I decided that accepting whatever had happened with me and letting it go wasn't going to help me because thanks to my really wonderful memory, I remembered everything, and no matter how hard I tried, the past incidents kept springing up with more force whenever I suppressed them.

As a start of my journey towards attaining my goal, I took the first step which was offered to me and my husband by Lokesh Dayanand himself. Because of my sudden leave, we were not able to attend Lokesh's wife's birthday party; therefore, I decided to pay a visit myself and meet his family.

Yuvaan was not much bothered by it and told me that it wasn't a big deal, but I was stubborn, so he let me go with Heena. Both of us girls reached the destination after having a nice coffee time and a long drive through the bustling city in the evening lights.

Heena was impressed by the place and the number of antique pieces in Lokesh's house, but I was not interested in all of that. His home was spread in a 3500 square feet area plus the 700 sq ft garden and the parking lot which took additional space in the whole ground plan. I wasn't impressed by the design - whoever the architect was, he/she did a lousy job.

"Bhabhi, that's a CCTV, not some celebrity. Why are you looking at it like that?" Heena asked me as we reached the main hall.

"Don't you think it is placed in a weird position?" I commented.

She shrugged and told me to focus on our hosts who were smiling at us. I snapped my gaze on a young lady, around the age of thirty, standing with a five year old girl. I gave the gifts I had brought and completed the formalities.

"Thank you so much for coming, Mrs. Raichand," Lokesh's wife, Geeta, said.

"Our pleasure," Heena said.

We took our seats, and Geeta informed us that her husband already mentioned about the ongoing business deal between the two companies, and that she had prepared a small party for us. She was really excited to have us and told us all about her birthday bash and which famous personalities came to congratulate her.

All the time, I kept nodding to whatever she was saying as my eyes kept shifting to her daughter. I saw the small girl, dressed in a pretty yellow jumpsuit, bouncing all over the place, and giving us toothy grins in between.

"What's your name?" I asked her.

"Jannat," she said.

"Her father named her," Geeta said. "Even though I am his second wife, he never discriminated me and my daughter."

Second wife...?

"I am really sorry if I sound rude, but is the first wife no longer in this world?" I asked.

"Unfortunately, yes." Geeta made a sad face.

"We are sorry," Heena said.

"It is okay."

In our casual conversation, I was able to know a lot of things about Lokesh and his current life, all thanks to his enthusiastic wife who answered each one of my questions. Heena was bored after some time as Geeta and I talked about married life and other similar stuff, so she played with Jannat and entertained herself.

As I had expected, Lokesh arrived just as the clock struck 8 pm. He was lost in some thought, but when he saw us in the hall room, he turned into a statue for a minute. Geeta got in action and told him everything about my arrival. Lokesh shot me a curious look, but just like I had practiced for all these years, I curled up my lips and greeted him.

"Though we couldn't attend the official event, we really had a great time chatting with your wife," I said. "By the way, nice home."

Lokesh nodded. "Thank you for visiting. Next time, please get Yuvaan to come too."

As if I will, bastard.

"You guys already meet for business meetings. We should keep our personal and professional lives separate, right?"

"She is right, Lokesh. Now go and get changed. I will tell the maids to set up the dinner," Geeta said.

Ten minutes later, we were seated on the dining table, and Jannat kept us busy with her talks. I felt Lokesh's burning stares on me, but I didn't let it bother me and asked him how it was going for him in his personal life. I told him that Dad missed him and that he should pay him a visit.

He didn't have much to say about it, so he just nodded and ate in silence. While leaving, Jannat threw a tantrum and stuck to Heena like a koala. Lokesh told Geeta to handle their daughter, but when Jannat didn't listen, he threatened that she would receive a beating otherwise.

I noticed that while Lokesh was scaring Jannat, Geeta was silently standing aside, too afraid to intervene. The situation was very familiar, so I took Jannat's hand and told her that she should listen to her parents.

After a small talk with the little girl, she left Heena and hugged her mom.

"I like it when girls are obedient," Lokesh said arrogantly, his eyes set on me.

I masked my anger and gave him the best of my fake smiles. "Hope we meet again."

As I turned towards Heena's car, I saw Lokesh's face light up with satisfaction as he let his guards down. When Heena drove out of the driveway, I confirmed what I saw when we came; Lokesh had almost no security around his house - there were only two security personnel near the gates, one of which was too old.

Usually, rich people who had a lot of influence in the business world had security as they were vulnerable to attacks from their enemies, so why didn't Lokesh Dayanand had it? Was he hiding something or this lifestyle was just a scam?

Was he fooling his wife just like he had fooled my parents? Geeta mentioned that she was the sole heir of her family business, but due to some past incidents, no one was willing to marry her. But when Lokesh offered the marriage, her parents didn't mind the huge age difference and signed off the property to her in their will.

It was clear that he manipulated them to get her money. At first I was shocked to hear Geeta say that she was his second wife, and on asking her more, she said that the first spouse died seven years ago. But Lokesh never had a wife to begin with. He was a bachelor even when he was in his mid-thirties and always talked about marrying his favourite actress.

Then why would he lie about his first marriage? I thought that I was the only one he messed around with, but he was still continuing with his-

"Bhabhi!"

"What?"

"Are you seriously okay? I was trying to get your attention for so long."

"I must have zoned out."

"Zoned out? You seemed like you were time traveling." She shook her head. "I know I am not your real sister-in-law, but you can share your problems with me."

I tilted my head in amusement. "Is that so? Then what about you? You didn't tell me that you had a crush on Advait."

"Wh-what? I don't ha-have a crush on that idiot!" She widened her eyes. "He told you, didn't he?"

For fun, I nodded, making Heena yell curses at Advait and bang her fists on the steering wheel. She told me not to pay attention to Advait's nonsense and that she would deal with him later. I laughed imagining Advait's expression, but I managed to corner Heena into telling me the truth.

"I already have a boyfriend." She sighed.

"Why do you sound so dejected?"

She pouted. "Because I am still not sure whether I am doing the right thing by staying in that relationship or not. The more I try to ignore Adi, the more he keeps flashing in my mind. I don't know what I am supposed to do..."

"Hm."

"Gimme a solution, Bhabhi," she whined.

"I wish I had it." I pursed my lips.

"Let's see what happens. I just wish that I don't end up making things complicated."

I nodded, and she left for her home after dropping me off to my house. I was thankful to Heena for distracting me, but as soon as I was left alone again, the same things started repeating in my head: 3500 carpet area, two security guards, six CCTVs outside the house, forty minutes and fifty five seconds to reach his home from my place, four minutes to-

"Fucking bullshit! I am not playing with you again!"

Advait snapped up from the couch and pointed his index finger at Shaurya, who was laughing at his friend's dishevelled state. Advait yelled colourful curses at Shaurya and stormed out in the garden. I noticed a chess board lying on the table, and all of the pawns on Advait's side were crossed off.

For a moment, I kept staring at the gameboard before I asked the lawyer if I could play with him. He didn't think much and agreed after getting over his laughing marathon. We began our first round, and I felt happy to play one of my most favourite games again.

The voices in my head seemed to die down as I moved the pawns on the wooden surface, but I felt a shiver run down my spine. I noticed that my inner voice was kicking inside to tell me something. I let it say whatever it had to tell me and moved my knight in the opposite direction of where I was going to keep it originally.

"Why did you change the position?" Shaurya asked.

"I felt it was a good move. Did I do a mistake?"

Shaurya killed off one of my camels and two pawns. "If you aren't careful, it will be a checkmate soon."

I acted as if I didn't get what he meant and played my chance. He looked at me in confusion but smiled as he caught my king in the checkmate. I lost to him and thought that he would close the game, but when he asked for another round, I got excited.

During our second round, I was totally into it, but Shaurya accidentally ruined the game by knocking off the pieces when he moved his hands over the game to get one of his files.

"Oops, sorry. Looks like we will have to start again." He laughed.

"No need. I remember how it was," I said and began lining up the pawns in their previous positions.

"You are smart," he commented as he helped me.

"Not as much as you."

Shaurya's face sported a surprised expression for a second before he masked it, and we continued the game. Meanwhile, Advait shook his head while munching on snacks and told me to beat Shaurya in the game. In the end, Mr. Razi won and got a call seconds after.

Advait took his spot after Shaurya got up to talk on his phone and juggled the chess pieces in his hands.

"How was the meeting with Dayanand family?" he asked.

"So-so."

"Heena said something about me?"

"Yes."

"She cursed me, right?"

"Yup."

"Which came first, fire or acid?"

"Acid."

Advait stared at me for a minute before he nodded slowly. "Don't let Shaurya win this time."

"I will try."

He got up when Shaurya returned, but he stopped before he went past me.

"How good is your aim?" he asked me.

"I don't know," I said.

He took out a gun from his back pocket and handed it to me. "Practice and let me know."

"Why did you give her a gun?" Shaurya asked in accusation.

"I can give anything to my sister-in-law," Adi mocked.

He punched Shaurya in the stomach and switched on the TV. I waited for Shaurya to get back in his seat, but he told me that he wouldn't be able to play as he had some urgent case to handle. I glanced at the gun in my hand and ran my fingers on its shiny surface

"You won't play with me?" I asked.

"Can't."

"Please?"

"Sorry, Reyna, I am busy."

"But aren't you supposed to agree when I say 'Please'?" I mumbled.

"What?"

"No one plays with me even when I say 'Please'."

Shaurya looked dumbfounded, but I clutched the gun tightly and told him to leave if he wasn't going to play anymore. He darted his eyes over my face, looking at me as if something was wrong with me, but before I lost control over what I was thinking, Yuvaan pulled me in a hug and wiped my cheeks.

"What did you say to her?" he asked his friend.

"Nothing," Shaurya defended.

"Then why is she crying?"

I pointed my finger at Shaurya and told Yuvaan that he refused to play with me even when I asked politely. Yuvaan etched his eyebrows in concern, while his friend looked at him in disbelief.

"You really gonna scold me for such a little thing?" Shaurya taunted. "What the hell is up with you?"

"You made her cry, bro." Yuvaan narrowed his eyes.

Shaurya put up his hands in surrender. "Sorry, Yuv, but I have other things to do other than playing with a 23 year old kid."

Yuvaan grabbed the gun from my hand before I pointed it in his friend's direction and threw it on the couch. He told me to ignore Shaurya and reminded about going to the orphanage tomorrow. On the mention of kids, my mood lightened, and Yuvaan told me to get changed.

As I went upstairs, I looked over my shoulder and saw Yuvaan trying out my gun. He shot a show piece and shook his head at Shaurya.

"You could have died today, bro."

Maybe my husband was right.