Later that day as Anjali was putting her clothes away her eyes fell on her diary again. She put the clothes aside and slowly reached for the diary. It had been a gift from her brother on her sixteenth birthday. She had made some happy and some sad entries in it. Some of her most private thoughts were locked in that diary. But at the moment she was more interested in the envelope sticking out of it.

It will be Rakshabandan in few days, and this will be the fourth year when she won't be able to tie the Rakhi on her brother's wrist. This is the fourth Rakhi that has been returned to her without even the envelope being opened. She went back to her closet and placed the envelope with the three from previous year.

She opened her diary to the page where she had made an entry four years ago.

Dear diary, today I lost my brother. I never thought he would turn his back on me, or believe someone else over me, but today he proved me wrong. He left me to go to America with his wife, stating he would never return. I don't know where I went wrong.

Anjali wiped the lone tear from her eyes. God knows she had never tried to come between him and his wife, but he, along with his wife, chose to believe whatever they were told by her aunt.

Her aunt had left no stone unturned to create distance between her and her brother.

First sending her away to college, then when that did not work and Anjali came back, she told her brother and her father all about what happened at college. Even that didn't stop her brother from defending her and saving her from her father's temper.

When things calmed down, and Anjali started attending local college, her aunt once again saw her chance slipping away from her, so she talked her father into marrying Anjali off to one of her older, divorced nephew. Her brother had figured out why their aunt wanted Anjali to marry one of her relative. Her aunt was aware that Anjali would inherit substantial amount of money once she turned twenty-five years of age. Their mother had left all her wealth in Raj and Anjali's name in a trust fund. Each was to inherit the money when they turned twenty-five.

Once her brother met the would be groom, he had outright refused the alliance, going so far as telling his father that, if he forced Anjali, then he would take her and leave home forever. Her father had immediately backed down. He couldn't stand the sight of Anjali, but he adored her brother.

Her aunt hadn't given up though, when she couldn't get Anjali married into her family, she turned her attention to Raj.

Her brother met Nisha at a party, and they instantly fell for each other. They dated for six months before he introduced Nisha to the family, and that's when they found out that Nisha was related to her aunt.

Anjali had been very excited that her brother was getting married. She had looked forward to getting to know her sister-in-law, and becoming friends with her. Things had gone well for a while, but then her sister-in-law started accusing Anjali of always trying to come between her and Raj. No matter how many times she tried to assure her sister-in-law that it was never her intention to come between them, her sister-in-law had not believed her. She complained to Raj with lies about Anjali, telling him that Anjali was mistreating her because she was jealous of her.

Then her sister-in-law had claimed that Anjali had been responsible for miscarriage of her baby. She claimed that all the stress that Anjali gave her and always fighting her on things caused the miscarriage. She also told anyone that listened that what can they expect from her, but bad luck, after all didn't her mother die after giving birth to her. And on that day even her brother had looked at her with accusations in his eyes.

On that day Anjali's worst fear had come true, even her brother started to believe that she was the cause of her mother's death. It was because she was manhoos, all the problems in the family were happening. Her brother never said anything, but the look in his eyes said all. She had been unable to defend herself against that look.

A month later he decided to take the job with an American company and left for USA. She wrote him letters, sent him Rakhi's but were all returned back to her unopened. She stopped writing him letters, but still sent him the Rakhi's, hoping that someday he would accept one.

This would have been her last Rakhi to him, in few months she will turn twenty-five and get her inheritance and she will be free to live her life like she wants to.

She needed to speak to Aditya about the divorce. She could not go on like this forever. After her brother left, her aunt had once again tried to get her married off, but she always said no to the boy or made up some excuse to not get married. Her father would get angry and throw accusation at her, but by then she had learned to stand up for herself. Whenever they mentioned marriage again, she told them since she was the manhoos, she didn't want to ruin anyone's life by marrying them, and if they still insisted she meet the guy and family, she told them how when she was born, her mother died, and the boy or the family would back out.

Then on that fateful day she met her Ramila aunty at a charity event, and for some reason, she couldn't share that story, when the proposal came. When she had seen the proposal was for Aditya she had been relieved, thinking he is never going to marry her, but he had refused to back out, claiming it would break his mom's heart if she refused. After thinking about it for a long time she had agreed. She had been tired of dodging her aunt. She had more than a year to go before she could claim her inheritance so she agreed to the marriage of convenience. She had told Aditya about the inheritance, and requested to him that if at any time he wanted to back out of the marriage, to at least wait until she could claim her inheritance.

She stood up and went to the window. Here they were almost a year into their marriage, and Anjali had been unable to win him over. She didn't know why he married her if he didn't trust her. She would miss the Mehta family, but she needed to move on. She was tired of people always rejecting her. She wanted to leave Mehta House, before they too find out that she is flawed and not worth of their love and cast her aside also. She would not be able to take their desertion without falling apart.

She needed to do something soon. Now her aunt is attempting to get her cousin Riya married to Vishal. She couldn't let this proposal take place. Riya will destroy Vishal's life. She is just as selfish and greedy as her mother, and her cousin Dhaval was also the same.

Her aunt wanted to get Riya married to Vishal and then suggest Dhaval for Kajal and Anjali wanted to stop that at any cost. She glanced at the clock and saw that she needed to get ready for the shopping trip. She decided to put everything aside for now.

*~+~*

Aditya glanced at the clock one more time to be sure he didn't get involved in something that kept him from meeting everyone at the mall. He had put his plan in motion to catch the person who was trying to cause problems for Mehta construction and also stealing from them. He had his suspicions, but wanted solid proof before he confronted the person.

Now he can devote his time to his family. It's been a long while since he had relaxed with them. Past few years have been spent bringing the company back on top.

His thought went back to that morning and Anjali. He wondered if she was feeling better by now, he should call and find out. He reached for the phone then sat back again. What would he say to her? He would probably shock her and make her feel uncomfortable. Again he wondered what has her so tense lately. Is it something to do with her inheritance he wondered? She will be turning twenty-five in few months, and he had a feeling she would try to ask for divorce after that. He will need to work on their relationship before it was too late.

Her father has been ill for last few months also, could that be the reason why she was worried all the time? Then he thought about it and realized no that could not be it. From what he learned about Anjali in last eight months, he knew her relationship with her father is not close. Then there was her brother, in college the few times she mentioned her brother it was always with love, but now she never mentions him and he was not even at the wedding. At the time, the excuse they had given regarding her brother's absence was plausible, but now he had to wonder if that was the truth.

Aditya Mehta, you need to get to know your wife, and no time like present to start. He glanced at the clock and buzzed Vishal to hurry otherwise they would be late in meeting the family at the mall.

His phone rang just as he was about to leave the office. He grimaced at the caller ID and picked up the phone. "Yes, Anita what is it?"

Anita was his previous executive assistance, and seem to can't get it through her head that he was not her boss any longer. He had transferred her to their other headquarters with one of the marketing officers, but she is always calling him with one complaint or another and begging to be transferred back.

Once again she was calling because her boss had yelled at her for a misplacing the file. He wished she would quit, it's not like she needed the job and she was not even very efficient at her job anyways. Only reason she had worked for him was because she hoped to get close to him, but he had never liked Anita like that, he had always considered her a friend. He had her transferred when she kept getting bolder and bolder with her seductive acts, even after he pointed out that he was married she wouldn't quit. And on top of that she hates Anjali, and he couldn't tolerate her after what her brother did on the night of the party.

"Anita, how many times have I told you I am not your boss anymore? I am not going to transfer you back to this office. Follow your boss' instructions, or quit, I don't care anymore. Don't call me again." Aditya hung up the phone.

On the other side, Anita was seething with temper and threw her phone across the room and cursed him. She knew why he is doing this but she will throw that nobody of a wife out of his life, if it's the last thing she does, he won't have any choice but to come to her.

As a result of Anita's phone call, Aditya and Vishal reached the mall, fifteen minutes after five. He was just dialing his phone to call Anjali and ask her about her whereabouts when he noticed her. He quickened his steps, but in the next moment stopped in his tracks. He was shocked to see her talking and laughing with a man.