"Mom, what are you doing here?" Rohit asked, closing the door.

 "I told you. I came back from my Europe trip with my sisters." The woman answered.

 "No, Mom, I mean what are you doing here in my condo? And so early in the morning," Rohit repeated.

"Your father is out of town. I'm not staying in that huge house alone." The woman replied.

Rohit rolled his eyes.

"You're not going to deny your mother, are you?" The woman challenged.

 "No, I'm not. I was raised better than that." Rohit replied. "Stay as long as you want. Dad said he'd be back in a week and a half."

Rohit walked away from the woman, towards the kitchen. He stopped when he reached Sanjana.

 "Mom, this is my wife, Sanjana. Sanjana, this is my mom...Dad's second wife." Rohit's words stung. He gave this woman the respect of calling her his mother but it was obvious he didn't think of her as his mother.

Sanjana would have greeted the woman but the sheer expression of shock and disgust apparent on her face stopped Sanjana in her tracks.

 "What on earth did Sudhir do?" Rohit's Mom said.

She took a step closer to examine Sanjana.

"So traditional." She commented.

Rohit's brows furrowed but he didn't say anything.

"I regret not coming to your wedding. Maybe I could have talked some sense into Sudhir." The woman continued.

"I chose to marry Sanjana," Rohit said spitefully.

"My name is Gita, Sanjana. Nice to meet you." Gita held out her hand and Sanjana took it, briefly shaking it. She'd never greeted an elder like that before. It was so cold, so distant. Gita walked down the hallway towards the second bedroom.

Rohit sighed and turned to Sanjana.

"I'm sorry. She's a piece of work. She didn't come to our wedding because she was traipsing around Europe. She could have easily flown back...she just didn't want to. Sanjana, I'm going to apologize to you in advance. I don't know why but Mom has this need to always be around people. She hates being alone in a huge house, so she's going to stay here until my Dad comes back. She's difficult to get along with to say the least." Rohit explained.

Sanjana didn't say anything. She didn't mind spending time with her mother-in-law. She didn't even know she had a mother-in-law until this very day.

"I'm going to get ready for work," Rohit said, retreating back into his bedroom.

Sanjana was saddened by how much Rohit worked. He was hardly home, and when he was home he felt so tired, she felt too guilty to ask to spend more time together. She was told that Rohit worked a lot, but she didn't know she'd be so lonely. She was relieved that her mother-in-law was visiting so at least she'd have some company while Rohit was at the hospital.

"Sanjana!" Gita startled Sanjana as she entered the kitchen. "We should go grocery shopping. I know Rohit is always too busy to ever properly go grocery shopping. Can you cook?"

Sanjana slowly nodded, not sure whether or not her mother-in-law would be one of those mean mother-in-laws who took any and every opportunity to torture her daughter-in-law.

"Good. At least there's that." Gita commented. "We'll head out with Rohit."

--------------

"You push the cart. I'll pick out the food." Gita commanded as soon as she and Sanjana entered the grocery store.

Rohit had dropped them off on the way to the hospital, and they would take a cab back to his condo. Sanjana took a cart and followed behind Gita. Gita started flinging things into the cart.

"Do these look fresh to you?" Gita held out tomatoes in front of Sanjana's face. Sanjana merely nodded. Then, Gita roughly threw the tomatoes into the cart. Sanjana flinched, unable to understand why the woman couldn't just gently place the groceries in the cart.

"Not very talkative, are you?" Gita commented, "Or fashionable." She continued with a sly side glance.

The two continued through the grocery store.

"You know, Rohit was supposed to marry Radhika. They were so in love. She was a great girl, so bubbly and happy and she had the best shoe collection. I liked her drive. She pushed Rohit to want more in life. It was unfortunate what happened with them...but everyone makes mistakes. I don't see why Rohit couldn't just forgive her. He's too emotional." Gita chattered.

Sanjana listened intently. She was interested in knowing more about this Radhika woman that Rohit apparently loved so much. She wondered how she compared to Radhika. Was she beautiful? What about her made Rohit love her so much?

"Do you want anything else?" Gita asked.

Sanjana glanced over the contents in the grocery cart and decided she could make many different meals. She shook her head. They checked out and took a cab back to the condo.

"I want you to make paneer and butter chicken." Gita commanded as she placed some bags onto the counter in the kitchen. "I expect lunch to be ready by the time I'm done taking a shower and getting ready."

With that, Gita stalked off to her bedroom and slammed the door. Sanjana watched in shock. She took a moment to contemplate what had happened before starting to search for proper pots to cook in. She sighed. She was definitely not looking forward to being with her mother-in-law for an entire week. She wished she could tell Rohit about her worries, but she didn't want to bother him while he was at work.

Gita had taken her dear sweet time taking a shower and getting dressed. By the time she'd emerged from her bedroom, Sanjana had prepared the dishes she'd asked for complete with rice and naan, a type of Indian bread. She set the table for two and poured two glasses of water and then sat down and waited. Gita walked to the table and began to inspect the food. She scrunched her nose but didn't comment. She finally sat down and allowed Sanjana to serve her. Gita slowly chewed some of the food. She started with the butter chicken and had some rice. Sanjana had served herself some food but only took one bite, too nervous to eat more. She looked at Gita, waiting for a reaction. Gita said nothing, but moved onto the paneer, which was a cheese-based dish. She chewed slowly once again and spit the food out onto her plate. She abruptly stood up.

"What the hell is this? Did you not learn how to cook?" She nearly shouted at Sanjana.

"I..."Sanjana didn't know what to say.

"What kind of wife are you? How are you going to cook for my son? This is unacceptable. Do better." Gita screamed. "Clean all this up. Make sure you wash all the dishes properly. Everything should be perfect for Rohit when he comes home. Don't you dare even bother making dinner. I'll just order out. It'll be better than anything you could ever make." Gita stomped back into her bedroom.

Sanjana stood stunned. She wanted to cry. She was already starting out on the wrong foot with her mother-in-law, and she was sure Rohit wouldn't be too happy about her upsetting his mother. She slowly began to clear the table, thinking about what had gone wrong with the recipe. Maybe Gita just expected it to taste a certain way or maybe Sanjana had added something extra or left something out. It tasted fine to her though. Maybe she'd ask Rohit to taste it when he got home. He might just tell her it tastes good to spare her feelings however. Sanjana didn't know what to do.

She placed the food in the fridge and washed all the dishes. She wiped down all the counters and made sure the kitchen was neat and clean. She then retreated into the master bedroom in search of her diary. She spent what seemed like hours writing about her bad experience with Gita. She was afraid to leave the room, dreading the idea of running into Gita. She heard Gita walking around the condo and even heard her open the door for a delivery man. Sanjana felt hungry, and it was probably dinner time since Gita had ordered food, but she decided to just wait until Rohit got home.

A few hours later, Sanjana heard Rohit come home. He greeted his mother, and she heard his footsteps move closer to the bedroom. She stood up and anxiously walked up to the door, when she heard Gita stop Rohit. She cracked open the door, but paused once she heard them being to talk.

"Rohit, I need to talk to you about something," Gita said.

"What's wrong, Mom?" Rohit asked.

"It's about your wife. She can't cook." Gita replied.

"It's okay. I'm never around to eat here anyways." Rohit chuckled.

"She's insolent and disrespectful! You won't be happy with a girl like her." Gita said.

Sanjana gasped. Gita was making up negative things about her!

"Sanjana? No she's not...she barely says anything." Rohit defended.

"She doesn't follow my directions and she defies me." Gita continued.

"Mom, she probably just isn't used to taking orders from you. She'll learn soon enough. Just be patient with her." Rohit sounded like he didn't want to be having this conversation.

"You have to punish her!" Gita exclaimed. "She can't treat your mother this way!"

"What do you want me to do? Hit her?" Rohit said angrily.

Sanjana teared up. She hoped Rohit wouldn't be the type of man to physically hit a woman.

"No of course not! Talk to her. Reprimand her." Gita said.

"Fine. I'll talk to her." Rohit said.

Sanjana heard Rohit come closer to the bedroom. She backed away from the door but did nothing to hide her tears. Rohit opened the door and stopped short as soon as he saw Sanjana. Sanjana backed away from him, afraid of what he'd do.

"Sanjana," Rohit said, "Why are you crying?" He took a step closer, and Sanjana moved back in response. Rohit raised his hand to wipe away a tear that had fallen down her cheek, but Sanjana flinched away.

"What's the matter?" Rohit asked. Rohit moved forward and took Sanjana's hand. Sanjana closed her eyes tightly and waited for a blow. Rohit's brows furrowed in confusion. He wasn't sure why Sanjana was acting like this.

"Please don't hit me" Sanjana whispered in fear.

"Sanjana...I would never hit you...I....Mom was just getting on my nerves. I wanted her to see how ridiculous she sounded when she suggested I should punish you. I didn't mean it. I would never do anything to hurt you." Rohit said gently.

He pulled her closer to him and wiped away her tears. She started to pull away and he let her go. After a moment he pulled her into a hug and she let him hold her in his arms for a while.

"Are you okay?" Rohit asked.

Sanjana nodded.

"So my Mom," Rohit let out a laugh, "She's demanding. Don't take anything she says to heart. I know you want to please her, but there's really no pleasing her."

Rohit stepped back, letting Sanjana go. He walked to the door and peeked outside.

"I think she's in her room." Rohit said, turning back to Sanjana, "Did you eat?"

Sanjana hesitated before finally shaking her head.

"Sanjana," Rohit said disappointedly. "You two went grocery shopping. You could have made anything you wanted."

Sanjana followed Rohit to the kitchen. She opened the fridge and took out all the food she'd cooked earlier.

"So you did cook. Can I have a taste?" Rohit asked.

Sanjana served Rohit some food. He insisted that she make a plate for herself as well. She waited as Rohit ate, fearing that he'd disapprove of her cooking too.

"This is so delicious!" Rohit said. "Can you cook for me more often?"

Sanjana smiled. She was ecstatic that Rohit liked her cooking.

Rohit insisted on helping Sanjana with the dishes. Gita hadn't bothered to come out of her room to Sanjana's relief. Rohit decided to take a shower before heading to bed. While he was in the shower, Sanjana pulled out her diary and added her thoughts about her encounter with Rohit. She was ambivalent about his family. His father was so nice to her, but his mother seemed to hate her because she wasn't Radhika. She was purposely looking for reasons to hate Sanjana. Sanjana smiled as she wrote about Rohit. She could imagine spending the rest of her life with him. Her heart lurched. She thought about Arjun and how she'd believe he would be the man she'd spend the rest of her life with. She no longer trusted herself to make decisions about men. She trusted too easily in the past, and it ended up ruining her. She'd have to be more careful with Rohit.

"Sanjana," Rohit said, distracting her from her thoughts.

She didn't even hear him come out of the shower. Sanjana stood up, clutching her diary to her chest. Her back was towards Rohit.

"Let's go to bed," Rohit said, turning off the lights.

Sanjana laid down, keeping her back turned towards Rohit. She laid down on her side, keeping her diary out of Rohit's view. She carefully slipped her diary underneath her pillow, breathing a sigh of relief once it was safely hidden.

Sanjana felt a hand on her waist and shot up instinctively. Rohit followed her movement, sitting up immediately.

"I'm sorry, Sanjana." He said in a whisper. "I just..." Rohit didn't finish what he wanted to say. Instead, he moved his hand to her cheek, caressing it gently. He leaned in a placed a soft kiss on her lips.

Rohit moved back, and Sanjana looked away. Her eyes met his and she looked down quickly. Rohit gave her a small smile and returned to his side of the bed. Sanjana slowly laid down, this time on her back. She took a deep breath.

"Don't worry Sanjana," Rohit said, "I won't touch you again tonight."

Sanjana turned to Rohit, who was facing her. She smiled shyly at him. He looked relieved when he made out her smile in the darkness.

Rohit left early the next morning. Sanjana hadn't even heard him get dressed or leave. She was disappointed that she wasn't able to cook breakfast for him. She quickly got ready and left the bedroom. She stopped short when she saw Gita sitting in the living room.

"It's about time. I thought you were going to spend the whole morning sleeping. Go make breakfast. Coffee and scrambled eggs." Gita said.

Sanjana walked to the kitchen to do as she was told. She wanted to prepare breakfast quickly so she could get to her writing class on time. She'd have to take a cab, since she didn't know any other way to get around. Rohit had convinced her she'd be alright in a cab alone, and it was a reliable means to get around in New York City. She scrambled the eggs easily without a problem. She looked at the coffeemaker and frowned. She still didn't know how it worked. Instead, she boiled water and mixed coffee grounds into it. The coffee didn't look appetizing. The coffee grounds looked like dirt. She searched for a strainer, hoping it would help fix the coffee. She found one and ran the beverage through it a few times. It looked a lot better. She wasn't sure if Gita took sugar or milk or anything with her coffee, so she left it alone and placed milk and sugar on the table.

Gita came to the table and ate the eggs without a word. She took a sip of the coffee and frowned. She gave Sanjana a conniving look before tipping the mug over and spilling the coffee all over the floor. Sanjana's mouth dropped open. She was shocked that an adult woman would act so irresponsibly.

"That wasn't coffee. I don't know what that was. Clean that up." Gita said, standing up and retreating to her bedroom.

Sanjana watched in anger as Gita disappeared into her room. She had no choice but to clean up the mess. Gita emerged a few minutes later with a book in her hand. She plopped down on the sofa in the living as Sanjana finished washing the dishes. Sanjana collected her materials for class and made her way towards the front door.

"Where are you going?" Gita barked.

"Class...writing class," Sanjana replied.

"No.' Gita said.

Sanjana didn't move.

"But..." She finally protested.

"I said no." Gita threatened.

Sanjana was conflicted. She couldn't defy Gita. It would be disrespectful and she was sure Rohit wouldn't be too happy with her if she did. She walked back into her room, closing the door behind her. She was furious. Gita seemed hell bent on making her miserable. It's only been two days, and she wasn't sure she could take Gita's taunts any longer. Sanjana wasn't only going to miss her college class, she was also going to miss her dance lesson because of Gita. Rohit had encouraged her to get out and experience New York City. He encouraged her to be independent, but Gita wanted to keep her trapped in the condo.

Sanjana needed to talk to Rohit. She couldn't live like this. But what could she say? He would probably take his mom's side. She didn't want to seem unreasonable. She just wished she wasn't stuck with Gita all day long. She starved all day in order to avoid interacting with Gita. It's only when Rohit comes home that she feels up to leaving the bedroom to eat. Sanjana sat down on the bed, preparing the wait for the rest of the day until Rohit comes homes. She hadn't realized when she'd drifted off to sleep. She stirred awake when Rohit opened the door and entered the bedroom.

"Sanjana," Rohit said unsurely. "Why is the kitchen such a mess?"

Sanjana slowly stood up and walked to the kitchen. Eggs and flour were strewn across the kitchen counters. A liquid that looked like juice was spilled all over the floor. Various pots and pans had half cooked food in them and were left carelessly on the stovetop.

"I don't...I didn't..." Sanjana was too surprised to say more.

"Can you just help me clean it up?" Rohit sounded annoyed and exhausted.

Sanjana nodded. She began wiping off the countertops while Rohit started mopping the floor. Sanjana glanced at Rohit. He looked upset and irritated that he had to come home and clean up a big mess after a long, hard day. Sanjana started washing the dishes, but she felt Rohit come up behind her. He took the pots and pans out of the sink and put them in the dishwasher. Sanjana caught on and helped him. He started the dishwasher and walked off into their bedroom without saying a word. After a moment, Sanjana followed him, closing the door behind her.

"What happened to the kitchen?" Rohit asked her.

"I don't know." Sanjana replied.

"Are you telling me that mom did that to the kitchen?" Rohit asked incredulously.

"I don't know." Sanjana repeated.

"Listen, I've had a rough day. The last thing I needed was to come home and clean up someone else's mess." The anger in Rohit's voice was apparent. Sanjana swallowed hard, looking down.

Sanjana wanted to tell Rohit about his mother's unacceptable behavior. She was sure that Gita had made a mess in the kitchen. She couldn't believe that he practically blamed her. Sanjana decided to give Rohit some space. She wouldn't tell him about what happened today. She got ready for bed while Rohit was in the shower. Her stomach growled fiercely from hunger. She hadn't eaten all day because she'd been avoiding Gita all day. She didn't want to make noise in the kitchen that she and Rohit spent a lot of time cleaning while Rohit was trying to sleep. She sensed something bad had happened at the hospital today, and whatever had happened had Rohit in a bad mood.

Rohit exited the bathroom, startling Sanjana. He was wearing nothing except a towel wrapped around his waist. He didn't say anything to Sanjana or even look at her. Sanjana's cheeks flamed red as she watched Rohit disappear into the walk-in closet. He emerged carrying some clothes and went into the bathroom again, slamming the door behind him. Sanjana sighed and laid down on the bed. She felt the bed dip as Rohit joined her. She felt Rohit's fingers move up her arm. She turned around to face him, looking at him questioningly. Rohit moved closer to her, placing his arm around her waist. He kissed her cheek and nuzzled her neck. Sanjana froze. Her heartbeat quickened. She bit her lip, holding back tears. Rohit kissed down her neck, shifting himself on top of her. He pulled away from her, looking at her before hungrily kissing her lips. Sanjana let Rohit kiss her, not wanting to upset him even more after the day he's had. She felt suffocated. She started breathing heavily and could no longer hold back her tears. She pushed Rohit off and sat up.

"Goddammit Sanjana!" Rohit shouted.

Sanjana was taken aback by Rohit's reaction. Rohit took a deep breath before speaking again, trying to calm himself before he exploded at Sanjana.

"Sanjana, I had a really bad day. I was assisting on a surgery and we lost the patient. If different decisions were made, I think the man would have lived. He had a long relationship with the hospital and telling his family that we weren't able to save him was unbearable. Please. I need this tonight. I just want to feel better." Rohit said. He sounded so defeated.

The guilt of not being able to give Rohit what he wanted coupled with the restlessness she felt while Rohit was getting intimate with her sent Sanjana into a full fledged panic attack. Tears fell down her cheeks. She was having trouble breathing evenly.

"Sanjana, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. I won't touch you if you don't want me to. Please, I want you to feel safe with me." Rohit's voice was soothing. He tried to comfort her to the best of his abilities.

"I'm sorry," Rohit repeated before retreating to his side of the bed and leaving Sanjana alone for the rest of the night.

------------------

The next few days went by smoothly. Sanjana asked Rohit to take her to the university on his way to the hospital. He wondered why she was eager to leave the house so early, when her classes started closer to noon, but he didn't question her, assuming she wasn't comfortable taking cabs just yet. He didn't know she stayed on campus after her class, spending time with Amrita and working on their first big assignment. Amrita called a cab and went with Sanjana back to Rohit's condo, so she wouldn't have to travel alone. After two classes, Gita finally told Rohit everything.

"She's been staying out all day. She comes home after dinner time and just stays in the bedroom." Gita complained to Rohit. "Where is she going? Who is she seeing?"

"Mom, she's taking a class. She probably stays back to study or work on assignments." Rohit defended.

"She needs to cook for her mother-in-law. She needs to keep this place clean. She has responsibilities." Gita said, angrily. "I told her not to go. See how she defies me."

"You forbid her from going to class?" Rohit asked, surprised.

"Of course. I don't want her going around New York City alone, ignoring her responsibilities. I don't know why you give her so much freedom." Gita retorted.

"You wouldn't care if Radhika went around the city alone," Rohit said.

"She's different." Gita simply said.

"No, she's not. You just liked her and have something against Sanjana." The volume of Rohit's rose.

Sanjana stood behind Rohit, taking in the argument. She felt bad for being the reason behind the argument Rohit was having with his mother. She knew Gita would tell Rohit about her absence sooner or later, but she didn't know that Gita would react this strongly.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Rohit paused and looked towards the door. The knocking escalated to banging. Rohit moved quickly and opened the door to find Radhika standing on the other side.  

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HI! THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH for continuing to read this book!! I know it' s been months since the last update, but I got seriously discouraged from continuing this because I hadn't been getting feedback like I did for Learning to Love  :( 

But I kind of want to finish the story. It's really interesting (or at least I think so lol) AND all my wonderful and loyal readers deserve to know how the story progresses! 

PLEASE vote and comment! Support this book! It will definitely encourage me to update more often! Chapter 13 will be up next week (I'M SERIOUS! I already wrote most of it!) so be on the lookout for that! Thanks again!