Guarded Hearts

Prologue

Hello!

I wrote this story some 16 years ago. Used only the characters of Kasamh Se.. This story does not follow the original plot of the show. Finally deciding to rework it and post it here on wattpad. 

All rights are reserved. This is original piece of work and under no circumstances can be republished, rewritten or claimed as yours. 

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Gentle rainfall tapped against the windows of the one bedroom apartment he owned. Whoever said it never rained in southern California was wrong. It did, though not often, and that was the magnetic draw this place had on Jai. The beautiful weather, bountiful jobs for a talented, good-looking actor like himself and plenty of sandy beaches for his volleyball tournaments made it his own personal heaven.

Looking to his right, he noticed his girlfriend Roshni looking rather uncomfortable after their lovemaking. On her left hand was the small but elegant diamond solitaire he had given her when he proposed earlier that evening. Roshni hadn't said anything as he slid the diamond onto her finger. In fact, since the proposal, the only noise she had made was the content mewing sounds during their lovemaking. He couldn't understand why. They had been together for nearly six years, having met when they were both freshman in High School back in Mumbai, India. She had followed him thousands of miles to Los Angeles when he decided to try and be an actor and ended up spending one semester in a local theater college. She stuck with him for a year of bit parts, living off tomato soup and peanut butter when she could have easily gone home. But she never left him and now he was modeling with a two-bit agency getting free headshots and using his spare time auditioning for roles he never got. Marriage was the next logical step for them...

But she hadn't said yes. It unnerved him when she silently stared at his marriage offering as if it weren't enough. It was almost like giving a starving man a piece of bread. Her eyes had teared and she had twisted the cool gold band around and around watching the petite diamond reflect the dim lights of the restaurant. When he had asked if she were ready to leave and go home, she had simply nodded and followed him to the car. The deafening silence trailed them into the boxlike apartment they lived in where she kicked off her shoes next to a used roach motel and then scurried into the bedroom.

With the sex she had initiated behind them, the light on her nightstand was on and she was sitting up again twisting the ring and watching the diamond dance in the light. It wasn't large but it was what he could afford on his negative account balance and near maxed out credit cards. What it lacked in monetary value, it held in love. Behind that stone was his heart and he knew that had to mean something to the woman he loved: the woman he wanted to spend his life with.

"What are you thinking about, baby?" Jai propped himself on his elbow, watching her chest rise and fall rapidly. He wondered what was wrong, knowing from past experience that she was either fighting tears or anger with her panting for air. He had seen her hyperventilate rather than argue with someone and he wondered deep down inside if she was going to explode.

Roshni didn't reply, shifting her body to put her feet on the puke green carpet of the bedroom before slipping out of bed. She walked to her pile of discarded clothing and pulled in on, her eyes avoiding him. Suddenly, light flashed through the window of their first floor apartment, seeming to wake her from the trancelike state she had been in. Removing the ring from her finger, she dropped it onto the bed and then went for her luggage in the closet. The second he spotted the flowered material of her suitcase, he jumped from the bed.

"What are you doing?" he cried, unpacking the clothing she tried to put in her suitcase. Her change of mood had been so sudden that he wasn't sure how to react to this new situation. Roshni continued to move around him, stuffing shoes, dresses and undergarments into the bag without caring if they were folded or becoming wrinkled.