Chapter 16: Chapter 16
All previous chapters: Click here
(I accidentally labelled two chapters as “Chapter 16”, so we’re just gonna continue from ’17’ 🙂 )
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The next day, Krishna woke up to see Yuvaan staring down at her and jerked upwards. “Yuvaan!” she sat up, rubbing her back.
“Where were you yesterday?” Yuvaan’s eyes were cold and unfeeling.
“Yuvaan, I told you, I went to the market…”
‘Since when have you started lying to me?” he roared. “Maa told me you came back empty handed.”
“Yuvaan”, she whimpered, “Please trust me-”
Yuvaan’s eyes narrowed, “Were you with him?” He furiously grabbed her arm, twisting it back. A few tears escaped from Krishna’s eyes, as she writhed in pain.
“Yuv-Yuvaan, I wasn’t wi-with him”, she lied. He let go of her arm roughly and she fell over, blinking back fresh tears. Yuvaan had a short temper, but she had never seen him this angry; it scared her.
“Why don’t you understand Krishna? Sayyam is not a good person; he destroys everything he touches. He’ll hurt you too- then don’t come crying to me.” Yuvaan warned her.
Krishna slipped into her thoughts, remembering everything Sayyam had said to her the previous day, all the spiteful words he’d hurled at her, and every scorching look he’d given her. Then, a thought creeped into her head, refusing to go away, ‘Maybe Yuvaan was right…’
“Yuvaan,” Krishna asked gently, “What exactly did Sayyam’s father do?”
“I never told you, did I?” Yuvaan’s tone softened, “Sayyam’s father first befriended maa, they both were close at first, but no one knew how cheap a man he really was. He married her- forcefully, and after their marriage he tortured her, he would hurt her endlessly. Then, one day, he crossed his limits: he forced himself on her; that’s how Sayyam was conceived- and maa, she decided to have the baby. I don’t why, but she did- she sent Sayyam to an orphanage afterwards, and he was forgotten, until he showed up again recently.”
Krishna sat motionless, still processing what Yuvaan had just told her. How low could anyone stoop? Especially regarding a woman’s respect- yet, even so- a tiny voice inside her still tried to convince her that Sayyam wasn’t like his father- he couldn’t be judged like this, but she silenced the voice and looked at Yuvaan, opening her mouth to ask another question.
“You’ll understand later Krishna,” Yuvaan sighed, “I’m only saying this because I care.” He stood up and started to walk away.
“Yuvaan?” Krishna got out of the bed, while Yuvaan turned around, his eyebrows raised. “Thank you- for telling me.”
“Yeah,” Yuvaan gave her a thin smile and walked away, leaving her to tend to her bruised wrist alone.
——-
At breakfast, Suhani noticed that Krishna was absentmindedly pushing food around on her plate, Sayyam was glaring down at his piece of toast, and Yuvaan was looking rather disturbed. ‘They were fine yesterday’ she thought, puzzled at their behavior.
Sayyam looked up from the bread he was holding, noting that the butter was near Krishna. Purposely avoiding her, he turned to Yuvaan,” Bhai, will you pass me the butter?” he requested.
“Don’t call me that.” Yuvaan looked irritated. Suhani, made eye contact with him, shaking her head. Yuvaan looked down.
Sayyam sensed that Yuvaan didn’t want to talk to him and faced Yuvani. “Yuvani?’ he tilted his head, pointing at the butter.
“Of course, Bhai”, Yuvani smiled warmly, handing him the butter. Sayyam started applying the butter on his bread. He felt Krishna shift her gaze towards him, staring heatedly in his direction. Feeling uncomfortable, he stood up and carried the plate with him, walking towards the outhouse.
Krishna stood up a short while after, having lost her appetite, and walked towards her room. Yuvaan left shortly after her.
Suhani watched them all leave, one by one, wondering why everyone was acting strange, especially Sayyam and Krishna. She needed to talk to them, she finally decided, moving towards Krishna’s room.
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Hey guys, sorry for the wait, the next chapter will be out soon!
I think I can safely say that Yuvaan is turning out to be a grey character…let’s see what happens 😉
Until next time!
-Shreya <3