Chapter 62 :

5 October, Sunday, 2025
9:30 a.m.

Anvaya's POV

"Here," Mimi slid the cup of my tea across the table, as she took her seat.

"Thanks," I simply muttered, taking the cup between my palms as I looked at Nitya, who's been staring at me over the rim of her coffee mug - eyes narrowed as she sipped on her coffee.

"Will you speak now?" I asked flatly, annoyed at her constant stare.

Nodding at me, she set down her cup and looked up at me. Then she pointed with her eyes at my neck and said, "Three days and it's still fresh. Are you sure he just bit and didn't take away some skin with him?"

I just stared at her nonchalantly.

"Like, you know, he's so obsessed with you that he might've taken some of your skin to not miss you much," she exclaimed dramatically, moving her hands in a way to look overdramatic.

"You look better while drinking your coffee. So just shut up, Nitya." Mimi hissed from my back, making me chuckle.

I looked down at my hands on the table holding the untouched cup of tea.

Thirteen days.

Thirteen days since my unemployment.

Almost two weeks sitting inside the four walls, moving on autopilot to carry out the daily routine and then sleep. Being a doctor might not be easy but I enjoyed my employed life. I enjoyed doing the job I'd dreamt of and worked hard for.

But now, I had nothing to feel happy about.

Mimi and Nitya worked hard to atleast make me smile but I could just force a small smile at them.

It wasn't easy.

I'd been trying to find a job but I was a fool to even think Viola would spare me the fortune to find another job.

In just one moment she'd turned my whole world upside down. Just because she felt her control slipping away from her husband, she decided to ruin whoever had become her husband's comfort.

I shouldn't have agreed to treat him in the first place. But I wasn't known to the future.

I might sound selfish but I care about my career too. I love him, yes. But for someone like me can't joke with their career. Many things buried deep were related to my career and I'd never dreamt of losing it. So at a point, choosing my independence over a love that makes me lose everything might as well become my priority.

Now I spend my nights wondering if I'll now remain as someone unemployed my whole life. I wasn't even thirty.

Whenever I think about the darkness ahead of me, no road to walk on, my chest tightens and breath shortens. I feel like I'm being choked and I can't even cry out for help.

Because people will eye me in disgust. They'll call me begging for sympathy. No one cared about my side of the story because at the end-I was just a commoner with a title I'd worked my ass off to earn.

Not like Viola.

Not like Kaaryaksh.

I do love him without any denial but I can't compare my career with my love for him. Both mean a lot to me.

Because my career wasn't just a career for me.

"Anu," Mimi shook my body vigorously, making me startled.

"Huh?" I asked, oblivious.

"We've been calling you for so long. Where were you?" She asked, clear worry in her eyes.

I shook my head, "It's nothing."

"It's not nothing. Don't try to fool us, Anu." Nitya said on a serious note.

"I knew this from the start. I knew Viola wouldn't sit back silently when her husband was having an affair." Mimi said in frustration.

I looked at her.

"Look, Anvaya, I don't want to be rude but honest."

"Regardless of whatever problems he had in the past, he's still legally married to her. As your bestfriend, I might've stood for you but the fear of seeing something as bad happening to you always lingered around me. She's obsessed with controlling him so she'll definitely try to cut off whatever or whoever he's getting engaged with just so as to not let him slip. He might be the one getting engaged but she'll blame the one being engaged with.

And here, you're her target.

I'm not saying to unlove him because somewhere, and somehow, he does deserve love. He didn't deserve what he got. But it wasn't your responsibility to give him that while risking everything you worked hard for.

And this career means more than just a job to you. You know that very well," she said. But the last sentence held more weight, that almost felt like a whisper from that past.

It almost took me down the memory lane I thought I'd erased from my mind.

But sometimes, some things don't erase. They stay. As a reminder.

I remained silent, but my body turned cold.

"Are you okay?" Nitya asked, gently rubbing my side arm.

I just nodded.

"I'm sorry, Anu. I didn't mean to hurt you," Mimi said softly, her voice draped in guilt. I shook my head.

"Don't feel guilty about it. It's the truth anyways." I sighed. "I just wanted to give him what I never got. But in that process, I ignored what I was inviting for myself."

"I know, Anu. She's a known personality so for someone like her, ruining someone like us is like dusting off her coat. She doesn't care what her husband needs. She cares whether she's getting what she needs. I wouldn't have supported this relationship between you two had he been cheating on someone honest.

Even this is wrong. Even this is cheating legally.

But emotionally, you two have found yourselves in each other. And loving isn't wrong. But this love, Anvaya, brings more damage than peace.

This love challenges money, power and control. Someone as powerless as us can't fight for long against someone as influential and rich as Viola. She can erase us like we never existed and still get away. I don't know till when Kaaryaksh can stop everything.

But love can't always win against money and power. Sometimes tables turn because life isn't a movie or a k-drama. It's reality and reality is far harder to fight against.

I'm not telling you to give up or let go of the love you've finally found. But, Anvaya, it's not very wise to love when all it gives is damage more than peace.

Just think about it.

We'll support you in whatever you decide. But be careful with what you choose."

Even though she stopped speaking, her words still rang in my head. Each syllable echoed like a reminder of what I'd been trying to ignore.

I understood what she said because those were the exact words I'd been thinking about in the last thirteen days. I wanted to heal him, love him, yes, but if that brought damage to me, then who'll be by his side?

If I got erased, who'll love him and find him peace?

If I decided to end myself, then who'll be there for him?

It sounded too selfish to even think about leaving him behind in the mess his own family started and how he was suffering. I didn't want to. I couldn't see the man I loved suffering all alone when I'd promised myself to hold his hand now.

I can run away from promises I made to him. But I can't ignore myself. I can't ignore the promises I'd made to myself for us. My thoughts will eat me out from inside until I'm hollow.

And then, I'll simply perish.

I don't even know what to do anymore.

It was all getting further too complicated and hard to decide.

Three days ago his touches had left their burn on my skin. Beautiful memory to my heart to reminisce about and smile. His comfort, his way of pleasing me, his kisses and his feeling-everything was like a permanent tattoo on me.

At overwhelming times, I did want to erase them all. I wanted to erase him and everything about him from my life. I wanted to ignore that he's suffering and everything.

Because I'm suffering too.

I'm also breaking. Yes, he's with me. He'll hold me if I fall but it's not all about just that.

It was also about my life. My everything I put into being a doctor. It wasn't easy. I did think about getting back to my old life after moving away from here.

Work. Earn. Eat and live.

No Kaaryaksh, no Viola, no love, nothing.

Just me and my life.

It might sound boring but after that night, I couldn't let go of my brain's survival mode. I couldn't help in shaking off the fear of falling in love again.

I might've been strong but I'm a human too. And I also get scared.

I also fear.

What should I do?

•

7:45 p.m.

"I'll be back soon," I yelled from the doorstep of our apartment, informing Nitya and Mimi about my leave.

I'm going to a convenience store for some shopping. Basically, we three decided to watch a horror movie because of my sour mood. I had no mood of doing anything because every now and then, I was reminded of my downfall.

The pain was too much to bear and that had dampened me from inside.

So they decided to go with my favourite theme in movies-horror.

"I won't even ask you to be careful because your man must be stalking you anyway," Nitya teased, smirking at me playfully.

"Fuck off," I said and walked away from there.

"Then stop blushing," she yelled making my eyes wide as I ran downstairs.

She was a literal shameless woman.

Shaking my head, I patted my cheeks because whenever I thought about him, my cheeks heated up. My pain was on one side and the undeniably growing love for him on one side.

People say that when you're in love, even through the darkest hours, you can smile thinking about the loved one.

Maybe I should've blamed him and ignored him because my downfall started with his involvement in my life. Had he kept his obsession to himself, I wouldn't have been like this. But again, was he really at fault?

He had suffered something he wasn't supposed to suffer.

So did I.

And then we met. Our intentions weren't even clear when we got deeper into this labyrinth of our emotions. But when we were deep into this mess, we realised.

And there's no turning back now.

I couldn't blame him entirely.

Sighing, I closed the gate behind me and turned around when a sudden tall shadow pulled me to the side, covering my mouth with their palm.

My heart almost leaped out of my chest, eyes wide in horror as I let out a muffled gasp.

And I could just imagine only one person at the moment.