A marriage for revenge

Chapter 14

She sat sobbing on her bed, with her legs pulled to her chest and cheek resting on the knees.

"Akka did not deserve this. All she did was believe a liar like me. Oh my god, what have I done?" She lost track of time and she didn't know for how long she had been crying her heart out. She was seated on the balcony's swing after she made sure Vinoth had left for work.

She couldn't be holed up in the room. She felt suffocated and that's when she decided to sneak out to the balcony which gave her a perfect view of the whole city and some peace of mind.

Missimma couldn't come as she had to go to her daughter's college to pay the fees Anu missed her company gravely the next day and she wished she came home today. She needed someone to talk to, to confess to her past crimes, and seek warmth in her sympathy.

She had already skipped last night's dinner, then this morning's breakfast, followed by lunch. Not that she desired to eat as her emotions had ruined her appetite for good.

If only-if only, she had thought about her sister's life for once before accusing Vinoth of such horrible things, things wouldn't have spiraled down like this.

How was she ever going to face her sister for being the author of her life's misery? She remembered how much her sister and her husband were in love with each other. Theirs was a fairy tale she often looked up to and dreamed of but she had orchestrated its doom with her own hands.

Now her sister was being replaced in Vikram's life. He was steadily moving on with another woman.

Did Anjali know about this?

How was she going to cope with it?

How was she going to make this all right now?

"God.." She sobbed into her palm. How much she wished to be near her sister right now but how could she ever make this right for her?

Anjali wouldn't want to see her after all.

Her tears wouldn't stop streaming down. After every few minutes, her mind would take her back to the last evening's event and she would end up crying again. She understood the depth of her doings now. She had not only hurt Vinoth but his whole family, including her own sister and she knew no way to mend all the broken hearts.

Now, Vinoth's punishment for her seemed like nothing in front of what the people she loved had and are still going through.

She deserved more, all the cruelty in this world was not enough of a punishment for her.

It was the knock on the door which pulled her from all the chain of negative thoughts. She pushed herself up and walked towards the door, slightly dreading the idea of the person outside being Vinoth but looking through the peephole she sighed when she saw Missiamma standing outside.

The moment she opened the door, her eyes welled up uncontrollably and Missimma was quick to notice it.

"Oh lord, what's wrong Anu? What did he do to you this time?" She threw the bag she was carrying around carelessly as she wound her arms around Anu pulling her into a motherly hug.

"One day I don't come and the bastard managed to hurt you like this.." She continued rambling when Anu didn't stop crying. Missimma walked her to the couch and made her sit there before pouring a glass of water for her from the nearby jug. "Here, drink this. I am sure you didn't eat anything the whole day.."

Anu silently wiped her tears and took the class from her. She didn't realize how thirsty she was until she saw the glass of water. She gulped all its content in one go.

"Did he hurt you like the last time?" Missimma did an overall check-up to see any signs of bruises or marks on her body. The man was a crazy psychopath who could go to any extent to harm this poor soul. If not for her husband's warning, she would have filed a police complaint against him for torturing Anu but she was wise to know that her complaint against such a powerful man wouldn't make anything better for the girl and would only worsen things for her.

"No.." Anu quickly defended him.

"I don't understand, why do you stay here? It's not like he's keeping you chained here. I would help you to run away if you want, you know that right?" She asked, genuinely wanting to help her.

Anu's lips stretched into a sad smile. "I know, Misima but the thing is I don't want to get out of here.."

"But why? What is it that's keeping you here? You aren't married to him and surely you can't be in love with that evil psychopath.."

Missimma's words hurt Anu beyond explanation. She couldn't bear to hear such unwelcoming words about Vinoth.

"He wasn't always like this, Misima.." She countered, keeping her voice polite.

For the first time, Missimma knew how wrong her judgments were. She saw something akin to love and heartbreak in the girl's eyes but it was beyond her comprehension how someone could love a person so diabolical. As much as she had seen, the man had nothing good to be appreciated about. He never smiled and looked always cold and distant to people around him.

Her own husband had complained about how terrible of a human being his boss was.

"I have seen him as a gentleman. He was all sunshine and warmth to be around.." She smiled back at the distant memory all the while her eyes starting to glisten with fresh tears. "But I ruined him. I made him into the monster that he is today and I am ready to be his punch bag if he wanted me to be.."

"I don't understand.." Missimma looked all quizzical.

What was this girl saying? She didn't look like she could hurt an ant but here she was trying to say that she hurt someone like the devil that resided in this house.

"We practically grew up together, me and my sister with Vinoth, his elder brother, and their sister. I was in love with him since- I don't know when.." Anu shook her head feeling lost about the detail of when she first fell in love with Vinoth.

Maybe it was one of those times when she was a little girl running behind him to catch, giggling, or it was when she hit puberty and her body started reacting on seeing him, or perhaps all the times when he offered to tutor her out of goodwill. Or probably the very first time she saw him when she was a mere toddler, hardly able to walk.

She didn't know for sure as he was always around and she had always admired him. She didn't remember when that admiration had turned into love and then this unhealthy obsession that led to the disastrous event afterward.

"So what happened that changed him into this person?" Missimma was too engrossed to hear out the rest of the story.

"Anjali, that's my sister and Vikram, his elder brother fell in love and got married. I foolishly convinced myself that I was the one for Vinoth. However, that didn't go as I thought.." She snorted painfully.

"He fell in love with another woman, a beautiful, rich, and well-educated woman. A woman better for him than me in all the way I could think of now, but my eighteen-year-old self didn't take it easy. I should have left them alone, they could have been happily married today. Vinoth would have been a loving husband, and a great father to his and Kavery's children but I crushed that choice for him.."

"What did you do, child?" Missimma urged her vocally.

"At first, I had innocently confessed my love to him but when he politely declined it saying it was a mere attraction, I took things to the next level.." She left it hanging for a while making Missimma impatient with anticipations.

"I accused him of sexually harassing me and being a girl, I made everyone around believe me with my tears.." She didn't have it in her to match her gaze with Missimma anymore. She was shrinking low with guilt and shame. No matter how many years have passed since that night, the remorse she bore in her heart never left.

"After which, Kavery's parents canceled the wedding and the whole world believed him to be a pedophile which made him attempt suicide. Vinoth wasn't born disabled, it was after the incident when he tried to jump off the fifth floor. No one believed he would live to see another day but he did.." Something she was so grateful to God for. If not, she would have lived longer either.

Anu stopped herself from telling how she had tried to take her life because it held no significance in this story.

"And at the party, I got to know that Vikram and Anjali had been separated after I ran away from home. It was actually Vikram's engagement party that Vinoth took me to.." She sniffled before continuing, "But"Now I had here I was stupidly believing Akka and Vikram must be together after the heartbreak I put them through." Her tiny body trembled as she remembered the betrayal she had done to her sister.

"I have no idea where Akka is now and I am dying here to see her and make things right in her life.."

"I can't believe this.." Missimma mumbled when the shock finally wore off.

"Yes, but that's the truth.." Anu declared. "I am a horrible person. I am the eviler one here, Missimma, not Vinoth so please don't curse him in front of me.." Her words were a request.

Missimma was speechless for a while but then she realized Anu was just a child, only eighteen, and believed to be in love with the man she had loved her whole life. People do crazy stuff in the name of love and she was no different. But at least she had the guts to accept it and was ready to face it, unlike others.

"You are not an evil person, Anu. You are anything but evil, my girl. You were young when you did all that and you truly don't deserve this treatment you think you do.."

"It still doesn't justify my crimes, Misima.." Anu strongly negated.

"Oh darling, the moment you realized your sins, you are forgiven.."

Anu shook her head, "That's what the sister in the orphanage made me believe but after coming here I learned that just feeling sorry is not enough, Misima. Not when the people you destroyed are still suffering.."

Missimma didn't want to comment back on that. Anu was as traumatized as everyone she had hurt, in fact, she was the one to suffer more with all the guilt and shame eating her alive.

After comforting Anu by staying next to her till the evening and making her eat an early dinner, Missimma decided to leave. She wasn't unfamiliar with the fact how much Vinoth hated her presence in his house and now she wasn't even able to hate him openly after listening to Anu's admission about him.

Anu went back to her room, not wanting to be around when Vinoth came home. She stayed there sketching some designs. She had asked Missimma to buy her some stationery supplies with the little money she had in her purse. She kept her busy until the doorbell rang.

It had to be Vinoth. A shiver coiled down her spine thinking about what she might be seeing today.

She was hit by a tsunami of shock when she unlocked the door. She saw a different woman in his arms today. Who was this one? Two nights back she watched him walk in with another woman. This surely wasn't that one.

He was literally eating her mouth and his hands were hungrily groping her breasts just like he was doing to the previous one. The woman in his hold was quite liking it though and took it without complaining.

For a jiffy of a second, his eyes made contact with hers and she thought she even saw a smirk too before he completely disregarded her and tugged the woman toward his bedroom all the while kissing her.

Closing the door behind her, Anu forced herself back to her room aimlessly. Cleaning her bed of all the art supplies, she laid down on the bed.

It pained her to see him like this. What was this life he was living?

A physical pain tore her heart apart and she had to clutch her chest to overcome it. The woman's loud mewls and his wild groans were sickening her to her existence. She thought they were going to tear the building apart if they continued this way. She covered her ears with the pillow and tried to tune them off but it proved difficult considering how loud they were.

She silently wept into the mattress.

This certainly wasn't the man his parents wanted him to be.

This was not what he was supposed to become but she somehow managed to bring out the worst in him. If she had any way to bring back the good in him, she would give up anything and everything for it.