Chapter 44
SAURAV
I was spiraling. My head was spinning so fast I couldn't think straight. Her three words, I love you, were still ringing in my ears like a melody I didn't deserve to hear. I didn't know how to handle it. I felt a confusing mix of heat and ice in my chest.
Love. That was the last thing I ever expected from her. Yes, I cared about Kavya. I even liked her. But love? Love was a heavy word, and I wasn't sure I knew how to carry it.
I was going to the airport, my hands clutching my phone, but my mind was still back at the villa.
I had been so cruel to her this morning.
She only wanted to celebrate my birthday, and I had thrown her kindness back in her face.
My heart ached when I remembered the look in her eyes, the way her soul seemed to shatter when I asked for a divorce.
I hadn't just hurt her; I had broken her.
When the driver pulled up to the airport curb, I stepped out slowly. The bustling crowds and the smell of jet fuel felt hollow. All I could see was her crying face. I balled my hands into fists, trying to shake the image away, but I couldn't. I was a coward if I left now.
"Take me back," I snapped, sliding back into the car. "Drive back to the Chauhan villa. Now."
The driver didn't ask questions. He just pulled back into traffic.
I sat in the backseat, tapping my foot manically.
My chest felt tight with desperation. I didn't care about my schedule anymore; I would take a flight tomorrow morning.
I just needed to see her. I needed to see her smile again, just once, to know she was okay.
When the car finally stopped in front of the villa, a strange silence hung over the house. I stepped out and walked toward the door. I found myself praying that Kavya would open the door the way she always did with that quiet, hopeful look on her face.
I rang the bell. No answer.
I waited, my heart hammering against my ribs. Still nothing. I pulled out my spare key and unlocked the door. The house felt cold and empty.
My breath caught when I stepped inside. The silence was deafening. I ran to her room, but my stomach dropped the moment I opened the door. It was stripped bare. Her clothes were gone. Her perfume was gone. Even her ghungroos, the bells that made music whenever she danced, were missing.
Then, I saw it. A small piece of paper sitting on the vanity.
'If you want a divorce, I will give it to you. But I don’t need your money, Saurav. You spent fifty-five lakh on me. I have returned twenty-five lakh to your account. I will find a way to pay the rest. Goodbye, handsome.’
I swallowed hard, reading the note again and again. I hoped the words would change if I stared at them long enough. I must have read that note ten times, but the ending was always the same. She was gone.
I whipped out my phone and dialed her number. Unreachable. I tried again. Nothing.
Panic set in as I bolted out of the house, my lungs burning. I told the driver to move and jumped into the driver’s seat myself. I tore down the driveway, racing toward the only person who might know where she went.
Abhiraj Sisodiya.
My ex-best friend. I used to love him like a brother, but he had betrayed me. He and my father had hidden my military documents to keep me from serving. I could have eventually forgiven him for that, but then he tried to get close to my wife. Or so I thought.
I screeched into the parking lot of Sisodiya’s office and ran inside. The guards recognized me and stayed out of my way. I took the elevator to the top floor and barged into his office. His secretary tried to stop me, but I pushed past her.
"What the fuck…" Abhiraj started to say, but I didn't let him finish. I lunged forward, grabbed his collar, and slammed him against the wall.
"Where is Kavya?" I barked.
Abhiraj didn't look scared. Instead, a mocking smile touched his lips. That look earned him a hard fist to the jaw.
"You were the last person with her!" I yelled.
"She left," he said, wiping a trail of blood from his lip. He laughed, but it sounded bitter. "She’s gone forever, Saurav. For good."
"Where?" I demanded, clenching my jaw so hard it pained me.
"I don't know, and even if I did, I wouldn't tell you. It was your job to know. You’re her husband.
" He shoved me away, straightening his suit.
"But how could you know anything? You were too busy hating her.
You spent every second screaming at her and blaming her for every single one of your problems."
Abhiraj stepped closer, glaring into my eyes. "You’re the biggest fool on the planet."
"Where is she, Abhiraj?" My voice was breaking.
"Find out yourself," he said, turning his back to me to look out the window.
I turned to leave, but his voice stopped me cold.
"Her father forced her to file that complaint against you, Saurav. He threatened to kill her younger sister if she didn't. She did it to save her family, but the girl died anyway."
I froze, looking at him in total shock. The world felt like it was tilting.
"Don't look at me like you had no idea," Abhiraj snapped, looking at me. "She’s been through hell her whole life. Her father abused her. Her mother died when she was a kid. Her stepbrother stole every cent she earned. She wasn't a gold-digger, Saurav. She was a survivor."
I didn't stay to hear the rest. I ran. I got into the car and called uncle Dhruv. After a few minutes of frantic talking, he finally gave me the answer. She had booked a flight to Switzerland.
"Why didn't you tell me earlier?!" I screamed into the phone.
"I thought you knew... I thought this was what you wanted," he stammered.
"Dammit!" I hung up and floored the gas, heading back to the airport.
I reached the terminal and sprinted toward the gates, but a security guard stepped in my way, holding up a hand.
"I'm sorry, sir. You can't go through."
"I need to get on the flight to Switzerland! It’s an emergency!"
The guard looked at me with pity and shook his head. "I'm sorry, sir. That flight took off twenty minutes ago. The gates are closed."
I stopped dead. It felt like the floor had vanished beneath my feet. I looked through the massive glass windows at the empty runway. She was up there, somewhere in the clouds, moving thousands of miles away from me.
I was a fool. A complete, arrogant fool.
I had spent months treating her like an enemy.
I thought she was a gold-digger who only wanted my name.
But the truth was a nightmare. She was a victim who had suffered in silence, and instead of being her protector, I had been her tormentor.
I had asked for a divorce while she was already drowning.
"Sir? Are you okay?" the guard asked, reaching for my shoulder.
I didn't answer. I pulled out my phone, my fingers shaking so hard I could barely type. I checked the schedules. There wasn't another flight for ten hours.
"Ten hours," I whispered to the empty air. My heart felt like lead. “And I have to report to my military base by tomorrow morning.”
I was trapped between my duty and the woman I had just realized I loved. And I was losing both.
_________
The heat in Assam was different from the city.
It was thick, wet, and smelled like rain and mud.
I was at the military base for advanced jet training, a place where I usually felt at home.
But now, the uniform felt like it was choking me.
I was surrounded by soldiers, but I had never felt more alone in my life.
Every morning began with a brutal run, but I didn't feel the burn in my muscles. My mind was stuck in a loop. I kept seeing my father’s face, the man who had manipulated my life like I was a chess piece.
I thought about my mother’s diary, filled with my mother’s hateful words.
She had painted a world where love was a lie, and I had been stupid enough to believe her.
Most of all, I thought about Kavya.
I remembered the way she used to look at me with a hope that I had slowly crushed.
I realized now that every time I raised my voice, she was remembering the abuse from her father.
Every time I accused her of wanting my money, she was probably thinking of her brother stealing her hard-earned savings.
I had become just another monster in her life.
"Chauhan! If you're going to daydream, do it on your own time! Move!" the drill sergeant roared.
I wiped the sweat from my forehead and continued the drill, but the guilt followed me like a shadow. I was a soldier trained to protect people, yet I had failed to protect the one woman who actually loved me.
The day of the high-altitude flight arrived. The sky was a pale, dusty blue. I stood on the tarmac, staring at the fighter jet. Usually, flying was my escape. When I was in the air, the world below felt small and unimportant.
I climbed into the cockpit. The familiar smell of metal and electronics surrounded me. I buckled my harness and put on my helmet, trying to lock my emotions in a box.
"Alpha One, radio check," the tower crackled.
"Alpha One, loud and clear," I replied, my voice sounding hollow to my own ears.
I taxied to the runway. As the engine roared to life, a memory flashed in my mind, Kavya standing in the backyard watching me as I saw my birthday cake. I yelled at her. I had told her I didn't care. Now, that memory felt like a knife twisting in my gut.
"Clear for takeoff."
I pushed the throttle. The force of the jet pressed me back into my seat as I shot into the air. I climbed higher and higher, piercing through a layer of thick clouds. Below me, the green forests of Assam stretched out like a carpet.
But I couldn't escape the thoughts. They were in the cockpit with me.
I thought about the note she left. Goodbye, handsome.
She was probably in Switzerland now, breathing fresh air, finally free from my shadow.
The thought that she might be happier without me made my chest ache more than any G-force ever could.
I had lost her. I had pushed her away until she had nowhere left to go but a different continent.
Suddenly, a sharp, metallic clink echoed through the airframe.
My eyes snapped to the instrument panel. A red warning light began to flicker. My heart skipped a beat, but not because of the danger, it was the sudden realization that I didn't care if I crashed.
"Control, this is Alpha One. I have a vibration in engine two," I said, my voice steady despite the chaos starting in the jet.
"Alpha One, we're seeing a temperature spike. Level off and return to base immediately."
The jet shuddered. A loud bang followed, and the aircraft lurched to the left. Smoke began to fill the small cabin. I fought with the controls, pulling the stick with all my strength, but the jet was resisting me. It felt like the machine knew I was broken inside.
"I'm losing hydraulic pressure!" I shouted into the comms. "The controls are locking up!"
"Eject, Alpha One! Eject now!" the tower screamed.
I looked down at the yellow and black handle between my legs. If I pulled it, I would live. But my mind was stuck on a final image: Kavya’s face when I asked for the divorce. I had destroyed her world. Maybe this was my punishment.
The jet went into a violent nose-dive. The green forest below began to spin faster and faster. The alarms were screaming, a high-pitched wail that sounded like a woman crying.
"Kavya..." I whispered. My hand gripped the handle at the last second, but it was too late.
The jet clipped the top of the giant trees. The sound was like a thousand windows breaking at once. There was a blinding flash of orange fire, a roar that drowned out the world, and then, nothing. Everything was pitch black.
_________