7.30 PM, Dhuala Kuan, New Delhi

DJ's Mansion.

Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar!

Ashhadu an la ilaha illa Allah. Ashhadu an la ilaha illa Allah....

Suman closed her eyes and softly whispered along, in tune with night time Isha prayer heard all over their neighbourhood from the local mosque.

In vain, she hoped it would soothe her turbulent mood. Her throat and lips felt as parched as her heart, and she shook her head resignedly.

Neither the soft pillows against which she lay propped up on her bed nor the cool breeze coming from the windows brought any relief either. Her physical ailments were the last thing on her mind at the moment, even though she terribly regretted not going to the temple, for the first time this year. The Doctor who checked on her yesterday said all the symptoms of weakness and breathlessness were due to the infection and fever, but she knew better. Diabetes and rheumatism had been part of her life for many years now, like many other obese people. But she never let them affect her life, or at least tried her best not to.  It was the mental trauma and stress that had sucked out all the willingness to fight against the infections harbouring inside her body.

Suman never considered herself as a fighter but she knew she had to survive, and be strong to look after her family at all costs. Especially when her second child was not just her own, but an offspring of a kind and noble soul like Nirmala. A second child that she never wanted to conceive or give birth to, if she had the choice. But when you were the wife of a heinous criminal like Dharam Singh Shekhawat, choice is the last thing you could hope for in your life. He wanted another son and he was ready to force himself on her to get what he wished for.

His attitude towards her became more vicious after his cunning escape from a jail in Rajasthan, where he was arrested by the border forces for smuggling drugs across the border. Being a hunted man, made him even more desperate  to re-establish and expand his business and he knew that only his family would stick with him, whether out of fear or obligation. He had already began to train DJ and he wanted one more son continue his legacy, no matter what.

The young bride of Suraj Bhai, Kiran, was the only friend that she could confide and seek solace from, during those dark times, since she knew exactly what a monster Dharam Singh was.

Kiran was the sister of a rival gang leader, and to settle scores with him, Dharam Singh abducted and locked her up. Suman never knew the details nor she bothered to know what happened, but in the end, thankfully, Suraj Bhai managed to persuade his boss Dharam Singh to spare Kiran and married her instead. Kiran was determined not to have kids, and Suraj Bhai supported her in every way, in spite of snide remarks from the rest of the gang. Her joy knew no bounds when Kiran became a nurse in the government hospital and was relieved to have a known and trusted figure around, when she got her second child delivered at the same hospital.

Kiran loved Loki, almost like her own child, and Suman was grateful for all the support she got from her. Only to realize later that Kiran's excessive love for Loki also had a great element of guilt and fear. Fear of wrath from the same monster, who almost ruined her life and still continued his terrorising hold on her, despite all her attempts to live a respectable life.  Dharam Singh was never a caring father, for he treated DJ as nothing more than a tool to spread his criminal activities. But his attitude towards Loki was even worse and almost cruel,  which baffled Suman for a long time. She became even more protective about Loki, and with the help of DJ who doted on his little brother, made sure that Loki is kept away from Dharam Singh as much as possible.

Within six months though, Dharam Singh was shot dead in a gang war,  and Suman foolishly thought she was at least free from their wretched criminal life. It wasn't too hard to persuade DJ that they start life afresh, in an honest and respectable way, and she knew how hard DJ tried, for almost two years. If it wasn't for the help from Suraj Bhai and Kiran back then, all three of them would have starved to death.

Even as they were shunned by society and were living in poverty, those few years were the best in their lives.

Till their fate caught up with them.

Kiran succumbed to pneumonic plague she got from one of the patients she was treating at the hospital. A highly repentant Kiran sought her forgiveness on deathbed, and finally revealed how she was forced to obey Dharam Singh, all those years ago, when he realised he got a daughter instead of the son he was hoping for.

Old sins have long shadows they say!!! And she and her kids have been living in the hell Dharam Singh left behind him, and paying for his sins.

A lone tear escaped Suman's eyes.

Her blurry eyes roamed aimlessly around her bedroom till they stopped to re-admire the large photo frame hung up on the wall, a candid photo of DJ feeding cake to Loki, on one one his birthdays.

Sighing, she slowly got up from her bed and kneeled down next to it, wincing in pain as her weak knees barely managed to bear the brunt of her heavy body. After a long and difficult manoeuvre, she pulled out an old and heavy trunk slowly from underneath the bed, the effort almost making her collapse next to it.

She heard frantic and heavy footsteps outside and after  a rapid knock at the door, DJ entered the room, anxiety written all over his face.

"Maa. What happened? Did you fall down or.... oh no, not again" DJ shook his head as he watched the old trunk next to Suman.

DJ pleaded, "Ma, you'll tire yourself... please don't do this." Suman smiled at him and tapped on the floor, gesturing him to sit next to her.

Sighing, DJ sat next to her and helped her open the trunk with a smile on his face, as he knew what was going to happen next.

Suman pulled out some of the old photo albums in the trunk as well as some baby clothes stored carefully in plastic bags. Suman almost opened one of the photo albums but her son stopped her.

"Ma are you okay?."

"Of course I am, why do you ask?"

"Because I know very well that whenever you're upset or anxious, you open up the old photo albums. Loki's absolutely fine and our guys picked him up at the airport just a few minutes ago, and he'll be home very soon." He assured her.

"I'm not worried about Loki. As long as you're there, taking care of him, nothing will happen to him" Suman smiled back at him, but the smile soon dissipated from her face and a wet sheen began to cover her eyes.

"Do you think I made a mistake of not telling the truth about Loki to you, all those years ago? Trust me, at the time I thought it would break us apart as a family...and you loved him so much and  - I was afraid that your love would go away when you learned that he wasn't your brother."

"Don't ever think like that Ma, why are you bringing up all of those things now?" he protested, "we are a family, we've always been a family and nothing will change that." DJ clasped onto her hand.

Gently, DJ pulled out another album and began to browse through the photos of him and Loki, the memories playing in his mind with every snapshot. He smiled at Suman holding baby Loki in his arms, with a gawky teenage version of himself by their side.

"Of course, at that time – remember? We were struggling so much without food and shelter and Kiran's sudden demise broke me down so much. And to think that your father had thought of killing his own child and two other innocent babies, just to get his revenge...I didn't want you to bare all that."

DJ sighed, "They all call me a monster now, but how could Baba...do that – I mean, his own child? Even now when I heard about this a few months ago, I still couldn't believe it because I thought he...loved us as a family. So I guess it was good for you to not say anything."

"Lets just say your father enjoyed hating people, controlling them...it gave him a tremendous feeling of power" she replied, a heaviness to her tone as she reminisced, "and hatred can kill any morsel of love – which is why I beg for you to stop this madness DJ...don't go after Victor. Or you're no better than your father, from what he did to Aditya Sen Varma all those years ago."

DJ's face was impassive as he slowly stood up, "If you think I'd be anything like Baba, you're insulting me."

A gentle smile spread on Suman's face before asking, "You came to the temple that day to see your sister, right? What did you think of her?"

DJ opened his mouth as if to say something but quickly stopped himself. "I'm just glad that I have a kid sister too" he concluded before exiting the room.

She watched him leave before gazing back at the picture of her husband Dharam Singh... and his eyes  which hid so much malevolence,. To think that such an inoffensively handsome face hid the darkest of thoughts. She quickly turned the page as if seeing it any longer would bring back his presence, and instead gazed lovingly at Kiran's photo. Her eyes welled again as she recalled what Kiran said on her deathbed.

Aditya Sen Varma and his team of army men captured her husband while he was trying to traffic drugs across the border to Pakistan, and jailed him with the help of local police. Almost a year later, Dharam Singh escaped from the jail and returned back to Delhi, leading him to become one of the most wanted criminals. He went underground to hunt the man who was responsible for his fate. When he came to know that Aditya's wife, Nirmala was about to deliver in the same hospital as Suman, he rushed there with his gang of men.

He threatened Kiran at knifepoint to bring Nirmala's twin babies, but she somehow pleaded him to show mercy and spare their lives. But Dharam Singh was in no mood to listen, even though she encouraged he should instead focus on the baby girl his wife gave birth to. However, this made him angrier since he wanted nothing to do with a girl – a child of no use to him and was happy to toss her away as well. In that moment of utter panic and desperate to save the babies, Kiran came up with a wild idea, hoping it would appeal to the sinister and sadistic mind of Dharam Singh.

"Wouldn't it be better if she swapped the baby girl with one of the twin boys, thus depriving Aditya Sen of a son." Dharam seemed pleased with this idea and left the ward – much to the relief of all the staff – but not before threatening everyone that none of this should come to light, if they wanted their families to be safe.

The clock on the wall chimed bringing her out of her reminisces.

Suman placed the items back in trunk and pushed it under the bed with  gentleness. After getting up steadily, she walked out of the room and headed for the living room downstairs.

Sooraj Singh got up from his chair and greeted her warmly, "Bhabhi, so good to see you moving around a bit. Has the fever come down now?"

"I'm much better thank you. I want to make sure dinner is ready when Loki arrives."

"Let me come and help you" he insisted before they both headed for the kitchen. Midway, Suman paused by the prayer room and bowed down to the different deities.

After making sure all the dishes were ready, Singh helped her carry them to the dining table.

"Now why don't you sit down, I'll do the rest" he suggested as he pulled out a chair. She sat down and he offered her a glass of water.

A few moments of silence passed,"Bhai, we were just looking at all our old photos, those were the good days" she suggested with a smile.

"Oh yes they were...if you don't consider the havoc caused by Kiran with her hasty act. Please forgive her if you can," he pleaded her with a sad smile.

"She doesn't need my forgiveness, in fact both me and Nirmala are grateful to her for saving the precious life of three innocent kids."

"Do you speak to her regularly Bhabhi?" Suraj asked in a low voice.
"No... not really. She forbid me to contact her or Arunya and I of course I gave my word to her. But then... I had to break my word once I realised Victor's life was in danger , that too at the hands of his own twin brother.  Thanks to you, Victor was saved... but I was desperate to explain everything that happened to Nirmala. I  rushed to the hospital where her husband was admitted . To see all that pain and grief on her kind face.... me and my family don't deserve anything but to rot in hell for our sins Bhai."  As Suraj Singh began to protest, Suman quickly wiped her tears away and looked up anxiously. She could hear arrival of few cars  and within few moments, DJ and Loki joined them.

^============^

First of all, my sincere apologies for the late update...

I wasn't happy with the way these next chapters were turning out as per my  original plan and got stuck... and procrastination added to misery.
But I hope to be more regular and finish this story as soon as I can, now that I have full clarity on how the story is going to be .

This is a major revealing chapter where you get to know the backstory   and also the final clue...who was the person who actually saved Victor in Goa.
More and final revelations coming up in the next chapter.
Love... Sesi