Compromised

Chapter-22 {Edited}

"We are not keeping any relationship with this wretched family. Move now!" Mr. Cheema took Aakash away forcefully.

Ofcourse! Why would someone taint their family name by associating themselves with a misfortune like me? Their son wasn't going to endure the burden of my blunders when they knew the face of my deception.

BadiMa and ThakuMa left my side and charged towards the room where the elders talked and decided inside on God knows what. My future had never been in my own hands and this time too it felt unpredictable.

"Ruchi-" The velvety voice mixed with remorse neared me but Bhai's mightier and unpleasant warning overpowered the rest, "Do not fuckin' dare to come near her!!" He warned. "She has already become the target of this meaningless humiliation because of you!! Don't do anything that will make me lose my temper, Mallik!!"

Why? Why now, Aryan?

You did, what you had to and nothing that you say now could change it.

I found Bhai's eyes switching between me and Aryan in uncertainty but he was still cautious enough to not let him anywhere near me. Anybody could tell that we both were mismatched.

I wish that I too had calculated the universal differences in-between us before falling for him.

"B-Bhai..." My lips stuttered in shame even as I called out for my own brother. Why didn't I tell him about Aryan before? Our family would have been saved from this unavoidable epithet.

Bhai's eyes wavered from Aryan but still my faint calling was answered back by his undivided care.

"Bhai, I didn't do anything to hurt you all." I voiced, my syllables breaking just like my heart, inch by inch, step by step, one after the other. "Please, trust me, Bhai. There was no hidden incentive behind all this, I-"

"I trust you, Baby! We all do trust you." Bhai carefully consoled me and wiped off my tear-stricken face while he too appeared to be in some kind of conflict. I was responsible for his shaken condition.

"I misused my freedom by engaging myself with him but Bhai-Bhai," The hiccups followed soon along with more tears and a pang of conscience, "I-I didn't m-mean to b-bet-betray you all. I never-r would, I n-never will..." I tried to explain my doing.

"Baby-" Bhai muttered, "Stop crying, kiddo." He said, "It's not your fault."

"N-No, Bhai-i!" I broadcasted like a broken record, "P-Please, don't hate me. D-Don't hat-e..."

"Sh..sh.." Bhai fortified, "Nobody hates you, Baby." He said ahead that everything is going to be alright but I was skeptical.

Sometime later, my gaze invasively flickered towards Aryan whose eyes conveyed an apology that his actions couldn't and an unusual bitterness crept in my mouth for the first time since I have known him.

I loved him and loved him alone.

There wasn't an ounce of feelings existing between us because it had always been me. Me with my unrequited one-sided feelings, hidden somewhere deep in my chest.

He who claimed to be my savior from this unwanted alliance didn't know that I even existed a few days before and here he had posed as my colossal lover.

He had no idea of his rebellious acts or had a clue of the outcomes. The gravest repercussions awaited me because he had spoiled the leftovers between me and my father. He was the reason why I was looked down with guilty eyes. If not for him, there were little chances that my Papa might have been happy with me.

He was the same man who made me feel confident about my worth, then, how could he easily stamp his feet on my decisions?

I wish that he was a mirage.