Hum Bewafa - One Shot on current track

He forced Arpita back into his mind... she was crumbling, fading away from his memory. The very thought of being unfaithful broke him. It ripped him apart into a million pieces. It shattered his soul. He could never have imagined that he would face this point in his life. How did she -- how could she even dare to take Arpita's place? It was reserved for only Arpita, always, forever.

Yet, he couldn't remove Aarti from his mind. She was taking over his senses. Just thoughts of her left him with no opportunity to breathe. He thought about her more than Arpita, his soulmate. Aarti was succeeding in slowly extinguishing Arpita from his life and Yash realized it too. And it scared him. It scared him a lot.

How could he have committed such a grave crime? He was unfaithful. He was a horrible lover. He would never be able to meet Arpita's eyes again if they ever met in the afterlife.

Yash was a shattered man.

It hurt. It really did, because she knew she wasn't at fault. Yash was having misconceptions. She told herself that she wouldn't crumble this time... not like she did when Prashant left her. That time she had been completely devastated, but this time she wouldn't allow herself to go back. Destiny was giving her another chance to rewrite her past and this time she would rewrite it properly as a strong woman. She would not succumb to Yash, she would not apologize, and she certainly wouldn't cry.

Telling herself this didn't help though. She loved Yash, she really did... but what Yash blamed her for was not sensible at all. He accused her for sleeping with him. He told her it was a sin. They didn't commit a crime, they performed an act of love. And they were married! What hurt her the most though were those accusations that he hurled at her which made a mockery of her love. It was never her intention to sleep with him. She loved him -- that much was true, and she wanted to see him happy but she never ever had bad intentions. She, herself, had never even expected them to come physically close in Mumbai.

They had both been under the influence of bhaang that night, so how could he blame her solely?

Yash was fighting for his life. No, not fighting. He was giving his life away. He was allowing the other person to push him around and hurt him. He was permitting his opponent to snatch his life if he wished.

If she hadn't got Prateek's call that morning, she was afraid that she might have lost her Yash forever.

"Bhabhi," he had told her, "He's playing with his life. Only you can stop him. Please bhabhi, please stop him!"

Aarti didn't even give herself a moment to think. She left her house and ran towards the stadium. Her hair flew behind her as she ran. Her mangalsutra kept on bouncing off her chest, reminding her of her destination, motivating her to go on. She had to get to her Yash. She had to stop him. She couldn't lose him because she didn't know how she would be able to go on without him in her life.

Once she reached the stadium, she saw him bloodied up and bruised.

Prateek was waiting for her there. Upon noticing her shocked expression, Prateek grabbed her arm and shook it. "Bhabhi," he said urgently, "Please do something!"

She wasn't the only one hurt. Prateek had tears in his eyes. Aarti walked towards the stadium and held the rubber fence with one hand. Yash was right in front of her.

"Yashji," she whispered.

That was all it took. A whisper. He turned around and looked at her directly in the eyes painfully.

"Please stop," she begged, "Please Yashji."

She thought she was strong. She thought she was able to do this. But when Yash lost his will to live she was slowly being drained of her own will to fight back.

Aarti joined her hands and looked up at the ceiling. Please Ganpatti baba, you've always given me your blessings. Please don't stop. Please be by my side today... please Ganpatti baba, I really need your power more than ever today. I need to stop Yash. Please give me the strength.

Aarti heard a loud, painful noise being emitted from Yash, forcing her to look up immediately.

The person opposite Yash gave him a hard punch, causing him to spurt out blood from his mouth.

Yash had a horrified expression at what came next:

The blood flew on to her forehead and filled up her maang.

Aarti lifted her hand to her forehead and touched the blood, to make sure it was real. It was. Her Ganpatti baba had blessed her again. Although Yash looked terrified at what had just happened, Aarti felt her first pang of anger.

"YASH!" she screamed, not realizing herself that she left out the ji she had become so accustomed to. "STOP RIGHT NOW."

Yash glared at her, then advanced to the person he was fighting with. The person continued to attack him.

Anger filled her further.

"If not for yourself or me, then do it for your children! How can you be so irresponsible?" she screamed. "How dare you do this to our kids? What kind of father are you?"

Yash stopped in his tracks and turned around to meet her gaze.

"A bad one," he replied sorrowfully then turned back towards his attacker in order to further get hurt.

"You can't do this to them Yashji, you can't do this to your parent's. You can't do this to your brothers! Look at Prateek! Do you have no shame? You can't do this to anyone! Yashji you're responsible for four children!" she yelled, her voice resonating off the walls of the room.

Suddenly it felt as if the whole room started to spin around. "Yashji, you can't do this!" she managed to get out again. "You're getting another chance to be a good father -- please take it! Please don't let this go either!"

Aarti couldn't make out his next expressions because darkness engulfed her right at that moment.

She woke up on a hospital bed in complete darkness. A shadowed figure loomed by the door, looking hesitant.

"Yashji," she whispered, feeling relieved that he stopped fighting.

"No Aarti," the voice said, "It's Aman."

Aman... Yash wasn't here? Was Yash okay? "Aman, how is Yash? Where is he? Is he okay? Aman tell me!"

Aman smiled sorrowfully at Aarti. "Yes, he's fine. The doctor said you'll be discharged in the morning. Get some rest."

Then he left.

When Aarti awoke the next morning, Yash was beside her with his face tattered and bruised.

"Aartiji, you're coming with me," he said. "The kids are already home."

Confusion was etched on Aarti's face.

"I haven't forgiven you for the sin you have committed Aartiji," he told her.

"What sin Yashji?" she asked in her defense, "What sin have I committed? What have I done to deserve such hate from you. We both decided to get close that night."

"The sin of leading me on this whole Mumbai trip. The sin of trying to get physically close to me. The sin of getting me drunk to fulfill your own desires. It isn't only about that one night Aartiji. It's about your bad intentions."

"You're coming home with me. I can't leave you alone while you're pregnant. The baby is mine... my responsibility."

Aarti knew that he would look at her baby and consider it a paap, a sin, just like he considered their love to be one.

"No," she said flatly. "I'm not going to come home with you."

"You can't keep me away from my kids any longer Aartiji," he told her. "I promise I'll try and be a good father to them."

Aarti nodded. She believed in second chances. She didn't know what the future held in store for them, but she did know that she had not lost yet -- she would make sure her Yash realized his love. She would remove any idea from his mind that the fetus growing in her womb was a sin. She would make sure he realized that he took her and her unborn child back home as a part of his heart, and not just as his responsibility.