"Water! Water!" Pallavi gasped for breath, her head feeling heavy. Unfortunately for her, Riya was the only one who had heard her screams.

Riya observed Pallavi from the window and smirked. This would be way easier than she had expected. No, she hadn't planned a murder, this time. She simply ensured that there wasn't any water available for her dear Pallavi Aunty to consume. This way, she could blame Prachi and make Ranbir hate her sister. She wanted Ranbir and that's all that mattered to her. She didn't care if she ended up killing the entire world to get him. She smiled triumphantly as she heard the desperate screaming of Pallavi.

"Now all I have to do is call everyone here and blame this all on my so-called sister! Even Ranbir will get upset with Prachi. Goodbye forever, Prachi! Today is your last day in this house," Riya smirked.

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"Ranbir! Sid! Vikram Uncle. Someone, please come!" Riya screamed, feigning panic. Her inner soul felt at peace when she saw the worry on everyone else's face. Her lips twitched slightly when she noticed the tension on Prachi's face in particular. She could just imagine it, the devastated face of her sister's when her own husband didn't trust her. Lost in her land full of 'dreams', she remained oblivious to the voices around her.

"What happened Riya? Is everything alright?" Vikram shouted on seeing Riya lost, while Sid, Ranbir and Prachi were thinking about what new crime could've Riya had committed.

"Pallavi Aunty - water - gasping." Riya put a hand over her mouth, beginning to sob a little, smirking in her mind as she saw the tension on the others' faces rise.

"What happened to Mom/Pallavi/Chachi?!"

"She wanted water but there wasn't any in her jug. I rushed to the kitchen to get some water but the tap was jammed. I don't where else to get water from!" Riya sobbed.

"There's water in the kitchen I'll go get it." Sid rushed off, not wanting to see his wife's face for even a second longer. Ranbir would've followed Sid, had it not been for the screams from his mother's room. Pranbir and Vikram rushed off to Pallavi's room, followed by a reluctant Riya.

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"Mom. Don't worry, Sid is getting water right now. Just take deep breaths." Ranbir was about to rub Pallavi's back but was stopped by Vikram.

"Ranbir, don't touch Pallavi. Her fate depends on the gods above and you shouldn't risk your wellbeing."

Before Ranbir could reply, Sid rushed in with a glass of water, which Pallavi consumed in no time. Riya smirked, knowing that in approximately a minute now, Prachi would be out of her life for good. Even Ranbir wouldn't try to stop her biological sister from leaving. Then, the only person in between her and Ranbir would be Sid. Riya smiled triumphantly when Pallavi began to glare at Prachi, who was standing right next to her.

"Why didn't you bring me water? Riya, don't lie to me that you didn't realise because I saw you right outside the room. If you were afraid of catching the disease, you could've at least called someone else to bring it to me!" Pallavi frowned and Riya looked at Pallavi with wide eyes.

"Aunty, I had gone to the kitchen to bring you water but the tap was jammed! I didn't know where else to get the water from." Riya used the same lie as before.

"But Riya, even I went to the kitchen to get the water. The tap was working perfectly fine." Riya mentally cursed her so-called husband for ruining her plan.

"I went to the servant's one! It was closer to Pallavi Aunty's room and because I was worried about Pallavi Aunty's wellbeing, I forgot about the main kitchen." Riya covered up and silently sighed when everyone else seemed to believe her.

"Siddarth, let the matter go. Riya didn't do anything wrong," Pallavi said but this time, the sincerity towards Riya was missing in her tone. She then turned towards Prachi, "Why wasn't there water in the jug? I haven't had any water since the morning and I thought that it was your responsibility to ensure that the jug was full of water. You did say that you had filled in the jug, why lie about it?"

Prachi sighed mentally on hearing Pallavi. It seemed that gaining her mother-in-law's love would be harder than she thought it would, but she was Prachi. She would put all her effort into making sure that her family was a happy and loving one. But for that, she knew she had to do something about Riya, even if her heart still refused to hate her. Before Prachi could speak up in her defence, Riya intervened, knowing that if Prachi opened her mouth, her plan could fail.

"Prachi, I can't believe you could be so careless! I look up to you as you're my sister and my role model to and I know that you're responsible, so how did you become so careless when it came to Aunty's health? You are aware that Aunty has covid right! Cause the way you're acting doesn't make me think that you're aware of her condition. Prachi, you're Pallavi Aunty's daughter-in-law and that makes it your responsibility to take care of her! Honestly, Prachi, what were you so busy in doing that you couldn't notice that Aunty's jug needed filling?" Riya scolded Prachi, ensuring that she didn't sound too harsh.

"Riya, stop it. Don't try to act too innocent, I know your secrets, all of them and I won't think once before revealing them in front of everybody if you try to blame Prachi again." Siddarth warned, surprising Riya but she brushed off her thoughts, thinking that Sid was just saying that to frighten her.

Riya turned to Ranbir, feeling overconfident about her plan succeeding. She kept her expression sombre, despite feeling like doing the opposite and was about to place a hand on Ranbir's shoulder, however, ended up frowning when he avoided her, not even bothering to hide his annoyance with her. Riya ignored this and decided to give her plan a shot anyway, "Ranbir, Siddarth may not believe me but trust me, I've changed! I'm not the same Riya as before. I love my sister a lot now, but what's wrong is wrong. Prachi has failed to fulfil her duties as Kohli's daughter-in-law, I wouldn't be surprised if you divorc...."

A tight slap landed on her cheek before she could complete her sentence. Tears brimmed Riya's eyes as she realised who just slapped her. She removed her hand from the cheek, hoping that it could reduce the pain. She sighed, composing herself and her anger. If her plan were to even come close to succeeding, she would have to make Ranbir hate her sister, not her. "Ranbir, how - how could you? How could you slap me? I'm not just your friend anymore! And what wrong did I say?"

"Shut up Riya. If you still loved your sister you wouldn't be shameless enough to be wishing that I divorced her! I can't believe that you're the same person whom I used to be friends with during our childhood. You know what? Your right, you have changed over these past two years. You've changed into a more bitter, selfish and twisted person, from one who though was still selfish, at least knew the difference between right and wrong to some extent. You're worse than Satan!" Ranbir spat, revealing that he knew Riya's reality in his fit of rage. Prachi glared at her husband but somewhere, she too felt that his outburst was necessary at this point. Hiding would only make things worse and more intolerable.

"Ranbir, I - I'm not selfish, bitter or twisted! I love my family a lot and I would never wish my sister for my sister to suffer, but she was wrong in not taking care of Pallavi Aunty properly. If she had problems in doing it she could've told me. I'm just concerned for Aunty's wellbeing. What if Sid hadn't got the water to her on time? I just hope you don't continue to act like this in the future, Prachi. Otherwise, you'll ruin your own house very quickly!" Riya frowned when she saw Prachi, Ranbir and Sid all glaring at her. Soon, before, Pallavi or Vikram could say anything to either of them, she was dragged out of the room, quite harshly too.

"Siddarth! What was that for?" Riya snatched her arm back and began to rub it.

"Riya, do not try anything else. We know your truth. Prachi and Ranbir have already told me all the crimes you committed two years ago. But I also know what you're doing right now and about your little addiction too. I'll be divorcing you in a few days." Sid glared at his so-called wife.

"What? You need the consent of both husband and wife in divorce. I will not sign those papers." Riya frowned on hearing what Siddarth said next.

"You're right. But what if I gave you the option of either divorcing me or going to jail instead?"

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(1530 words)

I have finally updated! I had written the first part a while back, so I was able to update this today. How did you guys like it?

Did you miss me?

Also, the next two updates will probably be full of drama, lots and lots of drama. I'll probably finish this story before 2022.

Which story should I update next? (Before the 15th)

Until Next Time!
~ Riya Sharma