They didn't go home. Instead, he took her to Hunter’s Cottage which Mohit had decorated for their honeymoon. Aditi smirked. Hunter’s Cottage. How apt the name was! And how efficient its current occupant was in keeping up with his ghastly trade.

She sat in an armchair pulling her knees to her chest and staring at the green forest out of the window. The afternoon was waning, slanting sunrays danced on treetops swaying in the wind. Birds chirped over the soft burble of a nearby brook. Behind her, in the kitchen, her husband cooked. The sound of the clinking utensils mingled with the music as her mind began to drift off.

“Don’t sleep.” His voice woke her up as she sat up blinking. A bowl of steaming soup was placed in front of her as he gave her a look.

“Eat. You need food.”

His voice was calm, but she recognized the underlying tension. He was on the verge. She wondered why. Maybe because he had to spend this mandatory time here when he could be at the village green overseeing his workers. Time was money. And his time was gold.

She picked up the bowl and ate obediently. Then gulped the two painkillers that were handed to her. Was she in pain? She did not know. Everything was so numb she hardly knew how she felt.

“We need to talk.” The order came curtly. She nodded her head. It was about time.

“What were you doing at the lawyer’s?”

Laughter bubbled in her throat. Could it be that he actually didn't know? The way things were, she had assumed his spies were everywhere, on the roads, in that roadside shack, even in Uncle Dawar’s office. It was a surprise, yet she didn't want to reach a conclusion just yet.

“I took Uncle Dawar some snacks. Many of his staff were not able to attend yesterday so took them some Jalebis and Samosas.”

Her eyes crinkled as she watched him fuming. A blue vein popped on his forehead as he pursed his lips.

“I think we can agree this is not a time for jokes Aditi. I’ll ask again: what were you doing at Mr. Dawar’s office?”

She sighed and straightened her face.

“I went to ask him if I could get a divorce. I told him my husband married for money, so I wanted to know what my options were.”

He looked dumbstruck. She could see the cogs of his brain working to process her response. She smirked.

“But don't worry. I have good news for you. It seems I am stuck with you forever. I cannot escape unless you get bored and decide to cast me off.” She tapped a finger on her chin thoughtfully. “Or unless I get bored first and commit suicide.”

“Stop it, Aditi! If this is a joke, you must know it's very low in taste.”

She rolled her eyes. Who cared about his taste?

“But it’s not a joke Darsh. I am very serious. So what do you think I should do?” she continued curiously as if analyzing a dead-end case. They had such assignments in college when they had to find the best possible way to treat a terminal patient. You have to decide whether it was worth keeping them on a ventilator. Most of the time, the practical answer was to pull the plug and vacate the bed for the next patient.

She shook her head. Pulling the plug sounded tempting but she would not just be ending her life, she would take her Dadaji too with her. So that option was ruled out. She had but one option left now - hoping that he would let her go, eventually.

That eventuality might come when he’d grabbed all of the property - not just her share but her cousins’ too. And then he would want her mother’s property, that went without saying.

She sighed. She would have signed it over to him in a fraction of a second but that didn't solve the problem. Her cousins did not deserve this. The price of her freedom should only be paid by her, not by other innocent people.

She licked her parched lips and looked at him, her desperation oozing out of her heart like pus from a throbbing wound. How handsome he looked, with his muscles taut with tension showing the contours of his sculpted body. The planes of his face at sharp contrast with its angles as they contorted with fury. His eyes were deep, so deep she would drown in them if she stared too long.

Yes, he was still the most handsome man she'd laid her eyes on. So devastatingly handsome yet so desperately unattainable. She could touch him if she raised her fingers, yet such was her fate that he would remain untouched.

He was not for her. Even when they were now bonded for life, he would always remain a distant dream. A mirage that looked beautiful from afar but vanished when she neared it. It was futile. It was never meant to be.

A throbbing pain started in her heart that made its way out of her eyes. She had never known she yearned so much. That her heart ripped apart every time she saw his face. That her body came alive every time he touched her. Every time he kissed her she received a new lease on life. She had never realized when he’d come to mean so much to her.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Her body spasmed as hot tears rolled her desolate cheeks.

He sighed and bent down to pull her up.

“Listen to me, Aditi. I had no idea about Dadaji’s will. I knew he was worried after Vivaan’s incident and was spending time with his lawyer but trust me, I never knew…”

“Trust you?” she gave a mirthless laugh that made the hair on the back of his neck stand in alarm. “The day I trust you again will be the last day of my life Darsh. Let’s get this clear - I am staying in this marriage only for my family. The day that burden is lifted, I will be gone. And that is a promise.”

She shirked his hands to take a decisive step back, then turned away without sparing him a glance. His empty arms fell to his sides as he watched her ashen face.

*****

What was happening, he did not know. How had all his plans come crumbling down? His Ma had left this morning unable to face anyone. There was an emergency in her NGO at Delhi, she’d said, but Darsh knew she couldn’t hide her guilt.

“Talk to Aditi,” she had said before leaving. “Bring her home. We have wronged her. It’s now our responsibility to set things straight.”

What she meant was that he had wronged the girl. And that it was his responsibility now that she was his wife. Darsh sighed. Where he had counted on his mother to help him pacify Aditi, she had left him alone to deal with this mess.

He scoffed as he glanced at his wife who had made her bed on the sofa - a jumbled nest of blankets and pillows that kept falling at the slightest move, clearly, the princess was not used to sleeping in such a narrow space. She had changed into her pajamas, a girly cotton t-shirt that kept riding up at all the right places at the wrong times. And her baggy joggers that no doubt were supposed to make her look as unappealing as possible just did not work.

Well, it was all futile, he smirked. She had no idea what effect she was making on him.

Sighing, he wrenched his eyes away and focussed on tidying the kitchen. Cleaning the hob, wiping the worktop - all such menial sundry jobs helped him center his mind. Organization was important, preparation was a must. Any mess can be sorted with the right mindset, that was his motto.

Yes, that was the way to go. He just needed a plan. He had expected this anyway, one day or other his secret was supposed to be out. Only now it was a double whammy, his secret was out along with his brother’s. The insurance of his good behavior was forfeit. He needed to reorient; he needed a fallback plan.

Ten minutes later when he approached her, he had that plan - another beautiful, intricate, and exciting design that he had prepared just for his princess. It was probably his simplest and best so far. And so the chances of success were nearly one hundred percent.

*****

Aditi cursed as she bent for the tenth time to pick up the pillow.

Her back still hurt from her night in the armchair and tonight as well she had banished herself to this sofa. She wished she could kick out the imposter from the master bedroom and occupy that big bed, but to be frank, she was scared. It was better to stay away from that room, from that man as much as possible. After all was said and done, he was still her husband, he would be within his rights if he decided to act smart.

Muttering under her breath, she adjusted the pillow when her eyes landed on two slippered feet on the floor. She looked up to find her husband staring at her.

“Yes?”

“Do you need an invitation to come to the bedroom or should I carry you?”

She thought she heard him wrong. “Wh…What?”

He gave a bored expression. “I asked you, wife, if you need an invitation to come to the bedroom. I can carry you if it’s too much of an effort for your delicate legs.”

She sat up straight, the pillows and blanket forgotten.

“If you think I’ll let you touch me after what you’ve done…”

He gave a yawn. “I have done nothing… wrong. If you decide to believe that folder more than your husband... ”

“That was your folder, Darsh. That was your bag, your laser gun that you used at the racecourse in an attempt to kill me. And it was your cannabis that you drugged me with that night in the Sarai when you gave me that laddu.” Her eyes filled with tears, her heart with revulsion. How vulnerable had she been! How naïve, and easy to catch! No wonder she was in this mess. Stupid girls like her deserved to be punished.

She turned her eyes away. “Please leave me alone.”

“I never did it,” he said after a pause. “I never tried to kill you. Yes, I used the laser gun, once, to disturb Aron on your way to Badari, but I kept missing it. The path was so winding…” He fell silent waiting for her reaction. She opened her mouth in a comical ‘O’ that wouldn’t shut.

His face almost showed a sheepish smile before he adjusted his expression.

“But it didn’t work, I couldn’t aim properly. Aron going berserk was entirely your fault. You had loaded him so much any horse would go crazy.”

She managed to shut her mouth

“What else have you done?”

He looked at her shrewdly. “A few things. If I tell you, would you come to bed?”

“In your dreams.” she spat outraged. “But I might answer a question for question, that is if you have anything to ask.”

He smiled. Yes, he had questions. A lot of them - about that night. He had been a fool to be so complacent for so long.

“Fine. But remember our condition – answer for an answer.”

“Yes yes,” she cut him impatiently. “Now hurry up.”

He swallowed an uneasy lump. “Your Dadaji knowing about that night - it was Zorawar who told him about the incident, but it was I who made Dadaji question him. Otherwise, Dadaji would never have known about the boys.”

She did not know when she got up on her feet. Taking a step closer she stood in front of him, so close he could feel the heat on her skin, the rapid beat of her heart as it raced in its cage. He gulped. He knew what was coming.

“You spineless bastard! How could you?” her words whipped him like a lash. He was about to stumble backward when she grabbed his collar.

“Do you know what you have done? You could have killed Dadaji, you could have sent him into another major attack. And not only that…” her face cleared as it dawned with the new realization. The biggest casualty of his deeds was her dream of the hospital.

“Did you also tell Dadaji to remove me from the clinic?” she asked tilting her head as the pressure on his neck increased. “Tell me, did you? And whose idea was it to scrap my hospital in favor of yours?”

He looked ashen-faced, his brow dotting with sweat beads. He wished she would release his throat; it was getting difficult to breathe.

“I didn’t ask him to scrap yours. I merely presented mine in a better light.”

She scoffed as a deep guttural sound escaped her throat. Her eyes streamed as they stared at him without blinking.

“You are a scoundrel, Darsh, do you know that? You are a filthy, third-class scoundrel who had no right to be here. You should go back to the filthy alley you came from. I wish I had never met you, I wish I’d never had the misfortune to set my eyes on you.”

She left his throat only to slap him hard. Then dragged her hands on his face making sure her nails drew blood everywhere they touched his skin.

“I hate you Darsh Rathore. I hate you from the bottom of my heart, from the bottom of my soul. And I'll make you pay for this. One day, I’ll make you pay for this.”

***** *****