Broken By Love [COMPLETED]

Chapter 4

Sikha

Lying on the bed, I keep staring at the ceiling, unable to believe how my whole life has changed in a span of these four weeks.

I was a happy girl with loving parents, dreams, and ambitions just a month ago. I was about to graduate in six months, after which I was set to do an internship in one of the reputed publishing houses in Delhi.

I wanted to do the internship in Mumbai with my university friends, but Maa refused, saying she would not allow me to stay away from the house after being three years apart from me. She set her foot down, not listening to Papa or me when we tried to convince her.

She did that because she loved me and wanted me to be home with her. So, understanding her emotion, I applied for an internship in Delhi, and luckily, they accepted my application.

Maa was delighted when I gave her the news, and I was looking forward to it too. The internship first and then making my career as a writer.

But now, as I am locked here in this room, I have only one dream left. To run away from here and meet my parents.

I wonder if Maa and Papa miss me. Priya told me earlier that they do not love me anymore. I wonder if they also believe in all the lies Niranjan spewed that night and think I am immoral.

I do not raise my hands to wipe the tears that pour out of my eyes. What is the use anyway? No matter how much I wipe them, more keep coming, and I keep crying all day, every day.

I am now waiting for the day when all my tears will finally dry up.

I would have fought back and tried to escape, but ever since Priya accused me that day and the way Dhruv used me, I no longer have any will to fight.

And what will I fight back for? I have lost everything.

Everyone thinks I am immoral and characterless, so I have lost my reputation.

My parents and sister hate me, so I have lost my family.

My husband brutally defiled my body, so I have lost my dignity and honor.

And the way Dhruv has been treating me and punishing me, I know I have lost his love.

A wry smile makes my lips curve before I wince, the pain reminding me of all the slaps and rough kisses I received from Dhruv two days back.

In the three weeks before that nightmarish night, I began to think Dhruv had started liking me. But I had been wrong.

If Dhruv liked me, he would have at least given me the benefit of the doubt and would have listened to my side of the story before judging me to be guilty.

He would have never punished me the way he did if he had even the slightest of feelings towards me.

So, I guess I did not lose his love then. How can I lose it when I never had it in the first place?

Therefore, I have realized now that I was so stupid. Stupid enough to think that he liked me and stupid enough to start falling for a man like him.

He is so different from the man I used to envision loving and marrying someday.

I used to think I would fall for a man who would be kind, loving, and cheerful. Instead, I fell for Dhruv, an unfeeling, brooding, and brutal monster.

Our first meeting had not gone well, and his attitude and behavior that day made me want to stay away from him.

And stay away, I did. I avoided talking with Dhruv or going in front of him for three days after our first meeting until his grandmother told me about his tragic past.