Let me know how was the chapter?

Things will be soon changing for Aryan's babygirl 💕

Keep loving the book readers!

New chapter will be coming soon if I get good responses.

💙

|A flame of their existence represents the devotion of an unmatched love|

by medicallymessedup

•present•

Samiksha had spent her day sitting beside Ruchi who remained reluctantly numb to let a word out of her. The heaviness in her chest was cruel and unforgiving, punishing her like a prisoner held guilty for killing her soul. The music of her kindness turned mute upon the realization of the harsh reality shown by her father over the times.

The brightly glinting message on her mobile screen faded the few memories she shared with the man she called as her father. His atrocities had broken the dam of her patience and the flood of her depressed emotions appeared inevitable.

~Papa

You've never learnt your lesson, Ruchi. The harder I try to tame your spoiled character and each time you fail me by your selfishness. The engagement fiasco was not enough that you created an unbelievable drama today. The whole colony had watched your stupidity, Ruchi! You've already painted me a monster in front of my family then what else do you want, you ungrateful brat!? I've had enough of your nuisance, Ruchi. Mind my words. This is the last time that I'm warning you to correct your mistakes else do not dare show me your face ever.

"Baby-" Samiksha called out tentatively without the intention of breaking her reverie.

"How stupid have I been, Samiksha!" Ruchi's lips broke up ironically with her eyes aloof and tone derisive, "How easily had I assumed that love is blind because for me it is not. It's selfish, manipulative and toxic. It's like a sword for the convict and a shield for the other. It's not overwhelming but underwhelming. It's like a slow poison that destroys with affection. Like a desirable dream that one hopes to achieve with all his might and when it consumes someone entirely, the eyes open with a harsh push of nothingness. It's all a facade that one fabricates to believe in because all of it gives false hopes and heartbreaks." She chuckled sardonically, "I have been a fool all my life, yaar.."

Samiksha squeezed her eyes shut hearing her words. For a long time, she wanted Ruchi to soak up the kindness she had for everyone and everything but watching her hollow and hopeless was never her wish. Ruchi was too innocent for the world but now when she had finally mirrored the reality, her realization felt delusional. She didn't appear to be the same but as if she was a wounded bird who was unaware of the dangerous world until now.

"I used to wonder if the situations I had been into would have been any different then I would've been the same-old chattering little girl who wasn't afraid of anyone, who was outspoken, who was adored and loved. But in all this pondering I forgot that even if the circumstances were any different, the people would remain the same. Their repulsive nature, their remorseless actions, their mordant remarks or their meaningless hatred wouldn't have changed for anything. I would've molded, mended and even bent my individuality all my life yet they would've made me face what they wanted to because I thought it was my duty to quench their unhampered frustrations, succor their bruised ego and pent-up anger. I chose to be their punching-bag underestimating my felicity and virtue."

Samiksha didn't prevent Ruchi from pouring out her overlooked thoughts, the unseen emotions which were blanketed by her selfless generosity and pious reverence. She has finally liberated the albatross weighing her down and now she needs to get rid of the remaining splinters.

"Samiksha, you tell me-" Ruchi turned towards her with void eyes, "Why couldn't I be enough for them?" She inquired acrimoniously, "I must be characterless, overbearing, cunning, inconsiderate or vile. What have I been?" She shouted aggravated.

Samiksha gulped down the lump in her throat and held Ruchi's palm in her own making out of her palpating mass.

"Ruch..Ruch..!!" She cupped her cheeks comfortingly, "You were not wrong and you could never be wrong. You're a blessing for everyone who has you in their lives. You are enough for the people who love you. You don't need to prove yourself to any of us. BadePapa, BadiMa, Kartik, our friends and I too, we love you without any doubts. We believe in you-"

Ruchi let out a raucous laugh along the apostate teardrops spurting her eyes, "You all believed in me but why didn't I keep faith in myself?" She speculated remorsefully. "I trusted and solely relied on their virulent and bootless validation. I always blamed the shenanigans caused due to me for being their cue to paranoia and despondency with me when it was not. The crux of incompetency and lack of incorrigible judgment had been their domain to combust my tangibility. I was never wrong but they made me believe that I was. They spitefully held me responsible for their unresolved grudges and I unambiguously accepted their cruelty as my fate." A sudden gleam of reflecting insight coated her prosaic opinion, "Their cold-heartedness never acknowledged my languid confidence, my downbeat disappointment, my bone-chilling fright, my palliative grief or even my unconditional pain. They never paid heed to my clenching emotions in fact they discarded me along the way. They made me feel like nobody." She clenched her fist wistfully.

"Then don't hold yourself accountable for their vindictive delinquencies anymore, Ruchi." Samiksha warned in a soft insidious plea, "Your hard-earned salvation should not be imprisoned in the shackles of so-called lamentation of your subconscious, else the freedom you attained would remain curbed to a temporary settlement." She held her shoulders looking into her eyes, "Make sure you win over the past, hammer-out on the present and embark on a future that is bereft of every self-doubt or any traces of second thoughts. You need not to be perfect for the world but it's you who would be learning to embrace the imperfections you owe. Nobody but you can do it, Ruchi."

"But how would it change the fact that I willingly ruined my reality and choked up my innocence." Her lips quivered in realization, "How can I forget that I too am the culprit of the things that happened to me? How will I digest the setbacks I never came into terms with? How will I get peace for my sanity?" She adumbrated in trepidation. Her broken smile was unable to justify the critical condition of her consciousness. "The Ruchi you befriended and loved is long dead. She is incapable of being revived."

"It's not true, Ruchi." Samiksha shook her head looking at her crestfallen, "The Ruchi I loved is still with me. She laughs at my silliness, condemns my pranks, she voices out her mind, does not bend to the truth and fights against injustice. Hence, she is very much alive." She stated firmly. "She's just concealed beneath the heaps of nonchalance and once you sweep away the weight of helotry you'll feel her presence within yourself." She bit on her lips thoughtfully. "It's not going to be easy, Ruchi and-" Samiksha mumbled inaudibly, "It's poignant to make you forget what you've experienced and once lived." Her words scattered but she continued to speak out her troubled mind, "But you cannot carry the burden of this unwanted baggage forever. Someday you would have to leave this pain behind. A new day is waiting for you." As she watched her walking away to the window.

Ruchi stared at the moonless sky without any notions to admire its enthralling beauty. The darkness had fully consumed her life within its clutches and now accepting the beacon of serenity wholeheartedly dawned to be paradoxical. The burden of realization was shaking her shoulders but the rainbow she was existing upon until now had lost its vibrant colors and the dull gray clouds had taken over a roof over her head. She needs to accept it either with happiness or by force and she finally chose her middle path.

"I'll try." Ruchi whispered, relieving the stars in guilt, "I'll try not to be the same fool in love anymore."

🖤🖤🖤

A castigating solitude had fallen over the walls of Gulmohar mansion. The melodious sound of anklets and notorious chirping had disappeared like an invisible shower. It felt like eons had passed since the place was void of delirium.

Anchal let out a sigh of disapproval when Gauri brought back the untouched food plates from her son's room. The turbulent hours had transpired into a luminous afternoon yet the gloominess had not cleared up from her family.

Aryan had become a secret of the Pandora box for her and Soham.

She couldn't decipher the difference between the boy who she birthed and the man he had changed into. The child who hid behind her legs to avoid inquisitive gazes of strangers had turned into someone who had the audacity to go behind his wife's back to seek seasonal pleasure.

He who had been claiming to love Ruchi for years still was spotted with another girl in the middle of nowhere.

He blamed them for sending him away from his home but ignored the events that had made them do so. He raised fingers on their minimal presence in his life but had unseen the dilemma of his parents when they kept him out of their sight.

Anchal felt as if she was driving on a foggy morning without any warning or proof to withstand the truth. The visibility had disabled her to think straight and keep the promise she made to Ruchi's grandparents.

Her daughter-in-law didn't survive through an ordinary childhood she had known with the loud rumors reaching her through the reliable resources. Her parents' separation and the chasm of emotional seam had endangered her moral psyche. The second thoughts about her marriage with Aryan had reflected in her eyes so clearly that Anchal couldn't overlook it since the day they met for the first time.

Aryan's action had brought Ruchi back on the path that she started walking away from with a wish for a new beginning and now she was stranded without any hopes in the future.

Anchal couldn't see that happening when all she had prayed for was the happiness of the daughter she saw in Ruchi. Aryan might be her blood but she won't stand and watch him ruin the life of a girl due to his fun. She knew Ruchi won't walk out of the marriage out of her moral obligation but Aryan needs to stop playing with her life and respect her feelings even if that means that they have to part ways.

She called out for him before walking inside the room. She found him blankly staring at the walls avoiding any kind of interaction with anyone since the last two days.

"Aryan!"

"Did she return back, Mom?" He asked, looking at her for a positive response.

Anchal stared at him in disbelief. She was skeptical about her son's bizarre bearings. Aryan had gone berserk when Ruchi abruptly left the mansion after the ominous confrontation until her husband had confirmed her whereabouts by sending his men behind to ensure her safety. Soham had stopped Aryan from going behind Ruchi until she came back herself to which he had locked himself in the room.

"You think she would come back here?" Anchal reprimanded with anger, "No woman returns back to a man who had cheated upon her and if she does then remember it's nothing but a compromise."

Aryan's oculi misted with unshed tears and an arduous lump clogged up his bile. His mother once again had declared him as the culprit without knowing his side of his story. Years ago he was at the same spot but no one really believed him including his mother due to the same person.

"I did not cheat, Mom." His voice hoarse from all the strenuous effort pulled up his vocal cords. "I never would."

"Is there anything left that could make me believe in you?" Anchal carped with a heart that bellowed her to trust her son but her mind revoked. "You were missing the entire night." She asserted, "The girl who unfortunately was your wife had been inconsolable for hours until she knew that you're sound. She just wanted to see you safe and what did she get in return for all her concerns?"

"Mom-" Aryan's syllables broke.

"She learnt of your so-called infidelity." She denoted ruefully, "You ruined it for that girl twice for your own amusement. Yet you were heartless enough to allege her with the burden of your mistakes. I regret getting her married to you now. You didn't give her nothing but tears just like her past. You've spoiled it for an innocent soul, Aryan."

Aryan wiped his tired face, "I beg you, Mom!!" He walked up to her and held her hands, "Please, believe me! I never cheated upon Ruchi. I might have made mistakes but my intention had never been to hurt her. She's my life, Mom. I cannot be the reason for her pain. Please! Hear me out once." The vulnerability gleaming on his face crippled Anchal's motherhood but she pretended to be strong and unfazed.

Soham entered the room after hearing the exchange between the mother and son duo. Most of the time, he preferred to let Anchal give their son an upper hand, he being their only child but this time the things had taken a turn for the worst. It wasn't just his son's childish error but another innocent life involved in the fiasco created by Aryan.

"There's nothing to hear anymore." Soham affirmed, "You have left no room for discussion."

"Dad, I'll prove myself. Please, just give me a chance." Aryan pleaded.

"Your deceit was the last straw of our patience." He stated, "I might not have been the best father to my blood but some relations are formed by the heart. I've accepted Ruchi as my daughter the day she stepped into my family and that makes her precious to me and your mother." Soham noted and pushed forward a bunch of papers in his direction, "I won't make the same mistake twice."

"What's this?" Aryan questioned, the confusion lingering in his eyes.

"Divorce petition." He articulated shocking the other two. "You don't have an earning but I've decided on an appropriate alimony for Ruchi. Though, it won't repair the emotional and mental damage she suffered being in this marriage but it'll at least prepare her for the future. Nothing much that'll do her good but at least she'll earn the freedom and respect she deserves."

"Dad!!!" Aryan yelled his voice echoing against the walls of the confined space. His chest panted with the intensity of the given pitch. His hands fisting at his sides provoked to tear the papers and dump them into the bin. The idea pictured by the means of this word had never sounded so absurd until this day. "Have you fuckin' lost it? What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Anchal was taken aback but she kept mum acknowledging Soham's efforts to provide Ruchi with the fair justice. The girl was broken when she saw Aryan with someone else and if she stayed in this relationship any longer then she'll receive nothing but pain.

"You'll reap what you've sown." Soham articulated solemnly, "Make sure to sign them without any argument with any of us and Ruchi will do it later in her family's presence without any pressure to continue this marriage. My personal lawyer will look over the whole process ahead." He adjourned, "Once she is independent you are free to do whatever you want. Me or Anchal won't bother about your actions in the future. Nobody will give a damn about your deeds!!"

"This is the right thing to do, Aryan. Sign these papers asap." Anchal added.

"I won't sign a single paper that would separate me from my wife." Aryan snarled with a clenched jaw, "You might not be ready to hear me or even trust me given the circumstances but that's not going to change my truth." He mandated, "I have not cheated on Ruchi and that's my reality. I'll beg a hundred times in front of her for the mistakes I committed but never leave her for a misunderstood action of mine. She's the reason I'm living for and nobody but her has the right to question my love."

Aryan took a step to leave the room which was clawing at his chest but Soham's voice halted his furious stride.

"What if she wants it too?" Soham intonated with his tone modulated into a challenge. "You'll still bend her against her wish?"

"There's no possibility of 'if' in love, Mr. Mallik. Love is devotion and Ruchi is Aryan's devotion. You can't distinguish one from the other."

"Still. What if-?"

"Then I'll abide by her ultimate wish."

Lots of Love,

ANKITA