CH001

"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 cares less or more for his "image dent" 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 years 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....