Recap

Sam and Harish spend two days in Goa where he behaves in an appropriate manner. Sam begins to think that he might be a good person after all. They leave from Goa and after they reach , Sam finds out that her cell phone was missing. She gets scared that anyone might misuse the photos of her and Aayush in it. Harish then tells her that his driver had come and they leave for home. Sam enters Harish's house for the first time and his Mother welcomes them. She goes to their bedroom only to find that there was only one bed and hence she decides to sleep on the floor. Meanwhile, Harish comes to and offers her milk to drink , which she reluctantly accepts. The next morning , she discovers that Harish had consummated "their" marriage, without Sam's knowledge, for which she becomes very angry and confronts him. Harish threatens her and says that he would do anything he wanted and that her men would torture her if she tried to escape. She also comes to know of the enemity between Harish's mother and her granny. Sam realizes that Harish is a perverted psychopath and his Mother was a psycho too.

Sameera's POV

During the daytime, Harish would mostly be in the city to deal with his business and dealings with other rowdies like him. When he returned, he would be drunk and he would bring a new girl to the house . His favorite pass time was to abuse me. After eating and drinking, he would try to beat me , but I would run up to my room and close the doors. In the morning, I would find him asleep at various places in the house, once near the fountain. I was given food just once in a day , the woman saw to it. The servants in the house took pity on me and would sneak me food when Harish's mother didn't notice. I was always grateful to them.

Sometimes, when he went out of town, I would plan to escape, but his men were always present and if I dared to , I knew they would finish me. So , I had no other choice than to endure all the suffering. I didn't even have access to any phone there. Even the servants didn't have a phone. If I had, I would have alerted the police about this devil. They would thrash him completely. Thinking of that just gave me peace.

Day after day the abuses and beatings increased. He would hit me for no reason at all ! He just enjoyed torturing me, the psychopath. I wanted to die rather face it, but I had promised Aayush that I would never try to take my life again, ever. I hung on to that . Every time suicidal thoughts entered my head, I would think of Aayush. His face warmed me up. How I wished life would have been if I had married him !

One day, when Harish had just come home , his Mother started to argue.

"Her parents just won't shut up !", she complained.

"What ? They called ?", he asked.

"They keep on pestering me to tell them this address. "

He took a deep breath and came towards me. I backed into the wall ,frightened of him.

He stroked my hair and said, "Darling, if your parents ask about this address or try to come here, my men will kill them , slowly till they see life draining out of your parents eyes. "

"Don't you think of hurting them . I swear I will kill you !", I said without any fear, because I was willing to go to any extent to save my parents from him.

"Mother, did you hear that ? She is going to kill me it seems .", he laughed until his eyes were full of tears.

"Thank God you are beautiful, else I would have burnt your face, for threatening to kill me.:, he pushed me away.

"You will call them and tell that you are happy and peaceful here. That there is no need for them to visit you . DO YOU UNDERSTAND ?"

I nodded .

He took out his cell phone , called my parents house and put the phone to my ear. He held my hair tightly and I was in a lot of pain.

Mother picked up .

"Hello ?"

Her voice provided a sense of peace to me. I felt happy on hearing it.

"Mother, this is Sameera."

"Baby !! How are you ? After going there, you forgot about us ."

"I am sorry Mother. I am very fine. I am happy and Harish takes good care of me."

I could hear her smile.

"See, I told you he is a wonderful person, right. I am happy for you dear."

"Mother, there is no need for you and Father to visit us here. I am perfectly fine "

"Sameera, your Father and I are leaving on a north india tour to temples. Before that, we wanted to see you."

I didn't know what to answer, so I looked at Harish. He asked me to cook up another lie.

"Mother, Harish and I are not at home now. We..we are in Kerala for a trip. We don't know when we will be back."

"Oh..we wanted to see you baby. But, it's okay. We are leaving in three days dear. We will visit you after we come back."

"Okay Mother. Take care of Father. Love you !"

"Love you too dear."

Harish let go of my hair and cut the call.

"See, very good. You have learnt to lie well.", he kissed me and I flinched at his touch.

I ran to my room and started weeping. Help was so close and yet it went off. My parents thought that I was happy but here I was getting beaten up everyday.

Harish then left town for a couple of days. I was glad that he had , which meant no torture for some days. But the verbal abuse by his Mother was equivalent to the physical abuse by Harish. My fate that I had to endure all this.

One fine evening, Harish returned home with unexpected guests. To my astonishment, it was Karthik and Sushma.

"Wifey !! Look who is here !", Harish cried on seeing me.

He hugged me tightly and whispered ," You will behave else you very well know the consequences !"

I gave a quick nod and welcomed both of them.

"Karthu and Sushma ! Welcome !", I smiled.

"Sorry to disturb this lovely couple !", Karthik winked.

"Not at all ! Please sit down.", I said.

"What is that on your face ? Are you hurt ?", Karthu asked looking at the bruises on my face.

I realized that the they were in the process of healing . I couldn't think of a lie suddenly.

"Oh..that's just the cat !", Harish answered.

"I warned her many times not to play with the nasty cat, but she is very much fond of it ."

"I see. Be careful, those wounds look painful !", Karthik said.

Duh ! A cat ? As if a cat could be a reason for all these deep wounds ! The wild beast that stood right in front of us was responsible for this ! I glared a him.

"Sam, we are getting married. Here is the invitation !", Sushma shouted, beamed with happiness.

"Oh my god ! Guys ..am so happy for you !", I said as I pulled Sushma into a tight hug.

"Congratulations !", Harish faked a huge smile ," I'll get you coffee !"

As soon as he went away, Karthik said, "Aayush is going to be married to his distant relative . They are going to settle in Germany after marriage."

I couldn't exactly tell how I felt at that moment. Aayush was getting married, I was happy that he moved on but I couldn't believe it because it was very difficult to bring him to a normal state.

"Karthu...is it true ?"

"Yes Sam. He said it to me last week."

"Wow..great that he has moved on."

"Yes..we too thought the same. So, how is Harish treating you ?", Sushma asked.

Just then, he came out of the kitchen carrying coffee.

"Here you go !", he said as he served them.

"Harish..is the best husband anyone can get !", I said through gritted teeth and a fake smile.

"Don't make me blush sweetheart !", he gave an Oscar winning performance before them , that I wanted to smack him on the face.

Karthik and Sushma laughed. They must have believed his little act, I thought sadly.

"We want both of you to be present for our marriage ! Get it ?", he asked.

"Sure. Count us in.", Harish answered.

"What are your plans after marriage ? Where are you going to get settled ?", I asked .

"I have got a job in Canada. My uncle arranged it for me and your bestie here doesn't want to stay here!"

"That's awesome . Sushma loves cold places.", I laughed .

"Good that you remember all those !", she said surprised.

"I have a good memory !", I teased her.

I felt that I was back in college with my gang of friends. Those were the best moments of my life. I wanted all those back. I wanted to be with Aayush ! Alas, fate had played well in our lives and he had moved on.

As both of them drank the coffee, fear gripped me suddenly. What if Harish had poisoned the coffee ? He had no reason to ! But what if he had ? I watched them closely but nothing happened.

"Okay. More places to go ! Goodbye Sam. Take care !", Karthu smiled and got up to leave.

"We want you there a week before the marriage ! Get it ?", Sushma asked.

I nodded and went to bid them goodbye.

After they had left,

"You thought I was going to do something to them ?", he grinned at me.

I stared at him but didn't answer .

"Come on Sam. Why would I ? They are going to get married !"

"Do anything you want with me, but leave my family and friends out of this !", I warned him and went upstairs.

I went to the balcony inside the bedroom to watch them leave. Karthu kept on disturbing her hair while Sushma pulled his cheeks and asked him to stop.

I prayed for them silently and wished that all happiness in the world would befall them. I watched as the car pulled out of the porch and sped away.

What Karthu said about Aayush still didn't go away from my mind. I couldn't believe that he had moved on. Maybe he thought I was a bad person or maybe he thought I was like Riya. My mind was bursting with all thoughts, I was over thinking but I could't help it. I decided that I should be happy for him. After all, he deserves a good girl in his life who wouldn't leave him at any cost. Dawn approached and the sound of birds filled the air. The evening sky bore a deep orangish red color that and the sun set slowly beyond the horizon.

If only I had married Aayush !, I lost myself in deep , unrealistic thoughts!

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Hope you liked the chap readers !