Unedited

Part - 12

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"The couples that are meant to be, are the ones who go through everything that is meant to tear them apart, and come out even stronger"

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Next day morning, Inayat and Kathryn walked down to the dining room to have their breakfast.

"Good morning. And sorry, we are late." Inayat said with a smile to no one in particular and pulled up a chair for Kathryn to sit first as she was hesitating to sit opposite to Arjun and then took a seat next to her. Arjun held the edge of his plate and glared at the paratha sitting on it. He forced himself not to look up at Kathryn and burst out.

"Morning, dear. And no problem, we are just about to start" saying that, Rishab passed the hot box which contained aloo parathas.

"You eat parathas?" Inayat asked Kathryn.

"Yeah..."

"If you are not used to Indian foods you can tell me. I can make you something else... Um... How about bread toast and omelette?"

"No thank you. I love parathas. Arjun used to bring them to college and we share and eat." Kathryn said casually and looked up at Arjun who was now fuming at her.

"Oh. That's nice" Inayat said, smiling.

"Naira, the other day Yash came to see you but then you were sleeping so he left without having a comversatiom with you..." Madhu slowly broached that topic.

Naira looked at her mom with a frown.

"Did he try to reach you again?"

"Yes, he called me but I didn't answer it."

"Why?"

"What did he say when he came here?" She asked wanting to know how far her parents know about their issue.

"He said you guys had some fight and you mistook him and he was here to clear the air."

"Well, that is it then!"

"He didn't tell us what fight it was exactly..."

"Mom..."

"Madhu, stop! It's their personal." Rishab interjected.

"No, dad. I want to tell. I have decided to divorce him."

"What?!" Madhu shrieked. Everyone else looked shocked. "Why do you want to divorce him? Hell, Naira! Marriage is not a child play!"

"Madhu, calm down and let her speak."

"Oh please, Rishab! You just stay out of it!" She warned him. "I don't want you to support her decision this time as well because divorce is lot worse than calling off a wedding!"

"Madhu, I am not..."

"You have already ruined my son's life. I am not going to let you ruin my daughter's life as well." She said without thinking.

"Mom! Dad didn't ruin my life. I did it with my own hands. I fell for a venomous snake and it bit me hard!" Arjun said looking at Kathryn with eyes full of hatred.

Kathryn ignored him, in fact ignored everyone and silently ate her breakfast. It was the first proper meal she was eating after two days so she focused on it and not on the family drama.

"Arjun!" Rishab growled at his son.

"Madhu, my son will never ruin anyone's life, especially his kids', so stop accusing him of that." Radha admonished Madhu.

"Mom, sorry..." Madhu started but was cut off by Rishab "Maa, let it go." He knew his wife was saying all that in her anger. Initially he was hurt but then he rationalized it.

Madhu looked at Rishab and silently thanked him for understanding her. Rishab nodded his head.

"What's the issue between you and Yash, Naira?"

"I think he is cheating on me, mom."

"What nonsense!" Madhu couldn't believe Yash would ever cheat her daughter.

"Yash will never do such think, Naira. You must have mistake him." Inayat said in a soft tone.

"You said 'you think' so you are not sure for yourself." Rishab stated matter-of-factly

Kathryn and Arjun didn't make any comment at all as they had lot going in their lives already but if they were asked to choose sides then surely it would be Team Yash.

Agreed they all knew Yash for a short while but still he had gained immense trust from them all with his kind nature and honesty so they all refused to believe Naira's words.

"He loved someone before marriage..."

"We all know that!" Rishab stated.

"And she is back in his life now!"

"What do you mean?" Madhu asked.

"I think they want to start over their relationship."

"Did your husband say so?" Rishab questioned.

"If not, why would he bring her here from Dubai?"

"Maybe... Maybe he is just helping her to sort some things here..." Madhu reasoned.

"Whatever! I don't care..."

"You can't be so aloof, Naira. It's your life."

"Mom, please. I have decided to stay apart. In the meanwhile, he can do whatever favour she has asked him for. After a year we will get divorced."

"Naira, I would suggest you to go to your home and have a heart to heart talk with him. That will solve all the problems."

"I feel he betrayed me, mom."

"How?"

"Mom, you won't get anything even if I explain everything in detail to you so leave it" Naira said irately.

"Alright, Naira, you don't have to explain anything to me or to anyone but just get this fact clear - Yash loves you so don't take any hasty decision and fuck your marital life." Saying that, Madhu left the place.

--0--

On New Year's Eve, Yash came again to the Kundra house with the hope of taking his wife back to his home and start everything afresh.

Yash was glad when the Kundra clan wisely directed him to Naira's room instead of having a fucking chit-chat with him. He was desperate to see her and clarify few things to her.

"Naira" he didn't bother to knock the door but just walked in. Finding Naira at the balcony, he made a beeline to it.

"Hi" he whispered.

"Hi" she replied politely crossing her arms over her chest and refusing to meet his eyes. She knew exactly why he was there.

"I got these papers today." He showed her the legal papers she had sent to his office. He thanked her for not sending the papers to his home and bringing it to his mom's notice. She would have had a heart attack!

"What is this, Naira?" He asked her gritting his teeth.

"Divorce petition. We will file it now and we will get divorce after a year. Till then I will be staying apart from you. Now please sign it and leave."

"I am not here to sign this piece of shit!" He growled. He tore the papers into pieces and tossed them in the air. "I am hear to take you back home."

"Yash..."

"Naira, please, don't do this to me. You know what all I have been through and I don't want to go through another round of heart break. Try to understand me, please." He pleaded. He would be glad if she patiently listened to him for once but she wasn't ready for that. He had a lot to say to her like why he had brought Kaira and her child to India, what was he planning to do next for them and so on.

"Now that you have your ex-girlfriend back in your life, you won't be needing your wife anymore..."

"Oh please, stop it!"

"Yash, yesterday you took your ex-girlfriend to my friend Roshan to discuss about her divorce, didn't you?" Naira asked. Only after knowing that, she had firmly decided to divorce him.

"Yes, I did. I would have brought her to you to discuss about her divorce matter but I know you wouldn't have liked it. I didn't want to upset you by bringing her to your face so I took her to your friend. Once you told me he was also good at dealing family matters so I opted for him besides I don't know too many lawyers in town. And I must say, your friend, he advised her well. I am impressed." Yash was genuinely pleased with the way Roshan treated them professionally. There was no sign of bitterness or hatred towards him. He just saw them as clients.

Even now Yash couldn't doubt Roshan that he had told about their visit to Naira and tried to create misunderstanding. Roshan would never do that. He was a man with right principles.

Yash was always jealous and insecure of Naira's friendship with Roshan because he was not an indecent guy and he had genuine feelings for his wife.

Yash didn't dwell on how she came to know about their visit to Roshan's office. He just assumed she saw them there and later enquired Roshan about their visit.

"Yash, you loved her so deeply... I have seen the scar in your chest..."

Telling her the reason behind that scar was my biggest mistake!

"God! Naira! You don't have to do any sacrifice!"

"I am not doing any sacrifice here. I just don't want to be her replacememt."

"For crying out loud, you are not her replacement. I agree, your names closely matches and you both look somewhat similar but you two are so different in nature. She is someone who wouldn't fight for her happiness... But you will kill for your happiness. You are bold and brave and strong and stubborn which she is not! I love you." He pulled her and kissed her lips little harshly. "You're not the first woman I fell in love with but you will be the last one!" He promised looking at her passionately.

"I need time, Yash..." She said breathlessly.

"Alright! Take your time! But just don't send me any legal shit! I will just go crazy!" He told her in a serious tone. Naira nodded in agreement.

They haven't ironed out their issues yet but for now he feft at ease.

"I will come around tomorrow to wish you happy new year."

"Okay"

"And if you would like we could go out and celebrate."

She glared at him.

"Okay, cool. No outing." He said and left her room.

He went to his parents in law to have a brief word with them.

"You are taking her home today with you, right?" Madhu asked worriedly.

"Well, I came with that intention only, mom, but Naira is not ready to go with me. She asked me for time and I am giving it."

"Good" Rishab appreciated him for acting mature and not forcing his daughter.

"Why did you bring that ex-girlfriend back to India? Where is her husband?" Madhu asked as she couldn't contain her curiosity.

"Mom, she is in trouble. Her husband is abusive. Her child is traumatized because of this. So I am helping her to get a divorce from him. This is the least I could do for the girl I once loved so dearly."

"I see"

"Her husband is now in Dubai and he didn't know yet his wife and child are in India. Once he gets to know about it he will come for them. Before that we are planning to initiate the divorce process. He wouldn't agree for it. It will be a hard battle to fight but I am sure she will win. Oh by the way, I have approached Naira's friend Roshan to take up this case." He informed them politely.

"Roshan loves such challenging case!" Rishab smirked.

"Yash, can I ask you one more thing?" Madhu asked softly.

"Anything, mom"

"Naira... Um.. Did she... Um.. Did she say anything to you about... Um.. Staying apart..."

"She sent me a divorce notice this morning." Yash made it easy for her.

"Oh my God!" Madhu gasped in shock. "Yash, she is a confused soul. She does things in an impulse and later feel for it... So you please don't take it..."

"I just tore the papers."

"Very good, my boy!" Madhu beamed happily.

"I only insisted my friend Kaira to divorce her husband because he is not the right one for her. And I only refuse to give divorce to Naira because I am the only one for her."

"Yes. Yes. You are the best thing ever happened to our Naira." Madhu said with a happy smile.

--0--

Arjun cooped himself up in his room as he didn't want to see one particular person he hated the most at the moment but now he was getting sick of it. He wanted some fresh air so he decided to walk to his friend Virat's place. He was descending the stairs while texting his friend about his plan to meet him in ten. Since he had his eyes on the phone he didn't see who was coming opposite to him and bumped into someone. Well, it was Kathryn. She was about to fall back but he quickly held her and steadied her footing.

"Sorry" he apologized without looking at her.

"It's okay" she muttered and moved aside leaving him way.

He was about to leave when something caught his eyes. He saw a plaster wrapped around Kathryn's wrist. "Hey, wait." He held her hand and stopped her from running up to her room. "What's this? What did you do now?" He asked in concern as he gently ran his fingers over the plaster.

Did she slit her wrist? Oh no! That was the first 'horrible' thought came to him.

"It's nothing. Leave my hand." Kathryn twisted her hand trying to free herself from his hold but he only tightened his grip. He wasn't letting her go until he got his answer.

"Did you take drugs again?" He asked angrily. Well, that was the second 'insensitive' thought came to him.

"Arjun, let me go!" Kathryn said sternly.

"No!" He refused to let her go. He wanted to know whether she had injected drugs or not so he ruthlessly pulled the plaster off making her wince in pain and cover her wrist with her other hand.

"Are you mad, Arjun?"

"Yes, I am mad! Show me your hand!" He shouted and forcefully pulled her hand away from her wrist.

He stood there speechless seeing what it was.

It was a tattoo.

Kathryn had gotten a freaking tattoo of a baby in a womb.

He gently traced the tattoo with the tip of his finger as his eyes welled up.

"Arjun" Kathryn realized he was crying when a tear drop fell on her tattoed skin. She sympathized for him and momentarily thought to forgive him for all the pain he gave her in the past few days.

"Why... Why... you killed my baby?" He asked, his words choking in his throat.

Kathryn shook her head in disgust. How could he be so cruel to me? How could he even think that I killed our baby, the baby I so badly wanted in my life?

Pushing him away, she ran upstairs and locked herself in Inayat's room as she didn't want him to follow her and hurl more accusation at her.

...to be continued!

Oh my goodness! It took me 80 chapters before I get to use that tattoo image which gave me this story idea! (both Darling I love you and this book chapter count)

Yes, I was wrapping up "Husband, I love you" book at that time and I had no plans of writing a sequel.

Suddenly one day I was looking for some tattoo images and I found this one... I liked it and came to know it was a "miscarriage" tattoo so thought why not write a story based on it. Then I started plotting a drug addict character and fitted her in Kundra family because they are the coolest. ;) "Arjun and Kathryn" were the first couple I sketched and they are my favorite.

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