The way I used to live novel Chapter 43

Arjun's POV:

The next day, I left the house early in the morning. I called Aditya to meet me at a cafe. I didn't tell anyone about this meeting.

Once I reached the cafe, I asked for a private room and went inside to wait for Aditya.

He soon came there with some files in his hands. Though I didn't understand why he brought them, I chose to ignore it and greeted him with a brief hug.

"Looks like she told you everything about her past… our past," he said after taking his seat in front of me and I nodded at him slowly.

"I am sorry for your loss. It must be really hard for you." I told him and though I didn't know how he must have felt at that time, I could understand his pain.

I never in my dreams wanted to experience it. I felt like my soul left my body when I saw Daksha's frail body in my arms as she fainted in the cafe. So, how can I cope up when I have to put myself in Adi's shoes? That thought itself made my body shudder in fear, a fear of losing her. So, I shook my head to stop those thoughts.

"Don't be. Yeah, it is hard but I am trying to cope up with the present and I can't feel at peace unless I put him behind the bars," he said while clenching his palms.

"I understand. I called you for that only. We can do it. I will ask for my friend's help too. I am sure we all can put him behind bars," I told him confidently and he nodded at me firmly.

"These are the evidence that I have collected against him in these two years by staying away from my family," he said, shocking me a little.

"What! You have been working on this for two years. I thought it's recently that you have started doing it when Daksha told me that she was receiving threat messages from that a**hole," I told him and he just shook his head.

"Naah. Daksha for the first time wished for something i.e., she wants to live a happy life with you. So, I want to fulfill her wish. I let him know about my activities to show him that I haven't given up on this matter," he said calmly and my respect for him increased ten-fold.

I gave him an appreciative nod and opened one of the files to read the great deeds of Rahul. My eyes widened in surprise after reading the contents in that file.

"Can this information be trusted? Are you sure?" I asked him skeptically.

"Yeah, I even cross checked it with some trustworthy sources," he confirmed.

"Then why didn't you take the action till now?" I asked him because the information that he had in his hands was enough to put Rahul behind bars for his entire life.

"I can but I don't want to. I want to gather evidence for that night's incident. I want justice for my love, for my unborn baby and for my sister. I tried my best but all the events in the CCTV footage on that stairs got erased. I am sure it was his doing," he said and when I recalled the events of the night that Daksha had explained, my blood boiled in anger.

Whenever I remembered the vulnerable look on Daksha's face when she was narrating about that night, I wanted to kill that Rahul so brutally that he himself would feel afraid to look at his own corpse.

"Leave that footage matter to me. I'll handle it. The thing we have to do now is prepare the strategy to hit him where it hurts the most," I said in a determined tone.

"He doesn't have any weaknesses. He always spends his time on work and on girls. All these things mentioned in that file are handled by his people. Nobody knows about his direct involvement," he said and I thought for a while to grasp his words.

"Well, if he spends most of his time on work, then he must love his work and his company must be a result of his hard work, right?" I asked him and he nodded at me with a smirk when he got the meaning of my words.

"Dhruv will handle that matter as he is a pro in dealing with that kind of person. Leave these files with me. I'll hand them over to Indra. After that, I will send a lawsuit notice to Rahul," I suggested and he nodded at me.

"Well, tell me what to do. I'll be grateful to lend my hand," he asked me.

"Sure thing. There is something you have to do."

"Tell me. I'll definitely do it,” he said.

"Okay, go home and just chill. Leave everything to me. You have already worked hard enough. Let me help you from now on. Trust me," I told him while standing up from my seat and patted his shoulder.

"Sure. By the way, Daksha is so lucky to have you." He said with a smile and adjusted his suit after he stood up from his seat.

"Tell me something that I don't know," I said and went outside.

"Cocky much!" I heard his distant voice with a laugh.

I just shook my head with a slight smile and headed home. After reaching there, I went to my room directly. I saw that Daksha was still sleeping. So without disturbing her sleep, I opened the locker and put the files safely in there.

Then I went near the bed and kneeled down on the floor. I smiled after seeing her serene face and I softly tucked her strand of hair behind her ear.

"Where did you go?" she mumbled in a sleepy tone without opening her eyes while hugging my arm. I chuckled a little and settled myself on the floor.

"Went to handle something. Why? Were you missing me already?" I asked her in a teasing voice.

"Yes." Unexpectedly she agreed. She opened her eyes and sat up on the bed.

"Well, aren't I in front of you now?" I asked her with a smile playing on my lips.

"Yes… yes..." she said while rattling her head continuously and got down from the bed and what she did next, completely caught me off guard. She directly sat on my lap and straddled her arms around my neck while placing her head on my shoulder.

"I missed you." Saying this, she snuggled more into me. I held her tightly with a smile and kissed her forehead.

"Didn't you miss me at all?" She asked while removing her head from my shoulder and looked at me.

Instead of answering her, I just pecked her soft lips lightly. She instantly buried her face in my neck shyly while her face was all red.

I chuckled at her antics and she smacked my arm lightly while mumbling 'hooligan' under her breath.

"What? If you don't want it, you can return it to me," I told her suggestively and she snuggled more into me shyly, making me laugh wholeheartedly.

"Daksha, it's been a while since we had dinner outside. So, why don't we go to a nice hotel to have our dinner today?" I asked her as I knew yesterday's events might have taken a huge toll on her. So I wanted to take her out to make her feel refreshed.

"Sure. I have a restaurant in my mind. Let's go there," she said.

"Okay. I have to leave for work. Will see you in the evening then," I said and lifted her in my arms steadily after bringing myself into a kneeling position. She let out a surprised squeal and held me tightly.

I carried her to the bed and placed her softly on it before covering her with the duvet.

"Sleep for a while. I am leaving." Saying this, I kissed her forehead and I saw her nodding at me. I looked at her for one last time and left the room after closing the door softly.

............

Daksha's POV:

Exactly at six in the evening, Arjun came home and I already got ready for our dinner before he came. So I was waiting for Arjun in the living room with my Attayya as Arjun went to get freshen up.

After a while, he came downstairs in his casual attire. Bidding goodbye to Attayya, we both took our leave from home.

After settling ourselves in the car, he asked me for the restaurant address and I gladly gave it to him. We reached there while listening to the soft music that was playing from the radio in his car.

Upon reaching there, he helped me in getting out of the car. Since I already made reservations this morning, the waiter took us directly to our table.

After settling ourselves on our seats, I drank some water from the bottle while Arjun was looking into the menu.

"What do you want to eat?" he asked me.

"Anything is fine with me. I am not that picky. So, order anything," I told him while looking out through the glass wall.

"Good evening Sir and Madam, your order please?" I heard the soft voice of a woman. So I immediately turned my head to get a look at her.

I saw that Arjun and that woman were looking at each other with shock clearly evident on their faces. I found it strange and glanced at Arjun.

He was the first one to avert his gaze and looked at me with a smile as if assuring me that everything was okay. Though I was not satisfied, I just nodded at him slowly.

He immediately placed the order and dismissed her.

"Who is she?" I asked him while waiting for our orders to arrive.

"Anusha," he said in a casual tone as if meeting his ex didn't matter to him at all.

"Oh," I said as I didn't know what to say.

Well. I had to agree. Anusha was really a good looking woman but it didn’t matter as Arjun belonged to me now. I really wanted to gloat my fortune at her face but since I am a good human being, I didn’t do it.

She came with our orders and set them on our table. When I saw the tomatoes on my plate, I immediately extended my hand to place them in Arjun's plate as I saw him eating them so fondly at home several times.

But my hand stilled in the air when I heard her words.

"He doesn't like to eat them," she said hurriedly and I exchanged a look between them and tried to withdraw my hand, thinking that I might be wrong in assuming that he likes to eat them.

"Don't. I love them." Saying this, he held my hand and made me place them on his plate. "Don't behave as if you know me well," he said to her coldly and I could feel the awkwardness in the air.

"Sorry for crossing my limits. Have a nice meal." Saying this, she left from there with an embarrassed face.

"You know, you didn’t have to be that rude with her. Don't tell me you are still holding a grudge against her for calling off engagement?" I asked him and he scoffed after hearing my words.

"Do I seem that petty to you? Talking about rudeness, I have every right to be rude because my lovely wife is serving me with so much love. How dare she interrupt you in the middle? I will still react in the same way if there were someone else in her place instead of her," he explained and I just placed my hands on my heart with a smile.

"I am so impressed, my Jun," I told him dramatically and blurted out his name unintentionally.

"What did you call me just now?" He asked me in surprise and I immediately clicked my tongue at my stupid slip up.

"What are you talking about? I addressed you with the name Arjun only. Why? did you hear anything else?" I told him while keeping an earnest look on my face.

"Nothing. I must have heard it incorrectly. Have your food," he suggested. I nodded my head slowly after releasing a sigh and dug into the food.

After having the food, I excused myself to use the restroom. When I was coming outside after using the restroom, I saw that Anusha was waiting for me outside. I wanted to ignore her presence but she called me out.

"Please stop. I know you both hate me for what I had done in the past, but now I am truly feeling sorry for breaking the engagement in such a situation. You might be thinking that I am crazy but we both are not meant for each other. Even if I didn't do it at that time, we eventually could have broken up later.

"It was clearly evident because of the earlier incident. I didn't even know the fact he likes tomatoes. I always thought he disliked them as he never ate them in my presence. How ignorant I was to not notice the fact that he stopped eating them because I hate them,” she said while wiping her tears but I didn't know why, I felt a pang in my heart when I heard how much he valued their relationship back then and at the same time, feeling bad for Arjun as his sincerity got paid off with betrayal.

"Are you regretting it now?" I spoke for the first time and she looked at me in surprise but shook her head slowly.

"No. Even If I did, I lost that right too. Everything that I have been experiencing is the result of my past deeds. Moreover, regret has no medicine. He deserves someone worth him. I can say you both are made for each other within a single glance itself. Always stay happy," she said and turned to leave from there.

"Anusha. Thanks for leaving him back then," I told her. 

"If not,  I wouldn't have gotten a chance to have him in my life." I thought in my mind with a smile and she smiled at me in an understanding manner before leaving from there.