Dark Secrets

12

"You're the one who raped me, isn't that right?" Shreshtha looked him the eye, her beautiful eyes narrowing. "The man who can kill the guys who only touched me, who can kill my best friend only because she knew you were in Delhi and Lucknow as you told me, but that same man does nothing about that fact when I'd been found raped? You really thought you would slip away with that?"

"Ranisa....."

"Will you stop with this "Ranisa" shit? This respect, this care this concern.... all pure bullshit!"

"Please don't jump to wild conclusions without knowing the truth," Yuvansh said gently.

"The truth?" she scoffed. "What could this wonderful  truth be, huh? That it leads someone to rape a girl and then alter her memory in such a way that she starts believing that she was in love, in love, with her rapist? Tell me, can there be any bigger truth than that? And all this because you love her? Love? Really? What a shame you turned out to be Yuvansh? The man who talks about love so highly, is nothing but a victim of lust and obsession."

Yuvansh sat back on the floor, looking like he had been bludgeoned. The dream that he had carefully fabricated, crumbled before his eyes like a sandcastle. His years of preparation, secrecy and sacrifice- all of it coming to nothing. And above all her misinterpretation of it all.

Shreshtha stood up and paced the room, her hands on her hips and eyes bloodshot.

"What a plan I must say. First rape her, then copy her handwriting and fill up a diary, give her memory altering medicines and then convince her that she's always been in love with you. Why? Because you have been obsessing about her so much that you didn't mind crossing any lines. Be it exposing her to a traumatic experience like rape..."

"I didn't rape you, Ranisa," Yuvansh said softly.

"You did. Both physically and emotionally. Why else would you report it to the police that I was raped? You are my emotional rapist as well. In fact, now I know why you didn't react much when Dhruv tried to molest me. That's because you'd already savored my body. It didn't matter much to you, right? And tell you what? I met your friend Dimpy and found out that my parents are also not real. I'm not the daughter of those two who claim to have raised me. Or is it that you have killed my biological parents as well? Have you Yuvansh? Please answer me," Shreshtha's pitch had risen to a deafening level by the time she finished.

Yuvansh remained quiet. He couldn't tell her who her real parents were.

"So, your silence confirms it. You have turned me into a fucking guinea pig. I don't remember anything except for things which you want me to remember or know half of which are lies. White lies. How could you do this to me, Yuvansh? What did I do to deserve this? Only because you were obsessed with me? Only because you wanted to fuck me?"

"Ranisa!" Yuvansh hollered and then said gently, looking at the floor, "Let me tell you the truth... Am I allowed to speak?"

"Of course, you can, but I won't believe anything you say. You've been toying with my trust for years now. You think I'll ever believe anything you do or say? You have killed my parents. You are so heartless that you don't think twice before saying that even your parents are dead whereas the truth is that they alive and kicking. What will they think of you if they find out about this? I'm never going to forgive you ever, Yuvansh Singh Thakur. And if you have any shame left in you, you'll leave me the fuck alone. I don't want to see your face ever again, d'you understand? You don't love me. You've never loved me. You can never, ever, love. Not me or anyone. All I was to you, was a lusty obsession. A cheap emotional experiment."

A tear fell from Yuvansh's eye to the floor.

"I'm checking out and leaving for Udaipur. Don't you dare to follow me. Do not try to stop me. I don't want you in my life anymore. But yes, before I leave, I'm filing a FIR here against you, my fucking rapist. People like you should rot in prison. A shame for the title of being a passionate writer, a shame for men, a shame for everything and everyone you ever stood for." Shreshtha picked up her bag and stormed out of the room.