I reached the Singhania mansion around 11 in the morning. I landed at Mumbai airport in the early morning itself but I chose to go home at that time because I wasn't ready to face the wrath of my grandpa. I had to explain the truth to my mom first and then let her explain it to others in her own way.

When I entered into the living area, I stopped in my tracks seeing HER sitting there alone with her eyes closed. I tiptoed towards her and stood behind a pillar to find out what she was doing there.

I realised she was deep in thought as her face frowned a few times and suddenly she let out a deep breath.

Maybe she's thinking about me.

I was lost in analysing her facial expressions when she opened her eyes out of the blue and looked down. After some time, she carried Rey and put him on her lap while talking to him animatedly to which Rey giggled at her every now and then.

She's cute.

Heaving a sigh of relief, I finally decided to go to her as I had to apologize first for leaving her all alone right after tying the knot with her. I already knew that she's got a bad impression of me so I had to make it up for it.

I straightened my posture and walked towards her. She instantly turned towards my direction when she sensed my presence there and got up carrying Rey in her arms.

I stared at her when she was looking at me confusedly while observing my face and attire.

That's it. She doesn't remember you now. Congratulations Veer, your wife doesn't remember you.
My inner voice mocked me and I was expecting her to at least try to recognize me but unfortunately she asked something that made me feel a pang in my heart.

"Hey, Hi! Are you looking for someone here? I feel like I have seen your somewhere. May I know who are you?"

I cleared my throat and decided to introduce myself to her.

"Veeranshu. Your husband" I should've stopped with my name itself but I was afraid that she would ask back 'who is Veeranshu' so I had to tell her what am I to her.

She instantly widened her eyes and smiled at me sheepishly, giving me an apologetic look. I didn't know what to say as I was a little upset that she couldn't recognize my face so I just took Rey from her without saying anything to her.

I was playing with Rey when I heard her sighing heavily. I looked up to see her narrowing her eyes at me but she quickly lowered her gaze when she caught me looking at her.

Damn! She's really looking like a kitten with her cheeks in beetroot tint.

I was gazing at her intensely and failed to notice when she had started looking at me again. She was rubbing her cheeks weirdly and I sighed at her. Crossing her arms, she raised her eyebrow questioningly and I opened my mouth to apologize to her for my behaviour but stopped hearing my mom's roar.

She marched towards me furiously and slapped me hard. That was the second time my mom slapped me and both were because of the mistakes I did.

The first one shouldn't be referred as a mistake since it was a sin that no one would ever do.
My inner voice reminded me again.

She started shouting at me and I stood there silently as she had all the rights to do that. Moreover I've disappointed her to an extent this time. I really wanted to explain her the truth but she was shouting at me without even listening to my explanation and when I tried, she stopped me by dragging me to her room.

"What the hell was that, Veeranshu? How could you just run away after marrying that poor girl? Did I force you to marry her? You did agree wholeheartedly to marry her right, then why the hell you just left her right after your marriage? You weren't there with her when she put her first step into this house. I don't understand what's your...." She was ranting continuously and I stopped her by raising my voice.

"Will you just listen to me once, mom?"

"What?" She narrowed her eyes at me and I sighed in relief as she finally gave me the chance to explain myself.

"I had to go back because of that Vikram Rajput, mom!" I told her, gritting my teeth and mom looked at me confusedly.

"Who?"

I sighed and narrowed my eyes at her. "Mom! Vikram Rajput, Ja... Jaanu's father!" I clenched my fist thinking about her. Because of that bastard, I had to lose the most important person of my life.

"What happened, Veer? How did he reach you again? What does he want now? What else does he need after ruining your life for more than 6 years?" Mom asked, her eyes brimming with tears.

I closed my eyes to stop the tears that were threatening to fall out of my eyes. "Life? Does it matter to him, mom? That bastard killed his own wife and my..."

"Enough, Veer! Stop there. Now tell me how did he reach you again? What does he want now?" Mom asked me, fuming with rage and I explained her the main reason of rushing back to US as to settle an old score with someone there.

"That's all, mom. Are you still angry with me? You know me very well, mom. I won't do anything without a valid reason."

"And that's why you stayed away from all of us while dealing with 6 years of agony by yourself, right?" She asked sarcastically but I knew deep inside she was hurt because of all those years I punished myself by staying away from my family.

I walked to her and took her hands in mine. "I'm sorry, mom. I know I had hurt you all so much until now but I promise I will never repeat it again. You gave me a new responsibility and I will make sure to never disappoint you again, mom."

"I trust you, Veer. But I'm not sorry for slapping you just now. You deserved that! You shouldn't have left the girl without even saying a word to her. At least you should've given her a reason before going away like no one cares." She looked at me angrily again and continued, "Listen Veer, before this you were alone and it never hurts anyone when you took hasty decisions in your life but now you have a wife, a person who will share the rest of her life with you, so please don't ever take anymore hasty decisions. If you want to do something, make sure to discuss with her and get her consent first before doing it. You're a married man now and you're not allowed to live the life as you wish. Do you understand?"

"Yes, I do. I'm sorry, mom. I won't leave her alone anymore." I lowered my head feeling remorse.

Mom shook her head and patted on my shoulder. "Don't say it to me. Apologise to her as she is the one who needs it the most. You had really made her get a bad impression of you, Veer. She didn't complain anything to us but I knew deep inside she was already regretting for saying yes to us. I have promised her that you will take care of her so make sure you keep my promise, Veer. I just hope that you won't disappoint us"

"Trust me this time, mom. I won't disappoint you and her." I assured her and she heaved a sigh of relief.

"Now I'll have to cook up a story to save you from your grandpa and wife. Both of them are the most dangerous people. They both would sniff the lies from me easily so I have to be more careful this time." She huffed exasperatedly.

"I'm sorry, mom. You had to go through all these because of me." I apologized again as I was really feeling bad for her. From the past one month since I came back to India, she had been lying so much to my family because of me. I knew she couldn't keep a secret from my dad but this time she did that too.

"It's okay, Veer. But remember I gave you only 3 months time. You have to reveal everything to Bani before it's too late." She reminded me the promise I made to her before my marriage and I nodded in acknowledgement.

I stayed in my room as mom went down to convince my grandpa and dad who came back home after receiving the news of my arrival from Shreya. The chatterbox couldn't keep any secret from her husband and that guy informed everything to dad and grandpa. Even Anu and Roshan were also back from their college bunking their afternoon classes.

I walked down the stairs and stood there when I saw her standing beside my mom while saying something to my grandpa. I knew she had all the rights to know the truth about me but at that moment I was really helpless. I just hoped she wouldn't find out the truth by herself before I reveal it to her.

Feeling my gaze on her, she turned towards me and I instantly averted my gaze from her. I didn't want her to see me as a creep by staring at her all the time. Even though I was looking at the other side, I could still feel her gaze on me. I again turned to look at her but this time she averted her gaze with a smug smile on her face.

Silly girl.

I silently moved away from there and stood beside her when she was searching for me at the place where I stood previously.

Everyone dispersed after my mom's order and I stood there giving a grateful look to my mom when we heard someone clearing their throat. We turned to see and there she was, standing with raising her eyebrow at my mom and I quickly left the place to give them some privacy.

I know they are close friends and have so many things to discuss so why should I be there as a third wheel.

*********

It was fifteen past six when I woke up from a short nap. I refreshed myself and sat on the couch, checking the cctv footage of the mansion to find out where she was as I wanted to apologize to her for my behaviour. Something caught my eyes and I zoomed it to see her standing in front of our room with Rey in her arms.

What is she doing here?

Frowning in confusion, I quickly reached to the door and opened it. She gasped seeing me and her eyes checked me out from my head to toe. I really wanted to smirk at her but I controlled myself and maintained an expressionless face.

She caught me staring at her so she stuttered to cover it up and I beat it to her by starting the conversation. I just asked her a single question and she started rambling continuously which was giving me a hard time to control my smile.

Guess there's another chatterbox in this family other than Shreya.

I was looking at her in amusement when she stopped by realizing what she was doing. She made a face like she was about to cry and quickly ran away from there with Rey in her arms.

"Hey, be careful!" I warned her but she entered into Anusha's room without hearing me out.

We gathered at the dining table at 8pm to have our dinner. Usually we used to gather for the breakfast only but I heard from mom that Bani wasn't having good sleep at night so she was waking up late since a week and that was the reason why mom brought this new rule that we all had to join together for the dinner too.

She sat beside me and all the while I was looking at her with amusement in my eyes as she was making faces while playing with the vegetables in her plate. I was about to ask her to stop playing with the food but my little sister beat me to it. "Bani, why are you playing with the food? Eat the vegetables or else mom would feed you forcibly." She warned her and Bani gulped looking at mom who was narrowing her eyes at her.

She instantly took a handful of vegetables and stuffed into her mouth which made her retch. I quickly started patting her head gently as she was coughing and passed her a glass of water. I sighed when she stopped coughing and turned to focus on my plate when I felt some gazes on me. I raised my eyes to receive weird looks from Mom, Dad, Shreya, Roshan and Anu as if I had suddenly transformed into a wild chimpanzee.

"What?" I asked, raising my eyebrow and they shifted their eyes back to their own plates.

Crazy people.

Post our dinner, I started walking towards my room as I had to check some important case reports of the patients when I felt like someone was following me. I stopped, turning back to see but there was no one behind me. Shrugging off, I walked further but again felt like someone was following me. I turned and checked but there was no one again.

What's going on here?

I entered into the room and was about to close the door when I saw something in maroon behind the pillar near to my room.

Is it Bani? The last time I saw, she was the one wearing a top in maroon.

Frowning at the thought, I sighed and kept the door ajar before settling myself on the bed to read the case reports. I was just about to open the first file when Bani entered into the room. I looked up to see her and my guess was correct. She was the one wearing a top in maroon so the person who hid behind the pillar is none other than her.

She was looking at me with a pout and I raised my eyebrow at her. "Do you want to ask anything?" I asked her.

"No but yes." She shook her head both sides.

"Huh? No or Yes?"

"I mean yes. I want to ask you something."

Okay get ready, Veer. She's going to ask you all her doubts today and make sure you answer her honestly.

I motivated myself and nodded at her, closing the file in my hands. "Go ahead."

"Hmm... please don't misunderstand me for asking you this question." She said with a pout again and I smiled at her assuredly to which she asked the question which made my eyes pop out of the socket.

"Are you going to ask me to sleep on the couch or maybe on the floor after this?" She asked, showing me her big innocent eyes.

What the hell? Why would I ask her to sleep on the couch or floor? Who's teaching her this kind of nonsense?

So guys, tell me how's this chapter? I know you guys expected something more in Veer's PoV but this is all for now, darlings. As I said, I will reveal one by one slowly. This is just the beginning, there's more to go 😉

P.S. This is not a supernatural story 🙏😂