Hues of Love

Part 13

"Divorce papers? You want to divorce me, Arnav?" questioned Rati, taking the support of a table, lest her knees give away due to emotional turbulence. It has been one month since she had seen her husband and he had brought along the biggest shock of her life along with him.

"Don't amuse me, Rati. You were cheating on me from years but you had reached the heights of betrayal when you bedded someone on our marital bed on our wedding anniversary. You expect me to remain bound to you after seeing so much?" he mocked, his face revealing his disappointment, frustration and anger to the one to whom he had dedicated half of his life.

"You were supposed to be away on a business trip on our wedding anniversary. What could I make of that?" she retaliated, furious tears rolling down her flushed cheeks. It was the first time in years that he had seen her without any makeup in the day time and that observation made him wonder if his sudden absence had actually affected her before her rebuttal erased every sign of empathy towards the woman in front of him.

"Wow! What a justification, Ms. Agarwal! Just because your husband is away, you will cheat on him? Just great!" he spat, banging his fist on the wall beside him, ignoring the pain which throbbed through him with the impact.

Rati rushed to her feet to help Arnav's bleeding hand.

"Arnav, what's wrong with you? Why are you hurting yourself?" she questioned, as she pulled her veil away to tie it to his hand to stop the blood oozing away. Arnav, on the other hand, pulled away his hand from Rati's grasp.

"Don't act as if you care, Rati. If you would have cared, you would not have gone behind my back to cheat on me. You have never loved me so don't act like you have loved me throughout your life and cannot see me in pain," he lashed out, angrily pointing his index finger towards her.

"If I had never loved you, Arnav, I would not be in so much of pain. Vivek would have told you how many calls and messages I had left for you. How many calls for made to you from my team. You were non-traceable. I left all my modelling assignments and waited for you or for your call. When you are finally back, you slam a divorce notice on me and claim that I have never loved you. If I had never loved you I would be so much in peace," she exclaimed, poking her finger into his chest as her eyes turned red with pain.

Arnav's head seemed to spin with Rati's answers and claims. She was not in peace, because of him?

"What the hell are you blabbering, Rati? I gave you everything and you are saying that I stole your peace? Stop painting yourself as the victim, for god's sake!" he complained, raking his dainty fingers through his ruffled hair.

"You gave me everything except company, Arnav. In the initial days of our marriage, when you had just setup your company, I had won several accolades and you were not there even for a single presentation ceremony. Whenever I used to personally invite you over, you used to be proud for sure, but you never came to cheer me or support me. I did not trust in marriages or love, Arnav," she revealed, much to Arnav's shock and surprise. Years in relationship and years in marriage, his conscience mocked at him for not realizing something so pivotal related to his love.

"I thought you were a romantic at heart. You did not believe in love, but why?" he asked involuntarily.

"My parents were just married for name sake. Their worlds never joined and I didn't want a life like that. My mother always wanted someone to appreciate her and cherish her achievements throughout her life and till her last breath, she never found that. I did not want to die like her. In my case, the profession I chose made it much more easy for me to sway. The greed in me to be loved so passionately that the broken pieces of my heart unite once again made me seek company of others. What else could I do?" she complained, reminiscing the way complaint gleamed in her mother's dull eyes as she was surrounded by the dull colors of white in the hospital before death claimed her.

"What could you do? I had loved you with all my heart, how could..."

Rati cut him across before he could complete his question.

"You loved me and I have no doubt about that, but I wish you had some time for me. So busy with business trips, conferences and bagging deals, the passion in our life ended the moment the chase ended, Arnav. When you told me that you are not going to be here for our wedding anniversary, it made me feel that I was not wrong to sway, that I should relish passion for once after so long. I wanted to be loved and cherished, the way I have not since childhood due to the marital discord between my parents and I did not want to be the victim of same tension once again. I am sorry, Arnav. I am sincerely sorry. Doubt me all you want, you are right in doing so but don't question my love for you. Because if I was not in love with you, I would not be taking anti-depressants every day," she said with a heavy heart.

Arnav felt the very ground slipping beneath his feet. He knew that her accusations were strong. He had forgotten her birthday on numerous occasions and the only way he made her feel special on those days was by taking her out for dinner. Looking back, he realized that he tried to win over her feelings by materialistic things.

But that did not justify her cheating on him. She could have conveyed her annoyance to him. She could have expressed her disappointment in him but going behind his back and getting intimate with someone else was not done. There would be thousands of people or maybe even lakhs of people in her place and all he had tried was to secure a safe future for her and their future children. How could she justify herself by citing his actions as her reason?

He could hear her faint sobbing as she turned away from him, trying to hide her tears from him. He clenched his wounded palm in frustration as he struggled to accept that his actions were his own undoing.

Before he could reply to Rati, he felt the phone in his pant pocket vibrate. He pulled out his phone, his conscience mocking at him that he chose his phone above his wife as always. The username threatened to shake the basis of his very existence. The woman whose love made blood surge through his heart- Khushi.

"Hello," he spoke into the receiver as he accepted the call.

"Arnav, I am pregnant with your child."

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I know it is too early for an update but I just could not resist posting this. I was very happy because I got an All India level 3 digit rank for which lakhs of people appear and I just wrote this. I will be skipping next cycle's update for this. I hope now you will see that Rati is the way she is because of her past. If we like playboys and dark heroes, I guess we will have to accept an anti-heroine as well.

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