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Chapter 31: A Glimpse From The Past

"Would you like anything to eat or drink?" She nervously asked as her eyes moved down towards the two while they tiredly sat down on the sofa.

Janki glanced around and Ragini shook her head positively, "yes. . . Something to drink please."

Swara nodded her head and headed towards the kitchen. Sensing a familiarity with the house, Janki was lost in thoughts wondering how she seemed to know this house and why.
'Could it be one of the parties I attended to, or one of the business partner's house that I casually went to? But, I don't seem to recognise her. . .'

"Mom, try calling now." Ragini interrupted her thoughts and stared at Janki, who nodded her head and unlocked her phone.

Swara walked out with two glass's of orange juice and placed it in front of them. "Please make yourself comfortable." She nervously uttered and Ragini smiled at her, leaning forward to pick the glass up.

"Swara, I'm hungry. Where's the food?" Sameer complained as he walked out, startled to see two unfamiliar faces sitting in his living room.

"It's in the kitchen, warm it up." She replied to him and signalled him to leave, he made a face as he stared at Janki and Ragini weirdly, starting to walk towards the kitchen.

"What did you bring?"

"Maggie and snacks."

His face fell, "Maggie?"

"That's all they had."

He rolled his eyes and walked past her, into the kitchen.

"Hello, Driver. . . Can you pick us up and send the mechanic to fix our car? I'll send you the locations." She disconnected the call and brought her phone in front of her face, sending her current location.

"Swara. . ." Janki trailed off and glanced at Swara, "do you know the name of the place where our car broke down?"

She nodded her head positively and replied to Janki's question. After Ragini finished her glass of juice, she placed it down and stared at Swara.

"So, Swara. Do you stay here with that guy?" Ragini wondered and Swara nodded her head, "he's my step brother."

"Oh, what about your parents?"

"My mother passed away when I was young and I don't have a father." She answered and Ragini and Janki blinked at her, feeling slightly bad for her.

"Do you and your brother only survive on instant foods?" Janki asked and Swara nodded, "we have no other choice, he can't cook and neither can I. Before Nayonika Aunty used to cook for us and now she's gone so we have no one."

Janki creased her forehead, "Nayonika?"

Swara released a small sigh as she spoke, "my brothers mother and step father's second wife."

"Wait. . ." Ragini tried to understand the relationship between her family, "you're adopted?"

More like stolen, yet she wanted to let their family privacy remain and simply answered back with a nod.

'Nayonika. . . Why does this name sound so familiar?' Janki wondered to herself and then stared at Swara, "What is your step father's name?"

Swara felt uncomfortable with that question but still decided to answer. "She. . . Shekhar."

Janki's eyes widened after hearing the name Shekhar, while few memories from the past flashed in front of her eyes within seconds.

"Where are they now?"

"Getting punished for their deeds." Swara replied to Ragini with confident tone and Ragini looked on. "What?"

"They did something really bad in the past, which had been exposed and now they're paying for their crimes in prison." Swara further explained to Ragini, without revealing much details.

Janki swallowed her spit, feeling her heart hit against her chest. One piece from her memory froze in her mind, as she recalled the day she decided to loathe Shekhar more than she could ever loathe him.

After finding out her child was born dead, Janki couldn't help but cry her heart out. It pained her, and she wasn't able to recover properly due to the pain and tears.

She heard a knock on the door and lifted her head, glancing at Shekhar walk inside with a smile.

"I heard you were also here so I decided to come and say hi." He uttered and made his smile slowly fade, "why are you crying?"

She began sniffing as Shekhar glanced around, "where is your baby?"

"Wh. . . What are you. . . Doing. . . Here?"

"I came here to see my child. My wife has also given birth to a healthy daughter yesterday." He revealed and Janki stared at him with tears continuously seeping down her eyes.

"Good. . . For. . . You." She sobbed in between and he scoffed. "Are you really happy for me or are you faking this. . . Seeing your tears made me realise your child didn't make it to this world."

Janki swallowed, starting to cry again due to Shekhar's words and Shekhar smirked. Shamelessly taunting Janki despite him stealing her daughter.

"It's good that your child didn't make it to this world." He uttered and Janki looked on, "your child didn't deserve parents like you and that low, filthy Rathore! God saved your child from you."

"J. . . Just shut up!" She screamed on top of her lungs while crying. "Get out!"

"Don't have kids in future, otherwise they'll have to go through your filthy hell. They don't deserve that bastard to be their father."

"Just. . ." Janki was loosing her cool, all she wanted to do right now was beat the hell out of Shekhar's ugly disgusting face.

Shekhar left the room and sighed, "now I have to take care of their filthy child!"

"Do you not stay with your older sister?" Janki asked, clenching onto her fists to control her overflowing emotions, not wanting them to come out.

"Older sister?" Swara was confused, not knowing what Janki was saying and Ragini turned her head to the side, creasing it as she stared at her mother who was now curious to know further details.

"Yes, Shekhar's daughter with his first wife Sharmishta. . ." While replying to Swara's question, Janki had reflected back on Swara's words, trying to figure this out.

Swara was surprised to hear Janki. "You. . . You knew my mother?"

'Wait. Shekhar's eldest son is Nayonika's son, who then became Shekhar's second wife. And Sharmishta was his first wife, which makes her the mother of Swara but, Swara said she was adopted by Shekhar. . .' Janki was confused, as much as she thought about this, she couldn't get her head around this.

"You're Sharmishta and Shekhar's daughter, right?" Janki directly asked, staring into Swara's eyes, demanding an instant answer to clear all her confusion away.

Swara was surprised to know that Janki knew about Shekhar and Sharmishta, making herself sound as if she knew them in the past.

'If she knew Sharmishta Maa and Shekhar in the past, then are there chances she would know who my real parents are?'

Swara exhaled, sensing curiosity in Janki's eyes and decided to reply to her, hoping to find the answer to her puzzle.

"No, I'm not their real daughter. I was adopted by Sharmishta Maa and Shekhar." Swara replied, yet hiding the main details from Janki, telling her half of the truth of her life.

Janki looked on, so confused. 'So Shekhar lord that he had a healthy child. . . Why? Why did he lie to me? Did he adopt a child to avoid embarrassment? Or did he lie to me just to rub salt in my wounds. . . If his child didn't make it, then would it have been listed as dead?' So many questions ran through Janki's mind, yet knowing the man Shekhar was, she guessed he may have lied to her that day to hurt and upset her with his words and show superiority in his win. She concluded that he could have possibly adopted in order to hide the embarrassment from her.

"How. . . Do you know them?" Swara asked a question in return and Janki looked at her. "I don't, I just heard about them."

"Oh." Swara believed Janki's lie and Janki stared at her for few seconds.

Feeling suffocated inside the house, Janki couldn't help but to stand up abruptly, despising the fact that she's inside the house of the same man she hates the most.

"We will leave now. Thank you for inviting us and letting us stay for a while."

Swara stood up and so did Ragini, Janki held Ragini's hand and started heading towards the exit while Swara followed behind.

"It was nice meeting you." She politely uttered and Janki continued walking, "same here, it was nice meeting you." She replied and exited the house in a hurry.

Stepping outside, and exiting the gate. Janki was glad that the car was waiting outside just in time. Both Janki and Ragini sat inside, and the driver started to drive.

Sahil, Sanskaar and Sheesh were headed inside though the gates.

"Make sure to apologise."

"I know." Sahil irritatedly uttered, frustrated at Sheesh and Sanskaar telling him what to do. "I already have it planned so don't try to tell me what to do!"

"You're so ungrateful."

"I didn't ask for this. I said I would apologise tomorrow but you two dragged me here, so of course I'm ungrateful for being here despite not wanting to!" Sahil lashed out at Sheesh, making a face before increasing his speed, leaving them behind.

Seeing the door opened, Sahil instantly rushed in before it closed and pressed the button again, leaving it open for Sanskaar and Sheesh.
Nervous, while feeling his heart, Sahil walked towards the main hall, seeing Swara pick up the cup and tray.

"Swara." She was startled by the sudden call of her name and turned, looking at Sahil. "What are you doing here?" She shockingly asked and then her eyes move to Sanskaar and Sheesh, who enter with lunch boxes in their hands.

"We brought food." Sanskaar uttered and raised his bag, she stared at them uninterestedly and Sahil inhaled, mustering courage.

"I have something to say to you. . ."

"I'm not interested."

"No Swara, please hear me out." He begged and took the tray out of her hand, placing it back down on the table.

"Somewhere private, please. . ." He trailed off and held her hand. She was shocked yet discomforted by his sudden move.

"What the. . ."

"Please, it has to be said in private." He requested and started to drag her with him.

Sanskaar and Sheesh watched Sahil and Swara disappear, hoping Sahil succeeds in apologising and Swara forgives him.

x

In a room, Sahil and Swara were stood opposite each other.

"What do you want to say?" She rudely asked and Sahil inhaled, preparing himself to speak.

"Swara, I deeply apologise for my action." He apologised and she rolled her eyes, "is that all?"

Sahil sat down on both of his knees, surprising Swara and held her hands. "I'm really truly sorry for sending the video to the whole college. If I be honest then I hated you, you were always so rude and mean to me, I wouldn't even say much and you used to pick on me and embarrass me in front of my class. You used to bully me into staying away from other girls, I genuinely wanted to be your friend but you had insulted me in front of everyone and rejected my friendship, which had hurt me immensely and that is why I took that action. I wanted to get back at you and take revenge from you for being so harsh to me. But now I realise that you're not as mean as you were trying to display yourself as. You just had problems that you couldn't share with anyone. I realised I had misunderstood you and let the feeling of hatred grow. Ever since I started talking to you and helping you, I saw the struggles you had been through because of Shekhar. You didn't let anyone near you because you were scared of how you would've been treated. Having a bad experience from Shekhar and Jayant must've traumatised you in trusting another boy. I understood now but it's too late. All I can do now is apologise for my action."

Swara was speechless after hearing Sahil's apology, having nothing to say. She knew herself that this was true, the only reason why she pushed boys away was due to the bad experience Shekhar, Jayant and Sameer had given her. Even though Sameer reformed, but Jayant and Shekhar terrified her. They abused her under the name of love and care, she was scared to let anyone else so close to her and mistreat her in the name of love and friendship. If what Shekhar and Jayant had shown was the definition of love and relationship, she refused to let anymore reach her.

"I'm really sorry, please forgive me." He apologised and held her knees this time. Startled by his movement, she pushed him away.

"Sahil, behave yourself!" She exclaimed, changing her expressions to anger. "And. . ." She trailed off, bending down while he looked at her, "I forgive you."

He sighed a relief as a smile appeared on his lips, he folded his hand as he flapped his relieved gazes at Swara. "Thank you Swara, thank you so much."

She made a face at him while rolling her eyes, "don't act too cheesy. And I understand what you meant. I mean, if you treated me the same way I treated you then I would've taken revenge too. I realised I shouted at you and insulted you for no reason. Maybe you're right, I was only trying to run away from boys after seeing how Shekhar and Jayant treated me. . ." She was honest about her opinion as bad memories of Jayant and Shekhar occupied her mind.

"I didn't want anyone to treat me the same way they did. For me, the image for men had already been ruined because of them. And seeing majority of boys cheat on their girlfriends and use them for fun made me believe that all boys are trash." She added and sighed, curling a small smile while facing Sahil again. "But seeing you, Sheesh and Sanskaar. . . Proved my point again."

Sahil blinked at her and she continued, "and then you, Sheesh, Sanskaar and Sameer made me question that point after I saw you help me out with your whole heart. Even though you knew it could put you in danger, you still decided to risk your life to help me. I'm grateful for that."

He was surprised to hear her soft tone towards him, "what is this. . . Are you trying to say we can be friends?"

"When did I say that?" She asked, standing up again and he stood up, dusting his clothes while looking at her.

"I was expecting you to kick me out instead of forgiving me. But you're surprisingly being soft, where's the camera? Is this a prank video?" He asked, actually glancing around seriously trying to look for a camera.

She rolled her eyes and slapped his arm, grabbing his attention. "There is no camera. Stop being weird." She mocked and headed towards the door, exiting the room.

"What. . . There's no way she'll be okay with me so soon. Is this a plan? What is going on?" Sahil still refused to believe that Swara had forgiven him just like that, wanting her to do something Swara would do.

There was no ways that Sahil would think that this was it, especially after knowing that Swara still hasn't forgiven Sanskaar, despite Sahil himself, being the one to leak the video.

To Be Continued
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