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The moment I saw Gowtham Chadda standing at the gates of our mansion, alive, glaring at me with those accusing eyes, my heart dropped to my stomach. My breath hitched in my throat. My hands went cold.
Beside me, Arya bhabhi gripped my hand tightly, just as terrified.
"Bhabhi... aaj toh gaye..." I whispered, my voice trembling.
("Bhabhi... we're finished today...")
She didn't speak-just gave a slow, fearful nod.
Gowtham stood confidently, despite the visible injuries on his face. A bandage covered his arm, and he had bruises that hadn't yet faded. But that familiar arrogant smirk hadn't left his face.
He tilted his head mockingly, eyes locking with mine.
"What happened, Katha? Shocked seeing me alive?" he taunted, stepping forward.
I clenched my fists. My whole body was on fire.
My brothers-Bhairava, Gyan, Dyan-were ready to lunge at him, but Papa raised a hand.
"Not now," he said calmly, though his jaw was clenched in fury.
Utsav stood behind, holding Sheraa, who growled lowly, sensing the tension.
Dattatriya... stood beside me. He hadn't moved. He had no expression now-just a stone-cold silence that scared me more than anything else.
Gowtham's smile widened. He looked around at everyone before raising his voice.
"What happened, my dear fiancée... sorry, ex-fiancée?" he sneered. "Not going to introduce me to your new family? Your new husband?"
The entire Choudhury family frowned, their confusion thick in the air.
That's when Bhairava bhaiya snapped.
"How dare you come here?! You ran away on my sister's wedding day! You humiliated her in front of the world! Now you have the audacity to show your face?"
But Gowtham laughed.
"Ran away?" he mocked. "Oh, is that what she told you?"
He looked at me again, face darkening.
"Your lovely sister didn't tell you the full story?" he said. "She didn't tell you that she kidnapped me the night before the wedding? That I didn't run away-but I was tied up, drugged, and locked in a goddamn warehouse?"
A gasp echoed through the mansion.
Gyan bhaiya's fists clenched instantly. Dyan bhaiya took a step forward in disbelief. Papa's eyes were wide.
"What nonsense-" Bhairava began, but Gowtham cut him off.
"It's not nonsense. Ask your sister. Ask your wife," he said, pointing to Arya bhabhi. "They both did it. Together."
I closed my eyes.
The silence that followed was crushing. Deafening.
And then... the questions started.
"Katha...?" Papa's voice was low. "Is he telling the truth?"
I couldn't speak.
Bhairava bhaiya turned to Arya. "Arya? You were involved in this?!"
She looked at the ground, silent.
Gyan bhaiya's voice shook with rage. "You... you planned all this?"
"You tricked us?" Dyan's words hit like a slap.
"You were never the victim..." Papa whispered, heartbreak in his eyes. "You were the mastermind."
Only Utsav, my ladlaa, didn't let go of me. He held me tightly, looking up at my face with fear. He didn't understand everything-but he felt the tension, and he wasn't going to leave me.
But it was him I turned to.
Dattatriya.
My husband. My anchor. My sun and storm.
He didn't yell. He didn't even flinch. He just stood still-like a statue carved in betrayal.
His expression was blank, but his eyes... his eyes had darkened.
And when I looked into them...
I didn't see love.
I didn't see anger.
I saw something far worse.
Detachment. Emptiness.
Like he had just realized...
He was the pawn in a game he thought he was controlling.
And I had been the one moving the pieces.
Tears burned in my eyes, but I didn't dare let them fall.
Because in that moment, I knew-
The truth had shattered everything.
And I may have just lost him.
Just as Gowtham lunged forward, fury burning in his eyes, ready to lay his hands on me - it happened in a blink.
Dattatriya moved faster than anyone expected. His hand gripped Gowtham's neck with such brutal force that it knocked the breath out of him. The sheer violence in that moment made everyone, even Bhairava bhaiya and papa, instinctively step back.
"Touch. My. Wife. And I'll show you hell," Dattatriya's voice was deadly low, venomous, as his eyes bore into Gowtham like a demon unleashed.
Gowtham struggled to breathe, fear flickering in his eyes.
Without a second glance, Dattatriya flung him out of the mansion like he was nothing more than garbage. The guards didn't even need orders-they locked the door immediately.
Everything was silent after that.
Papa came to me slowly, his eyes heavy, his voice softer than I had ever heard, "Why, bacha...?" he asked, the words almost too painful for him to say.
I bit my lips, forcing myself to stay composed though my insides were breaking apart. My voice cracked, but I kept my back straight, "Because I wanted to, papa. I wanted to kidnap him. I didn't want to marry Gowtham."
I looked at Dattatriya, my eyes finding his still figure across the room. "How could I marry someone else when he-" my voice shook, "-when he was in my heart, in my mind, in every breath?"
Everyone was staring now. My brothers, my father, Arya bhabhi. But I couldn't stop.
"I couldn't do it. I couldn't marry Gowtham when I was drowning in Dattatriya's memory.
I couldn't..." My voice was rising, raw and full of hurt.
"But this man-" I pointed at Dattatriya, my voice breaking into tears, "-this man was ready to let me go.
He was ready to let me be someone else's wife.
He was ready to sacrifice his love for me because he thought he was too broken, because he thought he wasn't enough, because he thought he would cut me with his shattered pieces. "
Tears rolled down my cheeks now, hot and unstoppable. "But I couldn't. I wouldn't," I said, wiping my face furiously. "So I kidnapped Gowtham. I made it look like I was the victim. I manipulated everything so well... that he had to marry me."
There it was.
The truth. Raw and heavy in the air.
The silence that followed was deafening.
Bhairava bhaiya was still looking at Arya bhabhi, his expression shattered. His eyes were red, his voice thick. "How could you hide this from me, jaan?" he whispered.
Bhabhi held her belly protectively, guilt and fear in her face. I stepped forward quickly, my voice pleading, "Don't blame bhabhi, bhaiya. I told her not to tell anyone. She didn't know much. She just helped me because I begged her."
Bhairava didn't say anything for a moment. But then he moved forward and gently guided Arya bhabhi to the couch, sitting her down carefully. Her hands were shaking. His weren't much steadier.
We all knew the stress wasn't safe for her.
Gyan bhaiya and Dyan bhaiya were standing near the pillar, both arms folded. But they weren't angry anymore. They were... smirking. That dangerous Choudhury smirk they wore when someone outsmarted the world. As if they had expected chaos from me anyway.
Utsav, my ladla, stood silently holding Sheraa in his arms. The snow leopard cub was quiet, almost sensing the heaviness in the room.
And then... I looked at him.
Dattatriya.
He hadn't said a word since he threw Gowtham out.
He just stood there, face blank. Eyes hollow.
As if all the chaos... all the truth... had numbed him completely.
And for the first time... I was terrified.
Not because of the storm I had caused.
Not because of my family's silence.
But because of his.
Because I didn't know what he would do next.
Because I didn't know... if he would still be mine.
The room was still thick with tension, but Bhairava bhaiya-always the protector, always the one who sensed storms before they hit-stepped forward with a composed face and a gentle tone.
"We'll leave, bacha," he said quietly, his eyes softening as they met mine. "You both need time... and space."
I looked at him, eyes still damp, heart still trembling. But I nodded. Somehow, in his words, there was understanding. He didn't justify what I did... but he understood why I did it.
Papa came forward next and pulled me into a tight embrace. His hug was warm, grounding, the kind that always felt like home.
"I'm angry at you, princess," he whispered into my hair, his voice shaking. "But I'm proud too." He kissed my forehead gently, then added, "You're just like your mother... fierce when it matters."
That broke something inside me. I bit my lips hard to keep from crying again. I nodded slowly, holding his hand for a second longer.
Then Bhairava bhaiya came forward, gripping my arms, and pulled me into a hug. "Mad girl," he murmured, trying to hold back his own tears. "But you're our mad girl."
I smiled faintly through the ache.
Gyan bhaiya came next, smirking as he pulled me into his arms. "Next time, tell me if you're going to plan a crime. I'd have done it cleaner," he muttered sarcastically, and I couldn't help the small chuckle that escaped me.
Then Dyan bhaiya, without saying a word, wrapped me in one of those rare, quiet hugs of his-the kind that said everything words couldn't.
And then... my ladla.
Utsav dropped Sheraa for a second, ran to me and hugged me tightly, whispering, "You scared me, Di... don't do that again. Please."
"I won't," I whispered back, kissing his head.
Finally, Arya bhabhi. Her arms came around me with a kind of silent warmth that only she could give. "I'm here," she whispered in my ear. "No matter what. You're not alone."
I held her tight, because only she knew the real weight of what we had done.
One by one, they walked to the door, glancing back with expressions filled with mixed emotions-love, concern, confusion, pain. But not rejection.
When the door closed behind them, the silence that fell was suffocating.
I turned immediately-my heart thudding, desperate-to the only person who hadn't said a word to me since the truth came out.
Dattatriya.
He was standing near the side table, holding Sheraa gently in his arms, stroking his fur. His expression was unreadable, but his eyes... his eyes weren't calm. They were stormy. Not angry. Not sad. Just... broken.
"Dattatriya-" I began softly, taking a step toward him.
But before I could finish... he turned and walked past me, up the stairs, Sheraa still in his arms. He didn't say a word. Didn't look at me.
My hand dropped to my side. My chest felt like it was collapsing inward.
My heart sank so deep... I couldn't feel it anymore.
He wasn't yelling.
He wasn't walking out of the house.
He was walking away from me.
And somehow, that silence hurt more than any scream ever could.
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