Omake Chapter : Mr. and Mrs. Iyer.

0700hrs, 19 December 2013, Richmond Town, Bangalore, Karnataka, India

"We're so bound by customs and rituals. Somebody just has to press my button, this button marked tradition, and I start responding like a trained monkey." Sita, Fire.

Kavitha Iyer lived in the officers section of the Military Police training grounds. It was somewhat better than the barracks, but not really. The only thing that separated it from the enlisted quarters was that they got their own bathrooms and kitchenette for their own personal use. They could also have a family there automatically; enlisted members could also ask for residences for their families, but only if they were married (which wasn't the case all the time). It was a strange policy, recently written for the newly formed 108th SIDF, but that's the way things went.

"I'm home."

Mr. Iyer, with his shaved head and cleanly maintained face (which was also kept shaved, in accordance to religious tradition) was there, sitting on the couch , reading the Deccan Herald. He also worked for the government as an auditor, and while it didn't pay very good, there were…auxiliary ways of making income.

The first thing that came out of his mouth however, was not exactly what she was expecting.

"Kavitha, can you make the coffee, please? I don't like how Dewamma makes it, and she's been pretty busy as of late with all of the wives being gone."

Let me get this straight, she thought to herself. I've been out fighting the bad guys for the last THREE days, with barely any time for sleep or rest, let alone eating anything that isn't out of a package or wrapped in plastic, and you want me to make YOU coffee while you've been sitting on you fat ass for the ENTIRE time that this conflict has been going on?!

"Sure." Iyer, like a good housewife, obeyed her husband like he was her commanding officer.

"I heard from the news you had a tough time out there."

"Yes, it was very difficult," she said stoically back. Kavitha was in the process of grinding up the beans to put into a special metal filter, in which she would place chicory plus the newly ground coffee powder and pour hot water over it, letting it sit for six or so minutes. She would then add milk and sugar to offset the bitter taste. While counterintuitive to the normal Indian image of chai, coffee was just a popular as a drink, and just as creamy and sugary as chai.

"Coffee is ready." Homemaker or not, she had also made a cup for herself, god knows she needed it. Moving from the kitchen to the sofa, she gingerly balanced the two white cups in her hands and handed one off to her husband.

"Ah, thank you, chellum." That meant "dear one", but Kavitha couldn't really tell if it was sincere or not.

"Anything happen here while I was gone?" she asked her husband, sipping the coffee.

"The military police came by and told us to stay put in our homes. I tried to ask where you were, but they didn't really have much information on that."

"Ah."

She sipped her coffee, trying to let the tasty flavor soothe away the stress she had been experiencing these last couple of days. There had been shooting of course, but it was the waiting that was the worst part. Wait for orders, have people bug her for orders…then when the orders came, it was always confusing and hectic and…

"Kavitha."

Her husband's voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Yes, what is it?" she asked in English.
"Tamil, please." Her husband frowned,

"Yes, what is it?" Kavitha repeated, wondering what had gotten him in a bad mood.

He sat there for a second, looking at her.

"I've heard some things."

Okay, this is not going to end well.

"What things have you heard?"

"That you might be seeing another man."

"I don't have enough time to see you, let alone another man," Kavitha snapped back. She was not in the mood to have a fight with her husband, especially after what she had just been through.

"I work hard enough as it is," she continued, finishing off her cup of coffee in one big swallow.

"Look, that's what Dewamma told me, and I had to act. I cannot have anything happening to you, or any indiscretions on your part to jeopardize the family line."

"Of course," Kavitha growled back, walking to the kitchen and pouring herself another cup of coffee. "It's never your fault, but I have to be careful who I talk to and whatever."

"I am just worried…"

"Yes, thank you for your concern!" she interrupted, banging the coffee tumbler on the kitchen counter. "I faced death several times in the last couple of days while you're taking kickbacks from the SAME group that launched all these terrorist attacks against the world!"

The expression on his face changed immediately. "What are you…"

"Don't play around with me, chellum," she spat back. "I'm a trained investigator. I know what goes on in government, and I don't think you would have been able to pay for that nice little sari you bought me last week on that puny little salary of yours."

Mr. Iyer narrowed his beady eyes at her. "That's completely different issue altogether."

"I don't see how."
"I support us. Your salary doesn't even begin to cover the expenses!"

"Twenty thousand rupees is plenty enough," Iyer glared. That was a significant amount of money for someone in government, and one that while did not even begin to rival ones in the business world, was stable and could be counted on from month to month.

"And I make three times that amount, plus my bonus, plus grade pay." He folded his arms and looked smugly at her. "Despite what you might think, I don't take bribes."

Kavitha scoffed. "No, of course you don't. You take 'commissioning' fees. Or 'consulting' fees. Payment for 'services rendered'." Kavitha was on the hunt, and there wasn't anything that Mr. Iyer could keep from her. "All legal of course, but at the root of it, it's no better than the traffic officer who takes a 100 rupee note in exchange for not giving a ticket."

"That's ENOUGH!"

Mr. Iyer's roar silenced Kavitha's tirade.

"I will not sit here and listen to your insolence anymore. Answer the dammed question, are you seeing anyone else other than me!"
"No, I am not!" Kavitha yelled back. "I don't have time for sleeping with any other men, like I said before."

Mr. Iyer looked Kavitha over again. He sighed, and then looked down at the ground.

"I'm sorry chellum," he said. "You were gone so much, and I was just worried."

That realization hit Kavitha like a sledgehammer. "Wait, so you mean to tell me that you were testing me?"

"I just had to know, again, the family name is at stake here, and…"

"I don't believe this." Kavitha stomped away from the kitchen and toward her room. "You can sleep on the fucking couch. Come back when you want to trust your own wife again."

With that, she slammed the door to the bedroom, leaving Mr. Iyer out in the kitchen, all alone.