STARS AFTER THE STORM

7. COMPREHENDING CHAOS.

Anjali Jha couldn't tell for how long she'd been staring at the ceiling . Her husband had hurriedly left somewhere , giving an excuse of work . She couldn't understand what kind of work demanded his presence in the middle of the night . She'd been subjected to this from the very start of her marriage , but the frequency of such events increased drastically from their shift to Shantivan . She'd tried to ignore it , but it kept bothering her . She knew what was to happen the following day , he'd shower her with gifts and console her . But , she didn't want that .
She wanted him to be the man that she'd fallen in love with , he still behaved like him but something was missing . Being the perfectionist the she was , she didn't compromise on anything when it had come to him . Yet , she felt a gaping void , a void she tried so hard to close but it was only growing.

She was a woman , who'd handled her losses gracefully . She had taught herself to see only the good in the world , with a soul purpose of helping her brother see goodness too . But in that process , may be she'd forgotten to differentiate between the good and the bad .

The feeling that something was wrong wouldn't go away from her mind . It had been there for months now . She'd attributed it to her Chotte's indifference towards life . But now , he was married and that too to his perfect match and yet the uneasiness wouldn't leave her .

She grasped her slightly growing abdomen . It was a promise to the life inside , that if anything huge happened , she'd protect her from it at all costs .

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Shyam Manohar Jha was frustrated beyond core . Nothing was going according to his plan . He had slithered his way as the Raizada's son-in-law , with his intentions being purely money oriented . Everything was going fine , but then things started getting out of hand , one crumbling after another . He had even lost the access to the joint account , which was his major source of income .

His Saale Saaheb had become his enemy and he was only making it more and more difficult for him . The only hope that had kept up his confidence was the poisom he'd brewed in Saale Saaheb's mind about Khushiji . He lost that too , when he saw the concern in his eyes for Khushiji .

He cursed himself for being foolish enough to get caught by Saale Saaheb . He needed that will . Till he gets hold of it , he had to manage to stay put in Shantivan .

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Khushi felt bile course through her as the creature's thoughts crossed her mind . She detested that man . Her Jiji had been right . She always faced the consequences , when she'd put others before herself . She had kept quiet for the sake of Di and she only got hurt in the process . Only she knew how disgusted she'd felt for not being able to reveal that creep's true face . She wasn't afraid of him , hell no . She was afraid of how many hearts that vicious truth would break .

Selflessness was inbuilt inside of her . Her birth parents and her adopted ones had made sure that she inculcated that quality . It was her strength and somehow it had become her weakness too .

She glanced at her husband , who was still standing at the poolside lost in thought . Had he eaten ? she thought . Offo Khushi !!! don't care remember? she scolded herself .

Arnav Singh Raizada , couldn't move from where he hadn't been standing . The place carried so many memories . He was reliving every one of them . He took in the joy the sweet ones gave and welcomed the pain the bitter ones offered . He knew after her words that morning , it was going to take a long time for them to have a normal conversation . Until then , he only had her memories .

His thoughts then shifted back to Shyam. His fists clenched in reflex . He wasn't going to let that creature harm his wife or his sister anymore. He was going to do everything in his power to make sure that snake got what he deserved.