Divya's newfound assertiveness and her will to try and lead a decent traditional married life started serving her well. She had effectively neutralized the hold Jose had over her. The job did mean a lot to Jose, so after that time she destroyed his phone, he decided to abandon or at least suspend his plans to bed Divya again.
He taught her driving, without making any passes at her or even making an references to their brief fling. In a few days, our fast learner heroine felt confident enough to take the driving test and got her license easily. She was given one of the many sedans the family owned to use as hers. This meant Jose exited her day-to-day life.
On to the other fronts. Divya just avoided going to Patel's grocery store altogether. When she was told to buy Indian groceries, she'd go to one of the many other Indian grocery stores that dotted the Dallas area.
Patel was so smug and self-confident in his easy seduction of Divya that he was sure she would come back and spread her legs for him again on her own. When a few days passed by and she didn't turn up, he got a little worried. He had not taken her phone number, so there was no way to contact her. He knew where the family lived, but couldn't think of a discreet way to contact her without raising questions. When a couple of weeks passed without Divya returning, he started getting antsy. And every time a woman walked into his store, he'd look up expectantly, hoping it was Divya.
Kelly sent some messages in the following days. But Divya just ignored and delete them right away. She finally set a screenlock password and always made sure to clear her trash folder too, having figured out how Jose was able to access those deleted messages. After Divya stopped responding to messages, Kelly took the hint and stopped messaging her Too. She and Chad had an active sex life anyway.
Divya soon got settled in the groove of her life as a dutiful housewife. Sex with Mayank was reasonably regular at 3-4 times a week. Some days, he would last longer than his usual 5 minutes. Other days, he'd cum in 2-3 minutes.
Divya had started sucking his modest dick regularly, which he loved. But he still hadn't made any move to reciprocate the gesture by going down on her. Divya felt disappointed by this, but was too shy and diffident to demand it. She just got used to masturbating herself when she was at home.
Pretty soon, days turned to weeks and weeks turned to months. And Divya had completed six months as a married woman. With the exception of the wild adventures at the honeymoon and the dalliances with Jose and Patel, Divya had been a good girl.
Divya was happy with herself for sticking to her resolution of self-control for all these months very easily. She had been worried that Patel would make some moves but the old man, mindful of how rich and powerful her family was, had given up on her. Mehra sent her an email saying his visa had been rejected. So that took care of that problem too. At least until she returned to India. Divya was smart enough to remember that Mehra had hundreds of naked pictures and videos of her that he had accumulated throughout their affair. And that there would come a time when she would have to deal with the situation in a permanent way. But as long as Mehra was in India and she was in Texas, all she had to do was send friendly replies to his emails and he would not get upset enough to publish those pictures and videos.
In the seventh month of her marriage, there finally occurred some developments that first started creating rumblings of unease in the state of calm.
Over that period of time, through regular conversations with Mayank and his family, Divya had come to know that the family business wasn't as hunky-dory as it appeared from the outside. The motels they owned were losing money to competition and costs kept mounting. The import-export business was also showing reduced margins. And the cleaning and maintenance service company they owned was facing problems with employee churn. Overall, the family was okay financially. But it wasn't growing as rapidly as ambitious Mayank wanted. He had tried to close a deal during his trips to Seattle that would ensure them of an exclusive contract with a major corporation for their cleaning and maintenance service that would allow them to expand into other markets. But the deal had fallen through.
As Divya came to know about the problems of the business, her sharp brain was able to figure out a couple of solutions. But when she had mentioned them to her husband, she had been told to focus on running the household.
Mayank was still trying to get the deal going with a couple of other similar corporations. And it was in regard to this, that he came home and told Divya one day,
"Honey, I have a meeting at the country club tomorrow with a couple of potential clients. They've asked me to bring you along since it's a casual social setting."
"Oh, is this about the multi-state contract?" Divya curiously asked.
"You don't worry your pretty little head about that." Mayank kissed her on the forehead and said. "Just wear a nice elegant sari and be my eye candy."
Divya felt disappointed at being shut out of the business decisions again, but made her peace with it.
The next day, Divya, dressed in a black sari with golden sequins stepped out of the posh country club with her husband as the valet took their car for parking.
"Mr. and Mrs. Vyas?" the attractive young woman at the reception smiled and asked.
"Yes."
"Welcome to the club. Mr. Bashir is at the tennis court. Mark here will escort you."
Divya and Mayank followed the smartly dressed attendant through the massive and ornately designed country club. Divya had never been to such a huge place full of rich and powerful people. Although Mayank's family was rich, they led a pretty simple life. Divya noticed that all the people in the lounges, seating areas, restaurants, and other rooms they passed through, were wearing designer clothing. She felt glad that she had chosen such an elegant sari or she would have felt out of place.
Finally they were taken to the tennis courts outside. Just a minute in the outdoor harsh sunlight of Dallas' 45 celsius heat made Divya feel not so glad to be wearing a sari. It was scorching.
"Mr. Vyas!!" a lean tall man with a tennis racket in his hand called out as they were led to the edge of the court.
"Salam-alekum, Sheikh Bashir!" Mayank waved and said.
Divya looked at Sheikh Bashir. He was a tall wiry man in his 60s wearing crisp white tennis shorts and a crisp white polo short. She noticed that he was also wearing a red and white checkered kufiya around his head like most Arab men do. Divya first thought it looked odd with his tennis clothes, but then as her hair started feeling warm with the intense heat, she thought it was actually a smart choice.
Bashir came over and shook hands with Mayank.
"So glad you could join us." he said affably.
"Sheikh Bashir, my wife Divya."
"Namaste, pretty lady!" the sheikh folded his hands and smiled. Divya noticed that he had a gaunt face with high cheekbones and a carefully manicured goatee.
"Namaste." she smiled. He seemed very charming.
"You are looking absolutely stunning in that sari, if you don't mind me saying so." Bashir said as he led them to some lawn chairs under wide umbrellas.
"Thank you." Divya politely said taking a seat. Mayank sat down next to her.
"This is my personal valet Musa." Bashir said as the young Arab who had been playing tennis with Bashir walked over from the other side of the net and joined them. "Please let him know what you would like to drink. It is a hot day."
