Dedicated to Evelyn, I miss you everyday meri jaan. I wish you spoke about what was bothering you instead of turning to the slow poison. I can't change the bitter moments of the past but I can remember the amazing memories we made.

It had been two days since Abhimanyu tried to make a move on Gauri. It had only been two days when Abhimanyu's truth came out and his superstar status was taken away from him. I mean he did deserve after all. He was just a disgusting asshole. 

Gauri was still shaken from the whole event however she was grateful to Shankarji that her husband and her family members were by her side especially she was grateful for her husband. On the night that it all happened, Gauri couldn't even sleep because everytime she closed her eyes, she would see Abhimanyu chasing after her and she would wake up breathless. Om would be by her side, asking her if she needed anything etc. If she asked for a glass of water, he would immediately get it within 5 seconds. The next day, her husband made a cake for her with the help of her jiji, bade bhaiya, Rudy bhaiya and Bhavya. It was a really nice cake. At the night, she told Om that he should open up his own bakery with Om saying that he would make a massive mess in the bakery's kitchen and that he doesn't want to bake for anyone else, just for her. 

...

Afternoon: 

Rikara's Room:

Gauri went into the room with some clothes to put into cupboard. As she started to put the clothes in the cupboard, some papers fell out. She stopped doing what she was originally doing and picked up the papers. They were in English but our Gauri Omkara Singh Oberoi now knew English so she read them...

'Trucare Trust Rehab Centre

Omkara Singh Oberoi is now clean from his drugs misuse'

Gauri: drugs? What are those? 

She kept the papers on the bed and got her phone. She searched up 'drugs' and read what her Internet Chachi had to say about drugs.

'A medicine or other substance which has a physiological effect when ingested or otherwise introduced into the body.'

Gauri: so it's medicine but the letter also mentioned misuse...

She then searched up 'drugs misuse' and once again Internet Chachi answered her question.

'Drug misuse is defined as the use of a substance for a purpose not consistent with legal or medical guidelines. It has a negative impact on health or functioning and may take the form of drug dependence, or be part of a wider spectrum of problematic or harmful behaviour.'

Gauri: so Omkaraji took illegal medicine? But why? Why would Omkaraji take illegal medicine?

She suddenly heard footsteps and quickly kept her phone away then did the job she was originally doing,  Whilst putting the clothes away, she also kept the papers away. She then turned after closing the cupboard door to see Om.

Om: all okay? You look like you've seen a ghost.

Gauri: ghost? No...I'm fine.

Om: pakka?

Gauri: haan Omkaraji, pakaa.

Om: okay...I just came here to say that it's time for lunch.

Gauri: accha theek hai.

She went with Om and the two left the room. She didn't dare to ask him about the drugs misuse during lunch especially not in front of the other family members. 

...

Evening:

It was now evening, Gauri hadn't at all brought up the subject of drugs to her husband mainly because after lunch, she didn't get a chance to talk to her husband alone until Om came up to his wife, keeping his arm around her and whispered: will you go on a drive with me? 

She gave a shy smile nodding. Om looked up to meet the eyes of his brothers and sister-in-laws.

Om: guys, excuse us.

With that said, Rikara turned and Om got his keys which was on the coffee table. Before Rikara left the house, they heard that duffer Rudy speak: keep it pg-13.

Om rolled his eyes.

Om: shut up Rudra!

Rudy: get some new dialogue. That dialogue is getting ancient. 

Om: okay then be quiet Rudra!

Rudy rolled his eyes as Gauri gave a small chuckle. Then Rikara finally left the house and got into the car.

Gauri: where are we going Omkaraji?

Om: I don't know, maybe we don't have to have a destination, we can just drive around until we feel like going home. 

Gauri nodded and Om started the car. 

The car ride was at first silent. They didn't really know what to say. They were both thinking about what to say to one another but what could they talk about? It was a very rare moment that they were alone because they were always with the other members of the Oberoi family. 

Gauri in mind: we're alone...I can ask Omkaraji about the letter I found in the cupboard, but was I even supposed to know? I guess not because if I was supposed to know then he would have told me himself long back.

Om turned to check on his wife, he noticed that she looked disturbed and that something was troubling her. 

Om: Gauri, are you still thinking about that...

Gauri: incident? No I'm not.

Om: then what happened? What's troubling you?

Gauri bit the bottom of her lip...should she tell him what was bothering her? She didn't even know he would open up about it. Om kept his hand on her thigh and said: you can tell me anything you know that right?

Gauri smiled so now she could ask him.

Gauri: today I was putting the clothes away and some papers fell. 

Om: which papers?

Gauri: your papers about...

She paused, should she tell him or not? She looked at Om who was giving her a reassuring look. She took a deep breath and finally said it: your papers about you becoming clean after a drugs misuse.

Om looked shocked. A bitter time he wanted to forget about but after hearing Gauri talking about those papers he should have burnt a long time back. Suddenly he got flashes of all the times he took drugs, when he would inject a needle in him.

Gauri: I'm saary for mentioning it. Saary.

Om gave a smile, saying: it's fine...it's actually my fault. I should have told you about my drugs misuse ages ago but I guess a part of me just wanted to forget those bitter memories so I never told you about it but you deserve to know. After all you are my wife, you have a right to know.

Gauri: if you don't feel comfortable talking about it, you don't have to.

Om: I want to tell you. So Mrs Gauri Omkara Singh Oberoi, time to know another part of Omkara Singh Oberoi's horrible past. I have always been known as a calm, composed and matured person. No one would have ever thought that I would fall into a trap called drugs. As you know, my childhood could be used for a plot in a movie or some saas-bahu drama. My dad is obviously the biggest jerk alive and Svetlana wasn't the first woman he cheated on my mum with. I was 10 when I found out that Mr Oberoi was having an affair with this woman who had the position of group head in the company. I found out because mum was yelling to Mr Oberoi about it. Then when I was 14, it was some other girl he met. There had been at least 4 girls in total and I was getting depressed about it so I started self harm. 

Gauri: self harm?

Om: it's like...um when you try to injure yourself. I used to get a knife and try slitting my wrist.

He stopped the car somewhere so that he could take off his Apple Watch. Once he got it off, he showed Gauri the scars left on his wrist from self harming. Gauri's jaw opened. He kept the Apple Watch back on his wrist and continued driving. 

Om: I started drugs when I was 17...I heard that drugs could numb the pain that you was feeling so I found out a classmate was selling drugs, basically a drugs dealer, I got some money and brought myself drugs. At first it was great taking drugs, I felt happy, I was also laughing...I was high on drugs. I should have spoken to my brothers about how I was feeling but Shivay was busy studying his MBA and I didn't want to burden Rudy with our parents' troubled marriage. Riddhima, my ex girlfriend, came into my life soon and she only wanted to make me sign property papers regarding 50% that Mr Oberoi would demand from Shivay on my name. Whilst dating Riddhima, I met Ishana who was a con woman. I found out her truth and demanded her to leave my life.

Gauri: so was that why you was so bitter to me at first? Was it because of how those two betrayed your trust?

Om: yes, Rudy used to call me 'The Sach Ka Boyfriend' because I always supported the truth no matter how harsh and bitter it was. I even left Riddhima and Ishana for their lies. I'm glad I did else you wouldn't have come into my life.

Gauri blushed, smiling shyly.

Om: aaye haaye you look so cute when you blush and smile.

Gauri was about to say something when Om saw a place and stopped the car there. 

Gauri: why did we stop?

Om: I'm gonna continue my story on the beach.

Gauri nodded as the two went out of the car and then onto the beach. Upon this primrose sand, the hue as gentle on the eye as a vintage photograph, there was a steady warmth from the grains. Already the stars were glowing as if they have kept a pocket of the daytime to shine all through the twilight sky. In twilight the beach was tinted sepia, the sand more orange, the water darker, our skin soft to the eye. Om kept his hand in Gauri's hand as they walked. 

Om: you know...when I couldn't get my hands on drugs then I would go on long walks on the beach to clear my mind and I would get these deep thoughts about my surroundings. Listening to the percussion of waves became my favourite song. Now when I think about my drugs addiction, I think that being this 'Sach ka keeda' was also another reason why I did drugs as I was not able to confess the truth about the accident committed by him in the past. 

Gauri: ek minute, kaunsa accident?

Om: Prinku and I was driving one night and the car hit Prinku's husband's sister. Ranveer convinced us that I killed her and I was feeling guilt. The guilt became deep and this deep guilt made me so weak that I had to take support with drugs. I was hiding my weakness with the help of drugs...turns out Ranveer's sister was in a coma, she wasn't dead. Shivay found out about my drugs misuse when I fainted once and the doctor said that I fainted because of a drugs overdose.  Shivaay has immensely helped and supported me to get over the drugs. He was the one who became my strength and support system at the time. He was the one to put me in rehab and get professional help. After I got clean and released from rehab, I decided that I was not going to ever fall prey to the drugs trap again...I started hating women, lost my faith in love and I never wanted to be weak again so I became ruthless and strong. I did it for my mother, I wanted to protect her so this weak drug addict became a ruthless man and then you came into my life and turned me into someone that isn't weak but also isn't ruthless. You made me believe in love again.

Gauri stopped making Om stop.

Om: what happened Gauri?

Gauri faced Om and held both of his hands.

Gauri: Omkaraji, you are not weak. Life throws a lot of obstacles at us and we come out stronger than we were before, we come out with a lesson learnt. You came out of the obstactles, stronger because you stood up for your mum and even though those two women have hurt you, you managed to believe in love again and the lessons you learnt from those obstactles was that drugs isn't the answer to everything, it's like paracetmol...it can numb the pain for a little while but it can't take  away the pain forever.

Om: I agree jaan and I believe that my award for facing these obstactles is you.

Gauri smiled and Om leaned in kissing her.

.

.

.

And this OS is done. Thank you for reading. Thank you @rikara_sk for the idea of Om talking to Gauri about his drug addiction during the drive. 

Drugs are serious. People take it to numb pain, many drugs have the ability to make you feel happy and on top of the world for a little while and because some people want to experience that feeling again and again, so they continue taking drugs, sometimes overdosing. I really don't suggest turning to drugs, alcohol, smoking etc because real happiness doesn't come from those habits. It's not worth doing these habits because they can take your life, they can lead to various problems like with alcohol, it can lead to liver problems, smoking can lead to lungs problems and they can also cause illness like cancer. These habits are basically slow poison.

If any of your loved ones are suffering from depression, anxiety etc...talk to them, be there for them, make sure they don't take steps like alcohol or self harm. Thank you.