Getting an impromptu day off was not difficult for the woman with the Midas touch in the fashion industry. Hordes of directors and producers waited for her dates, as did the fashion designers at the pinnacle of exquisite and novel designing. But Ashna Agarwal remained untouched by the fame that kissed her shadows and the success that whispered sweet nothings in her ears.

Sandeep had vanished after confessing how his heart had turned into a container of a poison that had devastated her own heart. Remorse gnawed at her conscience for her inability to rescue her friend from the abyss that had once consumed her. How she wished she could push him out!

That inviting abyss - garlanded by the most alluring flowers with the most tantalizing fragrance - had claimed more willing victims than any other vice. Was it for the lack of escape or for the lack of the will of the inmates to escape that they remained imprisoned? She knew not.

Her husband had let the implication of her disloyalty slip through his lips several times in the past. In the public, amidst friends and well-wishers, amongst the most ardent of her fans - there wasn't one whose admiration and goodwill for her had not dwindled upon meeting her husband.

She wondered which was worse - earning the tag of 'infidel spouse' through actions amounting to infidelity, or living with the tag because she had held onto her pride, which stopped her from correcting her suspicious husband.

She stared at her face in the mirror, bereft of any makeup, reminiscing about one of the most regretful moments of her life - the night when her addiction to alcohol had gifted her the tag of 'disloyal'.

"What the hell is this, Ashna? How could you? I didn't expect that from you."

Aniket pointed at the newspaper, showcasing her intimate pictures with the producer of her previous film.

"Aniket, it's not what you think," she said, tears stinging in her eyes as she struggled to keep her composure and stand for the truth. "I need you to listen to me once. I will explain everything."

Aniket strew the paper across the room, rattling Ashna. "Was it consensual or not?" He asked, trembling with fury, which reached the zenith.

"Aniket..."

"Did he force you or drug you into it?" asked Aniket, pushing her away as she tried to hold him by his biceps.

"Aniket, please."

The pleas of Ashna had fallen by the wayside. "Yes or no?"

"No," she said, conceding defeat, unable to hold her tears, her composure, and her own frustration any longer.

"That was all I needed to hear."

"Only if you had allowed me to complete my answer, Aniket. How I wanted to explain he did not need to force me or drug me, because I was already drunk and he could have his way with me. Like he had before our marriage - that dreadful night - as a price to establish me as an actress."

She had a sigh on her lips. "He thought I was the same - desperate to be the 'next big thing' of Bollywood - and ready to try crooked ways for the same. He didn't try to learn that nor did you try to learn the truth."

The drift caused by the article had diminished when the producer accepted that he had taken advantage of her. But the damage was done, and her fate was sealed.

The circles of their mutual friends declared her an unfaithful wife. Hushed whispers and mocking stares followed her, instead of clamoring praises and glances of admiration. The burden of the title and an urge to dispel the loneliness with the presence of her friends pushed her to accept the many invitations as a date to her industry friends' events in dissent with their disdain of her without knowing the truth.

She didn't know that she had collected the wood for the pyre of the relationship she held onto for her sanity.

___________________________________________________________

She wore red, his favorite color. It was the same color of pain as it was love. She thought it was only appropriate if she dressed up in his favorite, just as she had gotten colored in his hues; be it of love or of pain.

She was a wreck, thinking of all the answers she could expect from him. However, she remained thankful he did not leave her hanging for an answer.

was it a sin to offer to step outside the confines of a marriage? She knew better than to deny the immorality of her proposition, but what was love, if not the lord of sins?

When Shipra hadd said that the affectionate pediatrician would lose everything, irrespective of his answer, she was correct. His refusal would shatter her, but spending a night, being the mother of his child, and then abandoning them, without the formal recognition as the mother of the child would scar her soul without relent.

The man of her thoughts had arrived. But unlike the times in the past, his presence caused anxiety to grip her heart.

Without saying a word, Aniket joined her at the table. He had spent the previous night without a wink of sleep. He had tried to revisit his memories to recollect if his dear friend had ever dropped the hints of her amorous feelings for him and the lightning struck!

She never hid her love for him. Be it helping him bunk classes to play cricket, or helping him decide a gift for Ashna, or offering her shoulder when things had gotten rough, she had done it all with a smile.

"Say something, Aniket. To the one who had fallen in love with the way you have with your words, silence could be the cruelest way to die," she said, bringing him out of his thoughts.

He looked at her intently, trying to find any sign of malice, or a mischievous glint in her eyes, but it pierced through his heart to find agony in her eyes.

"What... what were the others things about me, which made you... fall for me?"

As she let herself go back into the past, she had a small and weak smile on her lips. "I found myself attracted to you before I knew about your relationship status. There was an aura of decency around you. Even when they couldn't see anything but darkness, you would light up the room and cheer for your friends. Somewhere, whilst admiring your compassion and confidence, I lost the reins to my heart."

He did not want to taking away his loyalty from the unfortunate equation with Ashna and lose his right to grieve over what remained of their relationship. Tables would turn, the fingers pointing would shift, and while the offer allured and enticed him, he did not dare to brave the storm that wreaked Ashna.

"I don't think I have it in me to accept what you proposed, Ritz. And I take my offer back. Also, I think it is your right to know I won't present this offer to anyone. You are one of the closest friends I have. I know better than to suggest that you move on, but please, don't wait for me. Allow someone to love you as you love me. Maybe that will bring you out of the vortex of anguish, and it would save me from drowning into the ocean of remorse. Please adhere to this one request of mine, Kriti," he said, emphasizing on her given name to denote his seriousness.

"There is almost nothing you can ask that I would deny, Aniket. If this brings you contentment, I will try, but I cannot assure you of success."