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After having a careful and stressful week, all I ever needed was a good sleep and since it was a weekend, I dared to wake up very late. Immediately after waking up, I rushed up to get freshen up as I need to prepare breakfast for him.

From what I had heard, Indra used to spend his weekends with his parents before our marriage, so it would be a day off for Sita ma. Hence, I told her to follow the same thing, I would need to take the duty of cooking for today.

With that thought, after freshening up, I changed into a simple salwar and headed towards the kitchen, not before taking a look at his door. Though the door was closed, I dare not assume that he was still sleeping because of my past experiences.

Entering the hall, I slowly peeked at the surroundings, and finding it empty, I sighed in relief before marching into the kitchen.

As sita ma always stocks up the kitchen with all the ingredients and she already told me which was placed where, I wasn't a stranger to this kitchen. With the familiarity, I grabbed all the ingredients to make some waffles as the batter was already there in the refrigerator.

Suddenly I paused in my actions when I heard the shuffling sounds from the dining area and turned around to see that he was dressed casually and was taking his seat in the dining area. He didn't even take a glance at me as he started flipping through the newspaper.

Looking at him, going through yesterday's newspaper which he already had read during yesterday's breakfast, I presume he still didn't want to talk to me.

After our tiff in the car that day, we neither glanced at each other nor spoke a single word with each other. It's like some kinda cold war was going between us.

Shaking my head to bring myself out of that thought, I lifted my head to look at the waffle maker that was placed on the uppermost shelf of the cupboard. Seems like he didn't have much use of it as they placed it at that damn place.

Placing a hand on my waist, I stood on my toes to reach it. After so many tries, still I couldn't reach it even given my good height. Huffing grumpily, I was about to give up and look for a stool but before I could do so, my nostrils were assaulted by my favorite yet familiar mint fragrance, and my back got pressed to the sturdy chest.

Knowing very well who it is, I lifted my head to take a look at his face with a stunned expression and as if his earlier actions were not enough, he took me by surprise by wounding his arm around my waist. As I was still looking at him, with my big surprise-filled eyes, he tightened his hold and pressed me more into him by turning me around in a swift motion.

Then he too matched my gaze as if he wanted to capture my soul just like he did with my heart and slowly brought his other hand to caress my cheeks softly as if they were so delicate and I would get hurt if he gave more pressure.

"Yuktha!"

He called out my name with so many emotions swirling in his eyes. No anger, no blame, no hurt. None of those emotions were there except for the same emotion that I always possess whenever I look at him and the realization gave a shock and I averted my gaze with a fear that I might be mistaking everything.

But as soon as I averted my gaze, he held my face and made me look at him again.

"Can we not do it anymore?" Understanding his words, I looked at him in surprise.

"Can we stop fighting with each other? I will forget everything that happened on our marriage day. Whether it's a truth or a trap. I will forget everything. Let's start afresh. Somehow we got stuck in this situation. Let's face it together."

Hearing his words, hope rose in my heart and my eyes instantly teared up as I started nodding happily. He too smiled at me and hugged me tightly.

"But before doing that, can you be honest with me and tell me everything?"

Listening to this, I stiffened in his arms as my smile got stilled.

"I don't want to start our relationship with the lies. So please confide everything to me. Whatever it is, I won't judge you and if you need some time, I am willing to wait for you to open up but I just need a confirmation that I would get answers from you." He said and looking at his expectant eyes and assuring words, my throat clogged with a lump as I detached myself from him.

"Wait in the dining room. I will bring the breakfast soon." I told him with a blank tone as I refused to look at his hurtful expression.

"Do you not trust me or do you not want to trust me?" Though his voice was cold, I could still sense the hurt in his tone.

'No. I don't trust myself. I don't find myself worthy enough for you to share my troubled past." I thought without turning my back as I resisted the urge to let out the sob that was threatening to escape my mouth.

"Answer me. Then I won't bother you again hereafter."

As I was about to open my mouth to say something, suddenly the doorbell rang.

Hearing the ringing, I took a hesitant look at him and made a move to open the door after grabbing a scarf from the hanger.

Adjusting it around my shoulders, I opened the door and lifted my head to have a look at the person but having taken a glance at that person, I got petrified and took a step back hurriedly as his name left my mouth.

"Ikshith!"

"Hello, sweetheart!"

I shivered at his endearment and composed myself after assuring myself that he wouldn't pull any stunts in front of Indra.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him coldly as he smirked at me.

"Woah. Won't you invite me in?" He asked while welcoming himself in.

I turned to take a look at Indra who wore an expressionless face and looked at Ikshith coldly. Sensing the tension in the air, I faced Ikshith.

"Ikshith, please leave," I asked him as he shook his head with a smile while looking at Indra.

"You are that Sudha's son..right? Now it's fucking thrilling." He chuckled while coming to stand in front of me. Noticing his actions, I took a step back and looked at Indra to see him fisting his hands.

"You won't mind lending your wife to me for a while na. After all, we are brothers. So let me borrow her. I will drop her here safely soon once I am done with my business." He said while holding my hand.

Hearing this, Indra's head snapped in my direction as he looked at me with a scrutinizing gaze and his eyes got fixed at my hand which was in Ikshith's hold.

"Do you want to go with him?" He asked me calmly and I would have shouted my lungs out if it was for his threatening hold.

I slowly nodded at Indra, conveying that I wanted to go with him as I was afraid that if Ikshith stayed here for a minute more, he would just worsen the situation.

Seeing my response, he walked past me silently not before saying," I guess, I got the answer to my previous question." He said while taking a last look at Ikshith before leaving us alone.

As I was looking at his retreating figure with the tearful eyes, Iksith started dragging me out. Once we were out, all his previous playful demeanor got disappeared and he tightened his hold on my wrist, making me his in pain. Ignoring it, he glanced at me with no emotion and threw me into his car harshly once we were downstairs.

"Ikshith, what are you doing? Hey..where are you taking me?" I was so scared when he suddenly started driving.

"Iksith, please slow down," I begged him when I saw him driving so furiously without caring about anything.

Looking at his reckless driving, I got so frightened as my whole face got drenched with tears of fright.

"Stop the car. Please stop it, Ikshith. I beg you."

My eyes widened when I suddenly saw him driving the car towards a wall in an isolated area. Frightened I covered my ears and closed my eyes before exclaiming his name that I was so used to with, from our childhood.

"Ikshu!"

I shouted, still shivering while expecting myself to be crushed into the wall along with the car but the expected pain didn't come as the whole surrounding was filled with silence.

Opening my eyes slowly while panting, I glanced in front of me, only to see that he stopped the car just a few inches away from the wall. Placing a hand on my frightening heart, I peered at him, only to see him sit still in his place as his knuckles turned white due to his tightening hold on the steering wheel.

Looking at calm composure, all my fear turned into anger after witnessing the death from so close.

"Are you crazy? If you wish you to die. Just go ahead and do. At least we will be spared of the monsters like you but why drag me along?" I shouted at him as my chest was heaving up and down due to the lingering fear.

"Give up on your shares." Instead of responding to me, he said words calmly which ticked my temper even more.

"Over my dead body. You made my life hell just because of those shares. You turned my dreams into nightmares. You made me hate myself. Still, I put up with all those sufferings. For what? To claim my dad's company's back from the monsters like you. So wouldn't all my struggles go to waste if I give up at this point?"

I don't know where I got this confidence from. Maybe I was pushed to the extent that I care none now. Except for my life, I have nothing to lose. So why not fight a little?

"Ammu, please give up on those shares." Hearing him using this name after so long, I looked at him in surprise and saw that he was having a defeated expression on his face.

"Ikshith, tell me what made you turn into this? You are not my Ikshu. You are no longer the person that I could trust within a heartbeat. What has caused you to change like this?" I asked him softly, forgetting all the grievances he put me through.

Again his expression got hardened, after listening to my words as he looked at me with hatred.

"You better give up on those shares willingly. Otherwise I can't guarantee you the consequences. You may not care about your life but you do care about the lives of others. Most importantly if you want your little secrets to be safe from your husband..oops my lovely brother, you better obey me like you always do."

"Are you threatening me?"

"No, just letting you know of the consequences."

"Such a bastard you are. Till now, I never retaliated against you even if you had tortured me like hell but if you dare to touch anyone that I care with my life, I won't stay silent. I will drag you and your dad onto the road. Trust me, I am truly capable enough of doing it. The only reason why I bore everything so silently was the fact that we were a family but I guess, I should start differentiating between the snakes and the swans. Not everyone will become our family just because they are related to us."

"And don't try to use the love I have for my husband against me because you never know the power that a person gets from loving someone. Trust me, they are damn scary."

For the first time, I redressed against him and I was feeling so relieved to know that I could still do this. Now, to be honest, I don't care about the aftermath.

Hearing my words, he didn't do anything except for thinning his lips.

"Get out." After a while, he spat out as I did what he asked me to do with a winning smile.

'Is this how it feels after standing up for ourselves? If yes, I loved this feeling.' Despite not knowing where exactly I was, I was still smiling happily without worrying about it.

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