53

Ekta stared into nothing, her gaze fixed on the white ceiling yet seeing none of it. The silence inside the hospital room was gentle, peaceful but her mind refused to believe that the nightmare had truly ended.

It had been two days since she was rescued from that hellhole, still something inside her refused to settle. Lying on the hospital bed, wrapped in bandages, her body sore with healing bruises that throbbed every now and then. The family or better yet, her family taking care of her tinites comfort. She was safe and protected. No one was waiting for her miles away to drag her away. No footsteps echoed through the corridor carrying fear with them. No order was about to be barked at her. No punishment waited for a single mistake.

But, An incompleteness clung to her like a plague. As if even the feeling of freedom had suddenly become suffocating. There was a strange lump lodged deep inside her throat that refused to go down or refused to come out as tears either.

She didn’t understand why. Shouldn’t she be happy? Shouldn’t she feel relieved? She had dreamt of this moment for years. Of sleeping without fear, waking up without any shadow standing over her, eating because she was hungry rather than because someone permitted her to. Or just simply breathing.

But now that all of it has finally become real. Her heart felt strangely empty. As if years of surviving had become such a habit that living peacefully felt unfamiliar. She had spent eleven years waiting for freedom. Now that freedom stood before her She didn’t know what to do with it.

The soft click of the door pulled her out of her thoughts.

Ekta blinked, turning her head slowly.

Ekansh stepped inside, carrying a small flaskk in one hand and a paper bag in the other. His tired eyes softened the moment they fell on her. The dark circles beneath them gave away that he hadn’t slept properly since everything had happened.

Queitly he walked over to her bedside, pulled the chair closer, and sat down. For a long moment the brother and sister remained silent. One trying to understand a pain words couldn’t explain. The other wondering how to heal wounds that weren’t visible to the eye.

“How are you feeling?” He asked gently placing aside the flask and bag.

Ekta gave a small nod. “Those girls? Are they safe?”

In everything that occurred she can’t bring herself to forget about the girls who had stood beside her when they had every reason to run away. Without their courage and trust in her plan, none of them would have walked out of that mansion alive.

Her thoughts wandered back to the girls. Were they alright? Were they able to feel the freedom seeping into their bones or were they just as confused and lost as she was? Did their fear lessen or did they still wake up expecting someone to drag them back into that nightmare? And the most important question remained unanswered, how did they end up in Abhiraj’s trap? Did their parents sell them? Or were they snatched away from their families just like countless nameless girls whose stories never reached anyone?

A strange guilt settled over her chest. She had escaped. She had a family. A brother who would cross worlds for her. A sister who had chosen her fears. A father who had accepted her without any obligations or conditions. Then why she still feel as though a part of herself had been left behind in that burning mansion?

“They are fine, Ekta.” Ekansh reassured, resting his hand gently over hers, his thumb rubbing slow circles across her skin, silently grounding her before she could lose herself in her thoughts again.

“Aapne pariwar ke sath na?” Ekta’s voice shook with emotions.

Ekansh squeezed her hand reassuringly, “Roohaniyat, It’s a shelter home Mom built for the girls who had nowhere left to go. The girls that were rescued... They didn’t have a family. They were hostages, kidnapped at a young age from different streets. Police looked into their records and missing person reports finding nothing that could lead them back to their homes or loved ones. I have sent all of them there. The warden of the shelter home will take care of them all. None of them will be abandoned or left to survive on the streets again. Their studies, a better life, and the freedom they deserved will all be taken care of there.”

Ekta looked away. Tears burned at the back of her eyes. She was at least happy they wouldn’t be wandering on the streets again helplessly. At least they had a place to belong and people who would stand beside them. Still, the family part. That stung in a place no amount of freedom could ever heal completely.

Ekansh emptied the soup he had brought for her into a bowl silently. Sometimes lying for someone’s betterment was kinder than burdening them with a truth they weren’t ready to carry, and he had just done that. He couldn’t bring himself to let Ekta know the whole truth. The truth that each of the girls who survived was just like her, sold to monsters like lifeless objects in exchange for money, stripped of their childhoods before they even understood what life truly meant.

The horrors written in the police reports shook him. Few girls were found after years with scars that would never fade, both visible and invisible, while few were never even reported missing because nobody had searched for them in the first place. Detail after detail he read, he didn’t know how to accept that humans.... parents could be capable of such cruelty.

Anyhow, he was grateful beyond words that nightmare had finally ended. A wound may become a scar, but a scar should never become someone’s identity. That’s what his mother believed in and opened Roohaniyat for every girl and woman who had forgotten what freedom, dignity, and belonging felt like, to give them a place where they could heal, rebuild themselves, and begin again without being judged by their past.

Soon they would find the courage within themselves to live again instead of merely surviving, and that would be the first real victory of their new beginning.

Ekta stared at the spoonful of soup before opening her mouth, gulping it down as Ekansh fed her. It wasn’t bland or tasteless. She had been drinking it for days, slowly getting used to the flavour, just like she had always moulded herself into every situation life threw at her without ever complaining.

“Ajeeb lag raha?” Ekansh asked quietly, noticing how unnaturally stiff she sat. Despite everything being over, she was still not herself. That dullness in her eyes had lessened, but it hadn’t faded away.

Ekta’s eyes met his. Tears fogged them instantly. He understood without her having to say anything. She nodded immediately. The most natural feeling of breathing freely itself felt weird.

Ekansh kept the bowl on the table before settling beside her. “He will never come back Ekta. Tera ateet... tere aaj aur aane wale kal ka saya kabhi nahhi banega.”

“I know,” Ekta murmured softly, lowering her gaze, her hand instinctively clutching her throat uneasily. “Phir bhi aisa lag raha hai jaise....jaise koi har waqt mujhe dekh raha ho. Agar maine zara sa bhi chain ki saans li... toh sab kuch phir se chhin jayega.”

Her gaze wandered around the room, “Kabhi kabhi lagta hai abhi darwaza khulega... aur Vo andar aa jayega. Asa lag raha hai ki jo hua aur jo rah hai bss ek sapna hai... aur meri aankh khulte hi sab kuch phele jasa ho jayega.”

Her fingers curled around Ekansh’s wrist instinctively. “Main jaanti hoon... sach aur haqeeqat mein kaafi fark hai. Main yahan hoon... aapke saath. Par mera dil... Vo maanne ko tayyar hi nhi hai. Maa... agar Maa hoti toh vo kaisa mehsoos kar rahi hoti? Kya yeh sab seh paati? Kya inn sab mein kuch  badla hota agar aaj Maa mere saath hoti toh?”

Ekansh craddled her face gently, wiping away the tears rolling endlessly down her cheeks, “Tujhe pata hai ek panchhi ko jab uski maa ghonsle ke bahar dhakka deti hai apne pairon par khada karne ke liye... toh vo panchhi kitna dara hua hota hai. Aasmaan mein udaan bharne se pehle vo kitni baar zameen par girta hai... kitni baar kisi janwar ka shikaar banta hai... aur na jaane kitni baar darr ki wajah se wapas ussi jagah jaane ki koshish karta hai jahan se uski maa ne usse dhakka diya tha. Maa ne jo kiya vo sahi tha... kyunki vo apne bachche ko aasmaan ki udaan bharte dekhna chahti thi. Vo nhi chahti thi ki uske bachche ki zindagi bas ek ghonsle tak hi simat kar reh jaaye.

Thik waise hi agar aaj teri Mumma yahan hoti... unhe tujh par garv hota. Ki unki beti ne uske saath itna galat hone ke baad bhi khud ke mann ko aur duniya ko nafrat ki nazar se nhi dekha. Unhe garv hota ki tune apne saath galat karne walon ko saza di. Doosri ladkiyon ki madad ki, mushkil ke samay unka sahara ban kar tune khud ko aur baaki sabhi ladkiyon ko ek janwar ki kaid se azaad kiya.

Tera ajeeb feel karna normal hai Ekta. Lekin guilty feel karna ya yeh sochna ki agar teri Mumma yahan hoti toh kya tera aaj aur ateet badal jaata... yeh sochna galat. A brave heart isn’t measured by how untouched it remains but by how many times it chooses to stand back up after being broken. Your mother might be proud of you... so am I. Don’t let the shadows of your past steal the peace your future deserves. Let go of your guilt. It was never yours to carry.”

Ekta bit her lips to stop herself from crying but couldn’t do that after hearing his words. For the first time in eleven years she allowed herself to feel an emotion she had buried deep inside her heart.

Tears overflowed freely without any fear of being punished, scolded, or forced to silence herself. She cried without hiding her face, without wiping them away immediately, without apologising for them. Every tear carried years of suffocation, loneliness, helplessness and pain she had swallowed in silence. It felt as though the walls she had built around her own heart were finally beginning to crumble, letting every suppressed emotion pour out at once.

Ekansh pulled her into his warmth gently, carefully minding her injuries so as not to put pressure on them. Her crying after all the years of silent suffering was the most important step for her to heal from the invisible scars carved on her. And he would always be there to hold her together whenever she felt herself falling apart. Her body shook with sobs as years of grief, fear, guilt, abandonment, and helplessness finally found a way out, leaving behind a heart that, for the first time in years, no longer had to suffer alone.

✨✨✨

Eshita barged into the ward without bothering to knock, excitement practically radiating off her face. Every news channel exposed Abhiraj and Samar’s crimes one after another. News channels went on revealing years of hidden evidence, the trafficking network, the illegal captivity of dozens of girls, financial records, secret properties, and every horrifying truth that had remained buried behind their respectable public image.

Truth to be told, they found Ananya too. When they thought she died due to the burnt body found and the verification done through the belongings recovered from the scene. However, when the police searched the mansion in the last few moments before it burned down into ashes, they found Ananya in the deep basement, locked inside an underground chamber.

She was abused just like the other girls were for years. Abhiraj’s next move was to parcel the girls to a different state, moving his whole operation to a new country, but his revenge against Ekta was bigger than anything. Eventually, that became his biggest downfall.

The world that was grieving after his loss and calling him an honest politician was now suddenly cursing him for the monster he truly was, all because of the evidence provided. Same was the case with Samar. Both the so-called brothers did get what they deserved, a death of torture and the humiliation of having their true faces exposed before the entire nation.

Eshita glanced at Ekta tucked in Ekansh’s warmth. Her heart warmed at the sight of relief swirling in Ekta’s eyes. Finally, the girl looked relaxed rather than her usual stiff self.

She cleared her throat dramatically, bouncing inside the room with her usual dramatic energy, “Hello guys! Agar aap dono senti hone ka karyakram khatam ho gaya ho toh hum ghar chale? Mujhe bhook lagi hai.”

Ekansh shook his head, pulling back. “Tujhe bhook kab nhi lagti hai baccha?” he drawled, adjusting the pillows behind Ekta.

Eshita rolled her eyes, settling beside Ekta. “I am not talking to you. Main apni bhen se baat kar rahi hoon. Ekta iss room mein bhoot hai. Unhe keh de yahan se jaane ko.”

“Bhoot huh? Abhi batato tujhe bhoot aur insaan mein kya farq hota hai?” Ekansh warned, narrowing his eyes at her.

Eshita looked around the room with a frown pretending to search every corner seriously. “Kahin se kuch awaaz aa rahi hai Ekta. What is it?”

“Bhaiya...” Ekta interrupted instantly as Ekansh raised his hand to whack the brat of their house. The girl had zero survival skills. “Peel the apple for me.”

“Who on earth eats a peeled apple?” Ekansh and Eshita asked in sync.

Ekta shot them an unimpressed look. “Me! Any problem?”

Both the siblings shook their heads immediately. The sassy Ekta was not something they were used to. Once they were, they would deal with it wholeheartedly, even if it meant sacrificing their peace of mind too.

“Waise aapko Bhaiya se baat kyun nhi karni?” Ekta asked once she was sure Ekansh was busy with the task she had given him and wouldn’t interrupt.

After crying for almost one hour until her eyes turned red and all her energy drained away, she was finally at peace. She knew she would flinch a little here and there, she would have nightmares, she would even need time to accept that she was truly free, but one thing was certain, she wouldn’t feel lonely, unsure, or unloved ever again in her life.

The Seghal family were not strangers anymore, but her family. A family she chose for herself and one that chose her back without a second thought.

“He scolded me yaar,” Eshita exaggerated. “Tujhe pata hai mujhe kadwi dawai kitni gandi lagti hai. Par inhone mere muh mein seedha dawai thoons like some gangster. Can you believe it? Aur yahi sab jab main inke saath karun toh vampire jaisi aankhen laal ho jaati hain. So not fair. Bade hain toh kuch bhi kare...” She trailed off as Ekansh stuffed an apple piece into her mouth unceremoniously.

“Stop with your yapping,” Ekansh hissed, annoyed. “I am done with it. Dad ke saamne same cassette chala rahi thi. Abhi Ekta ke saamne bhi. Pure hospital ko bata de tera bhai gunda hai. Happy?”

Eshita smiled innocently, shrugging her shoulders. “I was just stating facts.”

“That paints you as a villain,” Ekta added smoothly, chewing her apple.

“Correct!” Eshita giggled, high-fiving her.

Ekansh sighed in disbelief. It was two against one. He was no match in front of them. One drama queen and one newly upgraded savage. He could already imagine his upcoming years with two girls joining hands against him every single day, making his life miserably entertaining. He was going to be dead meat!

✨✨✨

The siblings looked up as Virendra entered the room, already dressed and looking much healthier than before. The drug injected in him had started wearing off after a day itself. He made sure to stay beside all three of them simultaneously, refusing to leave the hospital until each one of them was well enough to walk out together.

“How are you feeling?” He asked softly, walking over to Ekta.

Ekta nodded with a faint smile. Within a few days she could see the changes in Virendra. He wasn’t reluctant like before. He didn’t step back or hesitate around her anymore. He was simply there for her whenever Ekansh or Eshita weren’t, making sure she wasn’t feeling any discomfort or pain anywhere, giving her medicines on time, and even helping her with little things without making her feel like a burden.

Somewhere every gesture that came from Virendra especially warmed her heart in ways she herself couldn’t explain. She was used to Ekansh being pampering towards her. She was getting used to Eshita being her stubborn yet caring self. But coming from Virendra, it felt as though the empty corners in her heart were filling little by little with a warmth she had unknowingly longed for all her life.

Yet one thing remained unchanged, her hesitation to call him Papa. Even if she wanted to, she didn’t know if he would feel okay with that. She didn’t want him to feel uncomfortable or pressured because of her.

Virendra glanced at his son. “The doctor signed the discharge papers. We can leave.”

He looked at Ekta, stepping forward. “Mujhe tujhe kahi leke jaana hai. Will you come with me beta?” His tone was gentle, carrying a quiet hope rather than an expectation, giving her the choice instead of deciding for her.

Ekta glanced at Ekansh, then Eshita, and back at Virendra. Each of them were staring at her, waiting for her answer. Confused, she nodded, not knowing where he wanted to take her.

Ekansh and Virendra’s eyes met. They both had discussed about this. It was a compulsion, something Ekta needed to do to actually move on from her past.

Virendra held out his palm towards Ekta, waiting. No matter how much he wished for her to let go of her inhibitions and accept him, he couldn’t force his place on her.

When he hesitated weeks back, or since the moment Ekta entered the Seghal mansion, it was all because of her own fears. He thought the little girl flinched every moment because of him, but her past gave him a reality check. Breathing in fear for every breath for eleven long years, it becomes natural to fear every hand that reaches towards you, even if it comes with nothing but kindness.

However, now when everything was over, he couldn’t just stay back and watch. He had to take the first step. The court’s answer had already come after everything her family had done to her. He was Ekta’s legal guardian now. Her father in every sense.

The thought of it didn’t feel foreign. Truth to be told, he felt delighted. When Eshita was four, Anvita was pregnant. After ten years of trying, she gave birth to Eshita, but she wanted another child. Her love for kids always amused him. She often joked that if it were up to her, the Seghal mansion would always be filled with tiny footsteps and laughter, so when they found out about her pregnancy, she was over the moon. But he worried too.

According to the doctors, having a baby when your own health was weak was risky. But before his wife’s happiness and excitement, he couldn’t do anything except be even more careful towards her, hoping and praying that both mother and child would remain safe.

However, she was seven months in when her water broke, throwing their entire world into chaos. The doctors told him there wasn’t enough time. They couldn’t save both. And when he had to choose between the child and his wife, with a trembling heart he chose his wife over the infant that wasn’t even born. He didn’t regret saving the woman he loved, but the guilt of never getting to hold the child they had waited for with so much hope stung for years.

So, now in the present, when God blessed him by sending Ekta into his life so unexpectedly, he didn’t know whether to call it destiny or a second chance he never thought he would receive. If Anvita was alive, she would have showered the girl with all the love and care she had once dreamed of giving their unborn child. And he would too, making sure Ekta never had to question whether she was loved or where she belonged ever again.

 

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