Sorry for the delay, and thankyou for the lovely messages on ig>>>

Today's chapter is a roller coaster, let me know if I'm lacking my element

Hell was going to break loose. And Rhea knew it right at the moment when she saw her sister, Ritika running back inside the house after she caught Rhea kissing a girl in the backyard.

"Fuck!" A loud curse vented past Rhea's mouth meanwhile Saumya swallowed back a loud sob.

Saumya knew she shouldn't have come here. Yet there she was, still heavily dressed in her engagement lehenga, sneaking out to say her final goodbye to her unrequited love.

"I_ Rhea_ I am sorry." The restraint broke and a sob tears through her throat.

She knew that Rhea would go for the weekly family evening at her parents house, still in desperation, the naive hope in her heart had her coming for the person who callously rejected her love on her face.

The apprehension of what was coming their way and the jitters of her engagement had Saumya shaking like a dry leaf in the upcoming stormy wind. Her body shook violently as warm tears sloshed her beautiful cheeks.

A final memory for lifetime is what she had wished for. But now she fears Rhea will hate her forever. Their secret is no more a secret and Rhea's parents will not take it lightly.

"I didn't mean to_ Rhea, I'm sorry."

Rhea gnashed her teeth together. The alarms of jeopardy ringing in the back of her head and Saumya's violent cries amalgamating together was making her head throb.

The awareness of Saumya's engagement had been breaking havoc within her and getting attacked by so many emotions was something she would never allow. This had kept her on edge for the last two months.

Rhea wasn't expecting an engaged Saumya to barge in to meet her like a heartbroken lover. For some reason the gold ring shining on Saumya's ring finger irked Rhea's insides and blinded her resolution. And in her head Rhea had mocked Saumya's to-be husband while she pulled the girl for a fervent liplock.

And right now Rhea was cursing herself for getting evoked by the green monster and for acting on impulse.

The rage building up inside Rhea was camouflaging all those previous emotions. She knows Saumya doesn't mean bad. She never did. But her timing had always been a free invitation to uncalled catastrophe for Rhea. Be it now or back then in Aarav's farewell party.

"Listen. Go and fucking get married for all I care." She spat harshly. She had to behold too much control so that her hold on Saumya's biceps doesn't turn bruising. Seeing Saumya shaking her head in denial further skyrocketed Rhea's rage.

The feral grumble that resonated through Rhea's chest made Saumya, instinctively, jump a step away. "Get off my fucking face."

Not waiting for any further, Rhea turned hot on her heels and sprinted back inside the house to face the awaiting calamity. On her way she gave a call to her driver and gave a clear command to drop Saumya to her house.

What happened next was still hazy in Rhea's head. Her parents busted upon her as soon as she reached their sight. Loud yelling resonated within the walls of the Pathak bungalow, accusations were thrown at her way but she stood impassive. She doesn't care. Not anymore.

She had always hated these weekly meetups. She never got along with her parents and neither with her sister. And right at that moment she despised them more than she ever did before.

"You're a stain on Pathak's name. What image will we have if this goes in the media ?"

"How long have you been doing this sin ?"

"My in-laws will break the alliance if they get even the slightest idea about this. This is unacceptable in our society, di."

Caring about others' opinions isn't something Rhea considers important. She didn't care even when her parents asked her to get married. But what brought her on her toes was when they threatened to evict her from the company.

She had poured her blood and sweat to get the CEO's position since her college days. And there's no way she would let her parents dominate her. But back that moment she couldn't think straight and stormed off.

Her hands continuously trembled as she drove aimlessly on the roads. The car echoed with her exasperated groans when Aarav refused to pick up the call even after the umpteenth time.

The scorch bubbling inside her was gnawing at her skin, making her chest constrict. She was a walking destruction and if something is going to devastate her then it would explode like an atomic bomb, destroying everything around it.
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Mishika had planned to spend her Friday night winding up on pending office work. None of her plans included putting up with a drunk Rhea who came knocking at her door uninvited.

Dishevelled hairs, red eyes and on staggery feet, Rhea was reeking of booze and cigarettes. Upon witnessing her condition, a baffled glance was swapped between Mishika and her parents before concern dawned in.

Earlier that evening, Kabir and Preeti visited uninformed to surprise their daughter and it had left Mishika thronged with merry as she had hugged them.

Her excitement, however, shrivelled soon as awkwardness and displeasure engulfed the ambiance. Preeti was subtle, but Kabir showed no effort to veil his discontentment about Aarav's presence in the same room. And soon after that Aarav left the apartment with an excuse.

It pinched her heart to see the zero effort he made to get along with her parents, though she pushed the feeling away as quickly as it arose in her. She, at that moment, had reminded herself that they weren't a normal married couple. And her parents or her sentiments would be the last thing he would care about.

"Where's he ?" Contrast to her soused state, Rhea's voice resonated firmly. "Bhai"

~~~

"You aren't supposed to run away from her family." Mishti shakes her head, disappointment marrying her face. She didn't react when Aarav acted deaf to her dejection and took a large sip of his beer, his eyes fixed on the scenery before him.

Mishti has to travel frequently between London and India for her work and since Aarav had agreed to pick her up from the airport, she agreed to accompany him in a beer shot. And later Aarav groaned for even asking her as she convinced him for light alcoholic beer on the excuse of driving back.

Moments later, his shoulders shrug off and a sigh vent past his lips. "They don't like me."

"If you intend to be in the marriage then you'll have to get along with her parents. Emotional investment is the biggest key."

Upon her words, Aarav, through his peripheral vision, narrowed his eyes at his best friend as if she was some sort of alien.

Aarav Oberoi thrives in twisted ways even when it comes to emotions. Expressing his desires, carnal or deviant, is a lot easier for him, however he slithers back behind the drapes of impassiveness and nonchalance when it comes to emotions.

He never actually had someone to express his emotions with. He maintains a distance from his father, his mother accepts and understands him without him expressing anything. Even with Rhea and Mishti, it was the same. He never felt the need for the expressive emotional investment. Not until her.

"It's a key to a girl's heart." He momentarily paused, something flickered in his dark stygian orbs, before he again relaxed his posture.

"Your phone didn't stop blaring the entire time. You're ignoring Rhea ?"

Mishti noticed how visibly his shoulder turned rigid upon the mention of Rhea, but she didn't try to probe further, knowing he would never let out more than he is willing to.

"It's better that way otherwise I don't know what I'll end up doing to her and then to myself."

~~~

"Rhea" Mishika took a cautious step towards Rhea but when Rhea instantly coiled a step back, Mishika put a halt on her actions.

"Call him." Rhea demanded, her hands flung out exasperatedly resulting in the porcelain cup to crash on the ground and shatter into pieces.

Kabir and Preeti exchanged a wary glance and signalled Mishika to comply. Mishika obliged and quickly dialled to Aarav and Rhea gnashed her teeth when the call was picked on the first time itself.

"Missing me, sweetheart ?" Though the phone wasn't on speaker, one could make out his voice in the small living room if paid close attention.

The distress Rhea felt the entire evening after her parents's threat was nothing compared to what she felt at that moment. She felt abandoned, something she had never felt before. And the realisation that it came from the very person who she had personally handed the reins of the power to destroy her, gnawed at her bones.

"Rhea is here." That's all Mishika had to say before Aarav went taut on the other side.

"Ask her to leave. I'm already on my way." Aarav's voice faded at the end as the line went dead.

Suddenly getting throttled by surging emotions made Rhea panic. Emotions that could wreck her was something she never allowed access to get to her. Her breathing ragged, trepidation seized her as she frantically tried to gain control over her emotions. In the meantime her eyes fell on the shattered pieces and she was quick to pick one, incarcerating it tightly in her fist. Tight enough to cause pain but not to draw out blood.

One. Two. Three.

One. Two. Three.

She felt hurt, something very few people have managed to make her feel. And it provoked her diabolical points and she felt a sudden urge to hurt him, something she never thought she would willingly do.

"Remember the miscarriage ?" Mishika's eyes widened, the unexpected mention of the miscarriage blew her taut. "It was Aarav, the father."

Tension loomed in the air as Kabir and Preeti stood rigid, their expressions mirroring their distress and stupor. Meanwhile the fear of her parents' forthcoming reaction didn't let Mishika muster the courage to turn around and glance their way.

Rhea knew Mishika's parents would never allow her to stay with the person who was the reason their daughter landed so close to deathbed. But the wicked part of her mind wasn't going for such easy play. The tragedy will begin when the truth would be dawned upon Mishika, yet an unabated barrier will be engraved that wouldn't let Aarav reach her.

"Imagine who poignantly owned up for your MMS even though he had no idea about it until it was everywhere." Rhea whispered through the stormy glint in her grey orbs.

A sweat break though Mishika's forehead, she anticipated what was coming her way. And if her prediction is true then it is going to tantalise her more than she had ever been.

Rhea's voice dropped a few octaves low as she continued in whisper, "Aarav had no hand in that, it was me."

The beast inside Rhea is famished for destruction and it thrives on the deviant games, trifling with others' sanity and emotions. And as she said, she would destroy the prize itself if she couldn't dominate the game as she desires. Rhea Pathak is the synonym of storm, a storm that promises destruction.

"Is it true ?" Kabir's question was directed to no one in particular. All he wanted was answers. The truth.

He disliked Aarav from the first day. And Aarav would have been the last person he would consider compatible for his beloved daughter. But when Mishika refused to take a divorce, his fatherly instincts always made him pray for his daughter's happiness. Even if she found that happiness with the person he considers so unworthy for his precious daughter.

Nonetheless at that moment Kabir didn't know if he wanted whatever Rhea said to be true or not. At first he wanted a strong reason to pull his daughter away from this forced marriage but backed off after Mishika's assurance. But now he was afraid that his daughter was living with the sole reason for her nightmares and he let all this happen right under his nose.

A faint feral grin emerged on Rhea's lips as she took a look at a pale Mishika before boring her stormy eyes right into Mishika's stupefied parents' eyes. "It is. No one knows Aarav's life better than me."

Fresh hot blood trickled down Rhea's clenched palm. But like usual, it didn't bestead to clear the red blinding her vision. And it evoked her to tighten her grip on the shattered piece in her fist.

The sight of bright red liquid dripping from Rhea's fist drew a gasp out of Mishika's lips. "Rhea, what are you doing ?" She shrieked, her voice laced with panic as the blood's sight resurfaced all the dreadful memories.

Rhea retreated on instinct when she saw Mishika lunging forward but Mishika was quick to get hold of Rhea as she frantically tried to take away the shattered piece from Rhea.

"Mishika, get away."

"Let go of it, Rhea."

Seeing the two girls entangled in together, Kabir and Preeti quickly dashed forward. Nonetheless, with Mishika's painful gasp and Rhea's horror stricken face, everything went eerily still. Everyone's eyes get zeroed to the fresh red spilling from Mishika's stomach, staining her white kurti.

Chapter Word- 2215

Seeing the comments level dropping with every chapter is so disheartening.. ^_^

The story is finally entering it's next phase ~~~

Signing off
~T.R