"I want a divorce," I told him.

My voice barely rose above a whisper, but the weight of it was deafening. My eyes were swollen and red.

I must have looked like I’d been crying for hours. Probably because I had.

Vedant’s eyes snapped up the moment he heard me. He froze mid-step, confusion crashing into his features.

"Katha, what are you saying?" he asked, voice laced with genuine concern.

He stood from the sofa, reached for my face, "Yeh kya haal bna liya hai apna?" he murmured, trying to wipe the tears off

my cheek with the back of his hand.

(What have you done to yourself?)

I stepped back.

"Vedant ji," I said, swallowing the lump in my throat. "I want a divorce."

"Pagal ho gayi ho kya?" His voice rose slightly. "Kya bole ja rahi ho? Divorce? Just like that?" He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

(Have you gone mad? What are you saying? Divorce?)

I didn’t answer.

"Mazak kar rahi ho katha?"

(Are you joking katha)

I shook my head.

He stepped closer again, slower this time. "Fir kya hua hai? Kisi ne kuch kaha hai? You're tired, that's all. Raat bhar soti nahi ho. Yeh sab thakawat mein dimag mein aa jaata hai."

(Then what happened? Did someone say something? You're tired, that's all. You haven't been sleeping. These thoughts come when the mind is exhausted.)

I shook my head. "Yeh faisla maine neend mein nahi liya, Vedant ji. Main bohot dino se jaag rahi hoon."

(I didn't make this decision in my sleep, Vedant ji. I've been awake. For a long time.)

"Divorce? Sudden?

"Yes!"

He looked genuinely hurt. "Par maine kya kiya hai? Kya kami reh gayi meri taraf se?"

(But what did I do? Where did I fall short?)

My heart twisted.

"You didn't do one big thing," I said quietly. "You did many small things. Every day. Every moment. Especially with her."

He knew who I meant.

"Don't bring the child into this," he said, softly, like a warning disguised as care.

"She is the center of this, Vedant ji." I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from shaking. "She's the reason I stayed this long. And now, she's the reason I can't."

He let out a bitter laugh. "So you think I  don't love her, is that it? Bas itna sa reason hai ki mujhe divorce de diya jaaye?"

(Just this small reason and you want a divorce?)

"I think? I think? Vedant ji? I do not think it's reality! You don't see her," I snapped. "You walk past her like she's furniture. She calls you, and you don't even look up. Aapko sirf beta chahiye tha, right? And when she turned out to be a girl, you just checked out."

(You only wanted a son, right?)

"That's not fair, Katha. She's a girl, yes, but that doesn't mean I don't care."

"You don't," I said, feeling my throat close up. "Caring isn't just paying bills. She doesn't even recognize your scent. She cries for me, but never for you. That's not normal, Vedant ji. That's not okay."

He frowned. "She's young. She doesn't know yet. She'll grow up. And when she does, I'll educated her in a good school. main uski shaadi karwa doonga. Ache ghar mein bhej doonga. Kya chahiye usko?"

(I'll get her married into a good family. What else does she need?)

I stared at him, stunned.

"You'll marry her off? That's your idea of fatherhood?"

"No katha please do not interpret my words in the wrong way. It's how things are. I'll do my duty. Duty as a father"

"No." My voice shook. "No. Your duty was to hold her when she cried. To kiss her forehead before bed. To choose pink shoes with her. To let her be loud and silly and two years old. Not talking about dowry and shaadi when she's not even out of diapers!"

He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Tum overreact kar rahi ho."

(You're overreacting.)

"I am reacting. For the first time in two years, I am reacting." I stepped closer now. "And not for myself. For her. Because if I don't speak up, she'll grow up thinking this is normal. That her father's love is something to earn."

Vedant's voice turned quiet again, like a parent talking to a child who's throwing a tantrum. "Katha. Calm down. Tum emotional ho. Tumhara dimag thak gaya hai. Aaram karo."

(You're emotional. Your mind is tired. Just rest.)

"I am tired," I said, nodding. "Tired of being the only parent she has. Tired of making excuses for you. Tired of believing that your coldness will melt someday."

His hand came up, gentle again, reaching for me.

And I said the last thing I ever imagined I would say in this marriage.

"Main aap se guzarish kar rahi hoon, Vedant ji. Let me go."

(I'm requesting you, Vedant ji. Let me go.)

"I'm sorry katha but don't joke around about these things and go back to work, it's Sunday let me rest"

"No!" Vedant said raising his voice a bit.

"No?"

He blinked, but I didn’t stop.

"You didn’t come into the hospital room when she was born. The nurse told you it was a girl and you just… went outside. You never asked to hold her."

Vedant’s expression darkened, but he said nothing.

"You’ve never held Vedika. Not once in two years. Not when she took her first steps, not when she cried, not even when she laughed."

"That’s not true..."

"It is," I said sharply. "Every time she cried at night, you’d leave the room. Said she was disturbing your peace. You went to the guest room for sleep while your daughter was crying "

"I didn’t know how to handle her..I__"

"You never tried. You never smiled at her. Never celebrated her birthday. I did all of that, alone. I hung balloons, baked a cake, and clapped while she blew out candles. And you didn’t even show up."

"Katha listen__"

"When she was just five months old, when I was still healing,you told me we should try again. 'For a boy,' you said. Do you remember that? Because I do."

He looked away, silent.

"And you laugh with your nephew. You swing him in your arms, feed him sweets, call him 'beta' like he’s your own. While Vedika sat on my lap watching. Hoping. Just once....that her father would hold her too."

I took a breath, my voice breaking. "But you never did."

"Our nephew vedant ji, he got to have big birthday party celebrations while my vedika used to have none! Ishan used to get lots of toys and my vedika only used to have very few that too only I used to buy her!"

"And this favouritism is just not limited to you only but your mother your father everyone in the house! For them Ishan and vedika are like sky and soil!"

"Vedika meri jaan hai vedant ji! Aur aap logo ne meri jaan ke sath aisa kiya"! I screamed and sobbed at the same time.

(Vedika is my life vedant ji and you all did this with her)

For a second, his face hardened. Something inside him snapped.

"Your mother is a woman too, Vedant ji. I am a woman. What if we were treated like this? Would it still be 'duty' then?" I shouted, my voice raw.

He opened his mouth, but I didn’t stop.

"I will not have another child with you. Not now. Not ever. You don’t deserve to raise a daughter, let alone ask for a son."

I screamed my lungs out.

While tears now drench my throat and face now.

His eyes widened.

"You are a coward. A weak man hiding behind customs"

"Katha stop, you're crossing your limits now"

"Mard kehlaane layak nahi ho aap, Namard ho aap hij_!" I spat. (You are not a man.)

"Katha!" he screamed, stunned by the venom in my voice, the fire he’d never seen in the soft-spoken wife he thought he owned.

And then his hand struck across my cheek.

Smack

His ring cut my cheek.

I staggered back, not from the force, but from the audacity of it.

The silence after that slap was colder than anything we had ever said.

He didn't say a word.

I held my cheek and looked at him.

I looked at vedika.

She was still sleeping peacefully, dreaming, unaware.

But not for long.

"Katha look I.. I'm so.. sorry I didn't mean to..see I love you and vedika don't create the mess of divorce and all"

"What will society think about us."

I looked him in the eyes.

Calm.

Steady.

"You just made this easier for me"

"What?".

"Domestic violence isn't a small thing vedant ji, good luck fighting in the court".

I walked out of that room with shaking legs and a burning face. But for the first time, my heart wasn't heavy. It was on fire.

I didn't cry again that night.

Not because it didn't hurt.

****

Because I'd found the reason I would never walk back.

And made sure the divorce happened.

He didn't even fight for the custody of our daughter.

And I made him sign on the papers that he won't be having any legal parenting rights of vedika.

I didn't ask for any alimony because I do not want his dirty money feeding my daughter neither I want anything that connects him with us.

When I thought he might call him to ask for vedika, he regret his decisions.

I found him married to another woman just after 6 months of our divorce.

My heart ached.

Is this the man I loved 3 years for?

From now he's just a stranger to us.

When I think life was having peaceful now.

I didn't expect him to enter my life again creating chaos that started to thrill my life.

To whom vedika started to see more than a stranger as a father figure.

The one who startes to connect with me and our daughter.

But would I able to give him a chance again?

After the thing he had done with me in the past?

He started to making his presence again in my and my daughter's life.

As a lover

And mostly importantly

For vedika as a father.

My ex-boyfriend.

Rudraksh__

------

Ages :

Vedika :- 2 year old

Katha :- 25 year old

Rudraksh :- 26 year old (soon be 27)

Vedant :- 31 year old.

___

Tropes

Single divorced mother x ex boyfriend

Katha

x Rudraksh

Grovel

Forgiveness

Love

Second chance

18+ (mature themes in some chapters, skip if you're uncomfortable)

Note :- No cheating trope or cheating involved in the story.

****

Please vote and comment for the prologue of my new book.

Love you all 🌙