Compromised

Chapter-45

While his wife, Anchal was troubled thinking about what she saw. Her son was with someone else regardless he had a wife waiting for him at home. How could Aryan prioritize anyone else over his wife whom he claimed to be the one for him? Had the years old love faded over the bridge of time? Her eyes couldn't believe what they saw but it was an undeniable truth.

"Aryan!!" Soham's voice roared, making everyone flinch in the hall.

He was finally here after bestowing her with excruciating twenty four hours, Ruchi thought.

"Dad? You're here. When did you come?" He asked gleefully leaping towards them. "Mom, you should've told me." He implored, staring at the two women, "And Baby, what's up with you?"

Anchal looked at Ruchi apologetically but she darted her eyes away from her guilty mother-in-law to the floor. She didn't know what the apology was for? Just to compensate for some of her pain, betrayal, anger or something else. She couldn't decipher.

"Dad-" Aryan wasn't able to even complete his phrase when a loud echo filled the room. Ruchi clutched tighter on the woolen offering with her stomach swelling in agony. She knew her namesake husband was slapped by his father for his unforgettable deed.

Aryan's face didn't have a bit of traces of any kind of remorse but a state of shock which his senses certainly deciphered from the slap. Did he even comprehend the effects of his actions, Ruchi wondered. Her eyes lifted up to see him stunned by everything around him but guilt wasn't one of the emotions swimming in his darkest shades of black orbs. She could feel herself getting back to the monotonous state of vulnerability reliving the stories behind the scars from her childhood, finding a new space in her head.

"What did you do?" His father held Aryan's arm, his face displayed so much disgust and disappointment for his own son. "You didn't even fuckin' think once before spending a night out doing god knows what shit while all of us were aimlessly searching you throughout the night?" He shook his arm, "Didn't you feel like filth while doing it?"

"What did I do, Dad?" Aryan shot back, matching the furious glare of his father. "What the fuc' did I now?"

Soham scoffed and held the back of Aryan's nape, turning his face towards Ruchi forcing him to look up and meet her sore eyes. "That girl standing over there is your wife, Aryan Mallik. You married her in front of everyone. She has left her house to be here with you. She left behind a life for you-"

"So, what?" Aryan retaliated with anger, messing with his consciousness, "Why do you always say it like marrying me was some sort of crime?"

"Aryan-"

"Don't stop me now, Dad. You wanted to recount the sacrifices she made for this marriage, right? Then let me remind you about the consequences I had to bear to have her in my life." Aryan perceived indignantly, "An eight-year old boy was made the bad guy for some bizzare reasons, my character was marginalized that time and you never stood up for me. My own parents were never there for me when I needed them the most-" He rubbed his face which had grown red in anger, "You my dear Dad threw me away in a foreign place. You kicked me out of my house and away from my family to make me a fuckin' great human being while you yourself failed to behave as a father who didn't saw past the accusations on him. You're a great Dad, Dad." He laughed like a madman, "Don't start me on my wife now. She-She tainted a part of me that I wish had never been a phase of my life."

Aryan poured out and Ruchi knew he meant every word by heart. What baseless accusations he had for her in his defense? She couldn't help but laugh at her fate which had more haters than the number of people who actually cared for her in this life.

He moved his feet and stood up in front of her, trapping her into a penetrating gaze. He ducked his face closer to her and held her chin with utmost sincerity that seized her irregular breathing.