Chapter 1
"Life is like a necklace of pearls—each with its own luster. But if even one turns black, the whole strand loses its charm. That's why every pearl must be cared for."
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The little girl crawled towards the bed, banging her tiny fists and pouring silent sorrows for something she desperately needed.
A quiet young man, seated on the edge of the bed, groaned.
"What more could she want besides food?" he muttered, pretending to know the answer.
"Can't you see!?She's been crying for an hour—she's scared!" came a voice, drained and cracking with frustration.
"You both are so annoying. Tsk."
The young man didn't even spare a glance at the baby, busy eating the fruits in front of him, as if her cries were nothing but background noise.
The woman beside him, trying her best to stir an emotion in him, closed her eyes, controlling her frustration. After some time, she opened them.
She glanced at the man in front of her and then sighed as realizing she had lost ….again …
She rose from the bed, the beads and threads of her dress trailing from her knees to the floor like quiet chains.
She picked the little girl in her arms, slowly walking out of the vast chambers.
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Maybe she really needs food. A child can't cry this long for nothing. "... A voice heard from her back..
A woman, her dress dusted with mud from the garden, stood nearby. Grass clung to the fabric from knees to hem. There were pieces of grass stuck in her clothes, because she had just come out of the garden.
"I am telling you, I tried feeding her, but she won't stop!! She is not hungry, she is scared !..no matter how many times I tell him, he always ignores it like it's nothing..She is my jaan, my first, my last — the piece of my broken heart that's still holding me together, keeping it from shattering everywhere!"
The woman now looked at her in pity. She was in her 70s and had more life experience than the young beautiful woman in front of her.
"I know you are worried about her health, my queen. But you must realize, people like him can't understand soon, not with anger.
The elderly woman glanced at the tiny baby in Ara's arm.
"Is she getting nightmares more often? Are you really sure?".
She asked, tilting her head lightly.
The young woman looked at her
"I am more than sure !...
She gets up flinching and sweaty every night!..and I know how lonely it feels for my poor little love, how scared she gets!..asking for her dada, who doesn't seem to care once a bit for her!"..the young woman spoke, tears welled up in her eyes due to being sensitive about her daughter more than anything.
After all she was a mother, who loved her daughter dearly.
"He will get better, believe me"
"No! He won't! No No! No!.."
Tears streamed down her cheeks as she chanted the word no ! He won't!.
"Ara…stop crying, my jaan...
I am here".
She has heard those soothing words before. In fact, she heard them every day, every moment..
"Nana…I am losing hope.."
The elderly woman named Nana hugged her …hushing her.
She put a hand on the young woman's belly, which was grown out, carrying a life inside.
"You remember you have to take care of yourself, right?"
Nana spoke in a soft light voice
The young woman nodded while calming herself.
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It was as if her world was lying in front of her eyes as she saw her small baby lying in bed beside her, the moon was shining under the sky, moonlight spilling inside through the balcony, she hummed an ethereal lullaby to her world, holding her close.
Ara, a 28 year old mother, a queen of her own kingdom yet shadowed by the mere presence of her biggest fear, none other than her own husband, her own love which had thrown her from the peak of her happiness to the possible lowest ever.
"How happy we were, Zustan... how happy we were."
But happiness, like everything else, never lasts long.
She kissed her baby's soft hand and stared out the window... toward the lonely moon.
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Some whisper it's just attraction,
some whisper it's only desire…
but love needs nothing—not even words to describe it.
It's like acid, burning through every heart it touches.
And soon, it destroys everything... everything you once cherished,
everything you once thought was the reason you were alive.
It leaves behind nothing. Not even the love you felt before."