Muskan heard the car door open feeling the cold breeze. Her heart was pounding and her hands were shaking because... she was finally home.

Your home is the place where you feel safe and wanted, but this home of her's was the place where she felt the most unwanted and unsafe. The momentary happiness and affection she felt last night by a few strangers, was sadly over.

"So this is your home huh cutie? Wow it's huge." Khushi said impressed peeping out. When she turned to Muskan, that girl seemed anxious and frightened.

Khushi moved her hand through her hair and Muskan immediately snapped her head in her direction startled.
"What's wrong cutie?"

"Huh? Um... it's nothing Khushi Didi..."

Khushi could most definitely sense her uneasiness.
"Are you worried about that brother of yours?" She said in a way as if her tongue burned at that bastard's mere mention.

Muskan said nothing just looked down. Khushi pulled her cutie in her arms into a gentle embrace.
"It's alright cutie! No one's going to touch you. My brother and my husband had a good.... talk with him."

And by talk what she meant was beating him half to death and sending him back with a death threat that he must never even dare to lay his eyes on her.

Her brother, was the man who saved Muskan. The one who spoke gentle words to her....made her heart skip. Khushi told her that he was her unmarried older sibling... Muskan even lost count how many times she had mentioned the Unmarried part. She wished to meet him atleast one last time before parting but....he was busy with his work.

Will I ever get to meet him again?
Will I ever be able to meet everyone else again too?

Khushi loudly bid Muskan goodbye as she saw her enter the gate to the manor. Muskan's heart sank as she heard the car leave.

She took a deep breath and opened the huge door in front of her.

"K...kh...khala..." She shuddered fearing her reaction but deep inside, she had hope that maybe her Khala would pull her in an embrace being worried about her all night.
However, that tiny hope washed away as soon as a huge splash of cold water hit her abruptly making her weak frame collapse on the hard threshold.

She coughed shaking in shock and fear trying to wipe her face with the back of her wet hands.

"Badzaat ladki!" (Characterless girl!) Her Khala's loud voice boomed making poor Muskan shudder.
"How dare you come back after shamelessly spending the night with a non mehram man?!"

Muskan raised her head shocked.
"N...no Khala...t... that's not..."

"Shut up you vile wench! After staining yourself you have the audacity to talk back to me?! Is this how you are paying us back for raising you, clothing you , feeding you and taking care of you all these years?!" She yelled.

Muskan managed to push her wet body to stand up, shivering through the cold breeze. With warm tears and trembling lips she tried to prove her innocent, that she was chaste there was a misunderstanding but she only met with a harsh slap on her face making her fall down on her face again, the fall that she blocked with her hands.

"Don't touch me you filthy whore! You really thought that you'd sell your body to a gangster and then return home like nothing happened to dance on our heads?"

"N...no...bha.. bhaijaan was..."

"What bhaijaan huh? My poor innocent boy, when he tried to stop you, he said it's not right for a young girl to act like this, you made your gangster boyfriend beat up my poor son?!"

Muskan's eyes widened. That wasn't true at all. He was the one who forced himself on her and the other man saved her life. What kind of false story did he tell her? Why?

Muskan hiccuped through her sobs as she crawled towards her Khala grabbing her leg.
"K.. Khala....p... please believe me...t... that's not...t...true. I...can never....do..s.. something like that... I... I w...would rather...d..die than gi...give my ch....chastity.... Khala....pl... please be... believe me..."

But her Khala inhumanly kicked the frail girl all the while as her 2 children watched snickering at the poor girl. Enjoying the show of her innocence being questioned and slaughtered by thier mother's harsh words.

"Don't lie! Everyone saw you leaving in that man's arms, the neighbours, the bystanders, everyone. You rotten girl... don't let the drops of your stained character stain my precious children too. Good thing your parents, my sister died before they could even see this!"

Muskan's heart almost stopped hearing her last words. Would her parents have thought the same about her?

∆∆∆∆
Khushi sighed as she was already missing the puppy faced cutie. In just one night she had gotten soo attached to her and thinking about her uneasiness as they reached her house, was making her feel uneasy too.
Her eyes suddenly went on the small bag beside her.
"Oh, I forget this little present I wanted to give her."

"Should I take the car back madam?" The driver asked.

Khushi smiled.
"Oh Yes!"

As she neared the gate she noticed a large crowd had gathered outside. Khushi's brows furrowed and she stepped out curiously.

"That poor child, always has to be abused by that wretched aunt of her's..."

"She's such a kind soul, even if she's blind she always welcomes me with her beautiful smile and always helps me around...but that Khala of her's...what a demon...."

"God knows why she's abusing that precious girl today soo brutally.... hoarding her own huge house, treating the defenseless handicapped girl like a maid all these years, God will definitely punish that cruel woman...."

Khushi's body stilled and her blood fumed in her veins when she too saw how her cutie was being beaten and yelled at.

"Before God punishes that bitch... I will!" She grunted and pushing through the crowd stormed in through the gate.

"HOW DARE YOU HURT MY CUTIE!" Khushi screamed.

Muskan gasped hearing her voice and tried to hide her face as she was on the floor, ashamed of her current state. She was afraid, seeing her soo pathetic, her dear Khushi Didi would hate her too. Khushi scrunched down and held her face gently and winced as she observed her fair cheek which was now red and bruised. She snapped her finger and the bodyguard behind her took off his coat which she snatched from his hand and put it around the shivering girl.

"Don't cry cutie. Your Khushi Didi's here." She said gently. Her heart aching to see the frail girl in such a vulnerable condition.

Khushi glared at the woman standing at the door with her hands on her fat hips. She walked towards her and fisted the neckline of that woman's kurta as she gasped in horror. Both the children yelled and tried to apprehend Khushi but scramed back when the bodyguard pointed his gun at them. Thier blood running cold in thier veins with fear.

"M..mm.. Mumma...." Her daughter whimpered.

"Aa Moti! Akeli kamzoor bacchi pe robe jadhke kya sabit karna chahti hai tu?!
(Hey fatty! Yelling on an innocent weak kid like that what are you trying to prove huh?!)
She said in a low threatening voice making her gulp and shake like a leaf.

"You're doing all this drama to get rid of Muskan? Fine then! I'm taking her with me.... she'll live with us from now on." She announced.
"And mind well aunty, Muskan isn't the one who's characterless. She's as pure as the snow. You should rather ask your son where he's been fucking his chastity now a days." She spat and forcefully released the shaking woman.

She then turned her gentle attention to the sobbing Muskan and made her stand up holding her by her shoulders.
"Let's go Muskan." She said.

The frightened girl said nothing and just moved her feet like a stringed puppet.

Khushi paused to give one last warning
"Don't think you'll get away with this. Start counting your countdown to doom starting....now!" She smirked.

∆∆∆∆
It's been hours since they brought her home and no matter how much Zarina or Khushi tried, Muskan just wouldn't stop crying.

How could she? She was already an orphan still, she had her cousin atleast as a namesake family. However, after today, she had even lost them and now was utterly alone in the whole dark world.

Muskan had locked herself in her new room, in a new atmosphere, which was colder and more peculiar for her senses. No one bothered to disturb the broken girl. They did bring her food but, she just wouldn't eat.

There was no choice now, she had to survive if she was going to live in this house from now on. She couldn't be a burden on them either.

The next morning, she walked out of the room with wobbly knees and feeling through the walls and pillars following Zarina and Khushi's voice

"Oh, cutie?" Khushi blinked at her but a bit relived that she actually came out of the room.

"Di...di, aunty, I know I'm not much capable but I don't want to be a burden on you all who have been soo nice to me. Even if I'm blind, I can cook, clean...and can do any other job you'd like. I can be of help around the house... I... I can...be a maid for you." Her voice was breaking. She had never ever dreamt that her life could've turn out this way.

"Y...you don't have to pay me. I... I'll even eat through the leftovers and wear some old clothes... I... I'm used to it."

Khushi and Zarina both got extremely emotional hearing all that and pulled the sweet delicate child in thier arms.

"Don't say such things my bacchi. You're not a burden. This house is too big too. You can live here comfortably as you want." Zarina said.

"You're such a sweet darling my cutie...tell me, instead of all this tragic arrangements,

Would you marry my brother instead?

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