Tara Divan, a sweet and kind-hearted woman with a fairy-like innocence, faces an unwanted situation: a party to celebrate her impending divorce from her husband, Ishaan.
Ishaan, who suffers from intermittent explosive disorder, is seen by many as a...
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The gigantic party poppers blasted, and I flinched, standing in the middle of a crowd of teenagers and twenty-somethings. My heart crumbled at the sight of the celebration in full swing.
My sister-in-law, Jaya Patel, had organized the party to celebrate my upcoming divorce. Thirty days were still left until it was finalized, but Jaya was eager to throw a farewell party for me at the Divan mansion.
Jaya wanted me out of the Divan family, which was why she hosted the party. Nikhil and Rachana, the eldest couple in the Divan family, stood silently in a corner, understanding my pain. I gave them a strained smile, knowing they were not happy about what was happening in my life.
Two men approached me—Dhruv Pathak and Rivan Gupta, my biggest supporters.
"Look at the 'Sun' team; they're dancing happily. We, the 'Star' team, need to dance better than them and prove we're the best," my best friend, Dhruv, declared.
"I agree," my twin brother, Rivan, added, patting Dhruv's shoulder.
Dhruv, Rivan, and I had one thing in common: the meaning of our names was 'star.' Dhruv's mother and my mother had been best friends, and Dhruv had been a charming presence in our lives since childhood.
I glanced at the members of the Star team. Dhruv and Rivan gestured for me to join them on the dance floor, but I wasn't interested. I didn't want this party to happen, but everything was unfolding because of Jaya's insistence.
"Thank God my brother is divorcing you!" Jaya shouted into the microphone, her voice brimming with joy.
Mahira and Jaya belonged to the 'Sun' team. Their names both meant 'sun,' and the head of their team was my husband, who was notably absent from the party. Jaya and Mahira's friends had already arrived, and the dance floor was chaotic with their enthusiasm.
On the other side of the garden, Jaya and Mahira's photoshoot session with the photographers irritated me. I tried to control my emotions, feeling overwhelmed by my life.
Even though the 'Sun' and 'Star' teams had been enemies since childhood, I had secretly had a crush on my husband for as long as I could remember. Every year, from childhood to now, my husband and I had celebrated our birthday together since we shared the same birthdate.
Our teenage years had been filled with playful fights and arguments between the two teams. Most of the time, the disputes were fun, but there was one rare occasion when things escalated into a physical fight between my husband and Dhruv.
On my husband's 18th birthday, he changed from an extrovert to an introvert, and I was baffled by the sudden shift in his personality.
I was pulled from my thoughts when Rivan brushed my shoulder. My silence was making Dhruv and Rivan feel uneasy. I extended my fist toward them with a genuine smile. Dhruv and Rivan responded by bumping their fists against mine. It was a symbol of our Star team.
