Hope

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Author's POV

Kaveri sat numbly in the same place after being slapped by Krishna. The memories of past were haunting her.

She thought her husband would accept her son, Shiva and start loving him but on the day of their son's naming ceremony, Krishna felt humiliated. He hated the pitiful looks of their relatives. He hated being the father of an unhealthy baby.

He tried to find solace in his wife's presence but she was always busy in taking care of their child who was always sick. He slowly started hating his own child for being born with disorders and also his wife for not being able to give birth to healthy babies. Seeing his brother having healthy children and living happily with his wife made him hate his own life.

Kaveri was very concerned about her son's health but she was also very hopeful for his long life. Almost an year passed, Kaveri was excited about her son's first birthday but then suddenly, Shiva was attacked by pneumonia. Even though, required treatment was given he couldn't survive due to his weak immune system.

Kaveri didn't want to believe that her child was no more and tightly hugged her child's body and refused to leave.
She was afraid that everyone would snatch her child away from her.

Kaveri woke up from the nightmare and was scared and decided to save her son and not let anyone bury her son. But soon realised that her son really left her alone in this world and started crying. She already once tried to commit suicide after Shiva's death but her uncle saw her drinking the poison and immediately took her to hospital.

Somewhere deep inside her heart, she was waiting for a miracle to happen in her life. After being slapped by Krishna, she felt very humiliated and didn't understand the purpose for her life. She came to the conclusion that miracles don't happen in real life.

For the next few days, she didn't eat anything as no packaged food was left and she didn't have the energy to cook anything. She wanted to order something online but her phone was not charged. So, she covered herself with a scarf to hide her bruises and left the house to buy something to eat. As she was walking on the road, many people stared at her like she was an alien as it's very rare for her to come out of those four walls. She avoided everyone's stares and quickly hired an auto and left.

She brought a lot of instant noodle packets and came home. After eating the noodles, she sat on the sofa watching telivision but Krishna came home furiously and said, "Where did you go?" Kaveri was scared listening to his voice as she could not forget the way he slapped her. To not anger him she immediately said, "I had nothing to eat, so I went out to buy food." Then, Krishna noticed the noodle packets in the house and suddenly an idea clicked in his head. He dragged Kaveri to a room and locked the door and called his men and ordered them to not allow her out of the room at any cost. He decided to starve her till she agrees to divorce him.

For a couple of days, Kaveri requested the men to open the door but no one reacted. After almost a week Krishna came to visit her and she requested him to give her something to eat as her stomach was aching to which Krishna said, "I'll give you but for that first you should divorce me." Kaveri was angered by his cruelty. She never expected him to do something so cruel. She knew that he could starve her to death. Not wanting to die out of  hunger, she agreed to give divorce.

He and his men left the house and immediately a maid was sent with different varieties of dishes. After the maid left the house, she hurriedly ate the food and after eating a few bites her hunger subsided. She cried at her fate. Just for few bites of food, she agreed to give divorce.

The next day, Krishna came home with his lawyer and informed Kaveri about the proceedings for their mutual divorce. Kaveri didn't listen to anything and just heard and understood that she would be divorced in the next six months.

Kaveri didn't understand what she should do with her life after the divorce. She knew that no one truly cares for her. She missed her uncle a lot. If he were alive, he would have tried to protect her.

She wanted to hurt Krishna but she knew she was weak and didn't know how to hurt him. Then, she went and searched for her wedding album and after finding it, she started hitting Krishna's pictures. She found a way to hurt him which gave her relief.

She remembered her mother and mother in-law explaining to her the importance of nuptial chain, toe rings and vermilion to her on the next day of her wedding. She always gave a lot of importance to all these things because she believed that these are auspicious for Krishna.

She removed her nuptial chain, toe rings, engagement ring and searched for all the gifts Krishna gave her.

Everyone in Krishna's house were shocked seeing her holding a nuptial chain in her hand along with a suitcase. Krishna's mother was the first one to react and said, "What is wrong with you? Why did you remove your nuptial chain? You know that it's very inauspicious right!"

Kaveri didn't understand her aunt she wants Kaveri to divorce her son but still wants her to wear the nuptial chain in his name of his wellbeing. Not knowing what to say, Kaveri didn't say anything.

Krishna came to the living room after hearing his mother's voice and after seeing Krishna, Kaveri gave him back her nuptial chain, her toe rings, their engagement ring and all the other gifts he gave her.

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