And this is dedicated to all my lovely readers who had asked for me to upload the previous version as they missed it .  This will remain unedited version for now since the edited version is uploaded as new book .

Chapter 1: "Stay by my side and it all that matters "

Swara stood frozen on the grand maheshwari house. It was one of her life lowest points, when her attempt to help out in Uttara engagement has landed her in the midst of such humiliations, tears were streaming down her cheeks.

  Not even in her dream she would have expected such an insult .The garland of money still adorned her neck. And the worst pain of all was his silence. He didnt move, he didnt say a word. He stood silent.

  Not realising he was fighting an war on his own. It all happened in matter of minutes ,for Swara it felt like an year and for Sanskar it was the slowest minute of his life.

He had to decide how to react, how to save his wife from further humiliation without casting an danger to his sister wedding ,the one is mother is so inclined to happen. One long minute at the end of it ,he had decided, he will always Choose her.

Swara heard his footsteps approaching her, dare she hope he came to her defense. Can she hope she wondered and her questions were answered when he simply held her hand and gently but firmly dragged her feet to move to their room.

It took few seconds for her to register what was happening, he was taking her to their room . Once inside he just said one line and left to face the chaos he caused outside. " Just stay inside our room.And i will be back soon.", It was the our room that got to her more than any other words in the sentence .

She sat down on the bed with tears falling down her cheeks.All of the memories flashing down before her eyes, she broke into sobs. Soon her  tears were dried up and  she realized  those people doesnt deserve her tears.

  She wiped them off and was about to head back when his firm warning of asking her to stay inside made her not move from that place.Then she broke into an tiny smile for all his acts of indifference he still cares.

And her mind chastised for even thinking he wouldnt after all he is Sanskar Mahshwari her husband who loves her so much.

An hour passed still no sign of him, she started to worry . Just then she got an call from Ragini who told her she found a clue regarding Laksh and asked for her help.

    She was still in the dance dress, her dress was in the guest room.She need to change and leave to help her sister. So she walked out of the room towards the guest room when she heard an slap, she turned towards the sound and it came from Sanskar parents room. And then her mother in law voice rang out.

"Just stop it Sanskar.I dont wanna hear any thing from you.You ruined your sister marriage by your acts.You choose her the one who left you ,so that your sister marriage is destroyed.You dragged her away fine but why would you talk so rudely to Uttara mother in law. 

    She is bit old fashioned and so what if she did something that insulted Swara. Did we ask her to dance. Fine even she was hurt, i would have apologized to her later.But you had to ruin everything. Why do you always choose her ,why.?" Swara heard her mother in law lash at her husband .

His reply was not audible to swara as he was not shouting like his mom but she heard her mom reply back.

   "This is my house, i will shout at the top of my voice if i want too. I dont care if your wife hears it or not.I always stood by you Sanskar.Even when you went on an wrong path i stood by you, not from today.

   Just like jiji you can forget about me as well. I wont talk to you from today.. And it would be better if you dont talk to me either. Just leave this room right now" his mother spoke up again making leaving Swara stunned.

              ********************

Sanskar Maheshwari is totally alone right now, his mom who used to stick by his side even when he was wrong, decided she had enough, his wife who he thought loved him unconditionally left him because he was wrong, his bade maa who he taught of his mom stopped talking to him because he was wrong.

   He walked towards his room to drown his pain in alcohol as always when he remembered his wife. Her pain .Then decided his break down can wait.  He reached for the guest room brought her bag that held her dress and knocked once before entering their room.

  She stood in their room like always facing the window. How he used to love holding her and watching the world with her but now she is not more than a stranger to him.Hearing his footsteps she turned around, her eyes for red from all the crying.

He wanted to take her in his arms and surround her with all the comfort he can offer but no their relationship is no longer like the way it used to be, he would love to forgot all that happened and be there for her just today but he cant as she is not gonna forgot about it as well.

She opened her mouth to ask and he knew what she will ask, was there any problem in the engagement because of his actions. He would love to tell her the truth but she doenst need more added guilt right now. So the fact engagement got cancelled can wait till tomorrow

" No need to ask, the engagement went on smoothly. So stop worrying about it and get changed , i will drop you back in baadi"he spoke up first before she could launch into her questions .

  And he was shocked when she didnt ask more question but simply took the dress and headed to the washroom to change. He expected her to ask about every aspect of the wedding and even prepared a rude rant to stop her from asking further . But she didnt say anymore.

The whole car ride back was filled with silence that could have been suffocating for others but not for this two.Who needed the other to stay by their side even if it is for just awhile.

  Both  of them didn't want the ride to end but unfortuanately it did end. Swara got down of the car and would have walked inside without as much as an word then decided to she need to say it ,so headed back to the car. Knocked on the window glass so he would lower it .

" I just wanted to say Thank you " he was about to reply back with familiarity about how thank you and sorry we're not required between them without a thought about their present circumstances as if guessing his mind she answered back

    "  I know that still Thank you and Sorry.."she spoke up surprising him yet again  and With that she went back inside leaving him all too confused.

  
  He understood the thanks was for dragging her away from the insult and he couldnt understand why he was about to reply back that familiar line when there are no longer friends or when he thinks she doesnt even love him any more but what confused him was her sorry.

   He didnt understand why she would say sorry. She will always remain a mystery to him.So he drived back home to face more wrath from his family.

                *************""

And Swara entered Badi to face the wrath of her sister who stood fuming inside as she didnt come to help her as promised.

  " What your problem Swara. I did call you and asked for your help right.How can you not come and you even switched off you phone "her sister shouted at her just as soon as she entered the house

" I did send you the message  Ragini.And i am sorry for not being there for you today.Lot of things happened today and so please try to understand" Swara replied back exhausted by the day events .

" Come on Swara.What can be more important than finding laksh ."her sister answered back with her typical mentality that ensured her world continued to revolve around her husband . Unlike Swara.

  "  Uttara engagement broke and everyone blamed him for it .I just couldnt leave him alone after that. And i wanted to stay by his side .

   But i lost that right when i walked out of the house and so i can only manage these few minutes when he dropped me home and i dont want to lose that. I am sorry i was selfish to be by his side for those few minutes." Swara answered back feeling angry that she couldn't do more .

  " I am sorry, I  was angry that the lead turned out to be false one.I really didnt know so much happened when i was not there . Why did you come back , you could have stayed back right" Ragini answered back as if that would be easy .

  "  How can i stay back when i walked out.What should i say suddenly i want to be there for you when i refused to stay by your side 6 months ago.

   He would laugh at me and would question my sudden change of heart and i dont think i could blame him for that." Swara answered back just as she realized the truth herself .

  " You could have tried"her sister insisted .

   " Dealing with our issues that i created 6 months ago would cause him more heartbreak now.I  dont want to talk about us and make me more upset or angry. Right not i am not even sure what i could say to him to lessen his pain.

  I am lost with no solutions.I am sorry Ragini but i would like to be alone for now .Can we talk about everything later" Swara answered back for once even her sister support felt suffocating as she wanted to be alone .

  "  Sure. I am here for you Swara.Dont worry everything will be fine once Lakshyaji is found"her sister answered back ,the same lines she kept telling everyone for the past six months as well

  " I messed it up Ragini and i dont think i can fix it this time" she answered back today because all it took was for that one day for her to have change of option

If you asked Swara a day earlier she would have believed in her sisters words too but not today. She finally realized having laksh back will not solve the problems in her life.

  Till now she only saw his anger but failed to see the hurt behind his anger. How can she be so blind not to see how much she hurt him.But today she know ,the car ride back home when she stayed silence because she couldnt utter a single word of comfort to him.

   She replayed all the possible conversation but nothing seems to be enough.That when she realized she just cant go back to how things were just with an apology.

  Too much have been destroyed between them too go back to how they were those 6 months ago. She headed back inside her room with the sense of defeat not realizing how much a small act from her side could move him.

               ***************

Sanskar Maheshwari stood right outside the baadi ,the very same place where he witnessed something yesterday which broke his heart too million pieces today that very same place brought a tiny bit of hope about his future.She cares about him.

     She left her phone in the car, so he came to return it to her only to overhear her conversation with her sister. And to know she didnt dash out to help her sister but stayed behind for him to be with him meant he still mattered to her, more than he thought.

  She still cares and that was not gonna erase everything that happened till now but for once Sanskar didnt feel like he was so alone. She stood by his side today, not an single word was shared but she choose to stay by his side and not accuse him for breaking up Uttara life like everyone else and that mattered to him a whole lot.

    Maybe there is still held hope he wondered ,for him to be happy .But it gonna be an long journey as his wounds are still so fresh and he is not naive to imagine all their problems are vanished just because of this one day when she stayed by his side for fleeting 20 minutes. But it an start . A start which made Sanskar Maheshwari hope again.

P.S- That it for now .Let me know you feedbacks. Hit the votes if  you liked it

Juanita Reid