abhimaan's pov

walking down the stairs i kept on wondering how vridha left for office before i could even talk to her , she looked so pretty in that saree i can already think about how men in her office are going to stare at her , and the thought itself makes me want to rush there and kill each one of them

as i stood near the car i noticed a note , looking closely i saw a fucking dent on my headlight???? i knew it was none other than my biwi "wahi sochu in mohatarma ne abh tak kuch kiya kyu nahi"

a smile formed on my lips as i read the note , i would buy 100s of cars if denting them made her happy , keeping the note in my pocket a ping on my phone caught my attention

biwi jaan 🧟‍♀️

checkmate 💋

move copy karke khudko winner na samjho , kuch original lao loser.

office jao chup chap warna bartan dhulvaungi.

————————

ye ladki khud toh pagal hae mujhe bhi pagal karke choregi , she said what? mujhse bartan dhulavyegi? hadh hae

a night before our wedding dadu told me something that kept on running in my mind again and again , at this point i don't really know what's the truth anymore , i can't ignore something that i saw with my own eyes par phir dadu ke bolne ka matlab kya tha

flashback

"jaisa tumhe abhi bhi lag raha hae waisa nahi hae , is baat ko zyada der hojaye uske pehle samajh lo" (what you think is not exactly the truth i hope you understand that before its too late) dadu said patting my cheeks as he stood up to leave , keeping me confused

"mujhe samajh nahi aaya dadu , aap kya kehna chahte ho?" (i don't understand what you are trying to say dadu)

"that's not my place to tell , but i just hope you both will understand each other well and keep the past behind"

flashback over

we both need to talk about this , i don't want to hurt her more and i don't want to hurt myself either , i am confused and honestly scared cause if what i saw is the actual truth i won't be able to betray myself and my family , par vridha ko bhi kuch hota nahi dekh sakta mae

author's pov

after the chaotic dinner with their family where poor abhimaan got teased the whole time both vridha and abhimaan were back in their room

vridha stood in front of the dressing table , removing her jhumka as abhimaan stood behind her with his chin on her shoulders "i have noticed you haven't called me another of your weird nicknames since a while"

leaning against his back as abhimaan wrapped his arms around her waist he said "looks like my little patakha actually loves them"

they stood there in silence with his head snuggling on her neck until he made her turn around so she could face him "kya huva meri jaan?"

"kuch nahi , you know when i was a child i used to get so jealous of people jinke papa ne unhe pyaare nicknames diye hote the , i always wanted one too"

vridha's pov

i was finally ready to tell him everything , he deserved the truth

even though it had been years since all this happened my heart still hurts for that little girl who just wanted to feel loved , was i asking for too much?

he looked at me in the eyes and i was relieved that he didn't pity me , i don't need sympathy i just wanted someone to listen to me , someone who cared , someone who loved me as i am , i don't want to be modified version of vridha i just wanted to be like others , like those people who could express themselves and who knew how to feel emotions

gently kissing my forehead he made me sit on the dressing table without breaking eye contact "let it out jaan , fall apart and i will make sure i securely keep all the pieces with me until you're ready to take them back"

i never had someone to listen to me and now that i have i couldn't form words to reveal it out

how do i tell him that sometimes i drown , even in the air , that somedays i feel like there's not a moment of peace life could spare , how do i tell him when even i am not aware of the pain i felt

"tell me vridha how many scars did you justify just because you were in love with the person holding the knife" his words hit me like a truck i chuckled thinking about the times i always stood for people who were my own family only to get betrayed by them

"many cause the love i was known to made me feel i had to prove my heart by giving away my body to feel the pain"

and i broke down "i was 16 when my father hit me for the first time , i remember it was a day before my birthday and i would've been dead if the neighbours didn't come to save me"

i still remember that day like it was yesterday , when he dragged me with my hair all around the house and then choked me to death , i couldn't breathe just the way i cannot right now

i remember the hatred in his eyes as if i was some disgusting whore

"i don't have one happy memory with my family , before it was the same but he never hit me , he used to hit my mom or my sisters but i always used to come in between to calm him down , to push him in his room or to convince him so that he could stop hitting them"

"everyday in my house was same , as soon as the clock stricked 6:00 i had to be alert so i could handle everything if things go wrong , yk even the slightest sounds made me worried , i lived in fear my whole childhood"

the tears started falling as i finally acknowledged that even though it all felt like it wasn't a big deal in the past , saying it out loud i realised that this hurted more than i thought it did

sometimes you don't really know it hurts if you don't say it out loud

abhimaan held me closer as we sat on the ground, he kept on caressing my hair as i cried myself out letting him hold me back

"the day i got hit my sisters said it was my fault and i am dramatic , they've been through worse , i was hurt and i atleast wanted my sisters and my mom to be there with me just the way i was there for them , i always made sure they were safe , i always tried to protect them even when it was their job"

"i tried to mend them when i was the one breaking apart , everything still continued , my mom continued playing the victim card and my sisters were financially independent so they spent time outside of the house without any questions"

"i wasn't allowed out of the house , i was supposed to be with my mom 24/7 so i could keep her okay , but what about me? who will keep me safe?"

my breaths were uneven as my head started feeling dizzy , it feels like my chest is getting crushed by a truck and this intense feeling is making me want to hit my head somewhere

"shh , breathe with me okay?"

there were millions of questions in my head and i was so tired of this feeling that it made me angry , why can't i live without the constant reminder of my family's betrayal? people say by time it will be okay but what if i don't want it to be okay?

being okay means excepting and adjusting according to the situation and i don't want to live the rest of my life with the same pain , i wanted to get out of this loop it was tiring

i want to stop running around i just want to go home.

"i will keep you safe"