Page 159 of Lawfully Yours

“Well, well. I hear the tables have turned. Arundhati doesn’t want the divorce anymore.” Her smile widened as she shifted her gaze to Kushal. “But I’m glad you’re not falling for it this time, Kushal. You finally see the truth, don’t you? That you deserve a strong woman. One who doesn’t change her mind like the wind. Someone who actually understands you… supports your dreams. Not someone like her, who only wanted you to step back from leading Verma & Associates.”

She sighed theatrically, tilting her head. “I’m sad for you. Fifteen months ago, you made the wrong choice.”

That was when Kushal’s patience snapped.

“Who the hell gave you the right to decide aboutmychoices?”

Kamya’s smile didn’t waver.

“You were going to givemeevery right once, Kushal. Had you not made that wrong choice by marrying her instead?”

Arundhati’s jaw clenched. She didn’t need to decode the barb. Kamya was openly referring tohis choice of making Arundhati his wife. The audacity of it made her blood boil. Kamya still wanted what was hers.

Kamya’s eyes flicked deliberately to Arundhati before she looked at Kushal again.

“Honestly, Kushal, I don’t know how you’ve tolerated her this long. That ego of hers, those shifting decisions… one moment she wants you, the next she wants a divorce. It’s pathetic. She doesn’t even know her own mind, and you’ve suffered for it.”

Arundhati’s jaw locked, but she didn’t intrude.

“Open your eyes, Kushal,” Kamya pressed on. “I’m not your enemy. I never was. We were good together. You know that.”

“Wewere.” Kushal finally cut in.

Kamya’s lips curved into a bold smile. “We still can be.”

For a moment, silence fell like a thunderclap. Arundhati fisted her fingers. The sheer nerve of this woman. It was a proposal for her husband, right there in front of her?

She almost trembled in fury, but before she could speak, Kushal did.

“No, we can’t. Not in this lifetime, Kamya. Not even in the next.”

Kamya flinched at his reply. Even Arundhati hadn’t expected him to strike back so hard, so unflinchingly.

Kushal’s gaze was merciless now as he continued.

“Yes, I made a choice fifteen months ago…whatever the reasons were… but it wasn’t wrong. Do you know whatwaswrong? That I never openly ended whatever little we had between us in the past. We liked each other, Kamya. I won’t deny it. I almost thought it could be us. But I was wrong.”

He took a step closer. “Because if this…this manipulation, this deceit behind people’s backs…is the real you, then I thank my stars I never proposed to you. We would never have lasted. And as for now, no matter what happens between Arundhati and me, you willneverhave a chance with me. So, stop wasting your time.”

Kamya’s face paled, but he wasn’t finished. His eyes burned as he added, “And one more thing. Watch your mouth when you speak aboutmy wife. I will not tolerate anyone disrespecting her.”

With that, he turned sharply, pulled open his car door, and slid inside. He didn’t look back.

Arundhati who stood frozen, so far, stunned by the intensity of his words, finally regained her composure. She cast Kamya one last glare before slipping into the passenger seat beside her husband.

She had wanted to defend herself. She had wanted to tear Kamya’s arrogance apart piece by piece. But today, it wasn’t her fight to fight. Kushal had done it for her, better than she ever could.

Chapter 30

Arundhati still sat in a daze, her heart hammering from the way Kushal had stood up to Kamya, so unapologetically, so fiercely, calling her ‘my wife’ in front of her rival. She was flushed with happiness, yet restless, sitting in the car, as he drove in silence.

She couldn’t hold it in.

“Thanks,” she murmured, turning to him.

He didn’t reply. His eyes stayed fixed on the road. But she pressed further.

“Did I really hear you say‘my wife’? When you told Kamya not to disrespect me?”