-law. I am sure that our wife is a filial daughter, and she will do what will make us all happy.” She leaned over as she patted Meimu’s hand, and the latter nodded and turned back to her food.

The disappointment and betrayal Serena felt about them were nothing close to what she felt for her husband, who was just seated there, munching away on his food like they were just discussing the weather and not something that affected her life. He felt her eyes on him after a while, and he shifted uneasily in his chair from whatever it was he saw on her face. 

He looked over at his mother. “Mum, let’s continue eating. The food will get cold,” he said before he turned back to his food.

The older woman laughed awkwardly “That is right. Let’s eat, let’s eat. Serena, eat more. I asked the cook to make your favourite.”

Serena smiled, nodded, and picked up her spoon. Yassa was not her favourite, but she chose to say nothing.

The guilty way Mathew peeked at her when he thought that she was not looking at him made realisation dawn on her. As he looked away after giving her a sheepish smile, it came to her.

The coward had discussed her with his mother, and this faux dinner had been solely about her. Did her mother know about this beforehand as well?

The little appetite she had left fled her.

No one was in her corner.

Divorced women in Chevsko were still frowned upon, despite how advanced the world had become. Serena had no intention of being one of them, especially since her marriage was a few months old. At the end of the day, she gave in and accepted to be a full housewife like her family wanted.

She still loved her husband, of course, but she knew that something had changed between them. She took care of the house, took care of his meals, did his laundry, and made the home comfortable for him as they all wanted.

It had been almost two years now, and they had no child yet. She had not missed her period once. Her mother-in-law had started hinting that she should check herself to know what the problem was about. Serena knew that she had no problems. She and her husband had done checkups. The two of them had been virgins when they met, and they decided to wait till their wedding day. Their first time had been less satisfactory for Serena as Mathews had gotten atop of her, fumbled with her breast for a while, and then entered her.

Even as she gritted her teeth against the pain she felt and tried to hold herself back so that she could please him as her mother had told her, her husband had groaned out loud. She felt wetness within her, and he had collapsed against her, crushing her to the bed, as soreness throbbed in her core.

She had turned her head to look at their bedside clock. The whole ordeal had not lasted more than three minutes, but it seemed to her like it had taken forever. The pain she felt between her legs was a testament to that.

It took her a while to realise that he had slept off, his gentle snore was the first indicator. She gingerly pushed him off her as she moved out from underneath him so as not to wake him up.

Then, she looked at herself in the bathroom in the full-length mirror that Amara had told her to get, as it would come in handy when things got kinky with her husband. She touched herself and came away with sticky wetness in her hand.

Blood. She had been expecting it. She just had not expected the amount of pain that accompanied it. What a liar Amara was.

As all these thoughts cascaded through Serena’s mind, she looked at the sleeping form of her husband again and knew that it was high time they talked. She knew the fact that they had not conceived might have had less to do with any issue either of them might have and more to do with what he had said to her the second time they had sex.

She would have preferred not to disturb his sleep, but she knew that once he woke, had his bath and meal, he would be in a rush to be at the office.

He had told her that he was on the edge of getting the promotion that he had had his eyes on for a while now, so he needed to work harder. He left home for work very early every day, came back home late, and he even brought his work home with him.

Serena, though apologetic, knew this was the right time for her to speak with him.

She tapped him gently on his shoulder. His snoring stopped for a while, then it started again as he settled back into sleep. She waited and tapped him longer this time.

Mathew turned over, and opened one bleary eye to squint up at her. “What is it?”

“Baby, sorry to interrupt your sleep, but I need you to get up because I have something to discuss with you.”

She thought he had slept when he closed his eyes again without response. She was about to tap him again when he said in an offended tone.

“I have told you to stop calling me baby, Serena. It makes me feel like a child. I am a full-grown man. I am your husband.”