Chapter 12-The Wife He Didnt See
Vinaya would remember fragments.
The darkness.
Vikram's grief.
The way he repeatedly reached for her as though terrified she would disappear.
And the name.
Always the name.
Priya.
Vinaya tried to remind him.
"I'm Vinaya."
But he was deeply intoxicated, trapped somewhere between memory and reality, and the night crossed a boundary that should never have been crossed in such confusion.
Their marriage was consummated.
There was nothing romantic about the realization for Vinaya.
No triumph that her husband had finally touched her.
No sense that the months of rejection had ended.
Because afterward, when Vikram slept beside her, Vinaya remained awake.
She stared at the ceiling.
Her body felt foreign.
Her heart felt worse.
She slowly turned her head.
Vikram slept peacefully.
For once, grief had loosened its grip on his face.
Vinaya wondered if he was dreaming of Priya.
A tear slipped toward her ear.
She wiped it away.
"You still didn't see me."
Her whisper disappeared into the darkness.
She had thought being ignored was painful.
She had thought being sent to a maid's room was humiliation.
But this—
Being held by the man she had married while knowing his mind had placed another woman in her body—
was something else entirely.
Vinaya rose before dawn.
Then stopped.
Vikram stirred.
His hand closed around hers.
She froze.
For one absurd heartbeat, hope tried to return.
Then morning light began creeping through the curtains.
Vikram's eyes opened.
He looked at the woman beside him.
Confusion appeared first.
Then recognition.
Then horror.
Vinayaknew before he spoke that whatever happened next would hurt