Page 149 of Lawfully Yours

Why was she so impossible to understand? Why did she always make everything so unbearably complex? Arundhati lived in her own assumptions, her own rigid reasoning. Whenever he had tried to explain, to reason with her, she’d shut him out. And now, after all his efforts, after every wound he carried, when he had finally broken down enough to set her free, she turned around and said she wanted him back?

‘Like seriously?’ he thought.What am I to her? What is my love? Just a toy she picks up and throws away when she pleases?

He leaned back, letting his upper body fall onto the bed, his feet still on the floor. He hadn’t slept in days, consumed by the thought of losing her forever, of watching the only woman he had ever truly fallen for walk away.

Even though he had felt her feelings creeping back toward him recently, she never let go of her reasoning, her doubts, her walls.

Then why today?Why had she suddenly flipped?

He groaned, dragging a hand across his face, as anger surged inside him. He knew the more he thought about this, the more he’d lose his mind. Whether this divorce would happen or not, he didn’t want to spiral anymore. For him, it was over.

But what haunted him most wasn’t the courtroom. It was afterwards. Arundhati had run after him, desperate to speak, maybe even to apologise. And what had he done? He’d unleashed every ounce of frustration he had bottled inside for months. For once, she would feel what he had been drowning in. For once, she would know what it was like to want someone desperately, yet be shut out.

And yet, it didn’t feel good. Hurting her didn’t feel like justice. Watching her cry when all she wanted was him, it gutted him.

A lone tear slid from his closed eyes.Why does loving someone have to hurt this much?

His phone buzzed again and again across the room. Arundhati’s name flashed, her messages piled up.

But he didn’t check. He wouldn’t.

This time, he wasn’t going to bend. He wasn’t going to let anyone, Arundhati or even Raj Verma, interfere with what he had decided for his life.

He wanted to get away from all of it. From her. From the wreckage of their marriage. From Verma and Associates.

And he would.

*****************

Same night

It was barely half an hour to midnight, and Arundhati was nowhere close to sleep. Peace and sleep had abandoned her completely. She grew restless with each passing second. Kushal wasn’t answering her calls. He wasn’t replying to her messages.

She wasn’t someone who turned to alcohol to drown her pain. Yet, she was hopelessly drunk. Because tonight wasn’t about escape. It was about bruises that wouldn’t stop throbbing, and a desperate urge to make things right when she had no idea how. With the bottle clutched tightly in her hand, she stumbled toward the main door.

“Aru!” Her uncle voice stopped her. He was standing there, concern carved across his face. “Where are you going?”

Her words slurred as she replied. “I’m…I’m going to Kushal. I can’t sit here waiting for him to calm down. What if he doesn’t, Uncle? What if the more time I give him, the farther he walks away from me? I can’t… I can’t let that happen.”

She turned, fumbling with the lock, but Raj stepped closer.

“Fine. I won’t stop you. But you’re not driving in this state. I’ll take you to him.”

She didn’t argue.

Raj knew it wasn’t the night to lecture her. She was drowning in guilt and love, too stubborn to stay back. The least he could do was keep her safe.

The drive to Kushal’s Aura residences was filled with Arundhati’s drunken ramblings. She clutched the bottle to her chest like it was him she was holding onto, whispering apologies, begging him not to leave her, as though Kushal were sitting right in front of her. Raj’s hands tightened on the steering wheel, his heart breaking for his niece, but he said nothing.

When they arrived, he helped her out of the car, noticing how her steps wavered and how her body was sluggish under the alcohol’s weight. She insisted she would manage from here and urged him to leave. But Raj shook his head. “I’ll drop you upstairs.”

She grabbed his hand. “No. If you come, maybe he’ll forgive me because of you. Because of the respect he has for you. And I don’t want that this time, Uncle. I want him to see me. The real me. My flaws. My mistakes. And I want him to forgive them forme.Not for you. Not for anyone else. For us. For our marriage. For our love.”

Raj finally resigned because he understood she was right. “Fine. Then at least message me once you’re with him. Only then will I drive away.”

She agreed. Raj walked her to the elevator and waited for her to go alone upstairs and handle this. He knew it wasn’t the right time for them to talk over such a sensitive topic, but he knew situations like this bring a couple close, and he had full faith that Kushal wouldn’t turn down Arundhati tonight, not when she is in her most vulnerable state.

The elevator doors finally slid shut with a dull clank, leaving Arundhati alone in the mirrored box. With shaky hands, she raised the bottle to her mouth again, forcing down another burnof alcohol. She needed courage to numb the ache and gather the strength to face him tonight.