Hey guys,
I think I wrote something incredibly weird this time. Honestly, I felt that way throughout writing this chapter...... I stopped multiple times, wondering, "Who would even read this?" But then I thought... maybe someone like me is out there, looking for something this weird.
Anyway, I've finally completed the chapter. It took me so much time, more than I can even explain, but it's done. I'm sorry for the delayed update; I've been preoccupied with so many things lately.
Just a small note: in this version of the story, Sarla never saw Sherlyn and Prithvi together, and she doesn't know they kidnapped her.
Let me know how you felt about the chapter. Did you guess the twist, or not?
I'll see you in the next update soon. Until then, happy reading!
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Preeta was finally home.......but she wasn't the same. Something within her had gone quiet. She moved like a shadow through the house, her eyes vacant, lips sealed. When spoken to, she offered only nods or curt, one-word replies, as if her voice had been locked away with whatever pain she had endured. The family, hearts aching, mistook her silence for trauma. They came to a quiet consensus: give her time. Give her space.
Once she regained enough strength to walk unaided, Preeta retreated to the terrace. Day after day, she would take her laptop and vanish for hours, sitting under the open sky, disconnected from the world below. She didn't speak. She didn't cry. She simply stared into the clouds, into the screen, into the abyss of thoughts only she knew.
Sarla, with hope clinging to her voice, would call her gently for tea or meals. "Beta, come sit with us for a while..." But Preeta, ever so polite, would decline with a soft smile that never reached her eyes. The family consoled themselves, believing she was still on a restricted diet, convincing each other that maybe she didn't want to tempt herself by sitting at a table full of flavors.
Meanwhile, over at the Luthra mansion, chaos brewed again. The wedding preparations resumed, but so did the resistance. Shrishti, alongside the Luthra brothers, threw herself into the mission of halting the marriage. But Preeta remained distant. Detached.
Preeta couldn't understand it....... couldn't stomach it. Everyone had simply... moved on.
No one questioned who the assailants were. No one asked how or why. It was as if her survival had erased the attack itself. As if the fact that she was breathing meant the ones who tried to kill her had the right to walk free. The silence around it was deafening. What a strange world she had woken into.......one where pain was brushed aside, where justice was too inconvenient to pursue.
But Preeta didn't have the luxury to grieve over their indifference. There was something more important she had to do. Something that had been gnawing at her from the moment she opened her eyes in that hospital bed. She took a breath and opened her laptop once more. Fingers trembling slightly, she drafted an email... not to the one she had spent countless hours searching for, whose name appeared in every whispered headline and online thread. She couldn't bring herself to face him directly. Not yet.
