Chaaya, a 20 year Bengali girl who hummed the song of love, smiled through pain, and laughed with tears in her eyes.
She loved the color red-the brightness it carried and the essence it held. But who knew that one day, the very same color would become the symbol of her deepest sorrow?
Dreaming of a simple, loving husband and a family full of laughter was a crime she never knew she had committed. Hope was all she had... and yet, the one thing she never truly held.
Chaaya stepped into a new life with Jeet-her 24 year old husband, a stranger with a kind smile and an attitude full of quiet understanding. She carried her dreams stitched into a red-bordered saree, unaware that the next six months would unravel her spirit, thread by thread.
When Jeet left for his duty, all she wanted was for him to return. But one day, she vanished-not into freedom, but into the forgotten basement of the haveli, where secrets were buried and voices were never meant to rise.
Few months later, Jeet returns home-a man changed by time, unaware that his greatest betrayal was his silence. What he finds is not absence, but a lie spun carefully to keep him from the woman who once whispered his name with hope.
Chaaya is a haunting tale of broken vows, shattered womanhood, and a love that refuses to die. It is about the letters never read, the cries never heard, and the fire it takes to rise from ashes that still burn.
Is cheating always meant to be physical?
What if he emotionally betrays you?
But what do you call it when your husband shares his dreams, emotions, victories, and time with another woman...
slowly forgets that you even exist?
(Short story)