"My cause matters to me more than anything else" hissed Shriya looking at Raghav as every inch of her body was burning with rage.
"What matters to you or not is least of my concern. Get out of my house! I don't want you around my children" coldly o...
Shriya had a myriad of emotions as she heard those ghastly words from Raghav. She could see the pure rage and hurt masked behind it in his eyes. Her temper was not in check and all she wanted was to shout her lungs out to knock some sense into Raghav's brain.
Images of London flashed before her eyes. These are the things she shut and threw away to keep her sanity. She indeed hugged Aravind Bharadwaj in Raghav's cabin. He was not wrong when he said those words. The difference is he did not merely mention. He accused her of gaining pleasure in the arms of another man.
All she could see was red. That slap did not calm her raging hormones. She wanted to throw everything around her. She could say to him so many things and clarify. She was beyond hurt. The incident he mentioned took place merely after she gave birth to the twins. She clearly remembers making love to this so called husband of hers that very morning. A voice in her head kept ringing "Did he think so low of me?".
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Raghav kept staring at her. Some corner of his heart was waiting for her to slap him again and say he was wrong. He wanted her validation in words. He wanted to be proven wrong for accusing her. He kept defending her for months against his family, law firm, investigative officers and police until he saw her in Aravind's arms.
She looked straight in his eyes and said "Mr.Reddy! You can think whatever you want. I don't care. Your tags do not define my character. I know my truth and I am least interested wasting my time explaining it to you. I got to go. See you in court and I will fight for my children, my party and my family".
Saying so she left to her room leaving an agitated and perplexed Raghav.
She tossed on the bed after recollecting the entire incidents from the morning in the congregation hall. She took a deep breath and thought of the best part of the day. She got to see her Duggu. It was his innocent eyes and pure words that brought a smile on her face. He has grown up so much from the time she remembers him. He could barely form sentences and pronounce words correctly back in the day. He now looks all grown up. She took another deep breath and closed her eyes to sleep, determined to fight to keep him away from the stress he is facing at such young age.
***************** Laxman's room, Chennai ***************** Laxman was going through the documents from the conference proceedings. Sanjana sat on the bed applying moisturizer and looking once in a while at Laxman. She gently questioned "Are you not going to sleep Laxmanji?" Laxman looked at her with a sense of guilt. He smiled and said "I have work. I won't disturb your sleep by keeping the lights turned on. I will work in the lobby". Saying so he walked out switching the lights off and closed the door leaving Sanjana in darkness. Sanjana bitterly smiled at the irony of her life.
She loved Shirav, Reya and Arihaan like her own children but she felt like her role in the family is limited to taking care of them and being a good daughter-in-law. She knew about Laxman's ex-girlfriend and how she used him to destroy the family. The thing that pricks her the most is Laxman feels he is over his past but he is actually not.
She gently whispered in darkness more to herself "Lucky hatred is another form love. If you have truly moved on you will simply ignore or laugh but not have such strong and unresolved feelings". A tear drop fell from her left eyes which she gently wiped away and slept on her side of the bed hoping for progress in their relationship.
It has been three months to their wedding and two years of her one sided love. Initially she gave up the idea of a possibility of their relationship due to Lucky's love for Sharini. Later, when she realised that Sharini was using him to get information from Raghav about the proceedings of Aravind Bharadwaj law suit, she made sure to protect her Laxman from the woman and her wrong motives.
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She tried to sleep just like every night feeling lonely and trying to find light in her marriage. . . . . . Laxman sat in the lobby typing away furiously on his laptop and thinking about the conference. He could not stand the sight of Prakash Shetty with Sharini. They have illegally obtained information about Raghav's plans in the Aravind Bharadwaj money laundering case. The worst part is Sharini used him with a bait of love. He slammed the laptop roughly.
He was joined by Raghav in the bar counter. Two drinks down and Laxman said "I am a fool anna! You warned me and I was so hopelessly in love with that woman". Raghav who was beyond drunk said "Not your fault Lucky! The things we do for love". Raghav patted his shoulder and said "Go back to Sanjana! She must be waiting". Laxman nodded as he couldn't afford for his family to know the truth of their relationship. He married her to prove Sharini that he could move on and was not struck. He also wanted some positivity as things were going downhill since Shriya left the house. He headed towards his room from lobby.
Raghav on the other hand drunk dailed Shriya. Shriya picked up the call after two rings when she heard "I love you darling! I want you to be happy. I want us to be happy. Why did you do that to me? Wasn't I good enough for you that you had to seek another man? Did you not believe me? Why did you fight against me before the world in that court? For that man? To prove that bastard innocent? Do you know what that says? You don't trust me. I always loved you. Right from the day I saw in you in our school basket ball court. How could you easily crumble and throw away my love for that cheap money laundrer? Answer me now?"
Shriya had tears streaming down her eyes she quickly sniffed and said "You are drunk Mr.Reddy! I am sure anything I say will not make any sense now. I will talk to you when you are sober".
*************
A/N:
Thank you for all your lovely comments on the last chapter. It meant a lot to me.
The fact that you respected my boundaries was heart warming. I would like to extend my heart felt gratitude to all my readers.
