The constant ring of her phone broke her sleep. She groaned in pain as she turned towards her left to pick up the phone lying on the dressing table. "Good Morning Dadi", She spoke as she pick up the call. "Sehar You are sleeping, It is almost early morning here, it should be noon there in Auckland if I am not mistaken...Are you fine my child..??"; asked a panicked Neena Rajput

"Dadi Dadi relax, I am fine it is just that I slept off early morning, hence was sleeping.."; replied Sehar trying to get up. Realising, she wouldn't be able to get up without screaming in pain which might alert her grandmother, she decided to lay as is till the call ends.

"How are you Dadi and Dada ji"...? ; asked Sehar.

"I am good too and your Dada ji is still the same ; misses you though"; replied Neena.

"Oh Come-on Dadi, you and I both know that missing me in the last thing that dada ji will ever do"; Sehar spoke

"I am speaking the truth child, wait you speak with him to know yourself"; Neena handed over the phone to her husband who just walks out of the room.

"Oh-ho"; Neena tried covering up for her husband's act; "He just got important call that he had to answer. Sorry Sehar, he shall speak with you next time"

Letting out a sarcastic chuckle, Sehar replied; "I am used to these important calls Dadi, After all He's been getting a lot of such calls everytime I am on line with you since past ten years."

"Eh..Stop thinking too much... Leave it...Please come to meet us once."; Said Neena

Sehar took a moment to reply; "  I will think about it Dadi, You please take care of yourself and Dadu"

"Perfect...Okay then, I'll talk to you soon, hopefully in person, you take care of yourself, donot work too much enjoy your life too and most importantly eat your food on time..Understood" ; Neena spoke in an ordering tone

"Aye Aye Madam," ; Sehar replied before hanging up.

After hanging up, Neena walked in her room to find her husband looking out through the window. Keeping the phone on the side table she spoke, "Talking with her wouldn't have caused any harm.. Remember Ishwar your pride is taking over your love for your grand -daughter... Stop yourself before it gets too late"

Meanwhile in Auckland, Sehar somehow got up and walked upto the mirror to have a look on her wounded body. Her wrist and forehead had bandages while the area below her eyes had turned dark purple and so had her knee. She turned towards her left and a little of her bruised back was visible. Her body was in pain, her faced showed it, her bruises and bandages proved it but surprisingly her eyes were emotionless.  She dragged herself to the kitchen to make tea for herself while her mind drifted into flashback,

"Bruised and broken, she starred at her shattered dreams,

She was quite but her heart screamed"

Sehar Rajput, the girl known for her vivacious spirit stood on the pavement right outside her store like a lifeless soul staring at the broken windows, fallen mannequins and torn clothes scattered all around. "Love Yourself", her clothing line that came into existence six years ago was cruising towards extinction while all she could do was to sit and watch it die. It wasn't like she wanted to give up but then her poor soul was tired, tired of the coping up with expectations the world had from her and standards she had carved for herself.  Sehar was ten years old when she was asked to make a difficult choice between her parents and grandparents. She loved them both equally but unfortunately for her the idea of settling with her parents in a beautiful country like New Zealand lured her naïve soul so much that she left her grandparents in alone India. Her grandfather never spoke to her since then while her grandmother called her once in a while to "hear her voice" and her parents, well, they got themselves too busy in the quest of a better future that no one actually realized the loneliness she was slowing diving into. But then, as she grew up, 18 year old Sehar Rajput turned into a fighter. She fought the demons of solitude by awakening her creative spirit which in about two years gave birth to "Love Yourself – a Teenage clothing brand".  The clothing line was like her baby, her escape from the harsh realities of her life, her source of accomplishment and pride, her tool to prove her mettle and she sure had plans to make it bigger and better. However, sadly for her she was so busy divulging in the good things that she overlooked the frauds and betrayals by the people she trusted with her dream. A major fraud in the finance and accounting sheets led "Love Yourself" to almost bankruptcy. The news spread like fire and the brand that was once loved by the section it catered to was now a forgotten business. The downfall broke her to bit by bit, she was called names such as "a cheat", "a deceiver", "irresponsible" and what not but she was convinced on not letting the culprits get away easily. However, the little ounce of her resolve broke when she was attacked in her store while she was closing it down. The attackers not only ruined the store but also crushed her confidence. She stared at her ruined store for a few more minutes and then gathered herself to walk, rather limp towards her home.

Her chain of thoughts broke when her friend cum assistant Kim walked in her house, shouting at her "How are you feeling now..and why are you on the couch...you should be resting"

Sehar replied; "I am Fine, Kim...!!"

Kim glanced her wounds and spoke; "Yes I can see that..ok tell me what's the hurry....why do you want to meet the buyers by this week.."

"I want to sell everything off as early as possible..need to get this monkey off my back."; replied Sehar.

Getting a tea for herself and settling next to her, Kim spoke; "Sehar, what happened last night and why didn't you call me...More importantly, who asked you walk from your store to home all by yourself. Thankfully George noticed you while entering in the building otherwise none of us would have known."

Just then, the bell rang. Kim went to open the door and George entered.

"How is she doing"; George asked Kim.

"In lot of pain for sure, but won't speak up, you know how she is...I want her to open up about what happened last night"; replied Kim

"Any success yet"; asked George

"Not yet, did you get any clue..??"; asked Kim

Sehar spotted George entering the room, "Hey Georgi"

"Hey...I wouldn't ask how are you because I can clearly see that but Sehar tell me something do you think that the conversation we had in the afternoon has something to do with the attack" ; Putting forward his query George asked.

"What conversation"; Kim questioned being clueless

"We met the legal advisor yesterday"; George began to explain

Advisor – " The only solution to save the company is to sell it."

Sehar – "hmm..Lets meet the buyers tomorrow"

George – " We should put the real culprits behind the bars...those guys in finance messed up with the accounts"

Sehar – "Hmmm...but are they the only one's to be blamed...I trusted them blindly, Let's do whatever can be done, investors shouldn't lose their money neither should the workers their Job"

"After the meeting and making up our mind, we resumed with our work. In the evening before leaving I asked her if she wants to join but she replied in negative I thought maybe she wants some time for herself and left her there and then at night I found her all bruised and wounded"; completed George

Sehar continued; "After you left, I worked for another two hours before switching off the office lights. Then I came down and switched off the lights of the store and was walking out when two or three masked people entered store and pushed me in. They covered my face with a cloth and started breaking things at the store, hitting me too whenever I came in their way. I too started retailiating with whatever came in my hands since my vision was blocked until they ran out. Then I sat for some time outside the store before walking back home"

"We have filed a complained, don't worry the culprits will be behind the bars soon"; consoled George

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"She paced back and forth, Behind cold walls and closed doors,

With her doubts pulling her down, Forcing her to give up and leave the town"

The coming days were no different than the one's passed by, though her external injuries had started healing, the wounds of her soul were getting deeper day by day. The pain was too much to handle but she was still trying to bring herself together.

She looked around for a shoulder to lean on but found none.
She looked for an escape but found none.

Gearge and Kim were there but they were her friends and younger to her. All the years that she had known them, she dawned the role of being the elder and more understanding one, hence she knew, sudden role reversal was not possible. She missed Rahil, her boyfriend, sorry ex-boyfriend cum best friend. She missed the warmth of her family, and one one such day when she was  going to meet her buyers, she received another call from her grandmother. Sehar tried her best to keep her emotions in check for the ten minutes the conversation lasted, however, by the end of it when Neena again asked her to visit sometime, she found the escape she was looking for. She called her travel agent cum friend and asked him to book her tickets for India.
Surprised at her request, he said; "Sehar are you sure..Do you really want to give up and leave..??", to which she took a deep breath and replied; "Honestly if you ask me right now all I want is to disappear and in a country with 1.2 billion people disappearing should not be a problem."

But little did she knew sometimes, when all we wish to disappear, destiny plays the trick and we actually end up finding ourselves.

She was en route "Home" - a place where inhibitions vanish, where fears disappear; it is the blanket that cages you in its warmth and sets you free too; a place that hides you and allows you to discover yourself too

She was en route home and life was all ready to surprise her !!

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Hope you like the part

Take Care...Stay Blessed...Cheers..!!

Love

Akriti.