That evening, the dinner was brief and dead silent. Maahi did not utter a word to her father, and he understood she was angry at him. He knew he couldn't justify his cowardice and lack of actions back then, but he was hoping to have a chance. Hence, he didn't push her to talk to him either, hoping that when she'd calm down in due time, she'd be ready to listen to him.

He had his dinner and then retired to his room for the time being to give Maahi her space.

Maahi was on the couch with the news channel playing in the background as she attempted to type up her client notes on her laptop. Her day at work after the court hearing hadn't gone well. She'd sat through two appointments and she wasn't getting anywhere with those two couples she'd seen and neither had she been able to focus on typing her client notes then.

Now, she was trying but again, it was a difficult task to achieve.

The doorbell rang. Confused as to who it could be at 8:30 in the night, she moved her laptop from her lap to the coffee table in front of her and went towards the door.

She peeked through the peep hole first and seeing who it was, she opened the door.

Parth stood there with a set of beer in one hand and a brown bag in the other. He held it up, "Here to stock your freezer with ice-cream."

Going along with it, she took the bag and looked inside. There were two tubs of Rocky Road. She made a face, "Rocky Road is not my favorite."

He answered as he subtly walked past her and entered the apartment, "I know, but it is mine."

"Parth, I'm not in the mood to entertain a guest right now." She informed, hoping he wasn't planning on staying.

Alas, he was. "Don't entertain a guest then, but you do need to talk to your lawyer." He held up the can of beers, "This is for you. The ice-cream is for me, since technically I'm on the job and I can't drink."

He took one bottle out and placed the rest in the fridge so they would remain cold. She walked closer to examine the bottle, and it was the brand of beer she preferred. She had never told him that, so she could only assume Nikita had.

"Is your father home?"

"In his room. Probably went to bed already." Realizing he had made all the plans for staying to discuss the case, she opened a cabinet to hand him a spoon.

He asked, accepting the spoon. "Still not speaking to him?"

She popped the bottle open, "It's going to take a lot more than a few hours to get back to speaking terms." As soon as she finished the statement, she took a swung of the bottle and gulped it down.

He warned her. "Easy there, we have a long night ahead."

She questioned, "Right, so what do we need to discuss?" walking over to the couch with the bottle and pulling the laptop screen down. She wasn't going to be able to get any of her pending work done tonight.

He followed her and sitting on the seat at the other end of the three-seat couch, he answered, "You are going to tell me everything about you and him. The whole story. That way, nothing comes as a surprise to me in court again."

She sighed and pulled up her legs on the couch, getting comfortable. "You're right. It's going to be a long night."

After that, she explained to him how her grandmother had emotionally tricked her into getting married to Sonu. Then, Sonu had come to the States eight months later. The first few months after that when they started living together, he behaved well and Maahi had started thinking that maybe she could make the marriage work.

She told Parth everything from that point to their first marriage anniversary and how after, Sonu changed. The two of them barely talked, but they did have some nice times together. Then, the text messages she found, the confrontation, and the abuse that started after that.

By the end of the whole story, Maahi had finished two of the six bottles, and Parth had finished one of the two tubs he'd brought of ice-cream.

"No offense, but he's an ass." Parth commented. If not high on alcohol, he was high on sugar.

Maahi scoffed in agreement, "I know. I was an idiot to not see it during the first year." She took a sip from the third bottle.

"Yeah, but in your defense, he was in India the eight of those months in the first year. You couldn't have known." As he started to think, he got curious. "How was he in India?"

"What do you mean?" She asked, trying to catch up to his line of thinking.

"Did you ever hear anything about him apart from how he acted around you and your family? I mean, there must be a reason your grandmother had been planning on getting you married to him for years? Did you ever get the feeling that she knew more than she was letting on?"

She thought back and answered, "I don't know. It could be, but I was just so shocked by what I was hearing when I got there, and between that and being worried about dad's emotional state, I wasn't looking for clues."

"So she seemed to be on her death bed then, but she is still alive after three years?" He questioned, not meaning to sound as insensitive but right now, he was trying to do his job as her lawyer, and he needed to get to the bottom of this. "That seems medically not possible. Who was her doctor?"

At the question, Maahi stiffened. She was starting to see it all. All the things she didn't once spare a second thought towards, "His grandfather. My God, they were all in on this together?!"

Parth suggested, "They could have lied about her condition. Being a doctor, he would have known how to fake symptoms."

"How could she do that? Not just to me but to her own son as well! My father left everything he had achieved here to go back to India to take care of her! Almost six years that she's been playing with his emotions."

When she attempted to drink the fourth bottle, he stopped her and took the bottle away from her. "Hey, I know this is all too much, but pace yourself, love. You aren't eating right now. At this rate, you'll have a hangover in court tomorrow."

She sighed and stood up to walk it off a little, "I know... it's just... I can't believe this. What the hell is wrong with her? It's my life they played with!"

She ran her fingers through her hair and then clutched her head. It felt as if her head would spin any moment with all the revelations. Thinking back to it, she was staring to see the other side of the story.

She turned to look at Parth when she heard him. "Alex, hey, I know this is late but I need your help." He was on the phone.

She waited to find out what was going through his head. Compared to her, in these matters, his mind seemed to work a lot faster. She was starting to understand how he was a good lawyer despite having only two years of practice. He had a knack for seeing things before others.

After he talked with Alex, he put his cell on the table and looked at her. "Now, we wait."

He had his hopes high that Alex would find something that would work in their favor. He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose as if to push back a headache.

He then checked his wrist watch. "Damn. It's late. I'll – uh – call you the second I hear something?" He started to get up as it was a little after midnight. "Get some sleep. Like I told you before, I'm calling you on the stand tomorrow."

She nodded, recalling how earlier in the night he had said he would when she had been filling him in on her history with Sonu. "Are you going to take the other tub of ice-cream?" She asked, pointed towards her fridge.

He paused from gathering the papers he had been scribbling pointer notes. "Keep it."

She informed in case he had forgotten, "You know I'm not going to eat it, right?"

"Keep it, Maahi." He repeated, and she let it go, understanding his insistence. Taking his bag, he asked, "Promise me, no more drinking for tonight."

She nodded again, putting her hands up in surrender, "Yeah, yeah. I got it, boss. Can't be hung over tomorrow for court."

Convinced, he nodded, "Good. See you tomorrow." He thought for a second, and added, "And I'm sorry, beforehand, for the things I'll have to ask you tomorrow."

She answered in a smile, "It's okay. You have a job to do. I get it."

In a way, she gave him permission and not have to worry about pushing her limits. She knew the situation and that she was right in the steps she was taking. She believed she didn't have anything to hide for him to feel the need to go soft on her while under oath.

She walked him to the door and opened it. Just after he stepped out, she leaned her head against the door and called his name. "Parth?" He stopped and turned, raising a brow as an indication for her to continue, "It meant nothing?" He narrowed his brows, not understanding what she was talking about. Crossing her arms across her chest, she briefly clarified, "The kiss."

Parth was understanding that she was a little drunk – more than tipsy, but not drunk. He'd also figured that she wouldn't have brought up this topic otherwise. Knowing she was in a vulnerable position and that today had been already tough for her, he spared her more complications.

With a soft smile, he bid. "Good night, Maahi."

She glanced at the floor with a smile of her own on her lips. She understood what he was doing. "Night." She answered while looking up. With a last glance, he walked off in the hallway. She closed the door and locked it.

Turning, she looked at the living room and the couch they had spent the evening away at, simply talking. True, it was mostly her talking about the past three years of her life and it was his job, but it still meant something to her.

She hadn't openly shared this much to anyone in a long time. Due to Sonu, she had lost a lot of her old life and personality. She had overcompensated her lack of healthy marriage by working and having next to zero meaningful conversations with people. She'd grown a hatred for coming home and had started to look for excuses to stay at work more than home: always the first one in, the last to leave, never taking a leave - all of that.

Tonight, she realized she hadn't lost her touch. She was still the same person. She just had to get rid of the toxic in her life.

She went to gather the empty bottles and throw them out in the recycle bin under the sink before going to her room. It was when she went in the bathroom to brush her teeth that she realized she had spent the whole time dressed in a loose top she had cut out from the top two sizes bigger and shorts, with no bra. She hadn't been dressed for company, after all.

Oh, the embarrassment.

And yet, she noticed that not once had Parth glanced at her inappropriately.

It stirred a certain flutter in her heart and perhaps a butterfly in her stomach.

She shook her head forcing back the smile, hearing her phone buzz. With the toothbrush in her mouth, she walked in her room to check.

Nikita: I see you two had a long conversation.

She shook her head and typed back 'don't start' before throwing the phone on the bed and walking back in the bathroom to rinse out her mouth.

Nikita: What? Just pointing it out!

Maahi decided to not reply back knowing that if she did, she'd only be enabling Nikita and entertaining her thoughts. She set her alarm and called it a night.

༺༻ ༺༻༺༻

"Ms. Kaur, let's start by explaining to the court why you want this divorce." Parth spoke after Maahi had taken the stand.

"I'm stuck in a loveless marriage where my husband treats me nothing like a wife. For more than a year and half, he's been abusing me every chance he gets. He has a horrible anger issues and drinking problem. He's cheated on me twice, that I know of, and when I confront him, he gets violent. The first time, he threw things around, breaking plates and vases."

"And the second time?" He urged her when she took a slight pause.

"The second time was when he came home that night, drunk. He admitted he had met her and then came home when he wasn't satisfied."

"What were his exact words?"

"Um, I was asleep when he came home. I woke up when he started kissing my neck. I could smell the alcohol on him. I told him to go to sleep, but he said, 'I want more'. I asked him what he meant by that, if he had seen her again. Then he got angry, said, 'Bitch, shut up.' He held me down by pinning my hands over my head. He straddled me, started saying I can't tell him who to hang out with, that I should be glad... that 'she never could satisfy me the way you can.' And then..."

"I was drunk!" Sonu exclaimed.

Parth turned to him sharply, "And that gives you the right to assault your wife after waking her up in the middle of the night? Because you wanted sex?"

"Order." Judge Galloway banged his gavel and instructed, "Mr. Singh, you will have your chance later. Right now, Mrs. Singh is on the stand. And counselor, this is not a criminal case."

"Apologies, your honor." Parth retreated, reminding himself to not let it get personal. He needed to remain objective.

Alex walked into the court room and Parth noticed he had a file in his hand. Taking that to be his cue, he walked towards Maahi, "Yesterday, my opponent counselor brought to light that you were engaged to Mr. Singh during the wedding you attended before going to India. Is that true?"

"No." She answered, "For me, I was not engaged. I didn't learn of the promise my grandmother had made to him and his family of our marriage until after I visited India."

"So there never was a formal engagement?"

"No. Actually, the only reason I married him was because of my grandmother. She was sick and she expressed her desire to see me getting married before she would pass."

"You say she was sick. How sick?"

"Well, it was all a lie. It was all conspired by her and his family. Her doctor, his grandfather, helped her fake her very first heart attack. My mom and dad went to India to look after her when I was 18, and she must have thought she could get me married then. But, my dad let me come back as my college was ongoing. When I didn't visit for the next four years, and she realized she couldn't fake her illness getting worse, she tricked my parents again into thinking she wasn't going to survive more than a few weeks or months. That is when I went to visit her again and ended up getting married."

"Your Honor, before my opponent objects, here are the hospital records." Parth took the file from Alex and handed it to the bailiff. He spoke to Sanjana, "I apologize for not giving you a copy of this earlier, but as you saw - I too am just receiving this now. When my client informed that her grandmother was all well and healthy after three years of marriage, in fact, getting better, I had my doubts. I had a doctor here look at the reports, and his conclusions are included. I would be willing to bring him in for a sworn statement but I think that might not be necessary after looking at the reports. Your Honor, even if we disregard the abuse and infidelity, the conditions under which this marriage took place is enough ground for my client to request an annulment."

"This is crazy. Even if what is being said is assumed to be true, it is wrong to assume Mr. Singh knew of this!" Sanjana defended. "He cannot be held responsible for the doings of their grandparents. For him, this had always been a real marriage, and I assume until Mrs. Singh found out about this, it was true for her as well."

"What do you suggest then, counselor?" Judge Galloway questioned, starting to grow tired of all the different complications that kept cropping up.

"I request that the couple be given another chance."

"Object..." Parth tried, but Judge held his hand up.

"You'll have your chance to object later." He told Parth, and then directed at Sanjana. "Continue, counselor."

"My client is willing to get counseling for his drinking and he'll enroll in anger management course. He realizes that they let their jobs get the better of their marriage, and so wants to make amends by focusing on their marriage."

"May I say something?" Maahi asked the judge, who nodded. "I'm a mental health counselor myself. I work with family therapy and couples. Ever since we started to have issues in our marriage, I have tried to make it work using tools we normally use in therapy. And yet, here we are."

The judge nodded, "I hear you. Everyone, take a lunch break. You will have my ruling after."

Once they had stepped outside the court room, Maahi asked, "How does it look?"

He placed his hand on her arm and assured her, "It's all going as I've planned." Seeing Alex walk towards them, he forwarded his hand to shake his, "Thanks Alex, I owe you."

"Anytime, Ahuja. If you need anything else, you know where to find me." Detective offered his help before nodding at Maahi, "Good luck," and leaving to return to his job.

Nikita suggested, "Let's go get some coffee or snack."

༺༻ ༺༻༺༻

Everyone rose in the court room as Judge Galloway walked in and took his seat. Once the court was in session, he announced, "After hearing both sides, I have decided that Mr. Singh be given a chance."

"What?" Maahi muttered and would have stood up to argue if Parth hadn't stopped her. He placed his hand on top of hers on the table and gave her a sharp glance. She gulped down her protest and remained seated.

Judge Galloway continued, "I'm ordering him mandatory counseling for drinking and anger management. He has a month."

Sanjana asked, "And the restraining order?"

"To keep Mrs. Singh's mind at ease, I will keep that in effect. Mr. Singh is only allowed to be around her under supervision of either or both the counselors."

"Can I move back in our apartment or not?" Sonu asked pretending he didn't already live there.

"Like I said, only under supervision. We will revisit the case in a month. The court is dismissed until then." He banged the gavel and went to make record of that on official document.

Standing up, Maahi pulled her hand from underneath Parth's and walked out of the court room upset while Sonu held a smug look. Parth sighed and followed everyone out.

Nikita was calling her out, "Maahi, hold up. Just listen."

Maahi stopped and turned abruptly, raising her voice, "Listen?! To what, Nicky? One month! I don't even want to spend one more second seeing him." She started walking away again.

Nikita glanced at her brother, worried about Maahi. He blinked at her to assure her and then sped up to catch up to Maahi.

He came to stand in front of her, blocking her path. "Move, Parth." She glared at him. When he didn't, she attempted to walk around him. He moved to block her again. She glanced up, "What?" She questioned in irritation.

He tilted his head to the side, silently asking her to calm down. She huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. After taking in a deep breath, she reopened her eyes and gave him her attention.

"Didn't I say everything was going according to plan?" Parth questioned her when she was ready to listen. "So, trust me. You told me you weren't fragile, right? You put up with this for three years; what's a month more?"

She exclaimed, "The fact that I have to live with him for that month, scared of what he could do!"

He offered a smile as he broke down the details to her that she wasn't paying attention to while upset over the ruling, "Didn't you hear the judge, Maahi? He's only allowed around you with supervision. The judge may have ordered you two to live together again, but you'll never be alone. Remember a couple weeks ago I said I had to make sure the movers didn't break anything?"

She answered unable to catch where he was going with it, "Yeah, so?"

"So, that is where you'll be staying for the next month. He'll be there, but so will I and Sanjana. Now will you let go of that anger?"

She tried to make sense of it all as Nikita asked, "How did you know?"

"Guys like Sonu are predictable, sis." Parth explained, "I knew that everything we had was hearsay. He said, she said. The judge wasn't going to be convinced and easily grant a divorce. Especially Galloway. He has a pattern of caving and having the couples stay together to see if it can be mended before granting a divorce."

Maahi pointed out. "He has to know nothing is going to change in a month."

Parth nodded, "Yes, but it gives us the time to get proof. We need to find the girl he's cheated on you with. I've also asked my friend Arjun in India to get some information on him from there."

"Arjun? The one guy I met that once? He's in India?" Maahi asked.

Parth answered, "Yes, him. He's not a detective or anything, but he does have connections. He's there right now for a business trip. He'll find something useful for sure."

Maahi commented, "So I just have to survive one more month of seeing him."

Nikita tried to be helpful, "We'll all be here, don't worry. He's not going to hurt you anymore. Right, Parth?"

Parth backed it up, "I won't let him."

Maahi looked from one sibling to the other and seconds later, dropped her arms to her side, shedding her defensive posture, "I better not regret trusting you lot of siblings."

Nikita draped her arms around her neck and hugged from the side as Parth relaxed for the time being, having convinced Maahi it would all the alright.

He wasn't lying. Everything was going according to what he had hoped. He had the time he needed. The loft he had fixed up were installed with secret cameras. Now, he only needed to catch Sonu in act so Maahi could be free of him for good.

༺༻ ༺༻༺༻

【 author note 】

Beginning scene: ah! Hope you are enjoying their little by little progress! 

Parth's got some brain, huh? ;) If you are wondering why Maahi nor her parents saw through her grandmother's act before, then the simple reason would be that she is family and when it comes to them, we tend to be blindsided. We are not looking for them to be playing games behind our backs. Sometimes, when two people are too close to the situation, they have a difficult time pulling back and looking at everything through an objective lens to really understand what's going on.