❝The only kind of love I want is one where even if it is just for a short moment, it feels like I have lived a lifetime in that moment with that person. ❞ - Jhanvi Raichand.
**You CANNOT read this as standalone. Read Dare to Be before reading this...
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2.9 Faceless And Nameless
Just one sentence for all color to fade from her face.
Just one sentence that puts the fear of God in her.
As I lean back, well aware she'll start spilling words faster than anyone can blink, she stands up and stumbles back a few steps in a lame attempt to put distance between her and me. Geez, did I not just say I wouldn't lay a hand on a lady? I wasn't going to harm her!
I speak in a normal voice, "Now, I'll ask again. Where...?"
I don't even have to complete the statement for her to start cooperating, "He has been in hiding the last few years just as much as you, Jhanvi. He is the last person on this Earth who would want to harm you or your child."
Jhanvi challenges, breathless. "No, that's... you're lying. He killed them and he tried to kill me."
Mohini looks at her in sympathy, "I did not want you to find out this way."
Aarav warns, "Stop talking in riddles."
Mohini spares him a glance and with a sigh, explains what she knows while I stand frozen, debating what is true and what is a fabrication. "Jhanvi, yes your mother died in that crash but he did not plan that. He was trying to save her."
Jhanvi shakes her head in denial, "No. No, mom... he was there to kill them, not to save them!"
Mohini continues to stay on her words, "He couldn't, Jhanvi!"
Aarav asks, "How can you be so sure? Why should we believe you a word you say?"
"Because they were in love!" Mohini exclaims. We all remain silent in shock. She lets out a breath before continuing to shatter our illusions, "He couldn't have killed her because he loved her. Your father knew this, Jhanvi. He knew even before they got married, but he did not care. He was simply obsessed with marrying your mother."
Jhanvi argues, "No. Mom and dad were happy together! You are lying. Stop lying."
Mohini approaches Jhanvi diligently and challenges her belief in a soft voice, "Jhanvi, why would I lie about this? I don't have any reason to. Hurting you any more does not get me anything. Tell me, do you even remember anything of your childhood? No. That accident took all your memories. You wanting to believe your parents had a happy marriage does not make it true."
Jhanvi pulls her hand back when Mohini tries to touch her, refusing to still accept this. Aarav wraps his arm around her shoulder in a comforting manner before asking, "Are you saying her father... planned this?"
Mohini lowered her head in shame for the person in question was her brother, "Yes. I don't know where Dinesh is - I wasn't lying about that. But I do know Narayan's plan was to escape just before the accident. Plant already dead bodies in the car. Frame Dinesh for the murder. He even carefully got Aarav to believe Dinesh was talking on the phone about a murder plot - and he was. He was on the call with me, but not for what you all think. He had himself overheard Narayan and so he was informing me. To stop it from happening."
