He walked along the corridors of his old home; her house now. He had gotten his family back here, but there was still a long way to go.

He touched the ring on his finger. He was engaged. Engaged to his enemy. Engaged to Pooja Sharma. Never in his dreams would he have thought he would find himself here.

He heard soft sniffs emerging from the temple ahead.

He knew what they meant. What to expect.

And yet, he couldn't stop himself from walking towards the sound.

He found her there. Eyes focused on the idol in front of her even as tears streamed down them; fingers clasped tightly together, lips parting quietly to let out muffled sniffs.

Even her pain screamed in silence.

He felt the weight of the tears bear on him again. This wasn't him, and yet...

For heaven sakes!

She had destroyed his family! Thrown them on the road. Humiliated him. Tortured at every turn. She was the destroyer.

But seeing her even in this slight state of destruction gave him no peace.

He shook his head, focusing on his aim. It was bigger than this. Much bigger. He had to plough through. Plough through his guilt; this prick. Everything.

He needed to walk away.

Now!

He turned around and met hard cold eyes of the woman he had known longer than anyone else. His mother.

Her eyes bored into his as if trying to figure out what was going on. Her jaw clenched

He looked away, unsure what he had given out.

"What happened to that fire of revenge? Did it get washed away," Suman bit out, "in her tears." The sharpness in her voice did nothing to hide her hatred.

Kabir squeezed his eyes, stung by the accusation in her voice, "Be thankful, Mom, that your son isn't burning in with the fire of revenge. No one can extinguish that fire once it sets ablaze. It destroys everyone with it."

"Then why are you doing this?" Suman shot back

"I am trying to right things, Mom," Kabir said before walking away.

She wouldn't understand. When he had a hard time making sense with it, what did he expect from others.

***

Kabir paced in his room late in the night.

Everything was quiet, except the voices inside him. His family's voices fighting with his; locked in what seemed like an ongoing battle ever since he first revealed his plans to them.

'What are you doing?  Why are you doing all this?' His mother asked him again as she had when this began.

Righting the wrongs. Hadn't our family paid for their silence in Ashok Sharma's death. We suffered homelessness. We suffered poverty. We suffered the death of one of our own. Dhruv has been cut away from the family. Dadu paralysed. His Mom suffered humiliation, attempt on her life; was driven to madness for a short while. Punishment should be equal to the crime. And hadn't those concerned paid for their dues enough already!

'Don't start a new cycle of revenge,' His dadu urged.

I am not. This isn't about revenge. It's about ending the punishment that had been met on them. Punishment that was met even on those who were completely innocent. This is about recovering their life back; this time with humility and new consciousness.

It's time for Pooja to pay her due for her mistakes just as our family has.

'You did the right thing by kidnapping her Maa types. She should know what we suffered. Force her to sign the property back to us now and throw her out!' Chanda quipped.

Chachi! This is not about making her suffer more! Dad has done that enough! Kidnapping her mom will never be right! If I had any other way to make her listen, I would have never done it. This isn't about property or the money. You-

'Listen? You are trying to make that that woman listen? Listen to what, Kabir?' his mom cut in.

I am trying to make her understand that ends cannot justify means. Not where innocent people are concerned. Neither with her nor with the mode I have used. She was wrong to take out her anger and revenge on everyone; just as I am wrong to kidnap her mom to set things right.

If I had any other way, I would-

'You would what, Bhai? Plead with her to listen? That woman destroyed us. Why do you care what happens with her? This is our time now. She will accept all our conditions. We have to strike the iron when it is still hot,' Jai pleaded

And what will that do? Once her mother is back with her, she will burn in more wilder, stronger fire of revenge and take us all down with it. It wont end this vicious cycle. It will only fuel it longer and this time the fire will not stop until it truly decimates everyone, including her.

'She will do that even now, Bhai,' Sonali reasoned, 'Are you sure about this?

Yes. I have to make her realise her mistakes. I have to force her to incur punishment for those. Force her to wipe the slate clean of the guilt and anger that is binding her to this path of destruction. Then... only then will all of us be able to leave the past baggage behind and move on in life.

'You aren't punishing her. You are punishing yourself by tying your life to that that woman's!" his mother screamed.

If that is the what it takes to give us all the peace we need, then think of it that way.

'Dont take his word for this peace and everything, Mom,' Dhruv accused, 'Haven't you seen how bothered he was when she was crying?'

I get no pleasure in someone else's pain, Dhruv. Never have.

'Is that all this is?,'  his mom asked.

Of course! What else can you think it to be, Mom?

'Do you really not know?' Dhruv asked, 'Or are you trying to fool us some more?'

Kabir squeezed his eyes shut. Irritation coursed through him for a second, but in the next one it was replaced by Pooja's face, teary, broken.

Kabir's eyes snapped back open. he rubbed his palm roughly over his face.

'What the hell!"

***

Kabir looked at the prone figure in front of him.

She was asleep now, in sitting position. Her phone lay some distance away. Next to her hand was an old photo, burnt around the edges. Her mother's.

She had cried herself to sleep. He was sure of it, as sure as he was when he walked towards the temple earlier that day.

Silent Pain.

And just like that, the heaviness in his chest returned.

He should not feel this. She shouldn't make him feel this guilty after what she had done to his family. He shouldn't care. And yet...

He retraced his steps out of her room. He needed to get away. He needed some air.

He took a deep breath the moment he was outside. He started at the sky. It was full moon that night.

It should be peaceful in the quiet of the night, staring at the moon.

Except that it wasn't.

He felt more conflicted than ever.

She hurt his family.

But his family, his father had made her the way she was now. Burning up; consumed in this fire of revenge.

He needed to heal her.

That thought had come to him more and more in the past couple of days; cut only by the anger he felt at what she had done to his family.

After she humiliated him in front of everyone; slapped him for trying to save her life, he had lost his peace. All of it.

Now he perpetually oscillated between anger and pain.

Pain that wasn't always his.

He had watched that video over and over again. The one where she slapped him. At first, all it did was burn him in anger and anguish.

Then somewhere along, something changed.

He wasn't sure what. Or even why. It just had.

Then all of sudden, he was also drawn to her words in the video, the anguish and pain in her voice. A hint of tiredness that he too felt during his battle with Pooja Sharma.

And he felt a hint of someone trapped.

Trapped in a vicious cycle without knowing how to get out it. Trapped worse than what he felt sometimes. Trapped in a hard exterior that was hard as a diamond and as tough to break.

And inside it was a lava of emotions, pain, tragedy that had no release.

He wasn't sure what would break that diamond exterior. What would release those emotions begging to be freed.

More hurt?

Anger?

Danger?

Atonement?

Care?

Reducing the loss suffered?

He wasn't sure. But he knew he wanted to try. He was going to push all her buttons if needed. He was going to break that hard exterior.

Somehow the salvation to all their pain and misery - including hers - lay in release of that pain.

"Why does it matter?' he asked softly, "Why?"

He would never be able to share this part of his reason with anyone. Not his family. Not her.

She wouldn't listen to anything he had to say anyway.

Hell! It had been difficult to understand for himself, where was the question of anyone else understanding it or him finding enough reasoning to explain it to them.

How was he to explain to anyone why he wanted to right things for her as much as his family.

Yes it was about ending the cycle of revenge.

But it wasn't just about it.

It really wasn't.

He closed his eyes only to get assaulted with her teary face again. And just like that the heaviness was back again. Potent as ever.

He walked back into her room, quietly, careful that he wasn't going to disturb her sleep.

This time his steps took him even closer to her.

Her hair covered most of her face, gently moving around her face in the breeze that he had let in when he entered through the window. He could see the dried marks of tears that lined her cheeks as she slept.

He stared at her silently.

Alone.

'Alone' his heart whispered again.

It was the word that was coming to him more often when he saw her and thought of her these days.

He felt a prick in his eyes, a hint of moisture that lined his lids as he continued to look at her.

Alone.

That was what she really was.

Alone despite having Amma, because though Amma cared for her deeply she couldn't understand the loneliness inside her.

Alone despite having Rani, because Rani was too focused on her own happiness to care about the sister who focused only on her.

Alone despite her mother, because she wasn't around in parts thanks to Kabir but more because she wasn't mentally capable to understand her daughter.

Alone even when surrounded by her loved ones.

Alone despite the wealth.

Alone in her fight.

Alone in her revenge.

Alone in her pain.

Alone...just like him.

He let out a shaky breath as it hit him; hit him with the force of a thousand bricks. Hit him so hard that he was difficult to find his next breath.

She was like him.

Like him in many ways.

In most ways that mattered.

She was a reflection of him.

His reflection in his lack of interest in money and his deep care for people.

His reflection in his focus on family and their happiness even if at the cost of his own.

His reflection in his loneliness.

His reflection in his pursuit for fleeting peace and some semblence of happiness.

And then he knew.

He knew why he wanted to help heal her.

Why he wanted her to realise her mistakes and leave the old baggage behind.

Why he wanted to right things even for her

It was because in healing her, he was sure he would also be able to heal himself of his past.

In helping her find her peace, he would also may be...just may be find it for himself too.

May be...

May be somewhere along, they could find happiness too.

May be.

Thanks for your likes and comments and views of the last part. Hope you like this one too. If you do, don't forget to hit like and do let me know what secret confession would you like to read about next.

Thanks for reading.