My name is Maha and I live in Manchester, UK. I am an immigrant from Pakistan. I am now 23 and got married to my husband Adil last year.
My husband is a sales executive and travels a lot for work. He is usually away from home most of the week. Being a traditional Pakistani wife i took a lot of acre of my husband, fulfilling his needs putting himself before myself. I made a lot of effort to make him happy but always felt that he never loved me.
One day I was unpacking his bag after a recent trip and found an open condom wrapper. I thought about asking him but didn't, knowing he may get upset. So I convinced myself to let go of the incident that time. I was getting very frustrated with my life, my husband wasn't very affectionate and was out most of the week. I was living like a single woman with nothing to do. When my husband was around he was tired and was it interested in only having sex which was not even passionate and felt more like him satisfying his biological need.
One day I told him that I wanted to work and have applied for a job in a clothing store just outside Manchester. He was a bit hesitant but I insisted telling him that he was not there most of the week and I had nothing to do.
He gave me permission but i knew it was not with a good faith. He was a conservative and controlling man always keeping eye on how I dress who I meet etc. I moved from Pakistan to here after getting married and had much more freedom in the way I dressed and who I met back home. This man had taken away all that, I wanted some freedom and wanted to feel alive again. I was also well educated and was only doing this job at garments store for flexible timings. With a degree in finance I could have gotten an even better job than my husband but he was very traditional and conservative. Not all Pakistani men are like that but it was my bad luck.
I started my job and the first day he told me to fully cover myself and that I should not talk to men. I didn't argue, he would let me wear pants and shirts when I usually went out but since he didn't want me to work he was being rigid. I reached work and found that the store was very well done in terms of its interior and design, all the female staff was wearing dresses from the same brand, the dresses were short and fashionable.