Loud music, bursting of crackers, laughters and gossips—every home was full of happiness and lights tonight.

But there was one home without all of it. No light, no laughters and no music. It didn't even seem like his own home. After all, festivals are celebrated wholeheartedly. What would be the meaning of showing off when whole Delhi was aware of the crisis, Malhotras were going through?

Shrey was sitting quietly in his bed room, looking around and noticing the things that he had thought he would never see again. There was so much silence in the whole house that it was killing him. But this was the silence that could help him in thinking of what he had to do of his drowning life.

One part of his heart didn't even care about it anymore when he had already faced the path of death. He had reached that state of mind where he was able to give up his life. He had reached a mental level where he couldn't care anymore.

But now one part of his heart was revived by some unknown energy. One part of his heart was making him realized that he was lucky to left alive and start a new. But how he could do that when all those old demons were pulling him back in his old life.

How were those days when he couldn't even think of spending leisure time at home and now, here he was sitting quietly on his bed while thinking of this rebel part of his heart.

He shifted his legs, leaning more on the pillows while putting his arm under his head. A loud voice of a cracker echoed throughout and he cursed at the neighbours. Despite having a big house, he was able to hear it all clear and loud.

But what could he even do about it? People were happy and celebrating. Unlike him who had found a new purpose in life and that was to mourn his stupidity again and again.

"Shrey," a sudden knock was heard and he gulped. The door was open and it was told to be so because behind this door was living a man who was suicidal.

"Come in," he replied, watching his mom enter into his room, looking around curiously and then back at him. He hated how she wasn't wearing any make up on this night of the festival and was actually celebrating this going hazard in their family.

"What are you doing?"

He looked away, sighing tiredly when he saw a glass of milk and plate full of some sweets in her hands. "Nothing at all."

His mother sat on the bed, placing the plate right in front of him. He frowned, "This?"

"Isn't it Diwali tonight? Just like we didn't stop worshipping that God. We won't stop enjoying having a new hope, Shrey." His mother smiled.

He swallowed, feeling angry at her pretending that this all could be tackled by praying and worshipping. Hadn't he done all that before dying? Hadn't he done when those bastards were giving him pain? He shook his head.

"I lit those lamps because you told me to not lose faith in God," he told her. "But eating sweets and pretending that there's even a little amount of sweetness in my life, I can't do this."

He watched his mother breathing shakily at his words. "From so many days, you are eating medicines. Won't you like to taste any of them? Kaju katli, your favorite? Not even from my hands?"

He rolled his eyes and slowly moved his face ahead, taking the sweet into his mouth from her hand, making her smile finally. "Happy?"

"Very much," she giggled. "Here's your glass of milk which you can drink with your medicine after five minutes when it's get normal enough. It's hot right now."

Shrey nodded quietly, waiting for her to leave so he could again have his peace. Just by seeing any of his family members, all those moments would come back to his mind. Their eyes full of pain and pity would tell him that this wasn't over. In the eyes of people, he was still the rapist.

"Shrey." He looked up at his mother who was now, opening his cupboard. "This is where I had kept your laptop." She brought it out and placed it on the bed too.

"Rishabh had brought it back, once all the investigation was done two days ago. Now, he has allowed us to use it." He nodded quietly while staring at it.

His mother smiled at him sadly. "Your uncle is getting better slowly too. Would you like to see him, tomorrow?"

Shrey closed his eyes thinking that meeting his sick uncle meant reaching his cousin's home, seeing his arrogant face, listening to his bickering over how he was helping him heartily over this case and watching his fianceè sitting quietly, whose wedding was postponed because of him only.

"No."

He stared at his mother who nodded quietly. "I want to stay here only. In my room."

"Okay," his mother whispered to herself, quietly leaving the room with a frown on her face.

Shrey sighed and put the plates on the side drawer with a shake of his head. How could he even eat when this emptiness was eating him up from all sides? He couldn't even blame his mother. She was just trying to play her role well.

But meeting his cousin was something he hated now. Directly or not, he could very well blame Rishabh Malhotra for his shitty life.

If he hadn't been there, he would have never gone to the Chandigarh to waste his time and break someone's heart. He wouldn't have bad calls after him and there would have been no scope of suffering these punishments.

The cousin for whom, he came back from abroad believing that his life would be great, didn't let him do his job properly. Instead, he put him into the sections he didn't like and behaved like an insecure cousin rather than mentor.

Rishabh got his girl, a rich one who was obsessed with him. What did he himself got? Nothing but a crazy woman accusing him of such a shameful crime.

Even thinking about the day when police had reached that flat, picked his beaten-self while she was crying blaming him, it would give him shivers. Daily, he would get these nightmares and he would have overcome these slowly.

If only the person who called him his brother, had helped him. But he didn't even believe him.

Shrey chuckled humorlessly. He won't see his face unless required for this case. For him, his cousin didn't exist to him anymore.

Exist

There was only one person who stopped him from vanishing his existence. One person whose existence now mattered to him.

He smiled.

His eyes fell on his laptop and a sudden thought cane back to his mind. In the hospital, he was freaking out without his laptop and now, he couldn't wait to visit her profile.

Biting his lip, he immediately picked and opened it. Logging in, his heart started flying in excitement.

He had seen her face, how she looked now but what of the last four years. Where had she been all this time? Shrey wanted to know badly.

Entering her name in the search engine, he sighed heavily. His eyes didn't leave the screen as it loaded slowly. But just as her display picture started appearing, his lips quirked in adoration.

There she was, laughing at the camera with her hair down and blowing in the wind. The picture was of some Beach and it was a close up of her face mainly. Shrey let out a lazy breath at observing her beautiful dark eyes.

Sakshi Singh Rathore

His eyes moved over the details about her background. Her school name same as of he knew four years ago. Her University, he widened his eyes.

Delhi University

She did her graduation from Delhi only. His mouth opened in shock. Did this mean that she was leaving here from three years already. He shook his head in disbelief. She was pursuing first year of her post graduation here now, in the same University.

A small smile appeared on his face when he started scrolling the wall. Her latest photos appeared, taken at her University Campus. His eyebrows raised at seeing a handsome boy accompanying her along with a tomboyish girl.

"She has friends." He muttered to himself, remembering how he had ruined her school life too. Her classmates had came to know about her affair with him and later, even knew about how he was just playing with her. He had spread the news.

His heart twisted at the thought, remembering that she had lost all of her friends. Despite being rich and classy, they had started taunting and bullying her. He shook his head.

Only he knew, how genuinely happy he felt at seeing her getting new friends again. With the genuine smiles on their faces, he could very well conclude that they were really bonded.

He scrolled more, finding some pics of the tours to hill stations. She was laughing in some, playing in some, and smiling beautifully in others. Her fashion sense had always been great. But this new liveliness on her face, comparing to the day he had broke up with her, was appreciable.

True that time heals everything.

He wondered if it would heal him one day. He clicked his tongue. "I am the exception."

The next pictures were of her with family. He sucked in a breath when pics of wedding appeared. She was wearing traditional gowns and lehengas, along with Pihu. His eyebrows raised at seeing a chubby child in Raghav's arms.

"Damn!" He watched keenly every pic, observing their beautiful smiles. Finally thousands ways of Rishabh breaking them up, Rathores were still together, happy and blossoming. It was the wedding of Raghav's best friend, who had brought him to the hospital when he had fainted that night at the streets with goons.

He closed his eyes, lowering his head and rubbing his forehead slowly. Everyone was progressing in their life. Everyone had reasons to be alive. But he was still finding them.

A sudden ping made him look above at the screen. The wall scrolled back to the beginning by itself and he watched a new album appearing.

His heart pounded in his chest as he realized that Sakshi had posted latest photos and those were of Diwali celebration. He imagined how she must be looking, behaving and roaming around.

Was she as bubbly as she used to be before? Or she really had gotten matured and had stopped being her true-cute-self?

He clicked on the photos and viewed each one, realizing his own smile getting wider. She was looking gorgeous in a pink colored ethnic suit. It was a family photo again and this time with her parents involved too.

She was hugging her father closely and in another pic, she was laughing with her brother at bursting a cracker. Another pic made his heart flutter as she had picked two chubby kids in her arms who were kissing her cheeks.

He breathed out and wiped his face lazily. Glancing at the clock he noticed it was just nine in the evening. Leaning back on his couch, he picked up the glass of milk with his medicines, with only one thought in his mind.

He could spend this whole night while visiting her whole profile properly. 

______

Sakshi didn't blink and kept staring at the man standing in front of her. Her face had heated up and stomach was aching from flipping so much.

"You-You?"

She gulped when his lips rising from the corner. He too wasn't blinking, but was enjoying her state of shock. Her eyes moved downwards to see his appearance and remembered Aarush when she noticed how beautiful he looked.

If he wouldn't have been such a loser, she would have truly admitted that she could have a crush on her teacher just like Aarush. The brown-coloured Kurta was suiting him so much, matching with the brown leather jutti. His hair, instead of well-combed were turned into a nice hairstyle as his strands were falling on his forehead.

With so much lightning, he was glowing and those specs we're only bringing out more of his beautiful eyes.

"I had told you. She would be so frozen." Mihir was laughing along with others. She could even hear her tai ji saying how this surprise was planned days ago.

Sakshi couldn't be more angry at this professor. Did this mean that he knew about her from the beginning? Not just the blind date but from his first-day at the University.

So, all of that scolding and insulting her in front of the class was him playing with her. All this time, she had thought that she had disappointed this professor who had achieved such a leisure job in less age but how dared he play with her like that.

He was the one who kept eyes on her when she was being teased by Ronnie, when she was mentioning about his own beauty. Mihir would have laughed with him, about the day when they were all praising his Godly looks.

There she was talking about making this admirer jealous and he was, playing this much bigger game under her nose.

"Sakshi?" Her jaws clenched at seeing him stepping ahead. "You okay?"

There was clear humor on his face and Mrs. Bhatia spoke up, "Don't tease the girl, anymore. You will have to apologize for being her professor, Kabir."

Everyone laughed while her lips parted at seeing his smug smile. He was enjoying all the attention, especially hers. There was a wild itch in her palm and she wanted to quench it by printing her fingers on those fair cheeks.

But what could be worse than a slap in front of everyone?

Walking away.

Glaring at him with her eyes glistening at the betrayal, she flared her nostrils and flipped her hair. Turning around and stomping away from all of them, making sure to catch all the guests' attention.

Her feet didn't stop until she had entered her home and climbed the stairs. Pushing the door fully, she breathed out harshly while feeling harsh wind slapping her face, waking up from the darkness she was kept in from so many days.

"Kabir Nair." She muttered to herself while walking more on to the terrace, finding her favorite place which was the swing placed aside, she stood near it while holding it's pole.

"It was all along him."

The day he bumped into her, the moments he had thrown her out of the class, the time when he had given her notes and talked sweetly. She closed her eyes when the picture of him sitting with her on the public seat in the campus, flashed in her mind.

All this time, this professor was stalking her, judging her to be his own bride and was now finally here to greet her in front of everyone. She now understood all his intentions. She now knew what he had planned.

The man who couldn't come on a blind date was now approaching her in front of all the relatives. She wasn't that stupid. This man was a trouble and she hated it. Gritting her teeth, she glared far at the sky, making sure to mutter his name with whole of the hatred.

Kabir Nair

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