Aastik and Arunima were sitting in the car; the vehicle was moving steadily down the road. Arunima kept staring at Aastik in disbelief. After returning from the hospital to the hotel room, Aastik had already been intimate with her—and then he had left for another room. But even when he wasn’t physically there, Arunima found herself thinking only about his words.

Aastik had clearly told her that he would never let her get pregnant because, according to him, pregnancy would ruin her beautiful body—and that was something he did not want. On top of that, she was already repaying the investment her father had made in Aastik’s company. The thought of it all was breaking her more and more inside. She had hoped that her family, especially her mother, would support her. But her conversation with her mother in the hospital made her realize that expecting anything from her family was pointless. They knew everything, yet her mother still advised her to stay in the marriage. That disappointed Arunima even further.