Shocking truth #3
"...I wish I had never witnessed."
His voice carried something I had never heard before.
Fear.
Not fear of dying.
Fear of remembering.
"I've worked with Sir for years."
"I've seen him covered in blood."
"I've seen him smile after surviving bullets."
"I've seen him bury enemies without blinking."
He shook his head.
"But..."
His voice almost cracked.
"I had never seen him broken."
My heartbeat stopped for a second.
Broken?
The same man who looked impossible to shake?
Arav looked back at me.
"When that year began..."
"I thought Sir was invincible."
A bitter smile appeared on his lips.
"I was wrong."
His eyes slowly lowered.
"Very wrong."
He inhaled deeply, as though preparing himself to relive something that still haunted him.
Then, in a voice barely above a whisper, he said—
"The day Sir signed those divorce papers..."
"...was the day I watched RIVAN Thakur die."
"And whatever came back after that..."
"...was never the same man again."
I didn't realize when my breathing had become uneven.
Every sentence Arav spoke felt like someone was peeling away layers of a truth I had spent two years trying to bury.
I had always imagined him moving on.
Working.
Winning.
Living.
Not...
Whatever this was.
Arav lowered his head before speaking again.
"Slowly..."
"Very slowly..."
"Sir started detaching himself from everyone."
My brows knitted together.
"He became the same man he was before he met you."
"No conversations."
"No laughter."
"No patience."
"Just work."
"And anger."
I swallowed.
The mr Thakur I had known after marriage was cold to the world but never unnecessarily cruel.
According to Arav...
Even that version had disappeared.
"He started shouting at employees."
"He fired people over tiny mistakes."
"Board meetings became nightmares."
"No one wanted to be around him."
"He became more ruthless than ever."
I closed my eyes for a second.
A strange ache spread through my chest.
Why?
Why would someone who wanted the divorce become like this afterward?
Nothing made sense anymore.
Arav continued.
"One day..."
"Virendra Uncle confronted him."
"They had a huge argument."
I slowly looked up.
"A fight?"
He nodded.
"A very bad one."
"That night..."
"Sir packed a few things."
"And left the haveli."
"He shifted permanently to his penthouse."
I stared blankly.
Now...
Every forgotten memory felt heavier than before.
"I thought everything would settle down."
Arav spoke quietly.
"I honestly believed he was simply missing you."
"I thought..."
"...once you came back..."
"...things would become normal."
He smiled bitterly.
"I was wrong."
My heartbeat unconsciously quickened.
"What happened?"
Arav looked away.
"Something changed."
"He started returning to the haveli every single night."
I frowned.
"But..."
"He was living in the penthouse."
"Exactly."
"He'd spend the entire day at work."
"Then disappear at night."
"No one knew."
"No one noticed."
"He would quietly enter the haveli after everyone slept..."
"...and leave before sunrise."
A chill crawled across my skin.
"What...?"
"Why?"
Arav shook his head.
"I didn't know."
"So one night..."
"I stayed back at the penthouse."
My breathing slowed.
Some instinct inside me warned me I wasn't going to like what came next.
Arav inhaled deeply.
"That night..."
His voice became distant.
"As usual..."
"I was working late in Sir's office."
"There were too many pending files."
"Too many meetings."
"Too much paperwork."
He gave a tired smile.
"I finished everything around two in the morning."
"I thought I'd leave."
"But I was exhausted."
"So..."
"I slept on the office couch."
His eyes lost focus, as if he were watching the memory unfold in front of him.
"I don't know how much time passed."
"Maybe an hour."
"Maybe two."
"Then..."
"I heard a sound."
A faint...
Repeated...
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
I held my breath.
"I thought someone had broken into the penthouse."
"So I immediately woke up."
"I quietly walked toward Sir's bedroom."
"The lights were off."
"The room was dark."
"But..."
His voice cracked.
"I could still hear it."
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
"I slowly pushed the door open."
His hands trembled slightly.
"And..."
"For the first time in my life..."
"I wished I hadn't."
My throat tightened painfully.
"What did you see?"
I whispered.
Arav looked directly into my eyes.
"I saw Sir standing beside the bed."
"His eyes were closed."
"He wasn't awake."
"He wasn't conscious."
"But..."
"...he was hurting himself."
My heart stopped.
"W-What...?"
"He kept dragging a knife across his own arm."
"Again."
"And again."
"And again."
"He wasn't screaming."
"He wasn't crying."
"There wasn't even an expression on his face."
"It was as though..."
"...his body had learned to bleed on its own."
I felt tears gathering in my eyes.
No...
No...
"He was sleepwalking."
Arav whispered.
"The doctors later diagnosed him with severe parasomnia."
"Along with trauma-induced dissociative episodes."
"They said his mind never truly rested."
"He relived the same emotional pain while asleep."
"And sometimes..."
"...his subconscious tried to convert emotional pain into physical pain."
His eyes became red.
"I still remember grabbing the knife from his hand."
"He didn't even react."
"He just stood there."
"Eyes closed."
"Murmuring only one sentence..."
Arav's voice broke completely.
"'Don't leave me...'"
"'Please don't leave me...'"
"'... don't leave me...'"
The room disappeared around me.
I couldn't hear the clock anymore.
I couldn't hear my own breathing.
All I could hear...
...were those words echoing inside my head.
Don't leave me.
My vision blurred.
A tear slipped down my cheek before I even realized I was crying.
For two years...
I had hated him.
Believed he had abandoned me without looking back.
But somewhere...
In the darkness of an empty penthouse...
He had been fighting battles I had never imagined.
Battles against his own mind.
Against his own memories.
Against himself.
To be continue
One more truth is yet to reveal...
Devyani's heart melted into a warm puddle right then and there. The fierce, possessive care in his deep voice wiped away all her teasing mood.
Standing on her tiptoes, she cupped his jaw with one delicate hand, leaned in, and pressed a soft, lingering, sweet kiss straight onto his right cheek!
Mwah????
Rivan's breath caught in his throat once again, his hand instinctively coming up to gently cup her hip under his heavy coat to steady her.
"Thank you, my protective soon to be husband," Devyani whispered near his ear, her tone shifting into a tiny, whiny baby voice as she rested her forehead against his bare chest, looking up at him through her dark, long lashes.
"But baby... mujhe bohot bhook lagi hai... and mujhe dance bhi karna hai!"