"I loved you, Arun. I did, so very much. I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. I did agree to. I walked down the altar with you. I took the vows, I fucking took the vows because of you!!"
"I never asked you to do that for me Jasmine. You did it on your accord. Don't try to pin the blame on me." "Don't fucking tell me that!! don't fucking tell me that!!" She screamed on top of her lungs, much that the other prisoners in the other ward across hers began to look at her with quizzing eyes. "You know how I hate being abandoned. You know how I hate the feeling. I never agreed to fall in love before because if it. I hated love. My thoughts were always pretty much the same. what if you left me, what if we got separated by death early in life . I'm so used to the feelings of being abandoned, don't fucking tell me that you're doing so. Don't tell me this divorce papers are real. I trust you, please" Her voice came very low and slowly, almost as if she were pleading with a killer for her life, in between sobs and tears, her eyes covered and clogged by the reality that she was living, the divorce papers he had handed over to her still in her hands, held disbelievingly. "I'm sorry Jasmine. I did try to love you. I tried everything to but my heart never belonged to you in the first place. You were just a shadow. I came to you so I could be closer to her. I'm sorry, I didn't mean it that way. I never intended it to." He replied her with an indignant voice, lacking emotions even though he seemingly was apologizing to her. "I loved you Arun!!! you did love me too. I know right. You still do, somewhere in your heart, we just need time to find it. Don't fucking give me that about my sister. You got over her ages ago. You yourself told me that. We just need time, after you get me out of prison........" she wanted to say but got cut short when his voice came up. "Again Jasmine, I'm very sorry. You are not my type. you never were. I thought I did love you but along the way, i realized that we were two parallel lines, and parallel lines have no meeting point. I'm genuinely sorry if I made you believe I ever did in those fleeting months of our marriage" he simply put and began to walk away Jasmine didn't want to take the questioning about his feelings for her up any further, there was no time, he was leaving and the police lady she heard her footsteps coming signified one thing to her, the time for her court hearing was almost near. Wiping away her tears with the back of her hand, she held the reeds of the barricade that separated her and the cell she was in from the freedom her husband was currently enjoying, the freedom that was supposed to be for her. "Arun" she called out and he abruptly came to a halt, standing without turning to face her, to hear what she had to say last before he took his final walk out of her life. "You'll still get me out right? the divorce means nothing to our agreement. We made a deal, it still stands regardless right?" she mustered up courage and asked him. He stood back for a few minutes and in those few minutes, she strained her ear to get an answer from him, the assurance she currently craved. "Today is our wedding anniversary, Jasmine Jaiswal. This is my anniversary gift to you, please do accept it by giving your signature" he muttered and began to leave. It was as if her world came to a halt. as if she was dreaming and yet to awake from her deep slumber. No, it couldn't be. He had promised her forever, she had done so too. She had agreed to be the cause and reason for his happiness, the replacement that would love him so well and make him forget the heartbreak he had encountered in the hands of her sister, the shoulder he ran to whenever he had issues, the shoulders always there to comfort and hold him. He couldn't do that to her. No he couldn't, no matter how evil his heart was, he just couldn't do that to her. "Are you abandoning me?" she asked finally, breaking the mast that seemed to form at her lips, preventing her from asking the very question she most dreaded. "Are you divorcing me for her?" she added, not waiting for him to answer the first question she had put forward. "Did you play me, knowing fully well that we would end up like this?" her voice came again but this time not without the tears that had welled up in her eyes again. "were my just........" she continued but her voice trailed off. "Jasmine Jaiswal. I am very sorry" he said and began to walk out finally. Away from her, the prison, and away from her life........ It's still felt like a surprise to Jasmine. It couldn't be happening, even if it was to, why her of all people. Why did the universe seem to be so against her. From being born as the illegitimate daughter to a father that passed away early in life due to his escapades, to growing up in a family where she was most bullied by her step brother, his sister and their mother. Arun had been the answers to her prayers. Her nights of tears asking God for a miracle in her life, a change, a love affair. He came into her world like a hero and she couldn't help but adore and fall for him. That had been her sin. Loving him had been a sin. Was this what was in it all for her? "Inmate 226, it's time for your hearing" a voice came out from the other end of the room and a police woman came to open up the door of the cell she was in. At first she conceived thoughts of running away. It wouldn't hurt to kick the woman that was putting on the handcuffs on her hands. She might get injured or so but she didn't mind, she just wanted to run after Arun, watch him and hold him, to make him say what he did earlier to her while staring at her right back in the eyes. That would be hard for him to. He just can't forget the love they once shared and right now, he might just be fumbling in what decision to make, considering her arrest and the number of charges. He would get her out and they would continue their shot at forever. The divorce papers he gave her which she had earlier on refused signing were a joke, his apology to her question about their deal a joke too, and also his confession of love for her sister who cheated on him in the past,a blatant joke as well. Everything he said a few minutes ago were all jokes. He was a kind person. Even if he did act nonchalant towards her and her feelings before, he wouldn't be that mean as he can't hurt a fly. He would be back before she knew it. He would be back, she kept on believing and hoping, just like she had done while waiting for her unrequited love during those months of her marriage. He would come back to her. "They're all jokes right?" she asked no one in particular and next she began to laugh hysterically. At herself for the illusion she was still trying so hard to believe. At everything she had predicted happening coming to pass. At all the thoughts she had termed pessimistic before becoming her reality. Jasmine continued to laugh but in the next minute, it struck her. He didn't lie about a thing. his voice had been obsolete. He was really ditching her, he was leaving her for the woman of his dreams after she had helped him realize a huge fortune, even taking the fall for it in his place. She had been ditched, used and tossed to the corner. She was now utterly useless and has to spend the rest of the years of her prime in jail for a crime she didn't commit but took the fall for because of love, a love that has turned cold and had been an illusion of what is. No, she wouldn't let it go. Time won't be able to heal her like people will say, only vengeance would. She needed to exert vengeance. She so fucking needed to. As the realization of the whole event began to simmer in her, she found herself loosing her balance and fell awfully still, to the cold floor which seemed to hold the promise to the forever she had so much desired to have with him....Jasmine's eyes opened and the sharp scent of antiseptic filled her nostrils. She didn't need anyone to tell her that she was in a hospital, the chains that binded her hands and legs to the bed were enough indication. "Jasmineeeee!!!!" She heard her name and she slowly turned to the entrance. The voice was unmistakenly familiar, the only voice that could offer her comfort amidst the turmoil within her soul. It was Mia, her best friend since childhood. They had carried their friendship to their adult ages after the death of their mother's, the tears in her eyes made a tear fall from hers as well. But Mia was not allowed in the ward she was in, so she stood at the entrance. Jasmine already knew why. She has fainted the time of her hearing and had been rushed to the hospital. Say, anytime soon, she would be discharged on the doctor's word and that would be it for her. Her judgement would be pronounced and she would rot in jail for years for a crime her husband, or should she say ex
The judge, a stern-looking woman with silver hair and piercing blue eyes, adjusted her glasses and looked down at Jasmine from the bench. She shuffled the papers in front of her before clearing her throat.Jasmine stood in the center of the courtroom, her hands trembling slightly as she clutched the sides of the wooden podium. The room was silent, save for the soft rustling of papers and the occasional murmur from the gallery. She glanced briefly at her lawyer, who gave her a nod, though his eyes betrayed a deep concern.She knew there was nothing he could do for her anymore, the false witnesses that had come in to testify against her with planted evidences already made it hard for it to. "Jasmine Jaiswal Ruge," the judge began, her voice echoing through the courtroom. "You stand before this court having been found guilty of multiple counts of insider trading and embezzlement. These are serious crimes that have caused significant financial harm and have undermined public trust in ou
Marshall Yugo sat in his dimly lit study, his mind drifting to the time long before the glitz and glamour that now surrounded him. It's been twenty years, six months, a day and a handful of hours since the time he first set eyes on Jasmine Jaiswal, the marked calendar in front of him could tell. The most beautiful girl he's ever seen. The absolute bane of his existence. He met her at grade 8 when he was a transfer student at the Elite Academy. He lived with his single mother then and they were poorer than church rats Being an intelligent student at such a young age, he was opportuned to have won numerous scholarships and that was how he had gotten picked as the transfer student who got taken to Elite Academy, the biggest and most expensive school in Qhezon City. "Don't talk to him!!! He's so poor that his clothe can dirty the One thousand dollars pricey shoe your papa bought from Dubai!!" " I heard he lives in the slums!!! No one should talk to him, why was he even b
"What do you mean you're bringing your illegitimate daughter to the house? You can't try that Jaiswal!! She's your shame and is supposed to be hidden!! She's an embarrassment not just to you but I as well" the woman said with a very calm but skeptical tone, trying well to mask the tears that wanted to blur her sight. " Never did I tell you any of that, I don't know where you heard it from but wherever it was you did, don't say that again!! Jasmin is coming to live with us. She's intelligent and a daughter anyone could ever ask for!!Her results are clean unlike your children's, I've already made the choice and she's coming to stay! Let that stick into your damn fucking head!!" " You can't do that!! You can't bring in the daughter of your mistress to stay with my children and I!! You fucking cheated on me with her and begot a baby, would you disrespect me way more just to please her late soul?"" I will and fucking will!! This is my house, you don't tell me what I should and should
Mia stared at herself in the cracked mirror of the hotel room, her eyes red from crying. The room was dimly lit which made it cast eerie shadows on the wallpaper and the expensive pent up chandeliers. She clutched a crumpled poster advertising a high-paying "escort" service against her chest with her hands trembling. It had come to this—a decision she never imagined she would make, driven by grief, anger, and the crippling weight of poverty.The news of Jasmine’s death had shattered her. She was and had been more than just a friend; she was the sister Mia never had, the one person who had always believed in her, even when Mia herself had lost hope. Now, Jasmine was gone, reduced to ashes in a tragic bus explosion. And Mia was alone, drowning in her sorrow and regrets, unable to shake the guilt of not being able to save her, from her jerk of an ex husband nor from the bus explosion. Desperation had led her here to this hotel to do something she had sworn she would never do. Her mind
The sky was a bleak and heavy with the promise of rain that seemed to mirror the sorrow weighing on Mia’s heart. The quiet and somber cemetery held a sense of finality that pressed down on her with every step. Jasmine Jaiswal’s grave stood stark and solitary, marked by a simple headstone that read: "Beloved wife, daughter and sister, may you find peace in the afterlife."* Yet, there was no peace here, not in this place and definitely not in Mia’s heart. A jar of ashes had been released to her family, her step mother and it was said,by the police to contain the remains of what was believed to be her body after the explosion. Poor Jasmine. Mia knelt before the grave with her knees sinking into the damp earth as she clutched a single white rose in her trembling hand. The petals were already starting to wilt from the time she kept them, much like the hope that had drained from her life since Jasmine’s death. Her fingers hovered over the headstone tracing the letters of Jasmine’s
This couldn't be the house of the man that had offered her a job on the night she had planned to engage in the activity of a one night stand. No. It couldn't be because there was no use believing that Marshall Yugo had been the man that had met her at the hotel room that night and offered her the job of being a nanny.She withheld the thoughts of him being the one regardless of the mansion that stood before her, the Yugo mansion known throughout the city of Qhezon.No two people had the same house as his family but she convinced herself to believe there were. It was the only thing that would be able to compel her to go in. She hesitated as she stood at the gate waiting for the security to verify her invite pass, questioning her decision to come. The events of the past few days had left her emotionally drained—losing Jasmine, the betrayal by Arun in the end, and now this unexpected job offer. She clutched her phone contemplating whether to call it off by returning the million dolla
"Did you make the complete payment to him?" 'Yes Mrs J. I also made sure to provide all he'd be needing to execute the plan"" That is very good" she said to the voice on the other end of the phone call. "This would be the perfect riddance to that piece of shit. I can't stand the thought of her getting released and having to fight for the company shares and inheritance with my children. Jaiswal already displayed his foolishness by including her in his will,, I can't sit back and watch that happen. Make this plan a success" she said and began to walk back into the courtroom.Marshall Yugo walked out of where he had stood. He had been on his way to the courthouse for Jasmine's hearing but on eavesdropping on the phone call, he turned his back to leave. There was no need of him being there when something else was being plotted. -------------------------"Who is she?" Mia's voice finally came forward, her gaze lingering at his eyes that watched the sleeping lady so affect