My husband’s family of 8 comes to lunch every Sunday. I cook for them, clean, and do the dishes. I told him I’ve had enough.
He said, “They got us the house, is this your thank you?”
That Sunday, when they came, I was smiling, even made their favorite dish. But then they froze when I got up and revealed…
A printed spreadsheet. I laid it gently next to the lasagna dish, right between the wine glasses and the garlic knots.
His mother’s fork hovered mid-air. His brother Yasin stopped chewing. His sister Manya blinked like I’d thrown a firecracker on the table.
“What’s that?” my husband, Rafiq, asked. I smiled again. It was tight this time.
“It’s the tab,” I said. “Everything I’ve cooked. Cleaned.
Scrubbed. Hosted. Over 3 years of Sundays.”
No one moved.
I could hear the clock ticking over the microwave. 3:47 p.m. I pulled out the second page.
“This column here,” I said, tapping with my nail, “is what a private chef would’ve charged. This one’s for housekeeping. And this—” I flipped the sheet, “—is for the groceries.”
Rafiq looked like someone had pulled the rug out from under his chair.
He half-laughed, trying to lighten the mood. “Come on, Saira. What’s the point of this?”
I met his eyes.
“The point is I’m done being free labor.”
I didn’t yell. I didn’t cry. I just stood up and walked to the kitchen, pulled off my apron, and placed it neatly on the counter.
I could feel eight pairs of eyes following me as I walked upstairs. That was two months ago. I didn’t come down that night.
Rafiq brought up a plate around 10, knocked, and waited. I didn’t answer. Not out of spite, but because I needed that silence more than dinner.
The next morning, he stood in the doorway while I packed an overnight bag. “Where are you going?” he asked, quieter than usual. “Somewhere quiet,” I said.
“I’ve booked a room at Asha’s.”
Asha is my cousin. She lives thirty minutes away and has always offered me her spare room. I never took her up on it.
Not until now. “Are you serious?” he asked, but I could see it in his eyes—he already knew I was. Asha didn’t ask too many questions.
She just made me tea and let me sleep in. For the first time in years, I woke up on a Sunday and didn’t have to chop onions, marinate meat, or wash sticky pans while people talked over me. Instead, I sat on her tiny balcony, wrapped in a shawl, and sipped cardamom chai while the city moved below.
The story doesn’t end here –
it continues on the next page.
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