To say the least, she was enjoying spending time with the Khurana family. Roshni would tell her tricks to manage time with the college while Shraddha would tell her easy tricks to prepare food quickly. She would also tell her about the proper hair and skin routine she is following for years which would excite Tara a lot.
By watching television, she used to think that all the mother-in-laws are evil except her mother but now seeing her mother-in-laws she chose to not believe in this theory.
"Arjun was a cute child from starting", Roshni said smiling at his picture at her wedding. Tara awed at the cute chubby child in Roshni's arms smiling brightly at the camera. She never saw him smiling like this in real life.
He even forgot to smile as he grew up. She thought with a pout.
"He wasn't always cute. He was the silent one as well. He and Saachi were like best friends from the starting. They would share their secrets with each other", Shraddha spoke adoring their pictures together.
"Yes, Saachi told him everything about her feelings for Yuvraj", Roshni spoke with a small smile.
Tara couldn't help but feel a little pain to hear about the deep bond they shared. Roshni did tell her about Saachi being her niece but she thought Roshni didn't mean it in a literal way.
She heard Shraddha speaking that if the royal family won't have adopted her, she would've chosen her for Arjun. Though she didn't want Tara to hear it she did.
Before that Tara had no idea about Saachi being the adopted daughter of Ekansh Pratap Singh.
"Excuse Me", Tara said feeling weird. She shouldn't feel like this. Saachi was happily married with a beautiful son. But still, she felt inferior to her in many ways.
Though Tara was always loved in her family she had this habit of comparing herself with every other person and feeling bad about it.
She knew she could never form a bond like that with Arjun. She wasn't even able to calm his anger and he claims to love her. She knew for a fact that if Saachi would've been there she would've calmed him immediately.
She sighed lying down on the bed looking at the ceiling. What is the use of thinking like that? She wondered. He is her husband after all.
She sat up before going into the closet. She sat in front of the dresser looking at herself. She patted her cheek trying to cheer herself but nothing was working. She sighed looking down.
Sometimes she felt so lonely in this big house. Everything was just too much for her at times which made her feel out of the box. She wasn't born in a place like this. She wasn't born with a silver spoon in her mouth. She wasn't somebody who felt comfortable staying in this place.
She remembers her classmates speaking about her marriage. They would often speak about how Tara would have trapped Arjun otherwise he won't even look at her. Since that moment only she is feeling very wrong like she doesn't deserve all this.
She knows nothing about this high-class living which scares her the most.
Arjun feels attracted to her till a small time only what if he finds some other girl from his class who would be better than her in each and everything. The pictures she saw on the internet a few days before their marriage would come true.
She closed her eyes trying to stop the depressing thoughts in her mind as tears started blurring her vision. She sniffed rubbing her arms trying to calm her emotions but nothing worked as tears rolled down her cheeks.
She thought about the words thrown by her college mates about her being lucky trapping an exotic fish easily but why wasn't she feeling like this? Why was she feeling like she was daily losing a part of her?
She covered her face with her hands sobbing. Firstly at least she was sure that she was the first choice of his family but now it was not the case again.
Thinking deeply she is not really jealous of Saachi. She is just feeling incredibly sad about the fact that she was nowhere near to Roshni and Shraddha. They were just so perfect and brave and she was just a coward who lived her whole life in the security of her father and brother.
Yes, she agrees to the fact that she is a coward.
She looked at her face in the mirror which was red with all the crying.
"Tara", she heard him yelling making her take a deep breath. She wiped her tears smiling at the mirror before walking out of the room only to find him fisting his hands.
"Ji", she responded looking at his calm face. These days, she started feeling scared of his calmness.
"Where is your phone?", he asked calmly as she looked around but couldn't find it.
"What's wrong, Arjun?", Roshni asked but his eyes were only on his wife.
"Where is your phone, Tara?", he asked in a higher pitch making her jump.
"It must be in the room", she whispered as he nodded his head before motioning her to check in the room. She immediately went to their room checking on the bed only to find it under the blanket.
She checked it only to find 7 missed calls and 10 messages from Arjun. She looked at it with fear in her eyes when she heard the sound of the door closing. She looked up only to find him looking at her with crossed arms.
"I am sorry", she said softly. He took a slow step towards her before taking her phone from her hand.
"It is on silent", he concluded checking it before looking at her face. Her eyes cast downwards.
"It is on silent", he yelled throwing her phone on the wall breaking it into pieces making her jump at her place. She looked at her phone with shock. She took slow shaky steps towards it. She sat down on her knees picking up her phone which was broken into pieces.
Her brother gifted it when he won his first business consignment.
He sat beside her picking up a piece of it.
"If you don't know how to use it properly, better not to have it", he stated holding her waist making her stand up as a tear escaped her right eye. She looked at the broken pieces with sadness evident in her eyes.
She tried to reach back only for him to hold her chin making her look at him. She stared at the wall behind him with tears escaping one after the other from her eyes.
She was doubting her decision of giving him a chance. She felt angry at herself for deciding to spend her life with a man like him. Her body shivered as she struggled in his arms.
"Baby", he warned.
"You are a devil", she yelled loudly pushing him away with all her might. She stumbled back with the hard push as well as she took the support of the bed behind her.
"Tara", he called as she cried sitting on the bed covering her face.
"You don't even know what kind of attached feelings I had with that phone. For you, it was just a thing, you will buy me again but for me, it was my brother's first hard work. He brought it for me as my first gift and you just broke it the next moment", she said crying covering her face.
"Tara", he called again holding her hands removing them from her face. She pushed his hands away.
"Don't touch me. I don't even know what you'll do next in your anger. All you do is hurt me but again you expect me to understand everything because it's your anger", she cried trying to get away far away from him.
"Baby, calm down", he tried to control her cries as she pushed him away from her.
"No", she cried running away from his touch. His hands stopped in mid-air as she walked to the bathroom closing the door. He let out a breath.
He didn't know that phone meant so much to her. He was habitual of breaking his phones every now and then but he didn't expect her to behave like this.
More or less, it was his mistake this time. He was just so worried about her that she wasn't picking up the calls.
-----------------------------------
"Baby", he called as she was making the bed after dinner but she chose to ignore him. He sighed as she turned only to stop. He stood in the way stopping her in mid-way.
"Leave my way", she stated trying to get away.
"No", he said straight away. He held her hands stopping her to move away.
"Please Ji, Let me go. I don't want to talk", she told him.
"Baby, at least listen to me", he said making her sit on the bed but she pushed his hand away only for him to hold her hand in a steadier grip.
"No", she answered straight away looking blankly at the wall. He held her chin making her look at him but she chose to look at his lap.
"Baby, I know I did wrong. I was just worried for you. Don't I have the right to get angry with you", he said but she denied answering.
"Baby, when I can love you, can't I get angry with you. I was worried for you", he tried to make her understand as his hold increased on her hand. He sat on his knees in front of her.
"Baby", he called as he put his head on her lap holding her hand.
"You know I love you", he told her.
"That doesn't give you the right to disrespect me", she told him firmly without looking at him.
"Jaana(Life)", He called softly caressing her face as she bit her lower lip trying to get away from his grip.
"You broke my brother's first gift", she said in a whisper breathing heavily trying to stop her crying. She felt so dirty being so weak and coward.
"Please", he whispered looking at her face as a tear escaped her eyes. He immediately sat up taking her in his arms as she cried.
"I won't ever forgive you for doing that", she cried as his old tighten around her.
"I know. But baby, I was worried for your safety", he told her which silenced.
'This damn security of Khurana family', she cursed inside her mind.
"Baby, don't I have the right to get angry at you? Don't I have the right to be worried for your safety? Don't I have the right to stress upon your well-being?", he said of course he was a powerful businessman because he knew how to make people agree on his profit.
He knew how to manipulate her innocence. His heart was feeling so heavy when she was angry.
And she is her pure self never stayed in a world where anybody tried to manipulate her so she didn't even understand how cleanly he was playing his cards with her.
She felt precious the moment, he tried to talk to her, the moment he gave space to her, the moment he accepted his mistake ignoring the fact that he didn't even apologize till now. He placed a kiss on the crown of her head.
She sniffed in his arms wrapping her hands around him at last which made a big smile cover his lips. He held her closer to himself wanting to kiss her whole face and thank her for being so forgiving.
"I'll buy you another phone. Don't put it on silent", he said before whispering the last part in her ears making her hit on his bicep making him smile.
"I Love You", he stated as she hummed pulling away from him pushing her hair behind her ear.
"Papa is coming to pick me up tomorrow", she told him making him still at her place as she walked to the closet to get her nightwear.
He frowned repeating her words in his mind. She wasn't leaving, not right now though.