The hush in the air prevails as he comes and sits down infront of me. Almost a week has gone by since I saw him. He looked weak, his eyes are red and there are dark circles under his eyes. Looks like someone is not sleeping?!

I take him in as he sat down before me. I honestly don't know how I survived without talking to him this long. I know it's been just a few days but not talking to him is like holding my self, my thoughts, my emotions back and locking them on a mental prison. He......became the air I breathe that I don't think it's possible for me to stay away from him.

I just kept on looking at him who has his head down and wait for him to speak. But when I realised that he needs a kick start I speak up.

"How are you?" My voice came out soft, mixed with so many emotions.

He closes his eyes and inhale deeply as if he is taking a breath for the first time. He opened his eyes and in a flash he pulled me in a hug. We clung to each other so tightly feeling each other so close for the first time in so many days. I inhale his musky scent and instantly I feel home.

He pulls away and started peppering kisses all over my face all the while muttering "sorry" I just let him do that. I know he needs this. I know how his inner turmoil is killing him. I can say that much from the look on his face. Afterall I am his wife.

He finally stops after giving a long kiss to my forehead and says "I am sorry babygirl......I didn't mean one word I said to you that day. I was a jerk, an asshole please forgive me" he said looking at me with a lot of pain.

I smiled at him gently and cupped his cheek

"I forgave you long back Arjun. I was hurt and still am but I understood why you did that. I just wanted to tell you that you can take your time but you didn't listen and shouted. I forgive you but I certainly won't forget it because I never want you to repeat that. Sure fights can happen between us but that doesn't mean you can go on shouting when there is no fault of mine. You have to keep it under check" I explained to him in a soft yet firm tone. He held my hand in his and kissed my palm.

"I know and I am so sorry baby" he joined his forehead with mine and took a breath. He then looked me in the eye seriously and said "I think it's time we talk about the matter I have been dodging"

"Arjun we need not talk about it if you are not comfortable. I figured that it is much more bigger than what it seems. And I know how hard it is to share something which is very painful. You can take your time Arjun" I said squeezing his hand in assurance.

"No Adira I have to. It's high time. And I trust you babygirl. I want to tell you what.....my past is. It's just I guess........I am scared that you will hate me if you get to know how........what I did" he said looking away his face emotionless and cold yet I could sense his pain.

"Arjun I can never hate you. You are my Arjun. And let me be the judge of it" I said trying to reassure him.

He was silent for a few minutes before taking a deep breath and started...

Remembering them is hard...so hard that my whole body hurts but I have to speak.

"I, Shaurya, Arhaan and Abhay were always together since I remember. We were like the golden tribe. We always stuck together through thick and thin. I never thought anybody could come between us but the she came around. Her name was Anjali. She was a ray of sunshine. Always bubbly, cheerful, and always used to look out for people around her. She was an orphan and came to our university on scholarship. She was straight A student, much more brighter than her age. We didn't get along first because I was the straight A student in my class before she came and we used to clash against one another making it a competition. One day I and the guys fought with a group of frat boys who didn't used to get along with us. They were trying to harass Anjali and we fought with them. We took them down but we had injuries and she took care of us. She did our first aid and she even had the nerve to slap us on our faces for being stupids and fighting with them" I laughed remembering that incident.

I looked at Adira to see her looking at me intently listening to every word I am saying.

"Slowly we started getting closer and closer. Me and the boys always had each other but we four had this urge to have a little sister. And we saw Anjali as our little sister and made her our family. In very little time she became our little sister, our princess. Even Mom and Dad thought of her like their own daughter. We five became closer and closer as the time went on. Then came the person whose mere presence disgusts me into our lives. Viraaj Raichand, the son of a big industrialist. He was a new student and Anjali being the soft hearted person she is welcomed him into our group. We were weary of him first but then with his good guy acts he won us over and became a part of our group. Soon Viraaj and Anjali became a couple. It came as a shock to us. I was the only person who knew Anjali had a crush on Viraaj though she tried to hide it. She always confided in me. I was her secret-keeper as she calls it! Then when they became a couple we were surprised and downright became so protective of her. But, we saw how happy she was with him and we gave them our blessings. Our first mistake. Time passed by and then came our last semester. Dad was facing problems in the company and we didn't know why. I started helping out dad and even the guys accompanied me since our dad's companies our merged. We started spending less time with Anju because we always used to stay at office trying to come up with new ideas and projects. One day Anju came to meet us at the office for lunch. I noticed her being nervous and fidgety. I asked her what was wrong but she didn't reply. The guys also noticed it but she denied saying she was just nervous about college. We bought her lie and then she started distancing herself and we were too busy with office we didn't notice" I remembered when we didn't used to hang out like we did before and a familiar pang hit my chest.

*Abusive content ahead so read only if you are comfortable*

"Time flied so fast that we didn't realised that it was the end of our semester. Our company was in huge loss and we still didn't know the cause which was making me feel pissed off every single minute of every day. Dad was also not well and that only added to my stress. One day I was working on a case file and I was pretty pissed off because of all the losses we are facing and Anju came to the office that day. She tried to tell me something but I brushed her off saying that we can talk later. When she again tried to talk I snapped at her for disturbing me. My biggest mistake. She looked so pale and so weak but I was in so much tension about dad's work that I didn't realise it. Later that day when I went to her house with the guys to apologise to her I found her door open strangely. I opened it wide to see her house in a mess. And Anju is not at all messy person. We called her name but we got no response. We panicked and went to her room to see the most horrible sight. She was lying on her bed naked, with bruises all over her body. Her wrist was cut and there was an empty bottle of sleeping pills beside her body" I paused trying to breath and looked at my wife to see her frozen on her spot with tears in her eyes. I rubbed her hands in assurance which I don't know was for her or me.

I took a deep breath and continued the reminiscing the painful days of my life.

"We immediately covered her up and took her to the hospital. We literally put the hospital on fire demanding the doctors to save her. But she was too far gone............ Doctors did an examination and said she was abused...... Infact she was literally beaten. And you know who did that? It was that bastard Viraaj who I thought was perfect for my sister. I gave my blessing to him to pursue her. I am her murderer....." Tears poured out of my eyes on their own accord. Tears I so adamantly kept in. Adira took me in her arms and I sobbed uncontrollably letting out all the pain I kept in all these years.

"That bastard and his father were the reason behind our losses. He became close to us and got information of our company and when Anju started realising it he became abusive towards her and started gelling her the way he wants. But the day Anju got to know and collected evidences for us, he got to know that and brutally and beat her to death. He forcefully fed her sleeping pills and cut her wrists to make her die. What he didn't know was that she collected evidences for us and stored them in our house in a spot only we know. It was our secret spot. She wrote about everything and how he is a psychopathic monster and all he wanted was to make us crumble. She even took a video clipping when he was hitting her. We took her letter and the evidences to the police and he was arrested along with his father and their company was totally shut down. Viraaj was put in jail and was sent to therapy but somehow with his dad's influence he got out a few years later and since then he has been covering his tracks and went into hiding. He knew we were after him and he started hiding. Now he is out for revenge because I made him go to jail. He blames me for his father's death who hanged himself in his house after a few days after getting out from jail"

"It was my fault Adira....if only I didn't brush her away that day. If only I had been a good brother. Even in the letter she wrote she told us to not blame ourselves. Even then she was thinking of us. And I am the reason she is dead today" I stared ahead blankly remembering the worst mistakes of my life.

Adira couldn't stop crying. I took her in my arms and held her as she cried hard. She calmed down after a few minutes and turned to me cupping my face in her soft hands.

"Arjun don't blame yourself. This is not your fault. You didn't know. Yes you should've been more involved but you didn't do that to her. You didn't know this would happen and never wanted it to happen. You are not a murderer Arjun. You are just a guy who made a wrong mistake at a wrong time. And I am sure she doesn't want you to blame yourself" she said staring into my eyes seriously as if trying to get her point across my mind. I just closed my eyes trying to control my tears.

"I wish you could meet her. She is just like you. Beautiful, smart, kind, cheerful. You both would have been best friends" I said looking at Adira smiling slightly.

"I wish I could meet her too" she whispered laying her head on my chest.

It feels so good to be able to open up to her. She makes me feel worthy and she makes me feel good about myself.

"Where is he now?" Adira asked sitting straight. The mere mention of him is enough to get me tensed. I sighed.

"I don't know. He is here in Mumbai because he was the one who....poisoned you but that bastard know how to hide really well. We are still searching from him"

I balled my fists gritting my teeth trying to contain the anger inside me.

"You will find him Arjun and you will give justice to Anjali" Adira assured me keeping her hand on my shoulder and kissing my forehead.

At this moment I am so grateful to have her in my life. To have her beside me.

*****************************************

Anjali

Viraaj Raichand

These are the characters I imagined for Viraaj and Anjali. Hope you like them!

So.....................the big reveal! I never knew Arjun has such a tragic past. My heart goes out for him and I just want to kill Viraaj! What do you guys think? Do let me know!