Author's POV

It was nighttime, and Adhrit sat alone on the balcony, the cool air a stark contrast to the burning turmoil in his mind. He gazed at the stars and the moon, their distant light doing little to soothe his restless spirit.

Although the idea of seeking Niharika's help had crossed his mind, a nagging worry now consumed him. What could he possibly do? More importantly, how was he supposed to execute a plan against a family as powerful and influential as the Mehrotras? His mind was a mess of thoughts, each turn leading to a dead end of uncertainty and confusion.

He simply wanted to do something, that would make the Mehrotra family realize their mistake. They couldn't be allowed to misuse their power, to humiliate and torment someone.

He wanted them to feel the pain of being insulted, despite being innocent. He wanted them to know, what it was like, when a lifetime of earned respect and dignity was destroyed in an instant, a reputation built over years crumbled into dust with a single, cruel act. Every moment of what his family had endured, all through no fault of their own, was etched into his memory, a permanent, painful scar.

He remembered every detail with agonizing clarity — his brother's imprisonment on false charges, his father's struggles of trying to fix everything, the silent tears of his grandmother, mother and sister-in-law, and his sister's humiliation.

He could never forget the way he was treated in this very house, a constant reminder of his powerless state. His self-respect, the most precious thing he possessed, had been strangled by his own hands, crushed to nothingness as he begged on his knees for Anaisha to marry him, a desperate act to save his family.

Adhrit was so lost in his thoughts, so consumed by the weight of his memories and the uncertainty of his future, that he didn't even notice, when Anaisha came out to the balcony.

Seeing him so deeply engrossed, his gaze fixed on the endless expanse of the night sky, she gently broke his reverie. "It's dinner time," she said, her voice soft, but firm. "Don't you want to go? You haven't even had lunch, you know."

Adhrit looked at her, a hint of surprise in his eyes, as if he was returning from a very distant place. He took a moment to register her words, then calmly nodded.

"Yes, I'm coming." He had eaten a late breakfast almost in the afternoon, so he wasn't hungry and had skipped his lunch.

They walked out of the room together and headed downstairs. As they approached the dining table, the sound of polite conversation and the clinking of cutlery filled the air. Everyone was already there, including two new faces.

Adhrit, remembering their awkward morning encounter, immediately recognized Niharika. The other boy, who looked to be Jeet's age, had to be her elder brother, Naveen Bhardwaj.

Without a word, Adhrit quietly sat down next to Anaisha. He still felt incredibly uncomfortable and self-conscious around Niharika, a direct result of the morning's incident. His hand was casually placed on his neck, a subtle attempt to hide the deep hickey Anaisha had left there in the morning out of a surge of extreme jealousy and over-possessiveness.

Anaisha glanced at him from the corner of her eye. When she realized, what he was doing, a slight, knowing smirk appeared on her lips. She leaned closer, and said in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear, "Love, why aren't you eating? Eat."

He shot her a sharp, silent glare. He was fully aware that, his right hand was on his neck, and she knew exactly why. As he raised his left hand to eat, she interrupted him again, her voice a picture of sweet innocence. "Love, you're right-handed. How will you eat with your left hand? Why have you placed your hand on your neck? Did something happen there?"

Adhrit's glare intensified. A flush of frustration and embarrassment crept up his neck and face. He knew her sentence had been carefully chosen to draw everyone's attention, and he felt the weight of their collective gaze fall upon him.

He didn't know what to say, so he took a deep, shaky sigh and slowly lowered his hand, putting the prominent, deep-red mark of the hickey on full display for everyone to see.

As soon as they saw the mark on Adhrit's neck, a collective awkward silence descended upon the table. Some people lowered their gazes, a few were smiling, some were genuinely shocked, and some, including Adhrit, flushed a deep red from embarrassment.

He was naturally shy, and this was far too much for him to tolerate in the presence of so many people. His gaze dropped to the table, his face burning hot. Anaisha, however, was secretly enjoying his state. To her, he looked incredibly cute, and she had an overwhelming urge to reach out, and pinch his cheeks, which had turned a delightful shade of crimson.

No one said another word, and the rest of the dinner passed in absolute, deafening silence. At one point, Adhrit’s gaze, still lost in his thoughts about the Mehrotra family, drifted toward Niharika.

Anaisha noticed his fleeting glance, and her fists clenched tightly beneath the table — a silent display of her seething jealousy.

Adhrit finished his dinner in a hurry. The moment he was done, he practically ran upstairs, straight to his room, without looking at anyone. Seeing his childish, panicked retreat, a small, knowing smile unknowingly made its way to Pranay's lips.

Shortly after Adhrit left, Anaisha also got up from the table, and followed him to their room.

Watching her leave, Naveen said to Jeet with a slight smile, "What a cute and loving couple they are. Just by looking at them, it seems like they must have had a love marriage. Your sister got married recently, right? Your brother-in-law is really so cute. His shy, embarrassed face is still coming to my mind."

Jeet was a little surprised by Naveen's words, but he did not let his expressions show on his face. He smiled back and said politely, "Thanks for the compliment. He really is cute, and there's a lot of childishness in him, but he is equally intelligent."

Naveen smiled slightly at Jeet's words — a hint of genuine appreciation in his eyes.

Barkha took a quick look at both of them, but it was very difficult to tell by looking at her face what was going on in her mind at that moment. After a little more exchange of talk, everyone departed to their own rooms.

£ Anaisha's Room

The scene in Anaisha's room was a world away from the polite, strained atmosphere downstairs. Adhrit was lying on the bed, and Anaisha was completely leaning on top of him, her body pressed against his, their breaths mingling in the small space between them.

She held Adhrit's jaw tightly with one of her hands, her body moving even closer. Her voice was a dangerous, low whisper against his lips. "How dare you? How dare you look at her once again? Didn't I make it clear to you in the morning, that you only belong to me? You are mine, and you can't look at any other woman like this."

The suffocating closeness made it difficult for Adhrit to even breathe properly, but he still somehow managed to reply in a low voice. "I wasn't looking at her. My gaze just went there. Why do you have a habit of exaggerating everything? It was just a casual glance. I didn't mean to do that."

Anaisha came even closer to him, and now, her lips were brushing against his, as she spoke, her jaw clenched. "I don't care, if you meant to do it or not. The matter is that, you did it." Her eyes were dark, filled with a possessive obsession, that didn't even hide from Adhrit's eyes.

Suddenly her tone became soft, her voice trembling slightly, as she said, while caressing his face lovingly, "Why do you always do this? Don't you know, that it hurts me here, when you ignore me, and look at someone else?" She said the last line with pain shining in her eyes, pointing toward her chest. She held his hand and placed it over her heart, which was beating with a frantic, desperate rhythm.

Adhrit's eyes were locked with her painful ones. With his one hand being placed on her chest, he could feel her vigorous heartbeats, a frantic drumming, that was doing something to him — something, he couldn't quite put into words.

Anaisha continued looking into his eyes, her voice raw with anguish. "You always see only my bad qualities, but have you never noticed how much I love you? I admit that, I have done a lot of wrong things till now, but somehow, you were the reason behind that too."

"I was never good, I admit it, but I tried. I tried to become like someone, whom you will like, but what you did, you left me. So I decided to be how I always was. You were getting engaged to someone else, and when I asked you to marry me, you clearly denied it, so I had to force you, and then, what you did? You ran away from marriage. So I had to force you once again. But you know why? All of this, just because, you have become so important to me, that I can't even imagine my life without you now."

Adhrit looked into her eyes, a flicker of shock visible in his own, but he just kept silent, listening to everything she was saying.

She further continued her talk, her voice barely a whisper. "You know Jaan... No, you don't know. You know nothing. If you would have known, how I feel whenever you give someone more attention than me, then maybe you would have never done it. Your sister... I don't even like her. You know why? Because you are so close to her. You love her so much. You care about her so much. And this is why, I don't like her, and insulted her in a fit of rage. But you... You won't understand anything. You may not love me, but can't you care for me a little? Everyone's feelings matter to you, except mine, and that's what I hate the most."

Adhrit was totally shocked by everything she had just confessed. She had insulted his sister, the person he cherished most, simply because he loved and cared for her, and not for Anaisha. She was so possessive about him, that she was feeling jealous of his own sister.

She was looking very vulnerable to him now, but suddenly, her eyes turned dark with obsession once again, the pain replaced by a cold, hard resolve.

She grabbed his jaw tightly, and said in a warning tone, her voice as sharp as a blade. "But I am not some weak girl, who is going to beg you for love. I know, how to snatch what's mine, and you are mine. Whatever you feel, you will feel it only for me, even if that feeling is of hatred."

With that, she got up from him, her movements swift and decisive. She took out a cigarette from the bedside table drawer, picked up the lighter, and walked toward the balcony to smoke. She was very angry at the moment, and this was the only way to vent her frustration, because she didn't want to vent it out on Adhrit, the only person, she couldn't bring herself to harm.

Adhrit was still lying on the bed, totally astonished by the way, she had just behaved with him. In one moment, there was so much pain in her eyes, a deep-seated anguish, that even he started feeling in his heart, and in the very next moment, there was so much passion and obsession in her eyes, that he shuddered from that within.

Adhrit took a deep sigh, the weight of her words settling in his chest. He reached for a diary and a pen from the bedside drawer.

He hurriedly wrote something on a page, his hand moving with a sense of urgency.

After finishing, he tore the page out and kept the diary and pen to their place. He neatly folded the torn page, and kept it in his pocket, then lay back on the bed.

£ Next Morning

Today, Adhrit's eyes had opened a little early, and he had also freshened up earlier than usual. When Anaisha saw Adhrit waking up so early, she was a little surprised, but she didn't say anythin,g and went to the washroom to freshen herself up.

When Adhrit saw that, Anaisha had gone to the washroom, he hurriedly, but cautiously came out of the room. His heart was pounding in his chest.

He was walking cautiously in the empty corridor, looking here and there, his senses on high alert. Then, he saw Niharika at one place, who was talking to someone on the phone and was coming towards him. On seeing her, a sparkle of hope appeared in Adhrit's eyes, and he quickly hid behind a pillar.

Adhrit first looked around carefully to make sure, no one else was in sight, and as soon as Niharika came a little closer to him, he pulled her behind the pillar with a jerk. Niharika was surprised by Adhrit's sudden and aggressive action and started looking at him with her shocked eyes.

Adhrit immediately placed his hand on her mouth, so that she could not scream. He took out the same letter from his pocket, which he had written last night, and handing it to Niharika, he said in a low voice, "Please read this letter in private, and do not tell anyone about it. And yes, please forgive me for my rudeness, but I had no option other than this. Sorry, and Thank you!"

After saying this, Adhrit immediately removed his hand from Niharika's mouth, and without a second thought, he immediately went away from there, leaving Niharika standing there, just kept looking at him go with her shocked eyes, the letter clutched tightly in her hand.

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Hope you loved this chapter! Until the next one…

With love,

Your Author