I shrug his hand off. An uncomplicated divorce? Does he expect me to simply sign the divorce papers and walk out of his life? I realize with belated shock that he really does think I will agree to whatever he suggests. Polly the doormat. I smile at him.

‘Sorry Sid, Lalita is your problem. You should have thought about it when you cheated on her and had sex with me—explain that to her. I’ll send you both a picture of my baby,’ I say.

Sid roars something unintelligible. He yanks the suitcase out of my hand and kicks it.

‘Siddhartha!’ Dragon calls out to her son.

‘What are you doing?’ I say and try to grab the suitcase back.

Sid grabs me by the hair—he grabs a handful of my hair and pulls me back. My head snaps back with the force. He pulls my hair again and with the other between my shoulders he pushes me into the wall.

My forehead and nose crash into the wall. My eyes water and I cry out with the pain. Sid does not say a word. Dragon is standing behind her son, trying to grab his shoulders, yelling something.

He grabs me by my shoulders and turns me around to face him—he slaps me once, twice, thrice. I feel my lower lip split open. He pushes me into the wall and shakes me by the shoulders.

‘You will not spoil my life, you fucking bitch. You will not have the fucking baby,’ he yells. He shakes me some more and raises his fist—

I wrap my arms tightly around my stomach—not my baby, please god, not my baby—I wait for the punch to land …

I hear a loud smack.

‘Ma!’ Sid yells in pain.

‘Siddhartha! Stop it, stop it right now!’ Dragon screams and I hear more smacks.

Sid lets go of my shoulder and suddenly I feel Dragon’s hands on my face, my arms, pushing the hair away from my face.

‘Polly! Polly? Open your eyes. Sorry, so sorry, he doesn’t know what he is doing. He doesn’t mean to. Polly, Polly?’ Dragon says between sobs, touching me, shaking me gently.

I open my eyes warily. My mouth’s full of blood from my cut lip, my cheeks sting and both my forehead and the back of my head are throbbing. I look for Sid. He is standing at the far end of the room, his back to me. I can see his shoulders shaking with the breathing.

Dragon raises her hand to touch my lip, I flinch.

‘So sorry, beta,’ Dragon says between sobs. ‘He didn’t mean to. He doesn’t know—’

‘What do you want Polly?’ Sid asks me gruffly.

I flinch at his voice but he doesn’t make any move to walk towards me.

‘Let me go,’ I say hoarsely.