71. BROKEN
AAROHI'S POV
Morning feels strangely normal. Too normal, like the kind of silence that hides something dangerous underneath it.
I wake up slowly, stretching a little as soft sunlight spills across the bed.
For a few peaceful seconds, everything feels fine.
My hand instinctively rests over my stomach, and a small smile forms on my lips.
"Good morning," I whisper softly to the tiny lives growing inside me.
The room is quiet, and Veeransh is nowhere beside me.
Maybe he left early for work again, or maybe he's in the study handling meetings.
I sit up carefully, moving slowly just like the doctor instructed, feeling the familiar heaviness in my body that still feels new to me.
After getting ready, I walk downstairs expecting an ordinary morning. Maybe breakfast with Maa. Maybe Veeransh forcing me to drink juice again. Maybe another argument about medicine. But the moment I step into the hall, my footsteps stop completely.
A stranger is standing there. A man in formal clothes, wearing a black coat and holding a leather briefcase.
The moment I see him, uneasiness settles heavily in my chest. He turns toward me politely.
"Mrs. Aarohi Sarkar?" he asks in a calm professional voice.
I nod slowly. "Yes." He immediately opens his briefcase and pulls out a file.
"These documents are for you. Please read and sign where required. "
Sign? My heartbeat suddenly feels louder. Uneasy. Wrong. Slowly, I take the file from his hands. "Documents?" I ask quietly. "Yes," he replies simply. My fingers tremble slightly as I open the file. The second my eyes fall on the first page, the entire world around me stops moving.
My breath catches painfully inside my throat. My vision blurs instantly as the bold words burn into my eyes. Divorce Agreement. I blink again and again, trying to focus, trying to convince myself I'm reading it wrong. But the words remain there. Cold. Cruel. Real.
My hands start shaking uncontrollably as I force myself to continue reading. Marriage contract validity. Mutual separation clause activated. Every sentence feels like another knife pushed into my chest. Then suddenly my eyes land at the bottom of the page.
A signature. His signature. Veeransh Sarkar.
The paper nearly slips from my fingers. No.
No, this can't be happening. This isn't real.
My chest tightens so painfully that breathing becomes difficult.
Everything around me starts sounding distant, muffled, unreal.
My heartbeat pounds violently inside my ears while the room spins slowly around me.
"Aarohi?" Maa's voice reaches me from somewhere behind, soft and worried. I cannot answer her. I physically cannot speak. She walks closer quickly, concern filling her face the moment she sees me trembling.
"What happened, beta?" she asks gently before taking the papers from my hands.
The second her eyes scan the page, her expression changes completely.
Shock. Confusion. Disbelief. "No... what is this?
" she whispers shakily. But I still stand frozen like stone, unable to process anything properly.
My body feels numb, but my heart hurts so badly that it almost feels physical.
Then suddenly I hear footsteps behind me. Firm. Familiar. Him.
"Why are you both looking like that?" Veeransh asks casually while walking into the hall. His voice sounds normal. Calm. Unaware. As if my world hasn't just shattered into pieces. Maa immediately turns toward him holding the file tightly.
"Veer... what is this?" she asks in disbelief.
He looks toward the papers, and for one tiny second his entire expression freezes.
That single second destroys me completely.
Because in that moment I understand something terrible.
He knows exactly what those papers are. My knees weaken instantly, and darkness starts clouding my vision.
Just before I lose balance completely, strong arms catch me.
Him. Of course it's him. But today his touch feels unbearable. I immediately push him away with trembling hands. "Don't touch me." My voice shakes violently, but the sharpness inside it cuts through the silence like glass. He stares at me, stunned.
"Aarohi..." "Stay away from me." He takes a small step forward.
"Let me explain." A broken laugh escapes my lips instantly.
"Explain what?" My voice cracks loudly. "Was this your plan from the beginning?
" His eyebrows pull together in confusion.
"What are you talking about?" I hold the papers up with shaking fingers. "This. Was this your plan all along?"
"Aarohi, listen to me carefully," he says urgently, trying to move closer again.
I step back immediately. "No. You listen.
" My chest rises and falls heavily with every breath.
"After everything... after all the pain.
.. after all the humiliation you caused me.
.. why did I trust you again?" Silence fills the hall. Heavy and suffocating.
"Why did I believe you changed?" My voice breaks harder now. "Why did I start loving you?" His entire face changes at those words. "Aarohi, it's not what you think." "Then what should I think?" I snap immediately. "Tell me what I'm supposed to believe. That you accidentally signed divorce papers?"
He runs a frustrated hand through his hair, breathing heavily.
"This is not what you think." "No," I whisper painfully.
"This is exactly what I think." Tears blur my vision, but I refuse to look away from him.
"You forced me into this marriage. You controlled every part of my life.
You hurt me until I broke." His gaze lowers silently.
"And then..." my voice softens painfully, "you made me believe you changed. You made me believe you cared about me. You made me fall in love with you." "Aarohi, everything between us is real," he says immediately. But I slowly shake my head.
"If it was real..." My voice trembles uncontrollably. "...then these papers would not exist." Silence stretches painfully between us. I feel like my chest is collapsing from the weight of everything.
"If you had told me from the beginning that you only wanted me for your grandfather's property.
.. that you planned to leave me after getting it.
.. I would have walked away myself." His head snaps up instantly.
Shock flashes across his face. But I continue anyway because stopping now would destroy me completely.
"Instead, you pretended. You made me believe this marriage meant something. You made me believe you loved me."
I turn away before he can see how badly I'm shaking. Somehow I force my legs to move upstairs toward our room. The moment I step inside, everything feels unfamiliar. Empty. Fake. I look around slowly at the bed, the curtains, the photographs, the life we built together.
Suddenly none of it feels real anymore. I don't pack anything because nothing feels like mine now.
My fingers slowly move toward the diamond ring he once placed on my hand so carefully.
I remove it silently and stare at it for a long moment before placing it in my palm.
Then the necklace follows. Finally, my trembling fingers reach my mangalsutra.
For a second, I stop breathing completely. That chain once felt sacred. Safe. Like a promise. But now it feels unbearably heavy around my neck. Tears slip down silently as I remove it slowly. Then I wipe the sindoor from my hairline with shaking fingers and look at myself in the mirror.
I barely recognize the woman staring back at me. Her eyes are broken. Empty. Exhausted. She looks like someone who trusted too deeply and lost everything because of it. I close my eyes for one painful second before forcing myself to walk downstairs again.
Everyone is still standing there when I return. Waiting. Watching. Silent. I walk directly toward Veeransh and place everything into his hands. The ring. The necklace. The mangalsutra. His fingers close around them slowly while he stares at me in disbelief.
"Aarohi..." he whispers weakly. My voice comes out strangely calm now, almost numb.
"I don't know what I'll do next. I don't know where I'll go.
But I cannot stay here anymore." His face pales instantly.
"You are not going anywhere." "I am." I meet his eyes steadily despite the storm destroying me inside.
"I can take care of my child myself," I whisper quietly. "Because I am not like you." The silence afterward feels suffocating. Painful. Endless. "I cannot destroy my child just because his father betrayed me."
"Stop saying that," he says sharply, desperation finally breaking through his voice.
But I don't stop. I can't. "Our relationship is over.
" The words fall between us heavily. Final.
Absolute. His expression shatters completely, but I force myself to turn away before I break too.
My legs feel weak as I walk toward the door, but I keep moving anyway.
I don't know where I'm going. I don't know what happens after this moment. My entire future suddenly feels uncertain and terrifying. But one thing is painfully clear inside my heart. I cannot stay here. Not after seeing those papers.
Not after seeing his signature. Not after believing in love only to watch it collapse in front of my eyes. So even while my heart breaks with every step, I continue walking away. Away from the house. Away from the life I thought was real. Away from him.