Page 146 of Lawfully Yours

Neither of them dared speak, but their ragged breaths filled the stillness.

“You were given a month to come to clarity,” the judge continued. “If you wanted to fight like this and then decide, you had time to do so outside this courtroom. I will grant one more date. But hear me clearly—this will be the last. Decide what you truly want, or you will both face penalties for wasting the court’s precious time.”

He banged the gavel once more. “Adjourned.”

The gavel’s echo had barely faded when Kushal shoved his chair back and strode out of the courtroom. He didn’t spare Arundhati a glance. He simply marched out with Arundhati chasing him just to keep him in sight.

“Kushal!” she called, breathless, as she almost hurried to reach him. He didn’t slow down. He didn’t turn.

By the time they reached the secluded lobby, her patience snapped. “Stop running from me like this!” she shouted.

That was when he halted, so suddenly she almost collided into him. Finally, he turned around.

“Stop running from you?” His laughed, bitterly. “Youwere the one running away from me all this time, Aru. Every damn day since you walked out of our home, every damn moment of this divorce fight, you’ve been the one running. And now, suddenly, you wake up one morning and decide you’ve had a change of heart? Why? Shauk poora ho gaya tumhara? Divorce-divorce khelne ka?” (Have you had your fill now? Of playing this game of divorce-divorce?)

She froze.

“You know how this looks now?” he continued. “As if this were all a game for you. Testing how far you could push me, how much I could take before I broke?”

He stepped closer, his anger spilling in every word. “If you think after everything you’ve done, everything you’ve said, thatI’ll just smile and accept this sudden change of yours, you’re wrong. Dead wrong. You can’t slice me open, bleed me dry, and then decide you want to patch me up again. You can’t kill me every day for months and then suddenly decide you want to be my cure.”

Her tears burned down her cheeks, but his voice only rose, with hurt.

“Do you even realise what you’ve done to me? I was this close—” he held trembling fingers apart, barely an inch of space between them, “—this close to losing my sanity. Nights pacing like a madman. Days drowning in work just so I didn’t think of you. And every time I thought I was done, every time I told myself I’ll never beg you again, you’d look at me, speak one word to me, and I’d fall all over again!”

She sobbed as he continued to vent out his heart and pain.

“And only when I finally decided to give you what you fought me for, what you screamed for, what you wanted… when I finally found the strength to tell myself it’s over… You change your mind?”

His chest heaved. “I don’t think I’ll ever understand you.”

Tears rolled down her cheeks as she reached out instinctively, needing to touch him. But he stepped back, putting a wall of distance between them.

“No,” he rasped, shaking his head. “Don’t. Don’t you dare touch me. I can’t keep dancing to your tunes. And don’t you dare think this is about my pride or ego…it isn’t. This is about my self-respect. You had your chance. You had all these days to change your mind. But now? It’s too late. Because I’ve already given up.”

“Kushal—” Her lips trembled, but he wasn’t done.

He slammed a fist against his chest, pointing at his heart. “Do you even know what you’ve done to this? You tore it apart! I loved you, Aru. God help me, I still love you. But love isn’t enough when one person is always breaking and the other isalways bleeding. You had your choice. You made it. And now I’ve made mine.”

Her tears blurred her sight as she shook her head desperately, but he had already stepped back.

“I don’t want to make this mess more complex than it already is. So stop whatever this is right now. And please stick to your decision of divorce. That’s the best for both of us.”

With these final words, he turned, and walked away before she could speak again.

Arundhati staggered a step forward, her heart clawing for him, but her uncle’s hand closed firmly around her arm. She stopped, rooted to the spot, her body trembling to follow Kushal, but Raj Verma denied.

“Now’s not the right time, Aru,” he said, pulling her back. “Give him some time. He’ll come around.”

Arundhati sobbed, hugging back her uncle, watching Kushal’s figure retreat in the crowd.

Chapter 27

Raj Verma’s Villa

Arundhati sat curled up on the couch, her knees drawn close, as she kept recalling whatever happened at the courtroom today.

Raj Verma hadn’t let her return to her apartment after court. He had brought her home, knowing she needed him now more than ever. He, too, had tried to call Kushal, after some time, just like she had, but every call rang unanswered. Kushal had shut himself off. Again!