Rakesh received the email that night that the book had been accepted in Toto by the publishers, who were a prestigious Publishing House of the technical books.

“Hey, look, Anita, they have accepted my book.” He shouted from the computer-room so that Anita would hear him in the kitchen.

Anita switched off the gas though the veg. was not fully cooked yet.

“Oh! It can be heated again till it is ready later.” she calculated and came to the computer room wiping her hands on her apron.

“Wow!! What an honor!! You don’t know how much I had to struggle for this. Just wait and see. This book is going to give a big boost to my career.” Rakesh said excitedly.

Anita heaved a sigh of relief. She was happy that at long last, she would be able to take the children out on a picnic or go shopping, or watch her favorite TV-shows peacefully.

Past six months had been crazy. Rakesh was busy with the writing of his book and the whole burden of running a household had fallen on Anita’s shoulders. In addition to holding her regular full-time job, she had to cook, manage when the errant maid-servant bunked, keep rebellious children happy somehow, shop for vegetables, fruits, groceries, attend PT meetings, in fact, do everything as though Rakesh was not there.

Rakesh was really not there. He was in his own world of his career and his book-writing.

Additionally, as though she were not loaded enough, Rakesh had also entrusted the job of editing of the book to her.

He knew her strengths and her weaknesses fully well. He knew that her English was better than his. He also knew that she might grumble, but she was too sincere to do a shoddy job. He knew that she would take meticulous care to see to it that the book was print-worthy.

He had full faith in her editing capabilities. Wasn’t he smart enough to marry a girl with excellent brain-power?

Anita was exhausted. It was not easy to go through the draft of the book six times with a fine tooth-comb and remove every small mistake that had crept in. It was not easy to ignore the children’s demands for her attention and concentrate on the content and the context of the book. She also had to rewrite two chapters because she did not like the presentation of the content. Fortunately, she was familiar with the subject, because Rakesh and she belonged to the same field, though worked for different companies.

The book was as much hers as it was his. She had to spend equal amounts of time and energy on the editing of the book.

“Thank God, it is accepted. Now I would be able to relax.” she thought.

Rakesh too was happy.

“Oh, Boy!! I am so happy. Just think how famous I will be when the book is published. My colleagues are going to be green with envy” he declared.

Anita could well believe it. An ‘Alpha Male’ is hardly ever popular in his office.

“I will dedicate this book to my mother. She has done a lot for me.” Rakesh always became sentimental in moments of joy.

Anita was extremely incensed. This was nothing new to her, but every time it happened, she felt a murderous rage.

“She hasn’t contributed anything to this book. I have.” She reminded him heatedly.

“Yes, I agree, you have contributed, but it was your duty as a wife”

This was Rakesh’s specious argument.

Anita understood the fallacy of it, but there was nothing she could do about it. 

She had tried to argue with him in the past and had always lost. There was no point in argueing with an Alpha Male.

She was highly demoralized, all the same.

However, there was nothing new about it either.