Chapter #10 - TEASER
...Trusting others has never been a strong suit of mine.
...But at one time, I wanted to believe in the possibility that there were those worth trusting.
He had inserted an image here: one of a younger Shaurya...minus the facial hair and most of the insolence. One could see in his eyes that he wasn't the hardened man back then, that he was now. His smile: so youthful, so optimistic was a true one. And it was evident that it shone solely for her: the woman he held in the side embrace, who looked as happy as he did, as she stared adoringly up at him. Her profile was instantly recognizable: Shruiti.
Mehek shook her head. The woman had no idea how lucky she was, to have known the unspoiled version of this man. She scanned further down to continue reading the message that had been sent to her.
...I wanted to believe: desperately.
...But life had other things in mind for me it seemed. Perhaps I wasn't deemed worthy enough. The pretender who had entered her world, who brought his faults that had made him less commendable in her eyes than the true son of the family.
Another photo posted: of his cousin Vicky applying vermillion to the hair line of the woman that Shaurya loved. Mehek studied the photo. Perhaps, she thought, to have kept both images for so long, he still did love her. She blinked and turned away from the image, drawn by the poignant tome Shaurya had been inclined to write.
...Had it been squarely for those reasons alone, conceivably I would have been better off, believing these to be faults that I could correct overtime and overcome. However, this was not the case, for the woman who I considered my soulmate was too much like the man who adored her: industrious to a fault. Only her path was for immediate wealth and the easier path the better. And what better way would there be than to lay claim to the heir presumptive, and avoid the struggle she would have by choosing the cocky upstart?
...Imagine her surprise when things were not as they appeared at first glance. How prettily she pleaded for forgiveness, for the renewal of our association: it was love after all, and I had given her my heart to her keeping. Fool that I was, I had not even asked for its return as in my naivety I believed it was with her it belonged. My declaration seemed a prison sentence for so long, but it turned out when it came to the crunch, that even the scruffy orphan had a moral code.
...It was a painful lesson and one not forgotten. She wasn't the last woman in my life, but I was prepared the next time, and the times thereafter. Women became commodities, and I was under no illusion that any one was more estimable than any other. I was callous, and cruel and although I'm sure that one or two good ones may have been hurt in the fray: that was not my problem. It was simply the risk they would take being associated with Shaurya Khanna.
... I've been called heartless, more often than not, but it never affected me to any extent. It was my truth. In a harsh world, who needed a heart? In my mind, it was gone and good riddance. Surely, that was a good thing, for without the superfluous emotion associated with the damnable organ, there would be no risk of a repeat of the pain it can bring.
...A more damaged man there probably has never been.
...Nor a man more wrong.
...It may have hardened, but it seems my heart has been here all along...functioning and yet dormant. Waiting for one it deemed worth beating for again...
my favourite!! Handsome you have hope 😳 
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
Book Talk
