"For how long are you planning to lie to me, Khushali? Don't you trust me enough to finally share your secrets with me, yet?"

Unlike all the previous times, Sidharth's voice was deprived of his usual liveliness. His voice seemed vanquish and doleful, which gobsmacked Khushali, who had never ever known this Sidharth, crestfallen and forlorn. The Sidharth she had known and loved, her husband of ten months, was not the broken man who was standing in front of her. It pierced her heart, to see the one man she had never believed could ever be weak and vulnerable.

He has to be strong, he can't shatter.

Yet, a glance at him, and it occured to her how selfish she had been, right from the start, to ever notice that her husband is fragile, too, that her husband was just a susceptible human. And each human reached this stage once in their lifetime where they could no longer put a fight against life.

"I u-understand that i-it was h-hard f-for y-you to t-tell the t-truth i-in front of o-others...but...please don't t-torment me m-more, Khushali. I g-gave up e-everything I h-had to g-give to y-you a l-life which you deserved, but I never knew it would leave me empty-handed. I don't have anything with me, Khushali, not even your love. Because I know, even after your c-claims of loving me, the matter of the truth is...you still love Sagar, not me. You've never loved me, everything was a lie. I don't fit anywhere in your life, I never did."

Although, his words stabbed her heart pitilessly, it was his voice, the broken look on his face, and the sobs that followed, which killed her, the wife in her at last taking the dominance. It hit her finally, the man she's had considered as the strongest pillar in her life—from who she drew her strength—could also break and become the weakest human with the most disconsolate and wrecked heart. And somewhere, she was to be blamed for it, too.

Without realising, she walked up to him. Her heart only wanted to comfort her husband, the man she loved more than anything in her life...much more than she had ever loved Sagar. She had to restore his faith in her love, in their love.

"Sidharth, p-please, don't talk like this. You know I love you, a lot. You're my strength. You are my world. You mean everything to me—"

"Please, Khushali, I don't want to hear anymore lies from you. My hopes are up now, please don't break my heart more. It's already in pieces," snapped Sidharth, jerking her hands off of his face. His voice, weaker than before. He had tried to control his emotions, but after months of suppressing his sentiments, it all had come out today.

All these months, he had kept quiet because he never had the strength to come face-to-face with his deepest fear: Khushali still loved Sagar. He had done everything in his might to make her love him, yet, he had been unsuccessful in making a place in her heart for himself. Perhaps, there's always a little selfishness even in the truest form of love that raises our expectations, which when unfulfilled, only leads to an inevitable heartbreak.

Brutally, something stabbed Khushali's heart, making her eyes glistened. She could not see him like this, he could not break. He was the one who made her feel sane, her strongest pillar of support. He wasn't supposed to be so miserable and woeful. Yet, she could not realise that there's a saturation point for everything, after which it's extremely hard to go ahead without breaking down. Sidharth had reached his saturation point, maybe she had, too.

"Sidharth, I'm not telling you any lies. It's all true, no fibs. I love you, I really do. You're the most important person in my lif—"

"More than Sagar?" he retorted rudely. There was a rage in his eyes, something that scared Khushali to her core. "I don't think I'll ever be anywhere as important for you as Sagar is, even when he's dead for three damn years."

He pushed her arms off of his shoulder and strode over to the balcony. Khushali repeated his action. She hugged him from behind, her arms wrapped over his chest. Sidharth struggled to back free from her hold, but Khushali's grip only tightened, which made both of them even more sombre.

"Sidharth, why are you comparing yourself with Sagar? Don't you know how much you mean to me, how much I love you?" she cried, burying her face in his back.

"No, I don't know! I don't want to know anything, either. I'm tired, Khushali," he retorted, stony-faced. "Ten months of marriage and it has still been the same ever since the first day. Sometimes, I feel you don't even want to let go of your past, you just want to continue this stupid act of loving me while your heart only beats for Sagar; just this way no one will ever push you to forget him, though even if that shatters my heart."

Taken aback with his words, Khushali's hold loosened. She could not believe her ears. Have I heard the right words or am I hallucinating, she could not decide. Sidharth was doubting her faithfulness, because of he felt she hadn't yet let go of her past.

Perhaps, she was yet to let go of her past completely, or was her past just not ready to leave her. Either ways, it was her who had to suffer. Her fate had put her into a dilemma, where neither she could win, nor she could lose without forcing herself to face another heartbreak by letting go of either of the two people who had loved more than her own self. One had been dead for three years, while the other was about to break. But how could she choose, when her own truth had turned into dirty lie?