CHAPTER 42

Happy reading<3.........

Confrontation part 1

"Tch tch tch wifey you should have thought before opening that door you know why I'm here?"

He whispered with intensity.

"I'm here for my Wife, Ranisa"

The room was dimly lit, the soft hum of the air conditioner the only sound apart from the heavy thuds of her heartbeat. Meera's hands trembled as she stepped back, her fingers clutching the edge of the door. Vidyuth’s towering frame blocked the only exit, his piercing gaze locking her in place.

"Vidyuth,"

She whispered, her voice laced with both defiance and trepidation.

"You don’t get to call me that anymore. I stopped being your Ranisa the day I walked away."

He tilted his head slightly, a sinister smile playing on his lips.

"Ah, but you didn’t stop being mine, Meera. Not in here-"

He tapped his chest,

"and not in the eyes of the world. You see, no matter how far you run, Ranisa, the shadows of our past will always follow."

Her breath hitched as he stepped closer, the scent of his cologne invading her senses, bringing back memories she had tried so hard to bury.

"Stop this, Vidyuth. Whatever game you’re playing, I won’t be a part of it."

"Game?"

He laughed softly, the sound dangerously low.

"This isn’t a game, wifey. This is destiny. And destiny brought me"

Meera’s eyes blazed with anger.

"I owe you nothing! If anything, you owe me- an apology for the lies, the manipulation, and the pain you caused."

Vidyuth’s expression darkened, his jaw tightening.

"Lies?"

He repeated, his voice a dangerous whisper.

"I didn’t lie, Meera. I loved you, and you betrayed me. You helped Anushkha escape, didn’t you? My own bride. You conspired against me, and ... I married you. I gave you my name, my protection, my life! And this-"

"I never wanted that my life was sorted before you decided to disturb it Because you left me no choice!"

She shot back, her voice trembling.

"You married me, without my consent. You made me Queen without my consent, you even kissed me without my consent, you decided to take revenge  without my consent, and again you confessed me, Do you even know what love is? Or was I just another pawn in your twisted vendetta?"

His eyes narrowed, the fire within them momentarily flickering with something unspoken.

"Don’t you dare question my feelings for you,"

He growled.

"You think I didn’t see it? The way you laughed, the way you cried, the way you looked at me when you thought I wasn’t watching. You think I didn’t feel it every time you touched me? We were real, Meera, whether you admit it or not."

Her lips parted to respond, but his words silenced her. He took another step forward, and she took another step back, her back hitting the cold wall. He raised his hand, brushing a loose strand of her hair away from her face, his touch both tender and terrifying.

"But no matter,"

He murmured, his voice soft yet laced with steel.

"You can fight me, deny me, hate me if you want. It won’t change the truth. You are mine, Ranisa. You always have been, and you always will be."

"And what if I refuse?"

She whispered, her voice trembling yet resolute.

"What if I say I don’t want to be yours anymore?"

He leaned in closer, his lips mere inches from her ear, his voice a dangerous whisper.

"Then I’ll remind you why you fell in love with me in the first place."

Meera turned her face away, breaking the suffocating intensity of his gaze. Her chest heaved as she summoned every ounce of strength she had left.

"I never fell in love with you, Vidyuth,”

She said coldly, her words cutting through the silence like a blade.

"Not then, not now. You keep talking about feelings, but you’re the only one who had them. I never confessed to loving you because I never did."

Her words hit him like a storm, and for a brief moment, the fire in his eyes flickered, replaced by something raw, something vulnerable. But it vanished almost as quickly as it appeared, his features hardening into a mask of defiance.

"You’re lying,"

He said, his voice low and unsteady.

"You think I don’t know you, Meera? I saw it in your eyes every time you looked at me. I felt it in the way your eyes held on to me when you thought the world was falling apart that was moment you asked for divorce. You loved me-you still do."

She let out a bitter laugh, shaking her head.

"You’re delusional, Vidyuth. You see what you want to see and hear what you want to hear. Let me make it clear for you-

I. Never. Loved. You."

His fists clenched at his sides, the veins in his neck taut as if he were holding back a torrent of emotions.

"You’re trying to hurt me,"

He said through gritted teeth.

"But it won’t work, Meera. I know the truth. You’re angry, you’re scared, but deep down, you can’t deny what we had."

"What we had,"

She shot back, stepping forward, her own anger igniting,

"was a lie. You married me out of spite, Vidyuth. Out of revenge. You wanted to punish me for something I didn’t even do. And now you stand here, acting like we were some great love story? Spare me the theatrics."

"I did wanted to make it right for you! I wanted to make it up"

He roared, his voice echoing in the room.

"Everything I did was because I-"

"Because you what?"

She interrupted, her voice sharp.

"Loved me? You call that love? Trapping me in a marriage I never wanted, holding me hostage in your palace, and blaming me for your own pain? That’s not love, Vidyuth. That’s cruelty."

His breath came in ragged bursts, his towering presence now trembling with barely restrained fury.

"And yet you stayed,"

He said, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper.

"You stayed, Meera. Through it all, you stayed. Don’t tell me there wasn’t something-something-that kept you there."

Her lips quivered as she fought back the tears that threatened to spill.

"I stayed,"

She said quietly,

"because I had no choice. You took everything from me-my freedom, my choices, my life. You didn’t leave me with anything to walk away with. That’s not love, Vidyuth. That’s control."

He staggered back a step as if her words had physically struck him. For the first time, he seemed to falter, his confidence cracking under the weight of her accusations.

"I wanted to give you my heart,"

He said hoarsely, his voice breaking.

"No, Vidyuth,"

She said, her voice firm and resolute.

"You gave me your anger, your vengeance, and your obsession. And I’m done carrying it. Whatever you think we had-it’s over. It’s been over for a long time."

The silence that followed was deafening, the tension in the room suffocating. Vidyuth’s eyes bore into hers, searching for something anything that would prove her wrong. But Meera stood her ground, unyielding, her chin held high.

Finally, he let out a bitter laugh, the sound hollow and devoid of warmth.

"You think you’ve won,"

He said, his voice cold and detached.

"But this isn’t over, Meera. Not by a long shot. You can deny it all you want, but you’re still my Ranisa. And you always will be."

With that, he turned and stormed out of the room, leaving Meera standing there, her chest heaving, her fists clenched, and her heart pounding in her chest. As the door slammed shut behind him, she allowed herself a single tear to fall, her resolve wavering for just a moment before she steeled herself once more.

•••°•••