Page 66 of Forged By Fate

“Hey, can I ask a favour? Do you have a spare room in your house that I can rent?”

She was happy to have me move in immediately, and we agreed on what I considered a very reasonable rent. She even promised to help me move.

CHAPTER 32

VIREN

We had stopped eating as a family after Sunaina signed the divorce papers.

Daima and Sufi ate in the kitchen as a sign of protest, and when I tried to join them in the kitchen, they threw their dishes in the sink and stood by the wall like the serving staff. I knew they were making a point, but it hurt like hell.

In one stroke, I had again lost most of my family, this time, it was all my fault.

“Daima, won’t you eat with me?” I asked softly. “You’ve been eating with me since I started eating solid food, and now you’re pushing me away because I choose to live my life by my chosen path?”

Her lips wobbled and tears filled her eyes, but she didn’t sit down.

“You’ve made the biggest mistake of your life, Viren, and you don’t even know it,” she whispered.

Didn’t I? I gave a mirthless laugh that had her glaring at me.

“Is this funny to you? Aisha is crying uncontrollably in her room, and you’ve just undone years of therapy for her. Believe me, Viren, that child is the only reason Sufi and I still working in this house.”

“You don’t work here, Daima,” I yelled. “The two of you were my family even before I married her. So I don’t see why that has to change!”

“Change is the only constant in life, beta. We were a family before Sunaina, but in cutting her out of the family, you have splintered the very fabric of our lives.”

I ignored her words and turned to Sufi.

“Tell her my lawyer wants to meet with her to discuss the settlement,” I ordered. “She’s been putting it off, and we have the final court date in two months.”

“Tell whom?” he asked, narrowing his eyes at me. “Say her name, Mr C.”

“Sunaina,” I thundered. “There! Are you happy now?”

As if not saying her name made any difference to how much I missed her even after four months.

I had hoped signing the divorce papers would help me get on with my life. To make my peace with the fact that the Sunaina chapter of my life was closed for good. But even four months after we walked away from each other, nothing had changed.

I still woke up with this ache in my heart from where I had cut her out for good. I still got the same nightmare about losing her. And we were all still completely miserable.

As for my soon-to-be ex-wife, she had moved into her own room in Gino and Perpetua’s house, according to my sources. Yes, I had sources. I had people looking out for her after she pulled an Uno Reverse on me and flatly refused a financial settlement. She wanted nothing I was planning to give her. She turned down the plus four-bedroom flat in Malabar Hill, the hundred crore cash settlement and even the car. All she wantedwas visitation rights with Aisha, with Daima and Sufi overseeing the transfers every other weekend.

“Of course, I’ll give her visitation,” I yelled down the phone to my lawyer, Ranvijay. “But she also needs to take the money. What is she going to live on?”

“Umm, Viren, you do realise you’re saving a helluva lot of money if she refuses the settlement?” he asked sarcastically.

“This is my wife, RV! I have to provide for her.”

“No. She is your fake wife. And you owe her nothing if she doesn’t want anything.”

I slammed the phone down because, of course, he didn’t understand anything.

He didn’t understand that even after four months, I couldn’t turn my feelings for her off like a tap.

When even Sufi stonewalled me, I threw my fork down and rose from the table.

“Fine, I’ll deal with this myself if she can’t be arsed to talk to my lawyer,” I snarled.

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