Just Trust Me - 5

Hello People! Once again a Happy New Year to you and your loved ones! I am back *and with a huge update!* for you all :)


In short, this is the second last chapter of the story so be ready to get ready for jhatkas... and yes, a good certain lot of you might want to bite of Arjun's head... but please do think from his perspective as well. 


With lots of love and best wishes, 


Yours truly :)

CHAPTER 5

Sakshi’s heart cracked into two as she found her husband, the man she loved so much, profess undying love to that strange woman. 

Hot tears rolled down her cheeks as every word of his felt like a slap against her cheek, every word burnt her belief on the foundations she preached on for marriage. 

He didn't love her, in spite of all that she ever did…

He just didn’t love her. 

Her eyes blurred as she saw Arjun hastily making his way to her, his eyes wide in panic. The other woman gasped and tried to say something to her. 

Sakshi felt used, filthy and nothing short of a commodity. 

Arjun reeled in shock as Sakshi pushed against his chest, howling silently. 

“Sakshi, love, please listen to me.”

Sakshi raised her hand to silence him, her knees wobbled as her world spiralled before her. 

“SAKSHI!” Arjun screamed and followed Sakshi who ran back to the hotel. 

Riya stood, feeling terrible and guilty. She couldn’t bear the fact that she would be the second woman in anyone’s life. 

As she looked at the retreating back of Arjun’s, she looked on. Arjun may have claimed to love her the most but what could explain the sense of loss and pain in his eyes when Sakshi lay heartbroken? 

---

“Sakshi, baby, please open the door.” Arjun knocked the door and rang continuously but to no avail. 

“Sweetheart it is NOT what you think! I will never cheat on you, please open the door.” 

“Sakshi, I do love you.” 

Just as he confessed, Arjun heard a loud crash. 

“Sakshi!”

Arjun hurried to the reception to get a spare card for his room.

---

Every word he said swirled in her head. 

Happy with Sakshi? Yes there’s trust and faith and the longing I have for her… but I couldn’t love her the way I loved you. My heart doesn’t jump with joy when I see her, my blood doesn’t pound in my ears when she speaks to me, I don’t see the universe before my eyes when I make love to her…

“But no love… there never was.” Sakshi whispered furiously to herself. Suffocated and exhausted, Sakshi couldn’t take it that she wasn’t loved. 

“Who asked you to marry me then! I didn’t need the favour of being wed to you…” She cried out and leaned against the wall. Wiping her tears with the back of her hand she got an entire view on her marriage. 

They had sex and she cried because she felt unaccepted… to make up for it, Arjun married her. 

That’s all that ever happened.

It was desire, lust and faith… love never came into the picture.

Running her hands through her hair, Sakshi looked into the mirror; she wasn’t a child to not know that love doesn’t happen at first touch or with anybody. 

Oh it hurt so much. Every night they spent together felt vile for Sakshi, did he continue to sleep with her so as to she felt reassured? 

Of course! He apparently never did anything during the day, there weren’t any fleeting kisses which came along intimacy. It was routine, to have it before they slept. 

Compelled and forced. Is this what he felt after the first few months of their marriage? 

“You could have told me! I would have left you if that meant your happiness!” Sakshi screamed to the mirror and paused to take a deep breath. 

She heard Arjun knock the door again, pleading her. 

But when he confessed that he loved her, his words pierced into her bleeding heart. 

He didn’t love her, he didn’t need to give her false promises. 

Crying on her ill luck, the pain seemed too hard for her to take it in. 

She had to lessen the pain, it was too much. 

With that she swept everything off the table, breaking everything. 

Stumbling to the washroom, she washed her face repeatedly with ice cold water and calmed herself down. 

It’s fine, it’s completely fine. 

Communication is the way in a relationship… how could she forget that. “Bad Sakshi! Arjun would be so hurt that you didn’t even let him speak. And don’t you trust him? Won’t you at least speak to him? After that, leave.” Nodding vigorously to herself in front of the mirror, she got out of the washroom and began to collect the broken cosmetics and perfumes from the floor. 

“Sigh! If Arjun sees any of this then he would be so disappointed.” She continued to murmur and throw the trash. 

---

His heart beat furiously against his chest, dread coursed through his veins. 

Sakshi couldn’t… s… she couldn’t hurt herself! 

He cursed himself and ran all the way to his room. The card slipped from his hand as his fingers trembled with fright. Resolving his strength, he prayed fervently for her safety. 

A big sigh of relief escaped his lips as he found Sakshi sitting on the floor, mumbling incoherently. 

With an oath, he ran towards her and took her into a hug. 

“Thank God…”

——

“Arjun, it’s okay. I was just so rude… I apologise for it!” Sakshi smiled weakly and went back to collecting glass pieces. “No, please listen to me what happened there was not what you saw.” 

Arjun looked on helplessly as Sakshi nodded and continued to throw things in the trash. “I am not questioning you, I was certainly taken aback though.” She murmured. 

“Sakshi, listen to me please!” He cupped her cheeks as she wriggled out of his grip “Arjun, kya kar rahe ho? I am listening to you right? But first let me clean up, kaanch hai…  kahi lag na jaye! Bohot chubhegi.” 

“Chubh rahi hai! You’re bloody not speaking to me… this isn’t the Sakshi I know. Baby fight me, hit me… let it out what you’re thinking and… OH GOD!” Arjun gasped as he took in her bloodied hands. 

As Sakshi was stuffing everything into the bin, she hadn’t even noticed that the broken pieces of glass had pierced her hands terribly. Sakshi took her hands away from Arjun and continued to throw the other pieces, not bothering about the wounds. 

“SAKSHI STOP.” Arjun yelled and she stilled, her face paling rapidly. “Arjun, please don’t scream… just give me few minutes to clean the room and remove the stains - you’ll be happy then, right?” 

Arjun experienced a sharp pang of guilt and anguish as Sakshi wobbled to clean the mess. “I don’t want the room clean, listen to me… I just need you to sit next to me. Please.”  

Sakshi looked at his face and dusted her hands, not wincing at the raw glasses jabbed in her palms “Please? Arjun… don’t be angry, give me a few seconds… I’ll just wash my hands and come. Just stay here.” 

Her rant stopped as Arjun grabbed her hands and made her sit on the bed. Fetching an aid kid, he gently removed the bloodied glass and tended to the wounds on her hands. 

“You’ve hurt yourself so much.” He whispered while she barely smiled “My hands are lucky enough to show the wounds which bleed.” 

Crouching next to her, Arjun wrapped his arms around her waist and continued to apologise. 

“For what?” Sakshi whispered. 

Arjun looked up to find a lost Sakshi staring at him “What are you apologising for?” 

“The extent I’ve hurt you… till date. I realise that I haven’t been the best husba…” 

“Did I not know that you are a tough man to be with? Did I not know that you hadn’t ever professed your love for me? Did I not know all that? Then it’s my fault that I hurt myself with bare expectations… it’s not your fault love.” She mumbled as she placed a chaste kiss on his head. 

“No Sakshi, you are precious to me!” He cupped her cheeks while Sakshi threw her head back, laughing. 

“Precious? Pray give me a reason for stripping me in public!” Arjun looked into her red eyes and failed to understand “Sakshi… what are you…”

Sakshi closed her eyes and swallowed painfully “She may be a lot to you to know everything about the stranger of a husband I have, but you’re still my husband.” 

She placed a finger on his lips to silence him “You don’t see the universe when you make love to me. You saw the stars with her… ” 

Arjun’s eyes widened “Anything Arjun… you could tell me anything about me, to me. But you preferred to sacrifice the sanctity of our intimacies as a bar between the women of your life?”

Not a word dropped out of his mouth as he realised the gravity of his words. Mortification and guilt made him close his eyes and sink on the bed, his words reiterating like poison in his head. 

“I’m sorry…” He whispered and hesitantly held her hand while a broken Sakshi sat by him. 

“Ardhangani, patni, saathi, biwi ,sahaydharmini, wife, consort or spouse - all yours. Without you, a part of who I am ceases to exist.” 

“I don’t want to stay without you Sakshi…”

“When were you with me?” The question was merely above a whisper, but it broke Arjun’s heart to pieces. 

Sakshi took a deep breath and calmed her earlier frenzy. Stepping aside, she loosened Arjun’s grip around her wrist and sat at the head of the bed. 

Resting her back at the headrest, she beckoned a morose Arjun. 

Cupping his face tenderly, she placed a chaste kiss on his lips “I don’t need justifications or excuses, just tell me everything… for a change.”

She ran her fingers absentmindedly through his hair as he placed his head on her lap and hugged her tight. Sakshi laughed at her irony, they were so close… yet so far. 

“Tell me… don’t be afraid.” She hummed as Arjun’s grip grew firmer.

“I don’t want to lose you…” He confessed while she chuckled “Burdens, responsibility and duty are never lost.”

“You aren’t that.”

“I cease to exist beyond that Arjun, at least as a friend… tell me everything.” She caressed him gently while he frowned and shut his eyes. 

“It was on eleventh July, 1997…” 

---

Riya finished her glass of wine and sat at the edge of the beach. The waves splashed violently against her but the cool water did nothing to tame her wild heart. 

Sakshi’s eyes… she could never forget them. 

The pain etched in her eyes, the tears… oh how foolish Riya was! 

“What did I do?” Riya whispered to herself as she recalled her frivolous self from years ago. 

How could have she lost the man who meant the world to her… how could she ever say that she had tried again and again to contact him but his mother forbid her? 

How could she say that she had returned years back to only find him far away?

How could she say that she never stopped loving him?

How could she ever say that the only reason she left the States and returned to Mumbai months ago was only for Arjun? 

Riya bit her lips and realised that a single mistake of hers destroyed four lives. 

For the first time she dropped the act of being strong and broke down. 

---

“I was just so angry when I saw her again… it made me say things I would have never said otherwise.” He whispered against the fabric on her stomach while Sakshi sighed. 

Still caressing his cheeks Sakshi said “But you would have never said them if you hadn’t felt it… how would have the thought come otherwise?”

Arjun got up and cupped her cheeks, brushing his warm lips over hers “Sakshi… please forget all that. These… these things never happened…” 

After a very long time Arjun initiated a passionate kiss. Hungry for more, he brought out his animalistic side as he nipped her with fervour. 

A weak Sakshi held on to the burning torment from her husband and moaned helplessly under the assault of his mouth and tongue. 

Yet just when she felt his moist breath fan the bare skin of her breasts, her eyes flew open and she shot up from the bed. “Sak..” Arjun stared as Sakshi hastily placed a pillow in front of her and clumsily reach for her capris from the floor. 

Not bothering to reach for his shirt, he followed a hassled Sakshi who slipped on her bra and turned towards him “No Arjun.”

“What? Wait,  I am sorry… so sorry… I shouldn’t have, especially when you’re not ready and I’ve hurt you so muc…” Arjun regretted.

“Oh no…” Sakshi interrupted him “I… I can’t have it with you knowing that you don’t see the stars.” She almost chewed her tongue in spitting out the words, but it needed to be said.

“Sakshi, it’s not what you think!” Arjun came closer but Sakshi stepped back “Arjun, I know very well that you aren’t having any affair nor were you and Ri… yeah Riya involved in anything immoral. I know that very well, but the matter is that your pleasure means a lot for me.”

Blinking away the rapidly forming tears she continued “I can’t have it when I know it doesn’t please you and over that you might be probably doing it to keep me happy, I know this sounds horrible but I need to let this off my chest.”

Arjun cursed and wiped the tears from her face “No love, that’s not the case. It does make me happy too…” Sakshi sniffed and gently pushed his hands aside “I feel disgusted of myself Arjun, as simple as that.” 

Giving him a wobbly smile, she cupped his stubbly jaw and placed her head against his bare chest “Your happiness means the most for me. Your heartbeats makes mine live too, you know. I am selfish enough to keep you bound to me but I am afraid… I love you so much that I want to let you go.” 

“Sakshi!” Arjun gasped and hugged his quivering wife. “Have you ever checked why Riya did what she did… for a woman who loved you so much, couldn’t it just be growing carelessness… perhaps she realised the gravity of her situations later.” Sakshi suggested, trying to control the tightening of her chest as she realised that Arjun had stilled patting her head and was lost in deep thought. 

“You can’t love another woman so you should stop trying Arjun. Riya has made such an effect in your life that it just changed you completely… ek baar dekho toh sahi ki kya hua tha…” Sakshi’s lips trembled as realisation dawned on Arjun’s face. 

“Sakshi… I will never leave your side.” He whispered and walked into the bathroom while Sakshi gave a mirthless chuckle to herself 

“One doesn’t need to walk away to be left alone.” 

---

Gone to the restaurant for supper. 

Love, 

Sakshi

P.S : Will wait.

Arjun read the little note that his wife left and thought to himself. 

He saw the still strewn shirt of hers on the floor and asked himself for the reasons why he ever touched Sakshi. 

Folding the shirt into the cupboard he realised that he never touched Sakshi because of his want. That had been secondary… drawing strength from her had always been his primary goal. 

She soothed him, healed him… what about her?

Perplexed by the questions, he found the answer in front of him. 

The only way to solve his life was to speak to the woman who still made his heart race, 

Riya. 

---

Riya wrung her fingers nervously as she sipped on her coffee. Arjun had got to her and asked her to meet him at the coffee lounge at 6:30. 

It was 6:29,  he would be here any minute. 

Biting her lips, she checked the watch time to time when she heard him “Still got the same habit eh?” 

He half smiled at her reddened lips and sat beside her, rolling his sleeve into half. 

“How’s Sakshi? Can I please meet her… I need to tell her so many things! I never wanted her to think this way of me.” Riya pressed her throbbing head while Arjun nodded slightly “Thank you for your concern, she’s fine… we spoke.”

Arjun paused to order chai for himself and resumed talking to Riya. Shocked by the vulnerability in his eyes, she couldn’t help but slightly hold on to his hand as he asked “Did you ever try to amend what you did?”

Knowing the dangers it might pose to his marriage, she withdrew her hand and nodded negatively… although the tearing up of her eyes revealed everything to Arjun. 

Holding on to a surprised Riya’s hand, he begged “Please tell me the truth… I’ve had enough from your end.” Still no answer came from her mouth. 

“Why are you keeping quiet?” His painful whisper hurt Riya further and she couldn’t help it anymore. “Arjun, you and Sakshi be happy together… I am leaving India, now forever. And all this is just for your betterment.” She rambled and ran off while Arjun followed her. 

“You love me? After all these years… this is when I get to see your love, again?” He shut his eyes as Riya stood still against what he said. Just as he was about to leave he recalled..

I am leaving India, now forever.

“Wait… you were in India!” Arjun exclaimed as Riya panicked and turned around “Aunty told you?” She said in disbelief while Arjun stood dumbfounded “Aai knew that you were here?” He asked while Riya gulped slightly. 

“Why didn’t you tell me damn it!” Arjun screamed while Riya shook and huddled herself. “She told me not to meet you…” She whispered back.

“Of course!” Arjun exclaimed “She’s my freaking mother and she saw how destroyed I was after 

“Selfish, that’s all that you’ve ever been… I should have understood! What a fool I had been to love a woman who would leave me just because she got some bloody chance up there in the States!” He poked her shoulder while Riya shut her eyes, letting the tears roll down her cheeks. 

Roughly wiping her tears he whispered “I thought the love I had for you was unparalleled.” She calmed her thudding heart as is breath fanned on her cheeks “But I was wrong… my hatred defeats it any day.” 

Arjun couldn’t complete his sentence as Riya shoved him against his chest “I KNOW I DID A MISTAKE DAMN IT! I was swayed by the people and it took my bloody seven to eight years to figure that out after I became a used b***h of every man I came across…”

A shocked Arjun looked on as Riya collapsed on the sand and buried her face in her hands. “Ww… what do you mean?” He kneeled next to her and held her shaking shoulders. 

“I was suffocated by your continuous love and possessiveness, there wasn’t that wild streak in you which I found amongst several others. I felt stagnancy and was attracted to another guy in our group. But I couldn’t leave you stating it’s your fault… because it never was.” 

Staring into nothingness, Riya continued “I felt guilty and horrible for having left you for you were much more than just a lover. After a few months I found myself in a relationship with that guy but I didn’t realise that it was just a physical one… the excitement, pleasure and adrenaline had me going on till I became pregnant and he refused to own up to it.” 

“What!” Arjun looked on, his former anger replaced by concern. Her eyes stung with her makeup but she continued to speak “Yeah, that sent me to a jolt to reality. After six months of having that man touch me through ways no one had, he just left me.” 

Arjun’s eyes shifted to Riya’s frame and he looked back at her hollow eyes “The baby?” 

“I gave birth to her, after eight months - she’s a premature.” Riya sighed. Arjun’s eyes softened as he heard of her daughter. Sniffling slightly, Riya pulled out her phone and showed her daughter. An affectionate smile grew on his face as a spitting reflection of Riya smiled right back at him, except with a fairer skin tone and a pair of bewitching emerald eyes. “Her father had the same eyes.” Riya sighed. 

“Gorgeous, just like her mother.” Arjun ran a forefinger over her picture “How old is she?” 

“Four.” Arjun stared as a Riya gushed in maternal warmth. “My lovely angel, Aayat.” 

“Aayat…” Arjun repeated. “Guess the effect of A always remained, eh?” Riya chuckled. “But I wasn’t a good mom.” 

“No, I am sure…” Riya placed a hand on his shoulder and nodded negatively “I fell into post natal depression and I didn’t ever want to see my daughter except for the times of breastfeeding. After a few months I fell into several relationships with men, sleeping around here and there to reach the top of my career… my baby was just a mark of failure for me.”

Arjun just sat by her, shocked. “I always was the ambitious one, right? So I chose the bitter way of climbing up the ladder, I slept with the honchos of theatre and they put me up where I was.” Riya mirthlessly laughed at herself and wiped her tears. 

“Don’t be so shocked Arjun, really don’t be. Many women sleep around to get what they want in life and I did just the same… until one man tried to get too cozy on my fifteen month old baby - I mean she was just fifteen months old!” Riya groaned out. Arjun uttered a foul curse at the sheer height of that pervert. 

“That slapped me out of my reverie and I rushed back to India with my child in my arms. My parents didn’t accept me and not that I bothered much… I wanted to find you. I am so sorry to have lost you. I was lost myself! I tried to contact you through every manner possible but your mom refused vehemently.” 

Riya broke down in his arms and cried her heart out while a still Arjun patted her “Why didn’t you directly meet me?”

“How could I when you finally got someone you deserved!” Riya yelled out while Arjun frowned. “I came back one day, directly to your office when one of your juniors handed me a sweet. I initially couldn’t understand what had happened when he told me that it was your first anniversary.”

Riya sighed and unconsciously leaned against his shoulder “Except I thought it was with Roshni, and that the rumour of you getting married to her was true. I saw you that day, with a phone squeezed between your ear and shoulder while you were asking someone to deliver flowers for your wife… I saw the smile on your face Arjun and something that I never saw before - contentment.”

“Why didn’t you meet me? Even if it was just for a closure?” He whispered while Riya gave a friendly pat on his cheek “You were much better without me, much better. I had been selfish enough to toy with you but I couldn’t be selfish enough to ruin the little peace you had.”

“Why Riya why?” Arjun closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against hers while Riya sobbed quietly “I know, I know you can’t be with me and God Forbid does that happen! Sakshi’s wonderful and you’re both made for each other… yet I can’t stop loving you.”

She closed her eyes in bliss and he caressed her cheek tenderly “If you had just told me everything that went through you Riya, if you had just told me!” 

“I wouldn’t be the woman I am if not for those callous mistakes.” She laughed a little while a tear slid down a cheek “I really messed up everything, right?” Riya sighed while Arjun pinched her nose “Big time Miss. Actress, big time…”

Riya shot him a tiny glare and ran her finger over his wedding band “But it happens for good. If I hadn’t left, Sakshi wouldn’t have come. I deserved to be punished and you, rewarded. And that’s why I’ll leave soon… even though it kills me to leave you, I can’t bear to be the cause of your pain anymore.”

Arjun nodded against her forehead as Riya smiled a little “I know this is completely inappropriate, and just forget what I am going to tell you… but Arjun, I have, do and shall love you - always.” 

Tears of relief rolled down their faces and before anything could be handled, Arjun and Riya leaned for an intimate kiss. 

---

It was two hours since Sakshi had left the note yet he still didn’t come to where she was. Tears filled her eyes but she swallowed tightly, this was Arjun’s life and he would have to decide. 

Enough of life dumping situations and reasons on him. 

Her fingers ran over her wedding band and she smiled to herself, this is all where her marriage came to. No matter what she did, no matter how much she loved… it wasn’t in her fate to have it reciprocated. 

But Sakshi still kept a tiny hope, a slight flicker of hope that he wouldn’t let her go. 

Even though that flame of hope dimmed considerably when she watched him walk out of the lobby and towards the cafe lounge. 

That wasn’t where Sakshi was seated. 

“It’s all ok.” Sakshi whispered to herself and forced to eat a bite of the cold dinner before her. She did need to keep herself well, being sick wasn’t an option. 

And hell would she let Arjun come back to her only because of her health. Forcing a spoon into her mouth, Sakshi felt waves of nausea build up as her strength broke. 

Running towards the washroom, she threw up the little food she ate and cried till her throat turned hoarse. Scrubbing her entire face and neck clean with soap and warm water, she headed back and wrung her fingers. 

“He would come.” Sakshi whispered. 

“And here I am!” A charming voice took her by surprise as a handsome man turned a chair and sat before her. 

“Excuse me?” A conscious Sakshi sat straight and tucked an invisible lock behind her ear. 

“Hey sweetheart, I’m Arjun.” He winked while Sakshi gasped in disbelief. 

“You’re sure not!” Sakshi huffed and threw a napkin aside. Standing up she was about to walk out when the man stood in front of her “Hey lady! Okay sorry if I came across too flirtatious but…”

“Listen mister, if you think you’re going to get something by taking the name of my husband…”

“Holy mother of God! You’re married… you don’t even look twenty!” He scowled and pouted slightly. “I am sorry Mrs. Arjun - which is not me, but yeah… freaking sorry. I was feeling lost and lonely since it’s the death anniversary of my parents and you looked a devastated woman on way to recovery so thought we could share something in common.” He grinned slightly while Sakshi’s stance softened slightly. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know about your parents…” Sakshi looked aside while he clicked his fingers “I know, I didn’t know either it was their death anniversary till this second.” He  winked and laughed at his own joke.

“You’re pathetic!” Disgusted at his lame throw, she was about to leave when he stood in front of her “Hey! Dare you call me that… I am an orphan miss so whenever I want to hit at a girl I kind of use the death anniversary card, works all the time! Any ways, at least this would be one time when their existence or rather their lack of existence would come to use!” He chuckled while Sakshi stared at him, disbelievingly. 

“Don’t you feel bad, doesn’t it hurt you? I mean, I really admire your strength.”  She half smiled while Arjun stopped chuckling and stared right back at her “Things hurt as long as you want it to hurt. I can’t cry about my dead parents cause they’re dead - simple. There’s no need to cry for I believe that they’re here, but none of us can see them.” 

Sakshi pondered over his words and sat back at her chair, feeling exhausted. “So you mean nothing hurts you… nothing hurts you at all?” Arjun laughed once more and ran a hand through his spiked hair “Nope sweetheart, I am no famous man jumping into your life giving you a documentary of how to live your life. Everything hurts me, from a woman snapping at me…” Arjun’s pointed look at Sakshi made her flush with embarrassment “to not being able to working out a project.”

“It seems very strange how life is Mrs. When one can see the reasoning behind every action or reaction, life becomes a better journey to live.” Arjun smiled while Sakshi frowned at him “Looks  pretty contextual to me.”

“Of course a journalist wouldn’t be too keen to believe in philosophies…” Seeing Sakshi’s surprise he cleared “I took fancy to you and asked my PA to know who you are, looks like the idiot told me everything except from the fact that you are married.” He raised his eyebrows and continued playing with a loose thread from the table cloth.

“So if my research isn’t working, I realise that there’s something that needs to be worked upon and not just call it a day.”

“I see…” Sakshi said, alternating her gaze between her watch and his face. 

“Not yet madam, it’s also the case that if a lonely but married woman snaps at me it’s because her husband is a bast***d.” 

“HOW DARE…”

Arjun raised his hands in surrender “Sorry, I mean he probably cheated on you.”

Sakshi rolled her eyes “I think you’re being pretty intrusive mister.”

“Okay, he stole money from your dad or like taking heavy dowry.” He suggested while Sakshi waved her hand. 

“Good lord no!” Sakshi exclaimed. 

“He abuses you…”

“You!” Sakshi pointed a finger “are abusing my mental health!”

“Jeez calm down! Okay he has an addiction.”

“No.”

“He mistreats your parents.”

“No way.”

“He refuses to experiment during sex.”

“I am not answering that!” 

“Shit, he’s impotent.”

“Shut up.”

“Alright, he’s gay and pretending to be straight.”

“Oh God!”

“Aha! I got it why you’re upset with your husband!”

Sakshi raised an eyebrow in mock fascination as Arjun’s eyes widened with a revelation of sorts “He can’t pee pee straight!”

“Huh? What?” 

“See, he removes his pants to pee but his soldier doesn’t follow his comments and there’s a gardening patch all around the bathroom and you can’t do bathroom cause you need to clean the entire stuff first and you’re getting extreme pressure. So on one side here’s a husband who’s peeing skills puts a toddler to shame and on the other side your bladder’s dying to attend nature’s call. Phew - that calls for a definite divorce or adult diapers…”

Arjun never got to complete his sentence as Sakshi burst into a momentary laughter “I can assure you my husband hits the aim pretty well…”

“Not even a five degree deviation.”

Wiping her tears she nodded “Nope, I can’t believe I am discussing his relief skills, but not even a degree deviation.”

Arjun’s eyes widened and he plastered four fingers before his forehead “Man of steel and direction.”

“Oh Lord, please shut up! Shush! My husband is a lovely man and has no issues regarding anything you’ve said.” Sakshi smiled while Arjun smiled right back at her. 

“Then why does it hurt when you speak about him…” 

She looked up to find the boyish smile gone from his face. “See Sakshi, I am no expert and I am really lonely and bored… hence am I turning into an agony aunt. What I had listed above were the true reasons to be disappointed with a husband and things that truly can’t be worked out with.”

Arjun noticed Sakshi’s hesitance and cleared his throat “I don’t mean to intrude sweetheart, but the truth is… compromise doesn’t take a relationship anywhere - try to work it out. There’s a vast difference between compromise and adjustment. Do anything you want for him, but never do it at a cost of yours.”

Standing up, Arjun dusted his coat and extended his hand “Once more, hey… I am Arjun Kapoor.”

“Sonam Kapoor.” Sakshi’s deadpan face made Arjun groan “Seriously, you’re gonna be my sister now!” 

Sakshi gave him back a small smile and extended her palm “Sakshi Rawte.”

“Nice to meet you, I am Arjun Singh Rathore.” Arjun flashed a brief smile while Sakshi’s eyebrows touched her hairline. 

“Are you connected, by any chance…” “With the royal Singh Rathore’s from Jaipur, my uncle managed to trace me after my parent’s untimely death. So yes, some people call me Kunwar sa. Impressed?” He winked while Sakshi half smiled at his poor attempt at flirting. 

“But I prefer calling myself as Dr. Arjun Singh - researching into the complexities of emotions in relation the physical stimuli produced, at Harvard.”

“And I was your experiment.”

“The only experiment from where both parties gain!” He yelled out and waved a joyous bye to her. 

As he walked towards the beach, he turned around to wave that woman once more when suddenly her wave stilled and her smiled faded. 

Following her gaze, a soft curse left his mouth as he noticed two figures about to kiss from a distance. 

He didn’t have to be told that the man was her husband. 

--- 

A/N : Please read my note above, again. Really looking forward to your comments :)