VIRAAT'S POV
I stood at the doorway, my gaze fixed on Meera. She lay huddled on the bed, her blank gaze fixed on the ceiling, tears tracing silent paths down her cheeks.
"Meera?"
She glanced at me for a second then turned her head. I put the tray of food on the table and before I could say something she said,"I met an old lady today. She lives next door"
I knew where this was going, a cold dread settled in my stomach.
"You know what she said to me?",she turned her head and looked at me with those blank expressions.
"She said you were...a monster"
Monster. That's what they call me.
"A man who used to beat his wife, leaving her body a broken map of scars." A humorless laugh escaped her lips, brittle and laced with pain,"strange, isn't it?"
She walked and stood inches before me, her gaze locked with mine.
"That old lady told me that your first wife used to cry for help", she choked out, tears welling up again.
"Your first wife. My sister. My sister heer. How many times have you raised your hand on her Virat? When did it start? Was it in this room? This very corner? Or in your precious study?"
Tears streamed down her cheeks. Her body trembled, not with fear, but with a righteous fury.
"Tell me, Virat!" Her voice cracked, raw with pain.
"How many slaps? Pushes? Kicks? How many punches did it take for you to silence her? How many times did you leave her bruised and broken, hiding her pain from the world? Is that the reason why she left you? Is that the reason why she hated you? ANSWER ME, VIRAT! WHY?"
Her trembling fingers grasped my shirt's collar, her scream dissolving into sobs. She was hurt, and rightfully so.
I had seen this coming, yet in that moment, I didn't know how to reach out, how to hold her without breaking her even further.
So, I did what I've always done.
I took a step back and left.
She was on the floor crying her heart out.
The distance between her room and my study, normally a mere hallway, felt like an endless journey. Even from my study, I could hear her cries echoing through the house.
"YOU ARE A MONSTER, VIRAT!"
"YOU RUINED HER!"
The love she must have had for her sister was immense, for this news to have shattered her so deeply.
I took off my shirt, walked into the bathroom, turned on the cold shower, and stood beneath its stream. The cold water dripped over my bare chest and body.
I wished I could cry like her and my tears to blend with the water, but in these past years, I've cried so much that my eyes have run dry. All I could sense was this numbness and profound emptiness.
My mind wandered back to those days when life seemed perfect, when it all began with a foolish high school crush.
Flashback:
"What were these questions? My viva was terrible! He's sure to fail me," my friend rambled on, but his words faded into the background as I was captivated by the girl walking towards me. Middle-parted hair, two braids, a book in her hand. Oblivious to me, she passed by. Two months till graduation.
I noticed her every day, or rather, became fixated on her. During the lunch break, I waited for her in the same corridor, day after day. Unnoticed, why would she be? She was the most beautiful girl in school, and back then, I was an introverted soul.
Time passed, I graduated, and never gathered the courage to even say hello. I was a silent admirer, I admired her from a distance.
Years later, my parents arranged a meeting with a girl. Unwilling to settle down so soon, I agreed for their sake. And there she was, sitting beside her mother, in a yellow suit.
Heer.
Her name was Heer.
My highschool crush.
Just by seeing that familiar face all those memories came rushing back. I felt like a 17 year old virat, again crushing on her like an idiot. My foolish self believed that it was destiny.
Soon after we got married and life seemed perfect to me. Perfect in every way.
If only I knew that there is no such thing as perfection. It's just an illusion. A world I created in my mind and when it shattered the cuts were deep and they bleed eternally, leaving scars etched deep in the soul.
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4:00 am. The long night had passed, and sleep remained a distant dream.
There was complete silence in the house. Unease gnawed at me. Where was Meera? Was she alright?
I went to check on her. She was still asleep on the floor, half of her face covered by her hair. A pang of guilt tightened my throat.
I don't know about Heer, but I have a terrible feeling I've ruined her life by marrying her. She deserved someone who could show her true love, not someone who'd buried his heart under the weight of a broken marriage.
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The next day after taking a brief round of my patients. I was in my cabin trying to read the research papers, but my mind was a chaotic mess.
I read a paragraph and got lost halfway through. I attempted to read it again, but once more, I lost my focus. All I could think about was Meera – her tears, her pain, her sobs.
The Meera I knew, the soft-spoken woman with a smile that could light up a room, was gone. Last night, she was a stranger, forged in the fires of grief and anger.
Accusations, stares, questions – I was used to them. However, when I saw them in her beautiful brown eyes, it felt as if something was breaking in my chest.
In frustration, I pushed the papers aside and buried my head in my hands. A commotion outside my door sent my head snapping up. The last person I wanted to see – Kirthy.
"I'm here to apologize," she rushed out, a torrent of words spilling over each other. "Please forgive me. I didn't want to do it..."
She went on and on about how sorry she was for sending me her explicit pictures and those continuous pleas for "quality time" It pissed me off so much that I had to block her.
God knows what would have happened if Meera saw those messages.
I was already frustrated and her presence was just adding fuel to the fire. She took a few steps closer saying,"Virat, I was drunk, and I don't know what I was thinking..."
My fist slammed on the table, my voice a guttural roar,"GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!" I lost control.
My reaction caught her completely off guard, leaving her speechless. The anger in my eyes was a stark warning. She was gone in a flash.
I wasn't a man of violence, but sometimes, people just didn't understand the subtle language of boundaries.
One call and her entire career would be jeopardized. As a medical professional, her actions would leave an indelible stain on her reputation, something I didn't want to be responsible for. While termination was an option, it wasn't a path I wished to take.
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Thanks for the super sweet comments and the likes! Glad you're enjoying the story so far.
New chapter drops on February 23rd.
Take care! ♡
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Aastha