⚠️It's heartbreaking that how some people call themselves author and then go on stealing others work.

My story is being copied. Please help me bring it down. You will find the copied version on khushiMehar2809 ⚠

Aarav's pov
"What is this ? A community meeting ?" Groaning in chagrin, my gaze moved from a very annoying Mishti to Ishan with a punchable face.

"Can't be. Your entire face screams of 'not to-gather'." Flashing his ever so goody-two-shoes smile, Ishan quipped in. In the meantime, Mishti's laughter echoed through the screen. Traitor for sure.

I rounded the table and snatched the chips packet, which Ishan just tore for himself. Ignoring his look of incredulity, I sat back behind my desk as I munched on the chips. Now this feels good.

"Off the fight. Let's analyse the remaining chances of your ass getting divorced." I dismissed her with a flick of my fingers, my back slumping further comfortably against the chair.

"I'm not getting divorced."

As I munched on another chip, the crunch sound wavered Ishan's attentive posture. Picking one I forwarded it in his direction and seeing my approach his eyes narrowed suspiciously. He hesitated for a moment however his resolve crumbled on my encouraging smile. As his fingers were about to reach it, I pulled it back before happily savouring it.

"Delicious."

His entire face appeared snared, his teeth gnashing together. "God wouldn't forbid you."

That made amusement dance in my eyes. "Who cares ? I certainly don't."

Huffing in irritation, he looked away and I smiled in victory. Out of the blue, Ishan kept a cardboard box on the desk with a bang which led to some of the stuff from inside to jump out. As my eyes fell on the crumpled origami bird, my smile vanished in thin air and my jaw ticked.

"This doesn't belong to me." He slid the box further my way and inadvertently my hands went to hold it before it could drop down.

Blazing red sizzled through my veins and my hold tightened around the box to hide the trembling of my hands. My gaze, thronged with incendiary and blinding fury, met with Ishan's as I growled, "Then why the fuck do you still have it ?"

Ishan looked visibly shaken from my sudden skyrocketed temper yet maintained a calm composure. "Deepti had them. I thought I should return it back."

He instantly bottled up when my agitated gaze pinned him down. The air in the room shifted.

Under the table, my fingers fisted around the origami bird. My thoughts, even when I tried to restrain, drifted towards Rhea.

It's been around five months since that incident but there's still moments when my mind gets plagued by the memories. Where I end up thinking about whatever happened, about her and about the unrealistic possibilities if I could have stopped it. If I could have had it all. Where I didn't have to lose anything or anyone.

How ironic it is that her name meant both flow and flightlessness. She used to throw a fit that her parents purposely named her that.

From my peripheral vision, I noticed Ishan shifting uneasily in his place since he must have sensed the change in my demeanour. And that was my cue to divert my mind.

These five months have been the longest I've been away from her and I intend to keep it that way. For the sake of Mish, for our future which I'm working my ass off to weave with togetherness. This is what I fucking want yet it's one of those rare moments where while being selfish, in back of my head, guilt is trying to slither up.

"Aarav" Mishti called out, her voice soft and discreet. Through cocked brows, she gestured to me to calm down. And I did. Taking in deep breath, I looked away momentarily, before facing them back with my mastered facade of nonchalance.

"What about Mishika's father ? You said you were going to give him some signed papers." Seriousness was evident in her voice, urging us to get off the previous topic.

"The papers went in waste." Pausing to take a glance of their curious peering gazes, I continued, "My efforts didn't."

"So, uncle approved ?" Ishan proed, his tone calculated.

"Let me quote it for you two shits." Royally ignoring their glares, I cleared my throat animatedly while I tried not to think of my sour mood. "He said it wasn't his place to ask for something like that. With some warnings, he told me he would approve of whatever Mish decides."

The air rumbled with Mishti's deafening squeals that overpowered Ishan's soft claps who had an impressed curve marring his lips.

"You better keep her happy."

On instinct, I was about to respond with a snarky comment, nonetheless held back. Just for this once. Only for the sake of my wife

"Finally I feel relieved." Signing out loudly, she began slurping on the mojito. "You better not fuck up again. No one will be coming to rescue your ass again."

My lips stretched into a grim line. "Why do I feel like you're obsessed with my ass ? Isn't your boyfriend's good enough ?"

Loud "eww" echoed through the screen and from across the table. Meanwhile I took delight in Mishti and Ishan's disgusted gagging expressions.

"You aashole." She screeched and I gave her a knowing look. And at this point she looked at the brink of executing my murder.

"Let me find someone else for Mishika because you'll be getting killed from my bare hands."

A smirk pulled up on my lips. Planting my elbows on the desk, I leaned closer to the screen. "Even my ghost will continue to haunt her until I incarcerate her soul."

Both of them made faces at my words, not seeming to be deeming how serious I actually was.

I would do anything possible in power to have my thoughts surmount her thoughts, settle into her dreams and nightmares like forbidden fantasies. In the darkest ways. So corrupted that she would strive to cloak it but wouldn't be able to curb it.

The purest hearts are always destined to be preserved in the devil's inferno. And hers is mine.
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Mishika's pov
His arms came around my shoulders and the next moment I knew I was being pulled against his chest.

"Are you feeling exhausted, Honey-eye ?" Brushing the hairs away from my forehead, he asked the same question for the upteeenth time.

We were taking a stroll in the nearby park from my house after I sneaked out soon after dinner with mumma's permission. And my hunch says papa isn't unaware.

My periods just ended this morning and he has seen how much toll it takes on me.

"You never told me what you talked about with my father the other day." My question only earned a nonchalant shrug from him.

"Did he say something ?" He pried in his hoarse voice, his gaze thronged with curiosity.

"Not really. He asked the same. About my expectations with this marriage."

I stopped since suddenly he paused, his intense gaze boring into mine. "And what did you say ?"

"I_" Biting on my inner cheeks, my fingers drew circles above his heart. "I told him that my in-laws are waiting for me. And it would be rude to make them wait longer."

The smile on my lips, with a gasp, was captured between his lips. As the initial surprise wavered, my lips naturally moved against his in their own nonsynchronous motion.

"Should we go and pack your bags ?" The contagious excitement palpable in his demeanour settled a warm feeling within me. And I had to duck my head low in order to hide the smile threatening to pull on my lips.

He ushered me on the nearby bench and once I was seated, he asked me to wait before retreating away.

Getting myself comfortable, I let my gaze surf through the dark sky, where the grey clouds were creating a camouflage of their own. It's intriguing, something so bright, filled with light like the moon looks so splendid astrayed in the swirls of the dark twilight. Like the forbidden soulmates.

Within a couple of minutes, he returned back and was now holding a bottle.

"Here" I looked at him questioningly as he forwarded the bottle towards me while sitting next to me. "This is pomegranate juice, sweetheart. Took me a while to get it right."

"You prepared it yourself ?" Inadvertently a smile bloomed on my lips when he scratched his neck, avoiding my gaze. Is the devil flustered ?

"You should add more iron-fortified foods in your diet, baby. Which reminds me that I've got your diet chart prepared from your doctor."

I blinked in utter surprise, my gaze now fixed on his visage, whereas he was busy searching for the said diet chart in his phone. Heat crawled on my cheeks when suddenly his eyes met mine, catching me staring. And a teasing crescent formed on his lips.

"You don't get to act all cute and not expect me to get flustered." I exclaimed, hiding my face behind my palm. If embarrassment had a face.

On natural reaction, my body trembled even on his simplest touch when his palm cupped my cheeks.

"I could have lost you to death not once but twice. And the mere thought haunts my nights, tormenting my days. I've lost Arshu and I'm not losing you."

He spoke, as if entwined in the whirlwind of his own thoughts. My mouth parched witnessing the troubled look in eyes, which reflected more evidently in the jiffy when his mask slipped.

Keeping my palm over his which was above my cheeks, my other palm found its way to his cheeks. "I'm fine, Aarav."

Without a word, he effortlessly ventured me in his embrace, his chin resting above my head. And the soft night breeze and comforting tranquillity enveloped us around.

"Aarav" He hummed, his fingers caressing through my hairs. "Who is Arshu ?"

I felt his body stiffening against mine, crumbling the peaceful bubble around us and his hold tightened on my waist.

His hold tightened further, ceasing my actions when I tried to take a glimpse of his countenance.

"A friend ? Or cousin ? Or_"

"Baby" Upon his abrupt intervention, my eyebrows drew closer in confusion. "Our baby."

Colour drained from my face, those two words resonating in my ears like deafening sirens.

"Honey-eye_" Abruptly I jumped away from his embrace, taking him off-guard.

My fist clenched at my side. The dilemma between my heart and mind, which I always strive to keep buried in the forgotten depths, resurfaced.

"Why ?" My voice trembled. "Why would you think of it ?"

"I don't know." Came his voice, like a low whisper, chording along the breeze. "I don't have a fucking control over these thoughts or the strom brewing inside me or the plaguing feeling scorching at my bones."

The air which felt peaceful moments ago was now suffocating me. The attachment in his voice was too crystal clear to be shrugged off. And for this instance, I wished he had kept on his mask, hid his real feelings like he usually does.

"I would have opted for an abortion if not for the miscarriage. You know that right ?" My own words left a bitter taste in my mouth. And I noticed his body turning more taut.

His lips parted but words never came out. Instead, he moved closer to me with calculative steps nevertheless before I could realise, I had already taken a step back.

"Sweetheart, let's talk this out."

And I took another step back. "I don't want to." I can't. "Please."

That was a phase of my life that broke me and built me simultaneously. There are many memories that still haunt me, thousands of thoughts that make me feel guilty yet I confide in them. I never knew I had it until it was snatched away from me.

There wasn't enough time for me to feel about it, or to think about it or to grow some sort of connection with it. It was gone before I knew it. The guilt for thinking to kill something innocent makes me hate myself but even now, I don't think I could have been prepared for any such responsibility.

For as long as the baby was inside me, I had no sense. And by the time the realisation dawned upon me, it was already gone. And there's a 'between' among that, where I lost it while I was losing my life bleeding to death. And the between is more impassively wrenching than the after or before.

My entire body jolted as his fingers swaddled around my wrist. "Fuck, sweetheart. It was my fault. I shouldn't have mentioned_"

He didn't finish that, although in his gaze, I saw a silent plea, a desperate urge and the unmasked vulnerability. However my own insides were in havoc.

"I'm sleepy." Muttering that, I pulled my wrist out of his grasp. "I shall head back." Without waiting for another second, my shaky legs hurried back. And I left.

Chapter Words- 2153

The emotional turmoil I wanted to pen down in this chapter has kept me on edge. Reviews please.

Thanks to the reader who let me know about my work being stolen. I hope you guys will help me and support me same in further too 🥺🤧

Signing off
~T.R