Chapter 27 #2
Her chest tightened at once. She remembered overhearing them talk about it at the firm the other day.
At the time, she had brushed it aside, but now, it worried her too.
The thought of him leaving… disappearing from her life for two whole years…
even after she’d finally admitted she wanted him back… it terrified her.
She instantly wiped her tears and rose to her feet.
“I won’t let this happen, uncle. I can’t sit here and do nothing,” she said, in desperation. “He’s hurt. I need to go to him. To make him understand that he can’t just leave us hanging like this. I need to talk to him, Uncle. I need to—”
Raj stood quickly and caught her arm. “Aru, listen to me. I know you want to. And I know you have to. But not right now.”
Her lips parted to protest, but he held her gaze.
“Your sudden U-turn in court has thrown him into a storm he doesn’t know how to face.
Instead of relief, he’s feeling betrayed all over again.
He’s questioning your decision-making, questioning your trust, questioning whether any of this means anything to him anymore.
He needs time, Aru. Time to gather himself. ”
Her shoulders slumped. She hated that he was right.
Slowly, she sank back onto the couch. But despite her strength draining, Arundhati picked up her phone and typed him a message: ‘Don’t hurt us more, Kushal. Please talk to me. Please.’
She hit send. And then stared at the screen, waiting for those three dots that never appeared.
He hadn’t responded to any of her text messages today. Because she was the reason they were standing at the edge of everything, on opposite sides of a love they both still felt but couldn’t yet reach.
****************
Kushal’s Penthouse
Kushal had been home for some time now. Straight from court, he had driven back without a pause.
The moment he entered, he’d gone directly to his bedroom, tossing his phone, wallet, and suit jacket aside before sinking onto the edge of the bed.
Leaning forward, his face buried in his palms, he sat in silence.
He still couldn’t believe what had happened today.
All these months, the woman who had fought relentlessly for divorce, who only days ago, even after their closeness, had stood her ground… that same woman had suddenly told the judge she didn’t want it anymore?
What had changed?
Why was she so impossible to understand?
Why did she always make everything so unbearably complex?
Arundhati lived in her own assumptions, her own rigid reasoning.
Whenever he had tried to explain, to reason with her, she’d shut him out.
And now, after all his efforts, after every wound he carried, when he had finally broken down enough to set her free, she turned around and said she wanted him back?
‘Like seriously?’ he thought. What am I to her? What is my love? Just a toy she picks up and throws away when she pleases?
He leaned back, letting his upper body fall onto the bed, his feet still on the floor. He hadn’t slept in days, consumed by the thought of losing her forever, of watching the only woman he had ever truly fallen for walk away.
Even though he had felt her feelings creeping back toward him recently, she never let go of her reasoning, her doubts, her walls.
Then why today? Why had she suddenly flipped?
He groaned, dragging a hand across his face, as anger surged inside him. He knew the more he thought about this, the more he’d lose his mind. Whether this divorce would happen or not, he didn’t want to spiral anymore. For him, it was over.
But what haunted him most wasn’t the courtroom.
It was afterwards. Arundhati had run after him, desperate to speak, maybe even to apologise.
And what had he done? He’d unleashed every ounce of frustration he had bottled inside for months.
For once, she would feel what he had been drowning in.
For once, she would know what it was like to want someone desperately, yet be shut out.
And yet, it didn’t feel good. Hurting her didn’t feel like justice. Watching her cry when all she wanted was him, it gutted him.
A lone tear slid from his closed eyes. Why does loving someone have to hurt this much?
His phone buzzed again and again across the room. Arundhati’s name flashed, her messages piled up.
But he didn’t check. He wouldn’t.
This time, he wasn’t going to bend. He wasn’t going to let anyone, Arundhati or even Raj Verma, interfere with what he had decided for his life.
He wanted to get away from all of it. From her. From the wreckage of their marriage. From Verma and Associates.
And he would.
*****************
Same night
It was barely half an hour to midnight, and Arundhati was nowhere close to sleep. Peace and sleep had abandoned her completely. She grew restless with each passing second. Kushal wasn’t answering her calls. He wasn’t replying to her messages.
She wasn’t someone who turned to alcohol to drown her pain.
Yet, she was hopelessly drunk. Because tonight wasn’t about escape.
It was about bruises that wouldn’t stop throbbing, and a desperate urge to make things right when she had no idea how.
With the bottle clutched tightly in her hand, she stumbled toward the main door.
“Aru!” Her uncle voice stopped her. He was standing there, concern carved across his face. “Where are you going?”
Her words slurred as she replied. “I’m…I’m going to Kushal. I can’t sit here waiting for him to calm down. What if he doesn’t, Uncle? What if the more time I give him, the farther he walks away from me? I can’t… I can’t let that happen.”
She turned, fumbling with the lock, but Raj stepped closer.
“Fine. I won’t stop you. But you’re not driving in this state. I’ll take you to him.”
She didn’t argue.
Raj knew it wasn’t the night to lecture her. She was drowning in guilt and love, too stubborn to stay back. The least he could do was keep her safe.
The drive to Kushal’s Aura residences was filled with Arundhati’s drunken ramblings.
She clutched the bottle to her chest like it was him she was holding onto, whispering apologies, begging him not to leave her, as though Kushal were sitting right in front of her.
Raj’s hands tightened on the steering wheel, his heart breaking for his niece, but he said nothing.
When they arrived, he helped her out of the car, noticing how her steps wavered and how her body was sluggish under the alcohol’s weight. She insisted she would manage from here and urged him to leave. But Raj shook his head. “I’ll drop you upstairs.”
She grabbed his hand. “No. If you come, maybe he’ll forgive me because of you.
Because of the respect he has for you. And I don’t want that this time, Uncle.
I want him to see me. The real me. My flaws.
My mistakes. And I want him to forgive them for me.
Not for you. Not for anyone else. For us. For our marriage. For our love.”
Raj finally resigned because he understood she was right. “Fine. Then at least message me once you’re with him. Only then will I drive away.”
She agreed. Raj walked her to the elevator and waited for her to go alone upstairs and handle this.
He knew it wasn’t the right time for them to talk over such a sensitive topic, but he knew situations like this bring a couple close, and he had full faith that Kushal wouldn’t turn down Arundhati tonight, not when she is in her most vulnerable state.
The elevator doors finally slid shut with a dull clank, leaving Arundhati alone in the mirrored box. With shaky hands, she raised the bottle to her mouth again, forcing down another burn of alcohol. She needed courage to numb the ache and gather the strength to face him tonight.
When the elevator finally chimed open, it was his floor.
Her knees almost gave way, but sheer will dragged her out.
She staggered toward his door, her trembling fingers hovering over the keypad.
Slowly, carefully, she punched in the numbers of her birthdate, the code that once opened his penthouse.
But tonight, the lock beeped red. Access Denied.
She tried again, slower this time, biting down on her lip to steady her shaking hand.
Another harsh beep annoyed her. Access Denied.
He’d changed it. The password that used to be hers was no longer there. The code that once meant she belonged here was gone. He had locked her out, just as he’d begun locking her out of his life.
“No… no, you can’t shut me out like this, Kushal…”
She jabbed at the bell and pressed it again, and again, in desperation. Her bottle tilted again toward her lips, as she took another swallow to smother the sting of rejection.
That’s when he opened the door.
Kushal stood there, still in his white shirt crisp against the harsh lines of his body. For a moment, she forgot everything—forgot the code, forgot the fight, forgot the divorce. The sight of him stole the purpose from her mind.
His eyes flicked from her flushed face to the bottle clutched in her hand, and she saw the disappointment tighten his jaw. He looked shocked and a bit worried.
“Why did you change it?” she blurted, her voice broken, angry. “Why did you change the passcode?”
He sighed tiredly, like he didn’t have the strength left to argue. “Arundhati… go home.”
“This is my home,” she shot back, slurring. “I’m not going anywhere.”
As she stumbled forward, her heel caught on the rug. But before she could hit the ground, his arms wrapped around her.
Kushal knew Arundhati wasn’t someone who would lose her control like this. But again, these days she really surprised him with everything she did. Like she did today with the sudden decision of taking back her divorce petition.
Her head lulled against his chest as her eyelids grew heavy with sleep. She gripped his shirt tightly for support. But within seconds, the fight drained out of her, leaving her fragile in his arms, and she almost surrendered to unconsciousness.
Cursing under his breath, Kushal pulled the bottle from her hand and kept it over the cabinet next to the door.
He then bent and lifted her fully into his hold…
one arm under her knees, the other bracing her back.
She was light, too light. Shutting the door behind him, and without another word, he carried her straight to the guest room and laid her gently on the bed.
Arundhati wasn’t ready to let go of her hold from his shirt, but he gently pulled it out, freeing himself and helped her lie down.
For a moment, he just stood there, staring down at his wife, the woman he was supposed to let go of but couldn’t stop holding. Her breathing had evened out into soft, shallow sighs, her lips parted in restless sleep.
A strand of her hair had fallen across her face, and almost without thinking, he brushed it back gently.
His hand lingered a second longer before he pulled away.
That was when her phone buzzed faintly against her palm, still clutched weakly in her hand.
The screen lit up, flashing Raj Uncle across it.
For a second, Kushal hesitated, then leaned closer to read the notification on the lock screen: “Aru, have you reached upstairs? Did you find him? Message me, I won’t leave until you do. ”
He then realised that maybe Raj Verma had brought her here, and who was now worried, protective, and waiting to hear she was safe. With a heavy sigh, Kushal carefully slid the phone from her loose grip. His thumb hovered, then typed a reply: “She’s fast asleep. Don’t worry ~ Kushal.”
He set the phone quietly on the nightstand, but his gaze drifted back to her. She still looked so heartbreakingly his, even when she wasn’t supposed to be anymore.
With one last look at her sleeping form, he turned and left the room, shutting the door softly behind him.
No matter how much distance he tried to create, the truth was merciless. She was here, in their home, and he had no idea how to stop her from still being in his heart.