The law had decided.
And for the next six months, I would be Mrs. Armaan Khanna.
Whether I wanted to be or not.
Chapter 27
Viya
I changed out of the clothes I had worn to court and into comfortable pajamas, my hands moving mechanically through the familiar motions. The bathroom had been my refuge for the past hour, but I could not hide in there forever.
When I finally emerged, the bedroom felt different. The flowers Armaan had arranged made the air thick with their scent. The soft lighting cast everything in a warm glow that felt wrong given the coldness inside me.
I sat down on the edge of the bed, my hand unconsciously moving to my stomach. The baby had started to show more noticeably in the past few weeks. A small bump that was impossible to hide now.
A reminder of everything that had happened. Everything that had been real and everything that had been a lie.
I heard the door open behind me. Armaan. I did not turn around.
He moved quietly across the room and sat down beside me on the bed. Not too close, but close enough that I could feel his presence like heat from a fire.
He reached for my hand.
I pulled it back immediately, tucking both hands protectively around my stomach.
Armaan let out a slow breath. When he spoke, his voice was low and rough with emotion.
"Baby, I know you are angry with me."
Baby. The endearment made something twist painfully in my chest.
"But that does not mean you do not love me," he continued. "I can see it in your eyes, Viya. I can feel it. You love me as much as I love you."
I wanted to deny it. Wanted to tell him he was wrong, that I felt nothing for him, that whatever I had felt had died the moment I learned the truth.
But I could not make the words come out. Because they would be lies.
"I understand I made a mistake," he said, his voice cracking slightly. "And I regret it. Every day. Every hour. Every minute. Every second of every day since you left, I have regretted not telling you the truth from the beginning. But Viya, you have to believe me when I tell you that not a single part of meever thought of you as disposable. Not a single part of me ever thought to use you."
I kept my eyes fixed on the wall, refusing to look at him.
"I was never in favor of this arrangement," he continued. "When Sangeetha aunty first proposed it, I was repulsed by the idea. Using an innocent woman as a shield against fate? It felt wrong. It felt cruel. But Dadi's health was deteriorating. She was so scared of losing me the way she lost my mother. And I thought I loved Avija. I thought I was doing this for a future with her."
He laughed bitterly.
"But I was wrong. About everything. What I felt for Avija was nothing. It was convenient attraction. Surface compatibility. It was not real. And the moment I met you, really met you, I knew that. I swear to you, Viya, the day I married you was the day I ended everything with Avija. I broke all ties. I told her it was over. Because you were the one I wanted. You were the one I chose."
I could hear the desperation in his voice now.
"These past weeks, being apart from you, watching you with Puneet, knowing you were in pain and I could not comfort you. It was worse than hell. It was torture. Every night I sat outside your hospital room, knowing you were just meters away but I could not see you, could not touch you, could not tell you how sorry I was."
He moved slightly closer, though he did not try to touch me again.
"But you are here now. You are home. And I am never letting you go again. Six months, six years, sixty years. However long it takes, I will prove to you that my love is real. That we are real."
His voice dropped to something almost possessive.
"You are mine, Viya. My wife. The mother of my child. And I am yours. Completely and irrevocably yours."
