Love And Crosses ~ Short Stories Collection

𐙚˙⋆. 𝗧𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝘆: 𝗛𝗶𝘀 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗲 .⋆˙𐙚

𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐞 -

"All this was your fucking plan? You blackmailed her to run away from the wedding?"

Her voice, sharp and accusing, echoed through the room, cutting through the suffocating silence like a blade. My sister—my own sister—stood there smirking, a cruel, twisted satisfaction lighting up her face.

And him... my husband, my best friend of 25 years, was standing by her side, glaring at me with betrayal etched in every line of his face. The same man who had once known me better than anyone else now believed her over me.

"Leave me. You're hurting me," I whispered, wincing as his grip on my arm tightened.

His eyes, usually so kind and warm, burned with anger. "It's hurting me too, to know that my own best friend would blackmail her own sister just to marry me. Why? Why would you do this when you knew I loved her?"

I shook my head, my voice trembling. "I didn’t. Believe me. Why would I—"

"Really?" he spat, cutting me off. "Then what about these?" He threw a stack of my diaries onto the floor, their pages scattering across the room. "What’s written in these, huh? Are they fake? Your so-called love—is it all fake?"

My breath hitched as I stared at the familiar, battered pages. "It's true," I admitted softly, my voice cracking. "It's true that I love you, but I was happy for you. She’s lying—"

"Why should I believe you?" he interrupted, his voice a venomous growl. "Have you ever told me about your feelings? No, of course not. You just acted happy so that we believe you happy with my relationship with your sister, didn’t you? And on the wedding day, it was all drama, right? God, you’ve been lying for six months. Six fucking months! I never knew you were such an opportunistic woman who could do anything to get what she wants."

His words stabbed me in the chest, each one sharper than the last. My voice trembled as I tried to defend myself. "How could I have confessed when you told me you loved my sister? And after our marriage, you mourned her every single day. Finally, when you started to move on, I didn’t want to burden you with my feelings—"

"Oh, don’t play innocent!" he roared, his voice echoing off the walls. "I can’t believe I almost fell for you. You almost succeeded. If Mahira hadn’t come back and revealed everything, I would’ve been completely fooled!"

His words crushed whatever small hope I had left. My voice barely rose above a whisper. "You don’t trust me, do you?"

He turned away, his jaw clenched so tightly I thought it might crack. His silence said more than any words ever could.

My lips curled into a sad, bitter smile as tears slipped down my cheeks. "Do you want to know the biggest regret of my life?" I asked, my voice laced with pain.

He didn’t respond, but I could see his shoulders tense.

"Falling in love with someone like you," I whispered, the words cutting me as deeply as they would him. "You don’t deserve love or friendship. Both require trust and respect, and you lack both."

The silence between us was deafening until he finally spoke, his voice cold and unrecognizable. "Get. The. Fuck. Out. Of. My. House."

His words rang in my ears, sealing the end of everything we’d shared. I flinched but didn’t let myself break in front of him.

Without another word, I turned and walked out, letting a single tear fall as I closed the door on what we once were—and what we could have been.

~~~

Vritika Khanna and Atharv Khurana

I add the aesthetics later.

" 𝐻𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑚𝑦 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑖𝑚. 𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑖𝑚 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑠 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑡𝑎𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑡ℎ—𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑠, 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑖𝑠𝑛’𝑡 𝑒𝑛𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢. " - Vritika

" 𝐼 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑖𝑚, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑙𝑒𝑡 ℎ𝑖𝑚 𝑔𝑜—𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑦𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐼 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑛, 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑒𝑑." - Vritika

" 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑒𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑡𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑏𝑟𝑜𝑘𝑒𝑛 𝑝𝑖𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑠 𝑡𝑜𝑔𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟. 𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑠, 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑓𝑎𝑑𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦’𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑛 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑." Vritika

" 𝐻𝑒𝑟 𝑙𝑎𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑚𝑦 𝑚𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑑𝑦, ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑚𝑦 𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑐𝑒. 𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑛𝑜𝑤, 𝐼 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑒, ℎ𝑎𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐼 𝑓𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑠ℎ. " - Atharv

" 𝐻𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑙𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑏𝑦 𝑚𝑦 𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒, 𝐼 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑤𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑤ℎ𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑 𝑓𝑒𝑙𝑡 𝑏𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑. 𝑆ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝐼 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑑𝑒𝑒𝑝𝑙𝑦, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝐼 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑧𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑡 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝐼 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑟. " - Atharv

" 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑡𝑜𝑜 𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑒𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑖𝑛 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑒𝑦𝑒𝑠, 𝑡𝑜𝑜 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑑𝑚𝑖𝑡 𝐼 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑟. 𝑁𝑜𝑤, 𝐼’𝑑 𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑔𝑜 𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑏𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑙𝑖𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑦. "

⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆𐙚⋆｡⋆𐙚⋆｡⋆𐙚⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆

Upcoming soon....