Her eyes scanned his curled up and shivering form with several emotions washing over her soul. While her love, for the man who sinned against the cause she lived for, broke her aching heart into myriads of pieces, her conscience burned her very soul in ways she could fathom not.
"Neysa, shall we leave?" questioned a member of the Committee, pulling her out of her reverie.
"I need to catch up on something else at this moment, Shiv. If you can excuse me, I will join you later," said Neysa, trying her best to keep her tone professional and facade of nonchalance while internally she could feel the pain of thousand daggers stabbing her.
Her voice made the man of her thoughts look up to the source as he felt himself sinking further into the vortex of darkness and hysteria. His wife, the one whose trust he was yet to win, could have managed to evade her pain from the eyes of the onlookers but not the one to whom she had lost her heart.
Her pain only broke him further from inside, both for being the cause of it and for not being able to do anything in regard to the same.
As the Committee members left the CourtRoom along with all the other officials, Neysa began walking towards her husband who had stood up, preparing for the upcoming battle between his love's heart and soul.
"You never told me that you had this side to your personality too, Mr. Adhrit Solanki?" she questioned, her voice merely a whisper but held the potential to cause more damage than the one several octaves high in the heart of one standing in front of her.
"I agree that this should not have happened, Nisha. It was not supposed to happen this way, trust me," he said, moving close to her as he tried cupping her shoulders when she took a step back.
"Trust you?" she asked, a self-deriding chuckle leaving her lips as her eyes turned blood-shot.
"Nisha..."
"I earnestly hoped every moment of our marital life that I will trust you wholeheartedly one day, that you will give me every chance to do so. You have let me down on so many levels today, Adhrit. How could you even play with the lives of children when you love them so much? HOW?" she demanded, fury taking the better of her.
"It was not supposed to be this way, darling, like I said. I did not want any of this to happen," he exclaimed, trying to move closer to her but it was only the physical distance that he could erase.
"So, you are telling me that your company was manufacturing drugs without your knowledge and approval? Even if it is true, why did you never inform me of this case? When were you going to reveal this?" she questioned, breathing heavily, as if she is trying extremely hard to not let sorrow wash over her and escape her eyes in the form of brine.
"I wanted to tell you, but you were pregnant at that time. I did not want to put you into any kind of stress and what happened after the delivery is known to both of us. I didn't want to add another trouble to our platter," he answered, losing his control over the tears which were filling his eyes.
Neysa took in a deep breath as she took in his answer. The reminder of the time they spent in Shillong proved to be bane to her soul and her heart alike, albeit for different reasons.
"You still didn't answer my first questions. Are you trying to imply that your company manufactured these drugs without your knowledge?" asked Neysa, praying that the answer is in affirmative and since it was a joint case, the lawyer conveniently forgot to raise the point.
But, alas, the destiny had something else in hold for them.
"No. I knew," he replied, looking everywhere else except for the shattered woman in front of him as heart resonated with the breaking of her heart once again.
Neysa stumbled back as her last straw of patience, the last shred of hope and the last piece of heart broke in myriads of pieces.
"But I didn't know that they had harmful side-effects on children. My trips to Shillong had taken a toll on my schedule and in one such case, since I wanted to stay back for the maximum duration possible, I did not ask for any case reports or articles regarding this composition when it was proposed. In fact, we even bribed the Authorities to get the drug into the market. I was so confident of my team that I had forgotten that no one was higher than any of the seven vices. I wish I had rechecked it at least once," explained Adhrit, holding her in his arms as he tried to make her look at him as sincerity gleamed in his eyes.
Neysa found herself in a quandary she had never imagined herself in. On one hand, her heart was begging her to believe her husband and stay by his side in the difficult times, but her soul screamed of impartiality to her as it roused questions on his sense of responsibility and his morality.
"Let go of me, Adhrit," she whispered, deciding that she will have to share her problem to someone before it engulfs her as a whole and staying so close to her love was not letting her think straight.
"Nisha...Neysa, please! Please don't leave me! I just lost my company, but if I lose you and the kids, I don't think I can survive!" he begged, cupping her face with his shaky hands as he drew her closer, looking straight into her eyes as tears flowed from his eyes freely.
"Please, Adhrit, I don't think I'll survive if I stay here any longer! Please!" she said, his hands automatically dropping to his sides as her words evoked a deep sense of angst, remorse and turmoil in him.
What will be the future of Adhrit and Neysa?