Chapter 46

I was standing in a daze after hearing his words. Part of me was hurt, but part of me couldn't help but get angry. How could he judge me when he didn't know anything?

He didn't even try to ask me or give me a chance to explain before he jumped to conclusions.

I knew it was my fault, and I should have talked to him sooner, but how would I know that I would run out of time so soon? I wished that he would have asked me my side of the story before judging.

"Aadhi, don't worry, I will talk to him. He is just angry. He will come around." Harsha tried to comfort me.

He then walked to the closed door and started banging on the door while calling my husband's name.

My senses were numb, and I just stood there looking at the keyhole of the closed door. I didn't even realize I was crying until I felt my tears wetting my foot.

Suddenly, the door opened, making Harsha stumble. He came out of the room carrying a bunch of my clothes from the cupboard and walked outside.

It had started to rain sometime between all this, and he threw all the clothes outside in the rain.

"Get out," he said, looking at me angrily and pointing his finger outside.

Harsha rushed toward him, trying to talk, but he was pushed out of the house and onto the mud.

"Don't you dare come in front of my face...ever," my husband warned him with a scary glare. Then he looked at me.

I was standing as still as a pillar, trying to understand what was happening. He strode toward me, grabbed my wrist, and pushed me outside with Harsha.

Then he walked away, closing the door behind him.

I still couldn't comprehend the situation. Everything happened so fast. The whole situation got out of hand like firecrackers...short-lived but fierce and intense. I didn't know what to do next.

I didn't even know if I should beg him to let me in and talk or just walk away. I was certain for once that it wasn't all my fault.

At the same time, it was my negligence that led to this. I needed to clear up this misunderstanding but should I give him some time to cool down?

Harsha was calling someone on his phone and cursing them for not picking up. It was probably Nija. He was just as lost as I was, and Nija was the only one who could help now.

He looked like a madman walking around and talking to himself. At one point he threw his phone away in frustration... Bad move.

Out of the blue, I started banging at the door like I was possessed.

I didn't expect it to open, so why was I banging? I couldn't say.

I didn't stop even after it started to hurt. Harsha told me to stop and tried to intervene, but I pushed him away and continued slamming.

"Stop it, Aadhi, you are scaring me!" he shouted, looking at my eyes while grabbing my shoulders forcefully. That finally made me stop.

"You haven't said anything or even cried the whole time. What are you thinking, Aadhi?" he asked me with a concerned look.

I wanted to say so much. I wanted to cry but I couldn't. I felt like something heavy was on my chest and holding down the emotions that were trying to get out.

I gave up, turned around, and started to walk away in the rain. I felt like I had no one and nothing. I had no destination, I just automatically wandered wherever my legs took me.

It started getting dark and I didn't know if it was due to the sun setting or because of the rainy clouds.

I lost track of time, place, and situation. Everything felt so unreal and incomprehensible yet so significant.

"Aadhi... Aadhi!" It was Harsha. He had been calling my name for a while. I heard him, but I don't know why I didn't respond. It's not like I didn't want to, I just couldn't.

It was like my whole body stopped responding to my surroundings. Even though I was aware of things, at the same time, I wasn't. I never knew that was even possible.

He suddenly pulled my arm rigorously, yelling my name. Within a second, a car crossed me at a high speed. I think I just missed getting hit because of him.

"Are you insane?" he yelled angrily. I didn't say anything even to that. He looked at me and I guess he kind of felt bad. His face turned soft, and he pulled me in to hug.

That warm hug somehow pierced through my cold mind, and I started to feel again. It started as tears that became a sob and then full-blown crying.

As the intensity of crying increased, he tightened his hug to give more warmth. He rubbed my back and stroked my hair fondly, saying, "It's okay," softly and repeatedly.

He had always been a good friend from the start but at that moment I was more than glad that he was there with me.

I didn't feel alone or dejected. Regardless of his situation and mood, he was there for me.

Somehow, I always let him in without a second thought, even though I wasn't very sociable with anyone else. I relied on him so much on so many occasions and he never let me down.

We didn't know how long we stood there getting drenched in rain on the sidewalk. The fog in my mind had cleared and I felt a bit better after crying out.

It was already dark by then and we decided to take a bus to my home. My parents were surprised to see me with Harsha at this hour but didn't question me about it.

Since it was late when we reached home, I asked Harsha to stay with us.

After refreshing and having dinner, we told my parents that I was having a little misunderstanding with my husband and Harsha had accompanied me here so I did not walk home alone.

After hearing that, they seemed more relaxed and said that little fights were normal between a husband and wife.

I wanted to keep it that way for their sake and also because I didn't know how this was going to end.

***

A lot has happened in the week since I moved back to my parents' house. Sia called me the moment she came to know about it.

She said that my husband was in bad shape, and I didn't know what she meant by that. She also said she wanted to talk a lot, so she would meet me that weekend.

We didn't get to talk about anything in detail, and she didn't ask me about Harsha either. I didn't know what was going on between them.

Speaking of Harsha, he left my house the next day. Before leaving, he told me what happened.

"Bharathi texted me saying that she wanted to talk to me and told me to come home. So I went there expecting you to be there with her, which you weren't at that time.

I was going to stay in the living room until you arrived, but she asked me to come inside her room, saying that she wasn't feeling well and she wanted to lie down.

Everything was going fine. She was calm and listened to everything I said. Then I heard Abhi calling her, so I stood up to open the door, but then suddenly she pulled me in to kiss.

That's when Abhi came in and everything happened. I didn't defend myself because then I would have had to accuse her. After all, she was his sister, and I didn't want to hurt him or her.

I can guess why she did what she did with me, but I don't know why she pulled you into this. Maybe she was scared and didn't know what to do, so she blamed you and me.

I don't know what to think of this anymore, and I have no idea how to solve this without making her look awful.

Abhi is not going to trust me anymore. Nija called me a thousand times, but I have been ignoring him. Tell me, Aadhi, what will I tell him?

I can't tell him the truth else he will go straight to Abhi. I don't know what else to do."

He looked frustrated and depressed. Even I had no words to comfort him at that moment.

Because to clear up the misunderstanding, we would have to hurt someone else who meant a lot to us.

This past week, I had tried to call and text my husband, begging him to give me a chance to talk, but as expected, he didn't respond to anything.

I was getting restless, and the urge to go to him to clear this awful situation was overwhelming. I reached out to Sia, the one person I could trust. But she asked me to wait.

She wanted to tell me something before I could talk to him. I couldn't wait to hear it.

Finally, Sia came to see me. She was accompanied by Mia and Bharathi. I was a bit confused, but I welcomed them nonetheless.

After the greeting and refreshments, we gathered in my room to talk in private.

All of them were silent and looking at each other awkwardly. So I decided to speak first.

"So what is it that you wanted to tell me?" I asked Sia. I was curious about what I had missed.

Sia hesitated a bit before speaking. "Everything that happened, every misunderstanding... It wasn't because of Mia or someone else as we thought." She paused for a moment before continuing.

"It was... It was actually Bharathi."

What?