Chapter 22

Betrayed.

That was how she felt. For the last five years, she had trusted Parth more than she trusted anyone else, more than she trusted even herself.

Sanyukta sat on her bed, leaning against her pillow, holding her knees to her chest, still dressed in her bridal wear.

"It's so hard to believe," she muttered to herself, "I thought that... that even if God came up to me and told me that you did wrong, I wouldn't believe it... but here, I trust my own judgement more than I trusted you."

If she didn't have more faith in her own judgement, then perhaps Parth wouldn't seem like a villain to her right now. She wanted to close her eyes and open them, just to prove to herself that this was a dream, but she knew that it wasn't.

"How could this happen?" she whispered, "How could you do this? I thought you cared about me more than anything."

Tears escaped her eyes as she felt her heart ache painfully. If Parth could do this, how could she ever trust anyone else?

"He does care about you," she heard a familiar female voice say, and Sanyukta looked up to see Vidhushi and Randhir both walk inside together. "Parth does care about you Sanyukta."

"Vidhushi," Sanyukta whispered, almost pleadingly - she wanted Vidhushi to tell her that everything that was said downstairs had been a lie.

"It's true," Vidhushi said, and sat down next to Sanyukta, placing a hand on her shoulder. "He did ask me to change the reports."

Randhir sat down in front of her and gently wiped the tears that had fallen down her cheeks. She squeezed her eyes shut as she felt Randhir's fingers caress her cheeks ever so softly - this was what she wanted... she wanted her marriage to be called off with Parth, yet here she was, having received what she wanted.

Why wasn't she happy?

"Sanyukta I want you to know something. We were all young five years ago. Parth isn't the same Parth. He changed. He respects you a lot now," Vidhushi said, "I know he feels very guilty. I wanted him to confess, but I guess he was scared. It's human to feel scared."

"Vidhushi I don't want to hear anything... all I know is that he separated Randhir and I," Sanyukta told her, sobbing, "I - I can't trust him anymore."

"You don't have to Sanyukta. I'm not telling you to trust him. I just wanted you to know that he was young and immature. Same with me. Even Randhir... he wasn't as mature. What happened, wasn't it for the best? You both separated, grew separately, and now that you're both strong, you two can unite," Vidhushi told her softly, as Sanyukta felt her heart hurt. "I know you might be wondering why was the separation necessary? Couldn't you grow together instead of apart? But sometimes life does throw in an unexpected twist. Maybe this way, your respected growths were faster. We may never understand the divine plan... but you know, those who are meant to be will always fall together."

Sanyukta squeezed her eyes shut, and she felt Randhir's hand wrap around hers, squeezing it reassuringly. How she wanted to lean against him and just cry her heart out right now... but she was scared. She was very scared. She didn't know why, but Parth's betrayal left a huge imprint on her soul.

"Anyways, don't feel upset. Don't blame yourself or anyone. I'll get going now. I want to speak with Parth," Vidhushi said softly, "I know Randhir will take care of you."

Vidhushi squeezed her shoulder comfortingly and then left, closing the door behind them.

"R - Randhir," Sanyukta whispered, her eyes filling with fresh tears. "I still can't believe this."

"I don't believe it either," he agreed, "I never thought that Parth could do something like this."

"M - me neither. I trust - trusted h - him more than - than I t - trusted my - myself," she sobbed. "H - he hurt me so much."

Randhir wrapped an arm around her and she leaned forward, resting her head on his shoulder, her heart beating loudly. This was home. This was where she always felt the most amount of love... this was where her life was. In Randhir's arms.

"Sanyukta, I know it must be hard to come to terms with all of this. He was the one person you trusted more than anyone else after all. I know you must be wondering how you'll be able to trust anyone ever again. I promise I won't hurt you anymore though. Never intentionally," he told her softly, rubbing small circles on her back as she cried into his shoulder. "And don't stress so much. You're pregnant now... you have another life to take care of."

"Thank you Randhir," Sanyukta whispered out loud, "I'm so blessed to have you and Shraddha in my life."

He squeezed her body comfortingly one more time before letting go of her.

"You take care of yourself. I'll go and see Shraddha. She must be so scared after witnessing that," Randhir told her.

Sanyukta nodded and he cupped her cheeks gently and placed a light kiss on the top of her head before getting up.

"Randhir, I'm... I'm going to pack my stuff and then I'll leave from here with Shraddha," she told him seriously.

"I understand. Let me go and see her and speak to her," Randhir told her softly. "I'll be back after."

She nodded as he turned around and walked out of the door.

Randhir looked around for his daughter - she hadn't been in the room she shared with Sanyukta... she must have gone to one of the other rooms. Randhir checked the study but she wasn't there. He checked all the rooms one by one, except Parth's - he knew that Vidhushi was with him and Shraddha wouldn't be there.

Randhir then went downstairs and into a room where they kept all of her toys. Randhir nearly breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Shraddha, lying on a sofa in the room, fast asleep.

He walked up to her and saw that she looked very pale.

"Shraddha," Randhir murmured fearfully.

He touched her hand and it was very cold. He shook her lightly. She was still breathing but very slowly. Randhir picked her small figure up in his arms.

"Sanyukta!" he called out loudly, his heart beating rapidly out of fear. "Come downstairs quickly!"

Sanyukta appeared right away, and once she saw Shraddha's condition in Randhir's arms, her eyes widened.

"Shraddha!" she screamed and picked up a bottle of water from a desk nearby before sprinkling some water on her face. "Wake up Shraddha, please!"

Shraddha still didn't move.