Intertwined Fates -- An IPKKND FanFic

Blindsided II

He opened the glass door and stood watching her for a moment. Standing by the poolside, she looked haunted, staring up at the stars in the velvet sky as if she was one of their kin that had fallen to the earth.

He took slow steps towards her. "Khushi? What are you doing here?"

"You were right before."

"About what?"

"This is like a dream. Everything is so perfect. The moon, the stars, the water, your flowers...you. I wish it didn't have to end."

Arnav smiled. "We can stay out here for as long as you want. All night even."

She turned to look at him and suddenly, he felt dread. "No, Mr. Raizada. All dreams must come to an end. It's time to wake up."

He reached for her hand, but she pulled away and turned to face him.

"I want a divorce."

He heard the words but couldn't process them. "What?"

"A divorce? You know, when a married couple doesn't want to be married anymore. I want that."

Anger propelled him to his feet. "Is this something to joke about? Do you even know what you're saying?"

"I know exactly what I'm saying. In fact, this moment is the reason why I agreed to marry you."

Her cold face was like that of a stranger's.

"You married me...so you could divorce me? Why?"

She mockingly tsked. "Look at your face right now. The shock, the disbelief...the pain.

"It's not nice being blindsided like this, is it? I felt the same way that day I visited your office and you said you wanted me to be your mistress."

"So this is about revenge?"

"Why else? And there are so many things I needed revenge for. Let's go through them, shall we?"

Her words, her sarcastic attitude, the memory of his own happiness were all crushing him from inside out and he wanted nothing more than to tell her to shut up and run away. But he was rooted to the spot.

"Buaji. Did you know she had a heart attack? Apparently, the games you were playing with me were wreaking havoc on my reputation and her heart couldn't handle that.

"Then there was my kidnapping. You know, I'm always so careful. Always so self-aware. I only let my guard down once--once--because you'd upset me so much I forgot to care about what was happening around me. And lo and behold, I was kidnapped and I can't remember any of it. I don't know what happened or who was behind it--all I know is that I'm terrified of my own shadow.

"And of course, for every single time you used Garima as a way to mock me, to belittle me. I'll never forgive it."

"So just to give me pain, you did this. What about the others? Buaji, Payal, Di–when we're divorced after being married for not even one day, won't they be hurt? Or do you want revent against them, too?"

"Oh I don't want to get divorced now. Later. After my kidnappers are caught. The novelty of this wedding nonsense will wear off by then, and they'll handle it fine."

Anger shot through him and he found himself mimicking her cool, mocking tone. "Yes, of course, Your Majesty. Whenever you want, the divorce papers will be at your disposal and you can throw me away like yesterday's trash." He stepped forward and when he spoke again, his voice was low and dangerous. "Over my dead body, Khushi Kumari Gupta. I will never divorce you."