"I thought you would also love me the way, I love you."
"Today, I free you from all the ties and bonds."
Her words rang in Omkara's head. Earlier, he may have tried to deny them to himself, to envelop himself in the security blanket of his hatred. But he was now too exhausted. It was amazing how a furious scuffle and the subsequent confrontation could take the stuffing out of a man, even the great artist Omkara Singh Oberoi. He had no energy left in him to conjure up his familiar hatred of Gauri. It had become harder and harder to do so lately, and if he had to be honest with himself, it longer brought him the comfort that it once did. Hating her had brought purpose to his life, and seemed the key to mending his broken heart. But ever since he discovered that she wasn't really the bad one and was forced for every single thing by Kaali Thakkur, the charm of his revenge had been lost. Yes, he still clung desperately to that anger, relying on it to protect him from the crushing guilt at the bottom of his heart. He had ruined an innocent girl's life, solely based on the half knowledge he had about her, without bothering to do the slightest bit of research. But till then, she had left him. And that's how he had landed in this mess.
It has been a year of her departure. He was searching for her since the day she had left. She didn't go to Baraily then where? Omkara didn't had an answer to this. He remembered once she had said that in a relationship, trust is more important than love. He cursed himself. How can he not trust such an innocent girl? Why did convince himself that she was a gold-digger!
Suddenly his car stopped. He got out of it and something caught his eyes. There were some guys running behind a woman who was coming towards him. He didn't think for another second and ran to them. He pulled her behind him and they ran away seeing me with a rod in hand. He had pulled it out from the car earlier.
He turned to ask her if she was okay and saw a thin fragile woman, standing with a cigarette in her hand. Her look was repulsive and he instantly felt disgusted standing around her. No, he had nothing against her but it does happen sometimes that you just don't like someone. This was one such case. He decided to ignore her and looked around to see if he knew the place, but no, he didn't recognise the area. There was nothing around that could indicate where he was. He looked around to see if there was someone he could ask for help.
"What are you looking for?" He was stunned hearing the voice. He had not seen her face due to dim light but he went near her hearing the familiar voice. He was shocked seeing her face and it reflected in her eyes too. there stood a stunned Gauri in a bright red saree, that barely covered her. Her colourful blouse had a deep cut, clearly exposing her cleavage. Her plump lips were painted in the darkest shade of cherry he had ever seen.
"Gauri??" He whispered.
What is all this, he wanted to ask. But all his vocabulary betrayed him.
"Some people call me Chameli and some Chamkili. We don't have names." She said.
He was stumped. He didn't know what to say or how to react.
"But Gauri, you.."
He began only to be cut by her.
"When your husband questions your character, the whole world proves you characterless." She said and Omkara looked at her apologetically.
"When he abandoned me; fine, I left him. My dedication for learning English to impress him was of no use. I went in search for work. I never wanted to be a burden on my mother so didn't go back to her. A man promise of getting me a job and that asshole sold me off."
