The Abyss Called Love

Part 12

Aniket stumbled back and rested his back against the wall. He had not expected her to react with hostility and animosity. He had expected her to understand his reasons and comply with the contract he had sent. A flicker of annoyance, aimed at her, had surfaced, for failing to realize his reasons and decoding his actions, but his guilt stopped the emotion from flourishing.

He could not erase her tantalizing fragrance, her heartfelt smile, and her enchanting essence from his mind since the morning. She had etched herself onto the canvas of his mind. The mere memory of the night, and the way her eyes twinkled with amour, dilated and darkened his eyes, and made his heart swell with a warmth he had not experienced in years.

Vivek barged into the room with courtesy left to the wind. Aniket pulled himself away from the wall and straightened himself. "Uh, Vivek, I need an appointment with a divorce lawyer..."

"You amuse me, Aniket Rawat. You really do. Years ago, you had motivated Ritwik to morph those obscene pictures bearing the face of Ashna and jumped in as her knight in shining armor."

"Vivek, it is not the time..."

"And now, when you realize your needs changed, you don't just manipulate another woman to fulfill your needs, but divorce the woman you have trapped years ago. Do you have a conscience at all, Aniket? A sense of morality? Or is it a notion too farfetched for your cynical mind?"

"That's enough, Vivek!" spat Aniket. His eyes glowered with raw fury as the accusations of his friend hit a raw nerve, which had been exposed by the allegations levelled by the woman who had enraptured him. Short and shallow breaths fell apart from his flared nostrils and the muscle at his forehead twitched.

"Exactly, Aniket! That's enough. Stop preying upon the goodwill of women in love with you. And I have had enough. I'll send in my termination letter in an hour. Goodbye!" said Vivek, sparing a last glare before he turned around on his heel and slammed the door shut, rattling the walls of both the room and Aniket's heart.

Aniket slumped into his chair and buried his face between his fingers, resisting the urge to let out a spine-chilling scream. Loneliness and despair wound around his aching heart when he realized he had no one by his side anymore.

Parents. He had broken off the ties.

Friends. Disappointed.

Spouse. Abandoned from his side.

The desolation only strengthened his resolve to do whatever it takes to bring his child into the world of mortals and ward away his desperate need for company.

______________________________________________________________________________

Evening,

Kriti's Apartment

Kriti pulled herself to answer the doorbell with a great effort. Her usual therapy for low mood, the smiling innocent faces of her patients, could not erase her sorrow or lighten the burden on her heart. She wondered how long it would take her to get back to her former self, and if she will ever be able to become the Kriti she was before the proposition and the passionate night.

The sight which greeted her upon the opening of the door surprised her, shocked her, but also bestowed the peace she searched the entire day. She mocked at herself for giving one man the power to make her or break her.

"May I?" Aniket asked, leaning against the doorframe and waiting for her permission.

She moved aside, giving her silent approval, and walked into the living room. She knew he had followed her by the shuffling of footsteps behind her, and he had had shut the door behind him.

"What do you want, Aniket? There is nothing you can do to convince me to sign that damned contract!" she exclaimed, turning to face him. She had not failed to notice the darkness looming around his eyes and the start contrast of the darkness posed the ashen skin of his face.

A wave of concern flooded her mind, before a tidal wave of disappointment erased the existence of her worry.

"I am sorry, Kriti. I-I shouldn't have let my insecurity cloud my ability to recognize the difference between the right and the wrong. My lawyer removed the clause, and any clause which you deem to unfit will be removed. It is a promise, Ritz."

"But why should I sign this contract anyway? How can I trust you when you did not trust me to not claim additional rights over the child? Tell me, Aniket."

It hurt him to listen to her question. It anguished him to note that he had planted the seed of distrust in the mind of a person who had loved him with no expectations or conditions for twelve long years.

"Will you not trust me even after seeing these documents, Ritz?" he asked, forwarding an envelope towards her.

"What is this?" she asked, taking the envelope and alternating her sharp gaze between it and the man in front of her.

"Divorce papers with my signature. I am ready to divorce Ashna."

_______________________________________________________________

"Aniket... Aniket..."

Sandeep could not help but let the waves of guilt erode into the solace of his mind as he held himself responsible for the happenings of the last night. Had he never propositioned her, had he never goaded her into believing a night of intimacy was the cure of her heartache, she would betray the man whose she had carved into her subconsciousness.

Remorse dug a dagger so deep, for using her vulnerable moment and her vulnerability against her, that he wondered there would ever be a way to remove the dagger without risking bleeding out from his very heart.

A tiny part of him - the insolent and adamant part - rejoiced at the possibility of taking his relationship with Ashna to the next step, with Aniket out of the equation. He cursed himself for the splay of selfishness in that dark moment of her life, but he, a human, was nothing but a puppet of emotions.

"Sandeep..." she muttered, opening her eyes for the first time after the fallout.

"Ashna..." Sandeep jumped to his feet, and he pressed the button to inform the nurse station about her awakening.

"Aniket. Did he come? Where is he?" she asked, hope glistening in her eyes and her voice trembling.

There he was, in another quandary. Whether to tell her the truth, the one confided by Vivek about her past, present, and the future, and break her heart, or add to her hopes and expectations, only for them to be broken later. A harsh reality or the slow poison of a facade. Which one would he choose?