Chapter 32

He came home late that night. I cooked dinner and waited for him. As soon as he came, he refreshed himself and went to the couch to sleep.

I knew I had to make him eat but I didn't know how to do that without showing him that I cared.

I carried the plate with food and stood in the kitchen hesitating and thinking. After a long struggle, I took a long breath and walked toward him.

He was lying there, closing his eyes. I could tell that he was very tired. I stood in front of the table near the couch hoping that he would open his eyes and look at me. But he didn't.

I kept the plate on the table causing a clinking sound which was a little too loud even for me. He opened his eyes and looked at me, knitting his brows.

I immediately retreated to our room without looking back or saying anything. All the way I was chanting to myself, Please eat... Please eat...

From the room, I peeked outside to see if he was eating. Thankfully, he sat up and took the plate in his hands. Before he started eating, he looked in my direction and saw me peeking at him.

I was embarrassed but at the same time, I was happy that he was eating. Thank God he was not so adamant.

I went to bed, smiling to myself. As if Satan himself knew that I was happy, he sent his regards in the form of a text message from Abhi.

I received tons of messages within a minute. Even if I wanted to reply, he didn't give me a chance to do so because the messages kept flooding my phone.

After the first two messages, I knew what he was trying to do. He was trying to make me remember everything.

He didn't realize that he could never make me remember things because I hadn't forgotten a single thing that happened. I remembered everything vividly. I switched off my phone without reading further.

***

For the next two days, my phone was bombarded with messages every time I switched it on. With my husband, nothing changed except that we didn't talk anymore, and he slept on the couch.

I went to take a bath after deleting all the messages that Abhi sent without reading them. While in the shower, I heard my phone ringing a couple of times and I realized I forgot to switch it off again.

When I came outside, I saw my husband looking at my phone. I knew he could see the messages in the notifications without unlocking my phone.

I sincerely hoped that I would receive only calls and not messages.

He saw me coming out of the bathroom and looking at him shocked.

"Your phone kept ringing. I assumed it might be your parents, and I thought I would pick it up. But it was someone else. Here you go," he said, handing me over the phone with a forced smile.

I know he saw something, and I hoped it was nothing bad. I took my phone from him, and he immediately took off like he was standing on fire.

I looked at my phone and, just my luck, there were some messages received.

Abhi: Talk to me, Aadhi.

Abhi: At least show me that you are angry but please don't kill me with your silence.

Abhi: I love you so much.

Abhi: I just want to talk to you. Give me ten minutes. Let's meet somewhere.

Abhi: Please Aadhi say yes. I won't disturb you after that. Just let me explain.

I didn't know if he saw everything, but he definitely saw the third one. I slumped on the couch, throwing my phone beside me in exasperation.

Why would this happen to me? Why does it have to be at that time? Why did I forget to switch it off? What would he think of me?

Why didn't I block him the minute he texted me? I mean I know that I didn't do anything wrong. So why should I care about what he thinks? I know he wouldn't doubt me or would he?

While I was rummaging through my thoughts to find something that made me feel less guilty, I heard someone shouting my name.

I saw my husband looking at me fiercely.

What did I do now?

"If you don't want to feed me then that is fine. Just tell me so, and I won't bother you again. I have been calling your name and you are sitting there like you didn't hear me.

I can only be patient to an extent, Aadhi," he said harshly in a loud voice.

I stood up to explain to him that he got it all wrong, but he stopped me with his words.

"I know you care for others more than yourself. I know you would rather hurt yourself than hurt others. Please don't lose that because of me.

I know that you asked Harsha to take care of me on that day. Yes, I was angry but after knowing that, I couldn't stay angry with you anymore.

It brought me immense joy to know that you still care about me. I don't know what changed between us, but I left you alone believing that you would come back to me.

I understand that you are hurting yourself more than me by acting like this. I get it. You don't love me. Fine.

I know you think that if you act nice then I might take advantage like before. But please believe that I won't do such things after this. I know my limit now.

You don't have to be my friend or anything. So stop acting. It's your turn, Aadhi, to go where your heart leads you. I am not going to stand in your way."

He turned around to walk away from me.

"Just a minute." I didn't know why I stopped him.

He stopped and looked back giving me a chance to say something. I hesitated, but I knew I had to do this.

"I know you have been waiting for an answer since you asked me." I paused for a moment. My voice croaked and I cleared my throat before I started talking.

"So my answer is yes. Let's get divorced as you said before."

I shouldn't have looked at his eyes after saying that. I saw the person I was years ago in him. I shattered his heart into a million pieces with lethal words.

A single tear fell from his eye, rolling down his cheeks, showing that his heart was bleeding as well.

It's for his own good. He should not cling on to a broken person. Even if I mend my heart, I know I can't love him as he does me.

There was also a selfish reason,'I didn't want to feel the pain of losing someone again.'

When you gain something there is also an equal chance of losing it and my heart only saw the negative side.

I clenched my fist so hard that my nails might pierce through my skin. But that pain helped me to control the urge to run and hug him.

One more minute there and I knew I would lose control. So I ran like hell to my room.

My breathing was rapid and fast, and I realized what I had done. I told myself that it was for the sake of him and my broken heart.

Composing myself, I took my phone and sent a message.

Let's meet up.