Destined – A Marriage of Convenience Love Story: Chapter 12

This is part 13 of 13 in the book Destined: A Marriage of Convenience

Destined: A Marriage of Convenience

Destined – A Marriage of Convenience Love Story: Life Together

5,442 words, 29 minutes read time.

A Marriage of Convenience Love Story Set in Kolkata

Destined: A Marriage of Convenience Love Story – Chapter 12
The Ultimatum

Don’t forget to read Chapter 11 of Destined: A Marriage of Convenience.

Destined – A Marriage of Convenience Love Story: Chapter 11

Destined – A Marriage of Convenience Love Story

Mehek

Abhoy left, and I quietly closed the door. The soft click echoed through the room. My legs gave way, and I slowly slid down until I was sitting on the floor. My fingers drifted to my lips, tracing them gently.

Were they swollen?

They should be, right? The books always said they would.

And the kiss… it was nothing like the books described.

They all called a kiss an explosion, a burst of fireworks that stole your breath away. But this… this had felt different. It felt like time had slowed down just for us. Like the world had faded into the background until there was nothing except him and me. It was endless, quiet, and consuming all at once.

I could have kissed him forever.

The feelings hadn’t crashed into me in one overwhelming wave. They had unfolded slowly, one after another. First came his taste.

God… he was delectable.

Then I noticed his skin. I had always assumed it would be rough because everything about Abhoy looked rugged. Strong. Unapproachable. But he wasn’t. His skin had been surprisingly soft. I remembered hearing stories about Mahadev, how even someone so powerful could possess an unexpected gentleness. Somehow, Abhoy reminded me of that.

And then there was his hair. A watery laugh escaped me.

Once, while he was getting ready in our room, I had secretly watched him from the corner of my eye. He had spent a full ten minutes combing his hair, and I had silently wondered if any man really needed that much time.

Today, I wanted to thank him for it.

Running my fingers through those soft strands had felt… incredible. Silky. Warm. I hadn’t even realized when my fingers tightened and tugged at them. I didn’t know why I had done it. It simply happened. Something stirred inside me then. Something I had only ever read about in romance novels but had never understood.

Now I did. And it left me restless.

A tear rolled down my cheek, followed by another.

My first kiss. With a man who loved someone else. The thought squeezed my heart until it hurt.

Yet we were married. Whether by destiny or by circumstance, this was my life now. He would be my first kiss and, most likely, my last. Divorces were a taboo in our families. They simply didn’t happen.

And even if they did… where would I go?

Papa had married me off. Kaka would never allow him to take me back.

So what now?

Should I fight for this love? Or should I stay angry forever?

At him.

At fate.

At myself.

Somewhere along the last six months, I had become bitter. Ever since I had seen him crying silently in the car, I had started keeping my distance. Whenever he tried talking to me, I snapped at him before he could finish a sentence. I hated how much I liked him. Hated that my heart kept reaching for someone who wasn’t mine to have.

Now he had finally admitted it himself. He loved someone else.

Was she beautiful? Like Maa Parvati?

I certainly wasn’t. But… I wasn’t so bad either.

My work was going well. My mother-in-law had started taking me to her club gatherings, and I no longer froze while talking to strangers. Somewhere along the way, I had learned to carry conversations without looking at the floor every few seconds.

I had become more confident. I wore branded clothes now. People complimented me. But sometimes I missed the girl I used to be.

The girl who woke up before sunrise, offered prayers, helped Maa in the kitchen, and found happiness in the smallest things. That life felt so peaceful now. Sacred, almost. As though it belonged to another lifetime.

These days, all I carried inside me was irritation. It never left. Every time I looked at Abhoy, something warm bloomed inside me, only for anger to sweep in moments later and destroy it.

I didn’t know what to do anymore. But I couldn’t keep living like this.

I was the girl who believed in life. I believed in love. I believed in simple, innocent happiness.

When had I stopped believing in all of it?

When he kissed me this morning against my wishes, I should have hated him. I did hate what he had done. I hated that he had taken away my choice.

But somewhere beneath all that anger was another truth I was ashamed to admit.

I wanted to kiss him again, feel all of it again. That was why I had tricked him into kissing me again.

This time… it had been different.

I didn’t know what had happened last night that made him sleep on the bed instead of the couch. Saroj also said at the breakfast table that he hadn’t eaten dinner last night.

I hadn’t even known.

My husband had stayed hungry the entire night. He must have been exhausted. So exhausted that he had fallen asleep beside me without realizing it.

That wasn’t who I wanted to be.

Just the way my mother took care of Papa, I wanted to take care of Abhoy too. I wanted to know whether he had eaten, whether he had slept enough, whether he was overworking himself. Those little things mattered to me.

But somewhere between his rejection and my hurt, everything had become messy… chaotic. I wasn’t a girl who could stay happy inside her own little bubble.

I needed people. I needed warmth. I needed laughter around me.

Tonight… tonight I would talk to Abhoy.

If we had to divorce, then so be it. If my parents refused to accept me, I would find another way. I would move to Mumbai on my own and build a life from scratch if I had to.

But I wouldn’t spend one more night trapped in a marriage where there was no space of love. He didn’t want me, fair enough. But now no halfway. Either life with him forever, or life with me never.

It was five PM when my phone rang. It was Abhoy, asking me to be ready by seven. As if I needed two hours to get ready. I almost pointed that out, but I didn’t waste my energy arguing with him. I simply hummed in response and disconnected the call.

The entire day had slipped away while I worked on my website, uploading my latest products. It wasn’t an easy job. First I had to photograph every piece of jewelry from different angles. Then I had to go through hundreds of pictures, choosing the five best ones before making a collage and finally uploading everything. It was one of the most underrated and tedious parts of running a business. Well… except actually creating the jewelry.

I was currently working on a new design I had learned in Panchgani, and despite countless attempts, I had managed to create only two pieces that were good enough to sell. The rest lay scattered on my worktable, tiny reminders of failed attempts that I refused to throw away.

The day hadn’t belonged entirely to me either.

One of my father-in-law’s relatives had come over for lunch, so I had spent a good amount of time helping in the kitchen before changing into something decent and smiling through the introductions as the Chatterjee family’s daughter-in-law. He had blessed me, slipped five hundred rupees into my hand for touching his feet, and later gifted me another present. Once the guests left, Maa insisted that I open it in front of her because she was curious too.

It turned out to be a toaster.

We laughed as we unpacked it and found a place for it in the kitchen.

Well… Maa laughed.

I mostly smiled.

I was still too embarrassed to properly look at her after she had walked in on Abhoy and me kissing earlier that day. Thankfully, she hadn’t asked me a single question. She had simply carried on as though nothing had happened.

Although…

She smiled far more than usual.

There was unmistakable amusement dancing in her eyes every time she looked at me, and I pretended not to notice.

The moment I had fulfilled my daughter-in-law duties, I escaped back to the safety of my room and buried myself in work again. The first two hours went into creating fresh pieces, and after that I sat updating my website.

Once everything was uploaded, I refreshed my order page.

Nothing.

I refreshed again.

Still nothing.

With a sigh, I reached for the chocolate bar in my drawer and broke off a large piece.

Refresh.

Nothing.

Refresh.

Nothing.

By the time I had reached the last bite of chocolate, I had refreshed the page at least ten times.

Not a single order. My chest sank because I had been working so hard. This was my slowest week in the last three months.

I wanted to cry. The pressure sitting inside me felt suffocating, but tears had never solved anything. So I swallowed the lump in my throat before I lost control of myself.

Just then, someone knocked. The door opened before I could answer, and my rather annoyed-looking husband walked in.

I didn’t care. I simply turned back towards my laptop and refreshed the page once again. Still nothing.

I heard his footsteps behind me. A moment later, he leaned over my shoulder and looked at the screen.

Right on cue… he sighed. As if he couldn’t understand my obsession of checking new orders every second as I took minimum two days to ship the product, one of the things he made me mention in the shipping details, so even if there was a slight delay, I could handle it.

I already knew what was coming. One of his long explanations, his motivational speeches. Before he could begin, I raised my hand.

“I don’t want to hear it.”

He fell silent.

Without another word, I grabbed the dress I had kept ready for the evening, and walked into the bathroom. I changed quickly before stepping out and applying a little makeup. Nothing elaborate. Just enough concealer to hide the dark circles under my eyes.

When I turned around, he was gone.

Looking around the room, I spotted him through the floor-to-ceiling glass doors standing on the terrace with his phone pressed to his ear.

I slid the door open quietly.

“I’ll come early tomorrow,” he was saying, his voice clipped. “But we need to submit the data today. No one is leaving until it’s done.”

I couldn’t hear the person on the other end, but I watched Abhoy close his eyes and pinch the bridge of his nose.

I knew that expression. In fact, I was convinced I had a trademark on it. I always thought he reserved that particular look only for me.

“I couldn’t get out of this dinner,” he continued. “And I pay the team to work. I even fucking pay overtime. This contract is important to me, so if anyone isn’t interested in working for it, they should leave the company.”

My lips parted at his words. I wanted to hear more, but he disconnected the call. A second later, his fist slammed into the wall with a dull thud. I winced for him because Abhoy Chatterjee had no reaction. Not even a flicker crossed his face.

Slowly, he turned around. For reasons I couldn’t explain, my heartbeat quickened.

I was scared. Not because I thought he would hurt me. I knew he wouldn’t. I understood him in a way, in the way the last six months had gone with him. He just didn’t want me, but that didn’t mean he hated me.

Even so, I stood where I was, forcing myself not to step back. He slowly walked towards me, and I had to straighten my spine just to keep standing there, though my feet felt rooted to the floor.

“Hi…” I whispered when he stood close to me.

“Can we go to the office?” he asked, his voice much calmer now. “I cannot disrespect Baba. He asked us to have dinner together, and I will. But we can go to the office and order food there. What do you say?”

That wasn’t what I had expected. Not even close.

I nodded.

He was passionate about his work, and I respected that.

He smiled then, and… I swallowed. Hard.

“Are you ready?” he asked.

My eyes narrowed. I looked down at my new dress before looking back at him.

“Don’t you think I am?”

He let out a tired sigh and shook his head. “I can’t ever have a normal conversation with you now, can I?”

“That’s debatable.”

A faint, humorless smile tugged at his lips.

“One that I will lose.”

My chin lifted defiantly.

“That should say something to you.”

“And what would that be?”

“That things cannot go on like they have until now.”

His expression hardened, the softness from a few moments ago disappearing.

“I have two contracts that need my utmost attention. I don’t have time for this. We’ll come back to it after two weeks.”

“Well, if you remember, you’re dropping me home tonight.” I folded my arms across my chest. “So until we talk about this… I’m not returning. Two weeks or two months, I’ll come back only after we’ve had this conversation.”

Something shifted in his eyes. The businessman had replaced the husband.

“Our marriage was never based on love,” he said evenly. “It was based on the capital your Kaka wanted me to invest in his business.”

My eyes widened. I had always known something had happened between the two of them. I just hadn’t known it was this. Seeing my expression, he gave a small nod, as though confirming the conclusion I had reached on my own.

“I have a stake in his company now. And let me tell you… it’s running at a loss. Your Kaka doesn’t know how to run a profitable company.”

His voice remained calm, almost emotionless.

“Mehek, I have never lied to you. I never promised you the moon or the stars. I was honest with you before we got married, yet today… we’re standing at a very different place.”

He paused for a brief second before continuing.

“Just because we kissed, don’t think we suddenly have something between us. And don’t think you can put your foot down and make me do something I won’t do.” His gaze didn’t leave mine. “I gave you a lot. Respect that you never had before. A voice that was always silenced. A business that had no identity before. I’m doing everything I can, but don’t think you can make me do more, because you can’t.”

A flicker of guilt crossed his face. “And I’m sorry for that.”

Without waiting for my response, he turned and walked out.

The room fell painfully quiet. I stood where I was, replaying every single word he had said.

Did… did Kaka sell me to him? He hadn’t said those exact words. But I couldn’t stop my mind from filling in the blanks. He now owned part of Kaka’s business.

If I left him… would he take over the company?

Was that what he meant?

But… why should I care? Kaka wasn’t my responsibility. He never cared for my happiness, so why should I care about his business, which, according to my husband… he didn’t even know how to run?

Only Baba and Maa were my responsibility. No one else.

I wasn’t forcing Abhoy to love me. I couldn’t. No one could force love. But I deserved answers. I deserved to know where we stood.

He loved someone else and… yet I was his wife.

Then what was I? For a fleeting moment, I thought of Devi Rukmini and Devi Radha. Was I supposed to be Rukmini while someone else remained the Radha of his heart?

No. Even that comparison wasn’t fair. Shri Krishna loved Mata Rukmini. My husband didn’t love me. The realization stung far more than I wanted to admit. Still… I wanted to know who the Radha of his life was. And I would. I wouldn’t stop asking until I knew the truth.

Yes, my life here had given me things I never had before. Respect. Confidence. A voice people actually listened to. A business that finally had an identity of its own.

But I had lost things too. I had lost the dreams I had before I married him. I had lost my innocence. Perhaps… perhaps this was how life hardened people, taking away what they wanted the most.

Taking a deep breath, I picked up the bag I had packed in the morning. I was going to my parents’ house. And I wasn’t coming back until we had that conversation.

No matter what Abhoy said… his threats wouldn’t work on me anymore.

We reached his office, and he steered me straight towards his cabin. As we walked through the floor, my eyes wandered over the rows of cubicles. Every desk was occupied. People typed furiously on their keyboards, discussed numbers over hushed conversations, or stared at multiple screens with complete concentration. The quiet hum of keyboards, ringing phones, and printers somehow blended into a rhythm of its own.

I couldn’t hide the awe in my eyes.

I had never imagined myself working in a place like this.

But…

Would it really be so bad?

No.

It would be thrilling.

The thought made me smile to myself.

I had never allowed myself to dream about an office job because simply working from home had once been a battle. Convincing people that my work mattered had taken years. Not anymore, though. My mother-in-law encouraged me to follow my dreams, and strangely enough, so did my so-called husband on paper.

The irony wasn’t lost on me.

I settled onto the couch inside his cabin just as three men walked in. They greeted Abhoy respectfully before launching into what sounded like a project discussion. While they spoke, Abhoy walked over to me and handed me menus from different restaurants.

“Whatever you want,” he said before returning to them.

I quietly flipped through the menus, though my attention kept drifting back to him.

He was… different here.

The calm, distant man I knew at home barely existed within these walls.

Here, he was confident.

Commanding.

Every instruction he gave was crisp, every decision immediate. Nobody interrupted him or questioned him. They simply listened, took notes, and nodded. He carried himself with such effortless authority that it almost felt like I was looking at a different person.

The meeting ended a few minutes later, and the three men left the cabin. Abhoy immediately picked up another call, his tone remaining just as firm.

God…

I couldn’t stop looking at him.

The way he leaned against the table while talking. The slight crease between his brows whenever he concentrated. The confidence in his voice.

Then, as though sensing my stare, his eyes lifted and met mine.

Heat rushed to my cheeks.

I quickly lowered my head and pretended to study the menu, praying he hadn’t caught me staring.

I absentmindedly turned a few more pages until one item caught my attention.

Tandoori paneer platter.

My eyes lit up.

It was vegetarian, and I had always loved paneer.

Maybe we could order a vegetarian dinner tonight.

I was still comparing dishes when the sofa dipped beside me.

Startled, I jumped slightly.

Abhoy rolled his eyes.

“I called your name. Twice.” A faint smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “What do you want to order?”

“Paneer platter and chole bhature.” I handed him the menu. “You can order something else for yourself if you want.”

He frowned as he looked at the menu but eventually nodded.

“No problem. I’ll eat whatever you order.” His finger stopped on another item. “There’s a seafood platter as well. Want to order that?”

I hesitated. “If you want.”

“You don’t want it?”

I shook my head. “I’ve always loved paneer.”

He simply nodded. “Anything to drink?”

I looked at him for a moment before a mischievous thought crossed my mind.

“Um… wine?”

“What?”

I shrugged casually, trying to appear unaffected. I wanted to see how much I could get away with before he finally lost his patience.

“You want to drink alcohol?” he asked again, sounding genuinely surprised.

“Yes.” I tried to keep a straight face. “I’ve never tasted it, but I’ve always wondered what it tastes like.”

He stared at me for what felt like an entire minute. I busied myself with my bracelet, twisting it around my wrist, pretending I wasn’t nervous.

Inside, however, my heart was pounding.

Had I crossed a line?

What if he told Baba that I had asked for alcohol?

Why had I even said that? That was so stupid.

Without saying a word, Abhoy stood up and walked towards a door at the far end of the cabin. Only then did I notice it. I hadn’t even realized there was another room attached to his office.

The door closed behind him, and I swallowed nervously. The silence suddenly felt too loud. A few moments later, I heard footsteps returning.

“Look, I’m sorry. Please don’t rat me out in front of…”

The rest of the sentence died on my lips because… he was carrying a bottle. Dark red liquid shimmered inside the glass.

My eyes widened. Oh my God. Wine. No… red wine. I couldn’t believe he had actually brought it. He sat beside me and placed two glasses on the table before expertly uncorking the bottle.

I watched every movement, fascinated. My romance novels were full of scenes where couples drank wine together before falling in love.

And here I was… about to drink the world’s most romantic drink… with a man who loved someone else.

Abhoy poured the wine, filling his glass only about ten percent. He lifted it effortlessly, swirling the deep red liquid before bringing it close to his nose. He inhaled slowly, then took a measured sip.

“Understood what to do?”

I nodded.

He poured the same amount into my glass, and I copied him. I swirled the wine just like he had before bringing it to my nose. The aroma was… intense. Fruity, yet strangely bitter. Rich. I didn’t really know how to describe it. It smelled nothing like I had imagined.

Taking a tentative sip, I immediately felt the warmth slide down my throat. It burned for a brief moment before fading away, leaving behind a lingering taste that wasn’t unpleasant, just… unfamiliar.

I turned to Abhoy.

He raised an eyebrow.

I shrugged.

“It’s okay.”

“Just okay?”

“Good…” I admitted quietly, suddenly feeling embarrassed.

The corners of his lips lifted ever so slightly.

Without saying anything, he poured himself another small serving. I immediately held my glass out towards him.

“You want more?”

I nodded.

He didn’t pour.

“You won’t rat me out, right? Like saying I made you drink?”

“You think I would do that?” I asked, frowning.

“I don’t know what you can and cannot do, Mehek.” His tone remained calm. “I’m always a little apprehensive about how you’ll react to things.”

“Why?”

“Because…” He looked at me for a second before answering. “I don’t understand you. I can’t read you.”

His words lingered in my mind.

Was that supposed to be a good thing?

Or a bad one?

“Just pour,” I said, pushing my glass forward again. “This will be our little secret.”

Another faint smile appeared on his face before he finally gave in and poured me a little more.

He picked up his phone, ordered dinner, and then returned to work. This time I noticed something different. Instead of calling people into his cabin, he stepped outside whenever he needed to discuss something. It was as though he was deliberately not wanting others to know I was drinking wine inside his cabin.

Nearly forty minutes later, he returned carrying paper bags filled with food, along with two plates and cutlery.

The moment he noticed the bottle on the table, his eyes widened.

“You drank half of it?”

“Not half.” I looked at the bottle thoughtfully. “Maybe… forty-five percent.”

“Mehek.”

“And you drank too, so thirty-five percent.”

He glared at me, but I didn’t care.

Everything felt… lighter somehow. The worries that had followed me all day seemed softer around the edges.

Without another word, he picked up the bottle and walked away.

I ignored him and opened the food packets. The aroma of the paneer hit me immediately, making my stomach growl. Forgetting all about the plates, I picked up a piece with my fingers and popped it into my mouth.

“Oh…”

The paneer was unbelievably soft, coated in smoky spices that practically melted on my tongue. I closed my eyes for a second, savoring it before grabbing another piece without a hint of shame.

When Abhoy returned, another one of his familiar sighs escaped him.

God… I had become so used to that sigh. It was almost… sexy.

“You are sexy,” I blurted out.

The words left my mouth before I could stop them. I wanted the ground to swallow me whole.

Abhoy froze.

For a brief second, he simply stared at me before swallowing hard and sitting beside me. Without saying anything, he quietly took away the glass that still contained wine and replaced it with a glass of water.

“I can’t believe it’s your first time drinking and you managed this much.”

“Even your voice is sexy,” I mumbled, completely ignoring the water. “You know… sturdy, but soft underneath.”

He chose not to acknowledge that either. Instead, he calmly served food onto a plate and placed it in front of me.

“Eat, Mehek.”

I obediently took the plate.

“She must be so lucky,” I murmured after a few bites.

“Who?”

“The one you love.”

A shadow crossed his face. “You have no idea.”

“You think I’m a fool, don’t you?”

He looked at me. “Why do you think that I think that?”

I only shrugged before tearing off another piece of bhatura. Then, before he could stop me, I reached for my wine glass again and took another sip. He watched me. But this time… he let me.

The rest of the dinner passed mostly in silence. He answered a couple of work calls, his voice immediately slipping back into that calm, authoritative tone, but no one entered the cabin. Everyone seemed to know better than to disturb him.

I watched him between bites.

He really was a decent man. Just… not mine.

It was after eleven when we finally left the office. I grabbed the handle of my rolling bag, but before I could pull it along, Abhoy quietly took it from my hand. He looked at me for a moment, as though he wanted to say something, but whatever it was remained unspoken. Instead, he simply turned and walked ahead.

The pleasant buzz from the wine had completely faded by then. After finishing two bhaturas and having the bottle firmly taken away from me, I was very much myself again.

Though I still remembered calling him sexy.

The memory made me cringe.

I didn’t regret saying it, though.

At least I had admitted what I felt.

He never did.

Sometimes it felt as though he liked me, or at least some part of me, but he refused to acknowledge it. Every time something shifted between us, he was the first one to build the wall back up.

The drive passed in silence. The city outside had quietened, the traffic thinning as midnight crept closer. Streetlights streaked across the windshield, and neither of us made any attempt to fill the silence.

Eventually, we reached the intersection.

One road led towards my parents’ house.

The other led home.

“How about I drop you tomorrow morning?” he asked suddenly.

I frowned.

“Why?”

“It’s so late, Mehek.” His hands remained on the steering wheel. “I don’t feel comfortable dropping you at your parents’ place this late.”

“How about you drop me outside and I go in on my own?”

“That’s not what I meant.” His voice stayed calm. “I’ll drop you tomorrow.”

“No.” I shook my head. “I already spoke to Maa. She’s waiting for me. I was leaving today, and I am. Nothing can stop me.”

For a brief second, neither of us spoke. Then he nodded and turned towards my parents’ house. Even in the dim light, I noticed the way his jaw tightened.

He was angry. But this was absurd. I was only going home. That decision had already been made. He couldn’t simply change it because he wanted to.

So he was worried I won’t return.

Didn’t he tell me clearly how my staying or leaving him affected my kaka’s business?

A few minutes later, he stopped the car outside my building. I reached for the door handle. But it didn’t open. The central lock had clicked shut.

Frowning, I turned towards him. “What the hell, Abhoy?”

Without answering, he reached behind his seat and handed me a small stack of papers.

Confused, I took them. They were brochures. Of MBA. College brochures. My eyes instinctively began scanning the pages, of course structures, campuses, then the admission details. Before I even realized it, I was reading everything with complete attention.

“What is this?”

“I saw you today.” His voice was quieter now. “You were frustrated because you weren’t getting any orders.”

I stiffened.

“I also checked your website.”

That made me look up.

“You haven’t received an order in a week.”

I narrowed my eyes. I hated hearing my failures spoken aloud.

“Do an MBA, Mehek.”

I blinked.

“That will teach you much more than how to get orders. It will teach you how to build a business.”

I simply stared at him, unsure where this conversation was leading.

“You have a life in your new home now.” He looked at me steadily. “I want you to grow. Study. Build your life. Take your business to another level.”

He paused before adding quietly,

“I’ll help you.”

For a moment, I forgot where we were.

Why was he telling me all this now?

Why here?

Why when I was about to leave?

I waited.

“When will you come back?” he finally asked. “Two days? Three?”

The question settled between us.

So… this was really about me returning. Returning to be his wife, to the house. It was me returning to the life we had somehow built together.

I looked at him carefully. Behind the composed expression and steady voice, I caught something I hadn’t expected.

Vulnerability.

It was there only for a moment before he hid it again. I didn’t know what to say. I really didn’t. He loved someone else. He had admitted that himself.

Yet… he still wanted me to come back home.

He couldn’t have both. Whoever the other woman was… he couldn’t keep us both in his heart, even if I trusted him that right now only I was in his life.