Wrecked - An After-Divorce Romance✨

Chapter Twenty Seven

   At once, Riyan leaped down from her lap and fumbled towards Nats' room.

     She picked up the cup with both her hands and sipped at her tea.

       "Are you okay?" He asked.

       She nodded and gave him an assuring smile.

   The he sighed and placed his tablet in front of her, "I'd rather you know it now than later."

    She swiped through the hospital's massage board. Where someone had posted an UTube link of her getting slapped. It was captioned, "Woman tries to seduce boss, immediately regrets it." She looked at the comments which were vicious and called her a vile woman, attention seeker.

    A laugh escaped her mouth and she slapped her hand on her mouth.

     ***
  That wasn't the reaction he had predicted at all. Dhruv had braced himself for comforting her and yet he she sat, her shoulders shaking and her eyes brimming with laughing tears.

       "What's so funny?"

         "Dhruv... I'm so happy. Look at that!" She pointed to the screen. He looked at the screen, an embargo of comments calling her slut, whore, a vile woman, a bitch and what not.

      "They are calling me a woman! Oh wow." She looked at the screen with glee.

          Dhruv now seriously began to question her sanity. Had she lost it? Maybe yesterday had been too much.

      "What are you doing about the divorce?"

       He groaned and settled in a chair, "I'll contest it in court. She cannot have sole custody of Riyan. I cannot do that to him."

      She frowned at him. "Why?"

      "She's insane and she's a bully."

      "Neeta?"

      "I don't know how she went from victim to aggressor but I'm not putting my son's life in danger by handing him over to her. I'm meeting with her and her lawyers today to discuss the terms."

        She looked at him in regret. "I'm sorry. I don't know what else to say..."

     "It's okay. And it's not your fault. She'll use the video, won't she? Paint me as an cheating husband who cares not for her or Riyan. Anyways, What are you doing today?"

      "I have to return the cheque. Dee asked for it."

       "She did?!"

       "Yeah..."

       "What happened between you two?"

       "When you left, we fought. She blamed me and kept badgering me as to what I did to make you leave. And I told her that she should focus on her relationships instead of still pining over her ex."

        Dhruv gave her a disappointed stare and she waved her hand,
   
        "I know... I know....I was angry and I missed you too, not only her. I was worried about you too. And the truth stung, I knew it was my fault but I didn't know what I had done to make you leave."

          Dhruv swallowed the lump in his throat and looked at the tea, he sipped from it. She wiped the corners of eyes and it broke him.

      "I didn't hide my cancer out of spite of or as a tit for tat, you have to know that...." She leaned her temple on her palm and looked at him.

      "Why did you hide it then?"

     "When Mama died, I was obviously distraught with grief and angry that I couldn't see her before she died. But most of all, I was angry with myself. After a couple of days, I am ashamed to say this, Dhruv..." She knocked on her forehead and breathed in visibly.

      "Dhruv, I was relieved." She looked at him, her eyes brimmed with tears. He gripped his cup tightly so as to not hug her and break her flow.

    "For years and years, I took care of her. And I shouldn't feel this way, because she was in that state because of me. But it was so exhausting," she hiccuped, "to care for her day in and day out....And when I had heard that she had died, I realised how exhausted I have been. I felt so relieved that she had died...."

      "And Dhruv, this body of mine....I imagined you taking care of me, you would've without hesitation. But, I didn't want to burden you so much so that you lose yourself in taking care of me. I didn't want you to feel so exhausted that you feel relief if I died. Not justy you but especially you. Nor dee or jiju or Aghanya either. " He watched her wipe away her tears.

      He felt remorse but at the same time, he felt the heat of anger,

    "So what? What if you felt relieved? Taking care of a sick person is exhausting. It's normal to feel unburdened when they pass away but that doesn't mean that there wasn't love or grief over their passing. And I'm telling you this from experience....when my mom died by suicide, I was angry but a small part of me was relieved that she had died and I felt ashamed of that part. I indulged in alcohol, in drugs and what not, only improving when I met Janvi and then I fell back to the same issues. It took me so long to figure out that multiple feelings can coexist at once. What I'm mad about is how you went about it!" He stood up, she looked at him with wet cheeks and wet lashes.

      "You said you didn't want to burden me but you were okay with hurting me? Fooling me into thinking you had cheated on me? Leaving me? Making me beg for months without knowing the reason for your behaviour?"

         Khushi only looked down at the table while he ranted, "Like I said, you must've thought you were doing a favour on me by hiding your cancer and divorcing me and making me hate you. Do you think I would've felt anything but suicidal if you had died suddenly?"

   He voice tore and he let it be. Dhruv wanted her to hear his anguish, his sorrow.

      "Don't think I didn't try. I drank and drank and drank hoping it would kill me in the US. Because the prospect of you dying just like that was... How could you do that to me?" Hot tears flowed from his eyes and he roughly wiped them away.

   Dhruv walked away from the table because it was all that he wanted to say to her. She didn't stop him too.

   ***

A/N: Vote and Comment. Thanks. I know it is sad but trust me they need this. 😭😭😭😭