All Rohan was interested in was Riya to be there with him at night. If she wouldn't be in the mood, he would force himself on her. Riya started getting scared of him, at the sight of him.

A covert narcissist doesn't do outright aggression but shows hostility passively. For example, giving their partner the silent treatment for days is both aggressive and abusive.

What kind of deeply rooted patriarchy and insecurity make a husband feel his wife has "defied him" if she talks to other men "despite his warning her" not to?

It was at that moment that it struck me so hard that maybe I, as a person have never been important to them. All that they cared about was "what would the relatives think if they knew I had a male friend."

Boys Don't Cry by Meghna Pant is an unputdownable story of a marriage made in hell. It is a story of abuse and crime and takes you behind the closed doors of a modern Indian marriage.