Tanya's POV:

It felt like someone had pushed my head inside water. I was gasping inside, unable to breathe properly. Every single breath hurt.

"Tanya", Shweta shook my shoulders, making me come back to senses.

"Do you know, Naina?" She asked again.

"No, she just looked like someone I know", I lied, praying that my lie would actually come true.

I fake laughed, all merriment vanishing from the air. I didn't want them to know that something was wrong, so I kept up the act.

"Let's take a selfie, to remember this day", I suggested.

In the name of selfies, I took a couple photos of Naina as well. I had to confirm whether she was really the person, I thought her to be. And also texted Trisha to send the photos of the festivals we celebrated years ago. Naina was ought to be captured in one of those photos.

Maybe, just maybe my luck would work and she would turn out to be an another person with a same name. My eyes could definitely betray me, after all, I had met Naina only two times in my whole life. I snorted internally at the hopeless miracle I prayed for.

After coming back home, I spent the whole hour, desperately trying to find any difference between the two photos.

'When has ever luck worked out for me?' I thought sorrowfully. They were the same, except the obvious aging.

I paced around the couch, trying to find a solution for this. After all these years, she had to come back in our lives.

I couldn't decide whether to inform Raghav about this or not. I was aware that Raghav was still in love with her. Heck! He never stopped loving her.

He must not know but I had seen him crying silently and reading their previous chats at night, for the past week. The only time he didn't do that, was when he returned at midnight from work. Probably that was the reason why his family supported him even when he went down the road of destructive workaholism.

Telling him was the righteous choice. He deserved to know that, after all the years he had spent in searching Naina. But then other thoughts ran through my mind.

'What if gets back together with her? What if he breaks our marriage? If given a choice, it was obvious he would choose his lost love over a marriage of convenience'.

We had just started to get along. However, a little step towards friendship was too small compared to the love and longing of so many years.

Not telling him would be a betrayal. How could I do that to a man who saved me from an abusive man? How could I be so selfish? If I didn't tell him, then I would be forever buried in guilt. But if I did inform him, then what about our marriage? What about my family? They were fully dependent on this marriage. I couldn't just abandon them.

I had to think of something in between. Neither Raghav nor my family should get the short end of the stick.

★★★★★

Raghav's POV:

I came back home to see Tanya sitting on the couch, covering her face with her palms.

When she called me in the afternoon, she was so excited and I had assumed that she would be more happy after meeting her childhood friends. But something had clearly went wrong.

Shit! Did her friends give her a hard time over her father's arrest? Yeah, that must be the case. After all, her friends in our home town had done the same to her.

'Hopefully, she has just covered her face and isn't actually crying or else I am doomed. I have no idea on how to console her. Raghav, snap out of it. You have to atleast try. You cannot just leave her to cry over something that wasn't her fault'.

"Tanya", I called out.

She uncovered her face and looked at me in alarm. Looks like, she didn't hear me come inside. Thankfully, she wasn't crying.

"Ra..Raghav", she stuttered, looking tensed.

"Hey, it's okay. Everything is going to be alright. Don't mind their words if they couldn't trust you over some rumors. You have done nothing wrong, keep your head high", I tried to build up her lost hope.

I, myself never had to go through the pain of losing friends but I had seen Rishi face all this when his secret of being gay was revealed. This was just as painful as any heartbreak. But I wouldn't let Tanya feel alone in this misery.

My idea backfired. After listening to me, she started sobbing. What had I done? Instead of helping, I made things worse.

"And I was thinking to betray this man", she mumbled to herself in disbelief.

"Huh?" I was beyond confused now.

She looked at me, her eyes glistening with tears.

"I cannot hide this from you", she spoke looking determined, trying hard to look confident when it was clear as a day that she was broken from inside.

"Just promise me that you would continue to finance my family until I find some other solution. Please promise me that you won't abandon my family after you break our marriage".

"What are you talking about? Why would I break our marriage?"

Something was wrong, much more problematic than what I had assumed. Tanya was scaring me with her words and her fierce eyes.

"Promise me first", she ordered.

"Okay, okay. I promise", I surrendered, letting her take course of conversation.

"Naina", she uttered, making me gulp.

"Wh..what about her?" I asked hesitantly, not knowing what to expect.

"She...she lives in this town", Tanya answered, looking like she had lost the fight.

I stayed silent, too shocked to come up with anything. After all these years....

"Don't you dare back out. You promised to support my family. I know you still love Naina and would go back if you are given a chance. I understand okay and I won't even stop you but please, please give me some time to find another solution for my family. Please...", Tanya blabbered on and on in worry.

Her words were burning me, making me go mad with fury. But one good thing happened because of her blabbering, I came out of my shocked state.

"Yeah, you are right. I still love her", I spoke, causing tears to fall down from her eyes.

"But I thought by now, you would have also known that I respect you and our marriage", I continued, making her look at me with shock and relief.

"You aren't getting rid of this relation. So, stop making stories in your mind", I spoke in a calm yet furious tone.

This was the end of my strength and hence, I ran towards the room and shut the door with a bang. Just so that I could cry freely on my fate.