Gavin and I both turned around and my heart stilled when my eyes met with the owner of that voice.

There stood Aisha, with her phone in hand and a smug smile on her face.

"Excuse me?"

I know I didn't do anything wrong, but deep down, a gut feeling was telling me that she would falsely accuse me of doing something with Gavin and then tell Jai about it.

Her green eyes glimmered ferociously as she stalked towards me.

"You heard me, bitch."

Gavin interjected after hearing her verbally attack me.

"Alright, that's going too far." He grabbed my hand, and looked down at me. "Let's go," he said, tugging me along with him as we began to walk away from her.

I heard her scoff as we walked past her and she menacingly yelled out, "Fine then, walk away. Jai's gonna find out about the skank you really are soon!"

I shut my eyes tight, preventing myself from letting tears slip from the insults she sprung at me.

"Just ignore the psycho," Gavin told me, looking back at Aisha in disgust. He then glanced at me, his eyes frenzied. "Some chicks are just crazy."

My chest felt constricted at the thought of what Aisha would say and do. Though the position we were in must have caused suspicion to anyone, I knew the real truth, and so did Gavin.

And a part of me hoped Jai believed us, too.

All the happiness I had felt before disappeared and I unintentionally tuned out all the questions that were being asked to me by Gavin.

"Hey," he said, softly as he brought me towards his car. Gavin placed a hand on my cheek gently. "Just forget about her. You know what really happened, and if Jai–who I'm guessing is your husband?"

I nodded, unable to speak, which went unnoticed by him as he continued to speak. "Well if he's a sensible guy, then I'm sure he'll understand and ask you for an explanation instead of assuming the worst."

He will do the exact opposite of what you're saying Gavin.

Instead of voicing my thoughts, I faked a smile and nodded at him. I appreciated his attempt at making me feel better. He did have a point but it didn't apply to Jai.

Somehow finding the courage, I wrapped my arms around his waist and hugged him, whispering, "Thank you," before letting go.

He chuckled and rolled his eyes playfully. "You know, you can be pretty silly."

"Hey!" I protested, light-heartedly as we got into the car. "I have my reasons."

"To why you're silly? I'm sure you do."

With a chuckle, we got into the car and drove off. Though I had briefly pushed the situation to the back of my mind, the closer we got to the house, the faster my heart was beating.

My palms were sweating and as I talked to Gavin, I couldn't help but notice that I was fisting my shawl and outfit.

Though we were talking, I couldn't hear anything except my own heavy breathing and soon, we were parked outside the house.

"Thanks," I rushed out, politely smiling. "It was really nice seeing you again."

He ran a hand through his wild blond hair, his blue eyes shimmering brightly in happiness.

"Yeah, same here."

I smiled and turned to leave. "Wait."

I turned back around and he was clenching his steering wheel, his knuckles turning white as he chuckled nervously.

Tilting my head, I waited. "If you want to, maybe we can do this again?"

I was hesitant on that idea but I nodded anyway. I was in desperate need of a friend.

"Of course! I'd love that," I said kindly, causing him to grin at me. We both bid our goodbyes before I began walking up towards the house.

The sound of his car retreating and only leaving a cloud of dust in his wake, gave me some sort of relief, but I still couldn't help but dread the journey into the house. I didn't know if Aisha had already sent the photo to him or not.

If she's sent it, then all I need to do is tell him like it is.

I straightened my shoulders and walked, almost stiffly, towards the door and went inside as I unlocked it.

Shutting the door as gently as I could, I bit my lip as I peeked inside the kitchen to see if Jai was there.

I let out a sigh of relief when I didn't see his figure anywhere. My eyes then spotted the light in the living room, so I let my shoulders relax and decided to tip-toe up the stairs in order to avoid him.

I can't believe I have to resort to hiding from my husband now.

I almost felt petty and as horrible as Aisha said I was.

"Karishma."

That voice made my back straighten and the hairs on my body to stand on end. His voice was stern and rough.

I turned around, and found him staring at me from the bottom of the staircase. He had his big arms crossed over his chest which was covered by his white t-shirt.

"Yes?" I asked casually, trying to seem as nonchalant as possible.

There was a pause after that.

"Did you have a good time?" he asked eventually, his eyes almost penetrating through my soul as he patiently waited for my answer.

It was unsettling because he never seemed like the patient type.

I nodded, hesitantly whilst I played with my shawl, trying to keep a straight face.

It annoyed me that he was prying into my business when he restricted me from snooping into his.

"Yes, it was really fun."

He raised an eyebrow and the corner of his mouth tilted up into a small, bitter smirk.

"Interesting." He scoffed in disbelief. "I don't know what else I expected from someone like you, to be honest."

Those words struck me deeply and painfully.

So he saw the photo...and he doesn't believe me? But why would he? He doesn't even know me well enough.

"I—" I wanted to defend myself and to tell him what really happened but I refrained.

It wasn't any of his business. Plus, I didn't do anything wrong that I had to explain myself. If he thought otherwise then it was more his problem than mine.

Jai's amber eyes suddenly turned black with fury when I refused to answer.

I wanted him to understand but after everything he'd done, I didn't want to have to justify my actions if he didn't either.

We were leading separate lives, just like he wanted, so his anger puzzled me.

"So you're not even going to try and explain why you're such a hypocrite?" he spat, bitterly.

I ignored him and walked down the stairs to head towards the kitchen instead of going up as I had originally planned.

But I was stopped when he grabbed my elbow and spun me around, keeping me in place by his tight grip on my arm.

"Let go of me, Jai," I warned through clenched teeth. I was on the verge of kicking him and shoving him away.

Not that he would budge.

He was glaring at me with so much anger and hatred that I stopped struggling; I was frozen in my shoes.

"Judging from the way you accuse me of cheating and then do it yourself," he leaned closer menacingly whispering to me, "says a lot about you."

"I didn't accuse you of cheating. You are cheating. I know you can't stop your feelings, but still. You could have refused this marriage or even run away with her. You didn't have to get married to me—you had nothing to lose by rebelling. I did. I would lose the only people that I ever cared about."

He clenched his teeth. "That's not what this is about."

"You know I'm right."

"You're not. What you are, is pathetic," he spat.

I rolled my bottom lip in between my teeth in order to prevent myself from crying up a storm. His words hurt—but I wasn't going to reason with a beast like him.

"Well then this pathetic woman isn't going to tell you anything. A judgemental prick like you doesn't deserve an explanation," I unknowingly spat.

My original plan of ignoring him had gone down the drain, and it was too late for me to take it back.

I stepped back as he took a step closer, but since I was flat against the wall, I couldn't. Basically, I was trapped.

"What?"

"I said, you don't deserve an explanation," my voice shook wearily, but I swallowed my fear down and looked up at him with confidence.

He raised an eyebrow at me, judging me with those furious eyes of his.

"I think I do, Karishma. You act like a saint, getting upset and distressed about me cheating, but when you go do it, it's alright, huh?"

"So you believe everything that you see?"

"It was a photo of you in the arms of another man—are you telling me that it's fake?"

His hands made its way onto my forearms and he held me in place, making me struggle in order to get rid of his hold.

"Let go of me!" I tried to shove his hands away but he just gripped me tighter.

The tears I was holding back began to spill and my body shook with cries.

"I said let go!"

"No," he stated.

"You're hurting me," I snapped, tears gathering under my lids.

His eyes still remained cold and harsh, but his grip on me had loosened slightly.

"Thank goodnesses for Aisha, huh?" he continued, staring at me, before letting me go. Jai then stepped back and walked away to the living room, not looking back once.

I stared at his retreating figure with hatred and anger, wanting to do nothing but scream at the unfairness of it all.

But a part of me was scared of the consequences and of what he could do.

A man's strength was immensely different and I didn't want a repeat of it again.

I don't think I could handle it if that happened again.

I slowly walked up the stairs and closed the door behind me. Sliding down the door, I covered my mouth as I sobbed.

He's a just a beast. A cruel, cheating, rude beast.

***

Several hours had passed, and I opened my eyes, only to be engulfed in the darkness of the guest room that I had stayed in.

My cheeks felt dry from the tears, and my eyes stung with the pain of crying too much, hours ago.

A thump on the door made me jump, but I stayed silent, knowing well and truly who it was.

Every time I was alone, I would always assume that I would be targeted again, like that night, but I knew that as rude as Jai was, he would never do that.

Or would he? I had thought the same thing about him and I turned out to be wrong.

"Come down and eat." Jai's demanding voice came from the other side.

His voice was low and throaty making me well aware that he was a fully grown older man, capable of many things that I was not.

The thought of him doing cruel and violent deeds, flashed through my mind, but I tried to shake away the horrible image.

Fear clawed at me but I swallowed it down. Not hearing my reply, Jai knocked harder.

"Karishma." The resentment in his voice was very clear. "Are you going to say something or should I assume that you're dead?" he dead-panned.

I just snuggled into my bed more, closing my eyes and ignoring his existence altogether. I wanted nothing to do with him as he brought me nothing but pain.

I did kind of want to try to make this marriage work, but he wanted nothing to do with me.

Now, I was starting to want nothing to do with him as I was hating him more and more each and every day.

Maybe, if he was a sensible man, I would have been open to explaining what truly happened so he didn't see me as a hypocrite.

And if I opened up now, he would never believe me. Jai would only believe the love of his life, obviously so there was no point.

"Bloody hell," I could hear him whisper in an aggravated tone. Raising his voice so I could hear, he said, "Honestly, I don't give a shit if you eat or not, but on paper, you're my wife. I don't want to get arrested for starving you, so if you don't open this door in five seconds, I'm going to break the damn thing down."

I rolled my eyes but sat up, internally a little intimidated. I didn't doubt him doing what he just said he would but at the same time, I didn't want to back down. So I sat there, biting my lip and contemplating on what to do.

"One."

His threat didn't seem fake; Jai was a fairly tall, muscly man, so it sounded like something he would do without any hesitation.

"Two."

I was surprised he didn't hit me or throw me down a well—he seemed like the type to eliminate people who got in his way.

"Three."

Would he actually to break it down?

"Four."

Not wanting to risk the door being broken down, I opened the door just as he finished counting up to five, and saw him leaning against the door frame, his face expressionless as he stared back at me.

"About time."

Without saying anything else, he turned on his heels and strode away, leaving me to slowly walk behind him and down the stairs.

Looking inside the kitchen, I saw two bowls of pasta. I stared at him, questioningly.

"Cut it out," he snapped, causing me to quickly look away.

"What?"

"You were staring."

My eyes slid to the side. "No, I wasn't."

"Yeah, sure," he said, dismissively and impatiently. He pushed past me and towards the dining table. "Just eat, for god's sake."

Looking down at the other bowl, my eyebrows furrowed.

Did he buy this for me?

As if he knew what I was thinking, he spoke up in a monotonous tone, not looking at me.

"I bought it because you were out with your friend."

"Why?" I asked, despite wanting to keep quiet.

He sighed as he stared at me blankly. "I just told you why."

"No, I mean, I could have cooked dinner."

"Well, I thought I'd be nice for once and let you relax." I stilled at his words, and he smirked at me, spitefully. "Looks like I shouldn't have bothered, though, huh?"

I frowned, my fists clenching at his words before looking away. I sat down at the kitchen counter instead of being at the dining table with him.

Jai glanced at me with an expression that displayed boredom, before he went back to eating. The whole area was engulfed in silence, but Jai didn't seem to care.

For some odd reason, I spoke up.

"I don't understand."

He glanced at me for a few seconds, his face expressing irritation, before looking down at his bowl as if that was more interesting.

"You don't understand what?"

"I don't understand why you're so mad at me. You're saying you can have a lover and that's okay to you, but I can't hang out with someone else?"

All of a sudden, he stood up from his seat so quick, the chair scraped against the tiled floor. The force caused the chair to bump against the table and the bowl of pasta to fall on the floor and break. 

I winced at the sound and stepped away as he stalked towards me. Getting out of my seat, I went to run upstairs, but he grabbed me by the waist and pulled me against his chest.

I tried to push him away and get the hand that was wrapped around my waist, off, but he was too strong. Spinning me around, he brought me closer to his chest, his hands wrapped firmly around my waist.

"The difference between the both of us is that I'm honest."

"Did I or did I not tell you about my lover?" he pressed. I remained silent as he continued. "Did I act on my love for her? Do you see me physically being with her, like you were with that guy?"

"I wasn't doing anything remotely sinful! I was just talking to him and I happened to fall and he caught me."

Without even thinking I had explained everything to him, the one thing I refused to do.

But I admit, I was desperate for him to believe me. I didn't want a false image of me circulating through his mind when he already despised me.

"As if I would believe you." He scoffed with a harsh glare.

I was never one to insult and get angry, but Jai was bringing out the worst in me, and I couldn't handle it anymore.

"Well if that's how it's gonna be, fine. You can lie about not physically being with her but I saw you two embracing each other that day!" I burst out, causing Jai to raise an eyebrow.

"Who did you see me embracing? And when?" he asked plainly, as if it didn't bother him. He furrowed his eyebrows at me. "Care to enlighten me?"

"Aisha."

He stared at me. "And did you see me hugging her? Kissing her?"

I was stuck.

So, I ended up stuttering.

"You were saying things to her."

As soon as those words left my mouth, I knew I dug myself in a hole.

"So you were spying on us."

"No, I just happened to overhear you when Ross and I came up to get you guys."

"Alright, fine. What things do you think you heard?"

"That you were in love with her and—"I stopped myself from continuing but Jai had other plans.

He smirked at me, victoriously. "And what?"

"And," I sighed, "that you can't be with her because you're married to me."

He let go of me, seemingly satisfied.

I shut my eyes tightly for opening my big mouth and being so foolish.

There should have been a part of me that should have known that this would have backfired.

"Exactly." He sighed and ran a hand through his dark hair. "Look Karishma, the fact that you're a hypocrite is what pissed me off, not because you're cheating on me. If you weren't so against extramarital affairs then I wouldn't have cared that you were with that guy because that would mean I'd be able to be with Aisha. You accused me and prevented me from being with someone because of your views, and so you going against said views, really pissed me off."

"But that would only apply to me if I really was cheating and I'm not. You only think I'm being a hypocrite because you think you know what you saw when you don't."

"Then I could say the same thing to you," he snapped.

"But I saw everything."

"That's what you think, Karishma."

I was furious at this point.

What I was most upset about was the fact that he was putting me in the same boat as him—an emotional cheater. I would never cheat on anyone and he claimed he wouldn't either.

He's clearly just a liar.

I exhaustingly reiterated my statement. "I wasn't cheating on you."

There was a long pause, before he let out a heavy sigh.

"Fine."

When I said nothing, he rolled his eyes.

"So are you going to explain or are you just going to stand there and cry?"

He was giving me a chance to explain?

I was completely stumped by that. He had literally argued with me but now he was willing to let it go?

It just made no sense.

"But that—that means you believe me?" I asked incredulously as I looked at him.

Jai's eyes roamed over my face, studying me before he said, "Well, I have to hear what you have to say first before coming to that conclusion."

Ignoring his last words, I decided to explain. "I was meeting up with Gavin, Ross' brother," I began, slowly. "Gavin and I met back in Goa and we became friends. He had given me his number but I felt uncomfortable at first so I threw it away. But then I met him again."

I looked up cautiously. Jai didn't say anything, just stared at me with his arms crossed so I continued.

"That day, Ross gave me his number again so we could hang out and catch up."

After a minute of silence, he shrugged nonchalantly.

"Yeah, alright."

"Wait, so you suddenly believe me now?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Should I not believe you?"

"No, that's not–!"

"Calm down," he