Chapter 8

Mahima's POV

He kept staring at me but I never looked back at him.

That didn't stop him from trying, he tried talking to me again, after about ten days and asked me to come out with him, this time Dheer saw him holding my hand while I was trying to get my hand free of his grip.

Dheer came to stand by me and punched him after he released my hand from that boy. Just then Dhruv also came in and asked us what was going on as Dheer looked angry. When Dheer told him everything, he punched his friend and told him to get out of our home and never come back.

Once Dheer took the guy away, Dhruv came to me, held my hand in his and asked if he misbehaved with me in any way?

I just shook my head and he hugged me lightly and told me to tell him if anyone troubles me, I gave him a faint smile and he went out.

I don't know why, but I was drawn to him at that moment. My heartbeat increased when he hugged me and gave me that smile. It was the beginning of my crush on him.

All the girls in my school were crazy about both the brothers and as they used to take care of me, all the girls were jealous of me and started calling me a camel, giraffe, Hulk, giant etc.

The boys used to tease me as I was much taller than them. When the Goyal brothers started scolding the boys, they stopped calling me names but the girls kept doing it.

All three of us used to go to our school and come back home together and all the girls used to ask me who were they to me? I didn't know the answers but I knew they wanted me to say that they were my brothers but I never said that.

Both the brothers always called or introduced me as their friend. Even they never called me their sister.

One day I heard uncle and aunty discussing that they wanted me to get married to their elder son when we grow up into adults. I started thinking over it and developed a severe crush on him.

Though Dheer was also as good looking and dashing as his brother and always stood by me, I was more drawn to Dhruv. Dheer had just been my best friend.

I don't know, what happened to Dhruv after some time, but he changed a lot over time and started avoiding me.

I clearly remember that once on Dhruv's birthday, one of the boys who was his friend called me their sister and called me names.

Both the brothers fought with him though after that there was some tension between him and his friends for many days.

Gradually things got normal between them but he started getting away from me.

I thought that he was preparing for his board exams and the entrance exams, so I stopped bothering him with my problems, as he was busy. Instead, I started taking help from Dheer.

Though Dheer was also in the standard tenth and it was his crucial year, he always stood by me.

They both were studying hard and then Dhruv, cleared his exams and took admission to another city to do his engineering.

He used to come for vacation but that warmth between us was lost from his side. He used to behave as if I was just a neighbour.

Then slowly he stopped coming on vacation, always went on some trip or went to some friend's place for his vacation.

He did not come home for the last 5 years. I used to wait for the vacation but he didn't come.

I was so happy on the day he was coming back after completing his engineering and MBA. But my beautiful dream shattered into pieces that day.

I didn't expect him to behave like this with me. He literally hated me now and said those mean and hurtful things to me all the time.

Maybe he was behaving like this because he was heartbroken. I think he was madly in love with Mayesha and her betrayal made him so bitter. But he had no right to take it out on me.

But, it is ok... I would stay away from him as much as possible. I will let him do whatever he wants in his life till he does not disrespect me.

I had my self-respect and I was not going to compromise on that. He had no right to insult me like that.

I felt very bad about what I saw yesterday in his office and how he brought his secretary home to have fun with and invited me to witness all that.

But I would never let him know. My pride would never allow me to accept that I was hurt to see all that.

I could not give him the satisfaction that he could hurt me like that. It was not my mistake that his perfect girlfriend happened to be his enemy's girlfriend actually.

It was not my fault that his dad made him marry me. Why was he so annoyed with me??

Was it just because I was 5'10" ie weirdly tall, obese, had long black thick unkempt hair, wore clothes which covered most of my body and was not glammed up like other girls??

Well, maybe he was right... I was not a good match against him as he was very tall, at least five inches taller than me and nicely built, he had an acute fashion sense and looked extremely good in whatever he wore.

Actually both the brothers were tall, broad, had well defined physiques and were extremely good looking. They resembled each other a lot. But I always had that crush on Dhruv.

He was doing all this to instigate me so that I should divorce him. But I could not betray his dad who always treated me as his daughter and supported me when I lost my parents.

He trusted me and said so confidently that I would never ask for a divorce because I was not that kind of a girl.

Inspite of this, he had added many clauses in the contract which gave me an upper hand over him. He had added many such clauses with an intention to keep him in control and bring us closer but those clauses created a rift between us. He took it as an insult and hated me even more now.

Anyways, there was no point in thinking about all that. I took a bath to wash off the sweat and dirt after my morning walk, but it also cleared my mind a little.

I decided to ignore Dhruv. All he wanted was, to hurt me. I wanted to spend some time with someone who could make me happy. So I thought of Dheer and called him.

He was happy to hear from me and said that he would be free very soon, so would like to meet me somewhere and we could have lunch together.

I went to the market to buy a few books. Then, I got hungry as I had not eaten much since lunch on the previous day so it had been almost twenty-four hours. I called Dheer, he said he was on his way and was very hungry so I should order something for him as well, he would come and order more, whatever he wanted.

So I went to the famous coffee shop nearby and ordered two cold coffee with ice cream and grilled cheese sandwiches.

I was waiting for my order and Dheer when I saw Dhruv walking in with his friends. There were two men and two women in all. They occupied a table near mine.

I could see and hear what he was saying, it hurt me so much to see that he was a courteous man with others while always insulting me with off-handed comments.

He was flirting with the women and they all were giggling like school girls. They all were talking about stupid things like clothes, footwear, makeup etc. Dumb girls didn't know anything about any other topic.

One of the men asked Dhruv about his married life. And he laughed sarcastically and said, "Oh, I am married in name only. My wife is good for nothing but just eating. I married her to satisfy my dad, as it was his condition to become the CEO of the company."

My eyes were flooded with tears and I didn't want Dhruv or Dheer to see them as Dheer was about to come at any time. I could not bear to see mockery in Dhruv's and pity in Dheer's eyes.

So I went to go and wash my face. When I was coming back, my phone started ringing and I looked at the screen. It was Dheer.

" Hello?? Yeah, I am in the coffee house which is right in front of the bookshop. " I said and disconnected the call and all of a sudden, I collided with someone, and I heard many shrill screams.