CHAPTER 20
Back in the present...
“Remembered?” Reyansh asked, his deep voice no longer echoing through the phone but resounding from directly behind her.
Aanya spun around, startled. Her husband stood there with his smug expression.
So that was why he had called her to this exact place.
To remind her of how they’d first met? How he had remembered everything while she had no recollection at all.
She really didn’t recall whom she had kissed that night, until now, and the revelation left her cheeks burning.
Damn. What must have Reyansh thought of her?
She kissing a stranger? But again, if he already had a poor opinion of her, why did he still marry her?
“Yes,” she murmured, her voice faltering.
“I… I remember it now.” Her gaze fell to the floor, shame crawling over her skin.
“But that was in the past. And I truly regret it. Drinking that much, blacking out like that… if that’s what alcohol makes me do, then I agree, I shouldn’t touch it.
Not just for the sake of this deal we have, but for my own sake.
It was a different phase of my life, Reyansh. One I’m not proud of.”
Reyansh said nothing, just kept watching her closely, intensely. He was glad she finally remembered.
“Do you realize how worse that night could have gone?” he asked. “If it hadn’t been me … if it had been some other man, drunk or worse—do you understand what could’ve happened?”
Aanya’s shoulders dropped, guilt pooling in her chest.
“I know,” she said quietly. “You don’t have to rub it in. I already feel it. So is that why you dragged me to Cape Town? To throw that one mistake back in my face?”
He studied her in silence as she continued.
“I didn’t even remember your face, Reyansh,” she continued, eyes flashing. “Not that night. Not the moment. But you did. You remembered it all. So why the hell would you agree to marry me? You knew I wasn’t your type.”
Reyansh raised a brow. Now she was finally asking the right questions.
“And I don’t think you’re the kind of man who’d wreck his entire life just to avenge a kiss,” she added, her voice softening as confusion crept in. “So why, Reyansh? Why marry me?”
Her heart stammered as she saw his eyes darken. Reyansh exhaled slowly before breaking his silence.
“Because no one ever left a mark on me the way you did,” he said. “Not before. Not after. I don’t know how or why, but that night...it never left me. You never left me. I was smitten, Aanya. By you. In every damn way.”
Her knees weakened. Was he serious? That drunken night when she’d stumbled into his life uninvited, was what had struck him? What was that supposed to mean? Some twisted form of love at first sight?
“You were smitten?” she asked, uncertain whether to laugh or cry. “By me?”
His nod was faint, but it was real. “Hopelessly.”
She stared at him in disbelief. Reyansh stepped closer, pulling her gently into his arms.
“Why do you think I asked your father for your hand in marriage?” he said quietly.
Aanya swallowed hard unable to process his words. One kiss from her and he’d decided he wanted her? As his wife? Pride or panic? She couldn’t tell which she felt more.
She jerked out of his hold, suddenly alarmed. “That night meant nothing to me,” she said sharply.
His brow arched. “Maybe not back then,” he murmured. “But now? Now that you know what really happened, and who it was with… don’t tell me it still means nothing .”
He reached out and brushed a bead of sweat from her brow, and her body betrayed her with a visible shiver.
“Why didn’t you tell me all this before?” she snapped, dodging his question, trying to steady herself.
“When was I supposed to?” he retorted. “The next day of our marriage you just packed your bags and disappeared.
“You should’ve told me before the wedding!” she shouted. “You went to my father, pitched some deal, and suddenly I was just part of the package. You didn’t bother meeting me, talking to me, nothing. All you cared about was that one kiss in this damned bar!”
Regret flickered in his eyes.
“I was busy, Aanya,” he replied tightly. “I had a company to run. I kept telling myself there would be time later, on our wedding night, maybe. But then you gave me that performance—”
“Performance?” she nearly yelled. “I was drunk! That was my only fault. But you? You judged me. You walked out of that hotel room like I was trash.”
Her voice cracked, but she didn’t stop.
“You assumed I’m a characterless woman, unworthy to be your wife. Then you went home. Told your Nani, and from that moment on, I was nothing more than a stain on your so-called family reputation. So don’t stand here and act like the one who got hurt.”
Tears shimmered in her eyes, but she still continued.
“You knew exactly what you were getting into, and you still signed up for it. So don’t you dare play the victim now.”
Reyansh froze.
“I left because you didn’t stop me, Reyansh. And you never once looked back. You buried yourself in work, convinced yourself it was easier this way. Now, all of a sudden, because your sister wanted us to reconcile, you decided to show up and act like... this?”
Reyansh’s throat bobbed. Her words hit hard and for once, he didn’t fight them.
“I’m sorry,” he said quietly. “I thought letting go was giving you freedom. But I see now. I was just being a coward. I should’ve said this a long time ago. Maybe if I had... we wouldn’t be here like this.”
Aanya blinked at him, stunned. This was the first time he had openly taken responsibility.
“I didn’t fight for us. I didn’t fight for you,” he continued. “I should’ve held on instead of walking away, Aanya.”
She squeezed her eyes shut, unwilling to break again in front of him.
“Forget it,” she muttered. “Why are we even bringing this up now?”
She turned to leave, but he caught her wrist.
“Because it matters now.”
She stilled.
It. Matters. To. Him.
He stepped in front of her again.
“I saw the real you when we began living under one roof,” he said.
“I saw the truth. The way you love my sister. I saw your fears. I saw how out of place you felt in your own home. And that’s when I realized how badly I’d judged you.
You weren’t perfect, Aanya. But neither was I.
And I should have fought harder for us. Because that’s what marriage is. ”
Aanya laughed bitterly.
“Marriage?” she bit out. “I still don’t understand your reasons fully for marrying me, but I signed those papers out of obligation.
I felt like baggage, passed from my father to you.
This marriage meant nothing to me. Then or now.
I didn’t ask for your sudden interest when we agreed to pretend for Di for two months.
And now coming to love and our marriage…
that’s the last thing I need right now. So lower your expectations. ”
She yanked her hand from his grip and strode toward the exit. If she could take the next flight back to Delhi, she would. But she was stuck here for three more days with Reyansh Chopra.
And if this one night already felt like a storm, God only knew what kind of chaos he’d unleash next.
An hour later
Reyansh downed his drink in one harsh gulp, trying and failing to drown out the echo of his wife’s painful words. She’d left him standing there, alone in the very pub where she had once created memories so unexpectedly beautiful… only to taint them tonight.
He had been so wrong all along. Obsessed with building an empire, he had neglected the one thing that might have grounded him: her . Had he spared even a fraction of his time to understand her, to pursue her like a man should, things might not have spiralled into this chaos.
What had he truly expected? That flying her to South Africa, revealing how they had first met, confessing she’d left a mark on him from that very night, would melt her defiance and make her fall for him? What a fool he’d been.
Aanya wasn’t like the women who chased him.
She had been shaped by abandonment, distrust, and wounds she never even tried to hide.
And he had only made those worse. Falling for her had been easy.
Getting her into his life, easier still.
But cherishing her? Protecting her? Understanding her pain, her silence, her fears? That was the part he had failed.
And this... this was only the beginning of his confession. What would happen when she learned the rest? About her mother’s will and how that twisted document tied directly into their marriage? He couldn’t let that surface now. Not when he had already shattered her trust once tonight.
Reyansh emptied the glass, tossed a few bills on the counter, and left the pub with his own guilt trailing behind him.
******************
Hotel
Aanya burst into the room and kicked off her boots with a frustrated groan. The cab ride back had been suffocating, but not nearly as much as her thoughts. She still couldn’t believe what Reyansh had told her today.
She collapsed onto the bed as every word he had spoken to her played on a cruel loop.
His regret didn’t change anything. He might finally value their marriage, but she wouldn’t let herself be swayed. She had her goals, her job, her independence. And if that crushed his heart, then so be it. She wasn’t going to care. Not anymore.
*****************
When Reyansh returned to their room, he found her fast asleep or so he assumed. The lights were dim. She lay curled up under nothing but the sheet, trembling slightly. Quietly, he pulled the duvet over her, careful not to wake her, and turned off the bedside lamp.
He stood by the bed, debating. After tonight, after the storm they’d just survived, she deserved peace. He turned and made his way to the couch, lying down to face her.