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Screaming, crying, perfect storms

I can make all the tables turn

Rose garden filled with thorns

Keep you second guessing like

"Oh, my God, who is she?"

I get drunk on jealousy

But you'll come back each time you leave

'Cause, darling, I'm a nightmare dressed like a daydream
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Raghbir was driving and Angana was sitting beside him on the passenger's seat, having no clue where he was taking her. The news of her pregnancy had made him anxious. And she had no idea why he was behaving that way.

The car halted in front of a hospital. Angana panicked, "What are we doing here?" She asked as he began undoing his seat belt.

"We are here to confirm your pregnancy." He replied while getting out of the car.

Angana clutched the hem of her lavender saree and didn't move from her seat. Raghbir walked to her side and opened the door for her.

"Come out, Anaa."

She shook her head, "I'm not. Take me back home."

"Angana Raghbir Ranavat, come out." He said her name with much authority. It startled her but still she didn't move from her seat.

"Ragh, you taking my full name won't scare me. I'm not doing any pregnancy test again. I'm pregnant and I already have the reports."

Raghbir bent down to look into her eyes, "You aren't pregnant. Your stubborn behavior is proving that."

Angana remained unfazed by his domineering attitude, "And why do you think I can't be pregnant?"

He broke the eye contact and walked over to the driver's seat. He sat inside the car and roared the engine to life. He drove back home in silence. The car entered the iron gates and halted in front of the entrance door.

"Go inside. I'm leaving for the office." He told her.

Angana didn't move from her seat, "You didn't answer my question."

He looked at her, into the eyes, "I'm getting late, Anaa."

"No, you aren't. Tell me why are you so confident that I can't be pregnant." She demanded an answer for him.

"I've an important meeting happening in half an hour. Please get out." He told her calmly, not ready to give in.

"Okay, yes, I'm not pregnant. I orchestrated the entire drama so you stop pressuring me to become the CM's face for the party. Now tell me, Ragh, how can you be so sure that I'm not pregnant?" Tears were glistening in her eyes. She knew his answer will hurt her. The look in his eyes told that.

Raghbir sighed, "I... I've been adding birth control pills in your meals."

And the tears escaped her brown eyes, "Since when?" She was hurt, but she wasn't surprised.

"Since the first day of our marriage. I didn't want you to get pregnant." There was a guilt in his voice. But that guilt did nothing to reduce the betrayal she felt at that moment. She felt used. She felt like a mere puppet in his bigger game.

"Oh, now it makes sense. You married me, not because you loved me or wanted to have kids, you just wanted the power. I was a bloody idiot." She chuckled humorlessly while wiping her tears.

"Anaa, I-." He was about to say something but she cut him off, "Oh, you are getting late for the office. Have a good day," She used her fake cheerful voice and stepped out of the car.

Angana headed inside the house. Raghbir kept staring at her disappearing figure before driving away.

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Raghbir was nervous when he returned home in the evening. Maybe she will slap him, threaten to divorce him, or just leave him without a word. He didn't want any of that. He pressed the doorbell and after a few moments, the door was opened by Angana. She was wearing an apron and there was a little flour covering her hair strands. She passed him a look of indifference before heading back to the kitchen.

He was a little relieved to see that she wasn't as furious as he had expected her to be. With a gentle sigh of relief, he entered the house and went straight to their bedroom upstairs.

He got rid of his clothes and took a cold shower to relieve his stress. The cold water did some help in relaxing his tense muscles. In some other situation he would have asked Angana to give him a massage. Her fingers would magically make stress disappear from his muscles but he wouldn't get the privilege of massage this time.

Silence prevailed as he went downstairs for the dinner. She was setting the table and the food smelled too nice to be cooked by his angry wife.

Raghbir took his seat and began serving himself the Butter Chicken. The tasty food only added more to his confusion. Why did she cook such a tasty meal when she was angry with him? He wanted to ask her but he didn't.

At last, Angana broke the silence.

"Aren't you wondering why am I so calm, Ragh?" She asked him while taking a bite of the chicken.

He nodded, "But I have an idea of what it might be." He really had an inkling, he just didn't want it to be true.

"What do you think I've done to be so calm?" She asked him again.

"You must have destroyed the roots of conflict between us." He stated. And she wasn't surprised that he guessed it right.

"I've resigned from the party."

Those words hurt a lot. Not him, but his ego. He had always seen Angana's position in the party as a bridge of opportunity he could utilize one day. But she burnt the bridge before he could step over it.

He kept quiet. His appetite had died so he put his fork down and left the table. Angana kept eating silently as he went upstairs. The silence between them was deafening. But none of them want to cut through it just yet.

She washed the dishes and then went to the spare bedroom. Sleep was far away from her so began setting her Taylor Swift collection in the room. The mugs with Taylor Swift icons were put side tables. All the posters were pasted on the walls. Her t-shirts and hoodies though needed to be put in her closet. It was around one in the morning when she decided to head back to the bedroom.

Raghbir was sleeping. The duvet was covering his lower half. A bottle of sleeping pills was kept at the nightstand. He must have taken sleeping pills to fall asleep. Angana bent down and kissed his forehead before heading to the bathroom.

She stripped out of the saree and entered the shower panel. The scene from a few days earlier played in her mind. He entered the bathroom, undressed and made love to her under the shower. She wondered if they will ever relive that moment again. If they will gradually fall apart now that she has ruined Raghbir's plans. She was useless to him.

The shower did nothing to relax the hurricane forming inside her. So she stepped out in five minutes and wore a bathrobe. She went to the closet and blow dried her wet hair. She couldn't sleep with wet hair, it always disgusted her. But Raghbir liked the smell of her freshly showered hair.

Aah, he was sleeping in the same room. He was haunting her thoughts. Yet she felt as if they were miles apart. She shouldn't have started dating him at the first place. Her mother had always been suspicious of Raghbir. Now she understood why her mother had been stoic to Raghbir since the beginning. She knew his intentions. Unfortunately, Angana didn't get her mother's sharp observation. She was naive. Someone who thought good of everyone and ended up trusting people very easily. How she wished she could change that about her personality. But then if she wasn't naive then she wouldn't be so hesitant to help Raghbir's intentions. Maybe it was her naivety and compassion that made her the way she was. Maybe changing that aspect of her personality will destroy the person she was proud of.

"Maybe I'm overthinking it." She mumbled.

She put down the blow dryer, wore a silk robe and retired to the bed. Her gaze fell on Raghbir's sleeping face. She moved closer to him and left a kiss on his chest. Putting a stone on her heart, she moved to the edge of the bed, creating some distance between them.

"I hope everything gets back to normal." She whispered to him and closed her eyes.

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