Taking up a quick shower, before going to bed, Bhargavi swiftly walked towards Parul's room to dry her clothes on the cloth line in the balcony. Hearing a soft groan she paused in front Prabir's room. Unable to hear anymore noise she moved on.

While returning, she again heard a louder groan, as if someone was in terrible pain. Pushing the door open, she rushed in to find Mr. Banerjee groaning.

"Uncle? Are you okay? What happened?" She asked concerned.

"I have a terrible lower back pain. Can you fetch me my painkillers from my room. It's in the cupboard, on the second shelf, maybe in a corner," he informed.

"How long did you push the swing yesterday?" She quizzed back.

"Forty-five minutes or an hour I guess," he said calmly.

Instead of fetching the painkillers from the cupboard in Mr. Banerjee's room, she raced downstairs looking for Prabir. As usual, he was lying on the sofa in the living room and had fallen asleep. The loud snores of Mr. Banerjee pushed him to often sleep downstairs.

Startled he woke up, at the slight touch of Bhargavi's cold fingers. Staring at her, he sprang up from the sofa when she inquired if he had any pain relief spray. His fair complexion had turned into ashen in an instant. "What happened to you?" He asked agitated, observing the huge towel wrapped on her head.

"Nothing. Uncle is having severe back pain," she informed.

Gently nodding, she asked him to move on to help Mr. Banerjee while she started her search in his cupboard for the painkiller.

"What are you doing Bhargavi? What are you searching in his cupboard?" Ms. Nalini asked curious, still awake.

"Looking for some painkillers Maa. Uncle is having  some back trouble," she said still continuing her search and finally finding some painkillers looked at her mother. All colour had drained her face.

"Shouldn't you ask Prabir to take him to the hospital?" Ms. Nalini said, worries and concerns etched all over her face.

"It is the impact of pushing the swing for almost an hour. He'll be fine, else we'll take him to the hospital tomorrow in the morning," she sighed before leaving.

Handing him the painkillers, Bhargavi asked," Is he feeling better?"

"Nope! I can hear you Bhargavi," Mr. Banerjee rambled. Sitting up he took the painkiller and sat quietly leaning back, as Prabir placed some pillows on the bed rest.

While he was still suffering with the agonies of the back ache, Prabir asked him to lie down once again but not on his back, sideways as he once again sprayed the pain relief spray. As the throbbing pain was a bit dull, Mr. Banerjee started to snore, as he was fatigued and exhausted.

Plugging in earplugs in his ears, Bhargavi was about to leave the room, asking him to sleep with Mr. Banerjee for the night. "How am I supposed to know if he calls me out?" He asked, pulling out the earplugs.

"Don't worry! It's all God's will. Maybe eventually, I'll get used to the snores," he smirked.

"Remove the towel before you catch a cold," he reminded her, dropping a light kiss on her forehead.

"Is he alright? Feeling any better? Did he take the painkiller?" Bhargavi was bombarded with all the questions at once. "You should ask Prabir to do some hot oil massage...it will relieve the pain," was also added as a suggestion, when she entered the room.

Taking off the towel wrap and throwing it over a chair to dry out, she said grinning,"Ah! You're so worried about him," then as the realization dawned on her that this wasn't the right time to mock her mother, she said sternly," Maa. He has fallen asleep. Prabir is with him. He has taken the painkiller and there's nothing to worry."

On second thoughts, before going to bed, she went downstairs to the Puja room filled with gratitude. Bhawani had returned home safe, her mother had slowly started to care for Mr. Banerjee and most importantly, Bhawani was turning back to her usual self - the gleeful, charming, young girl she had once been.

Though she had held a sincere belief that bad people don't change,Mayank had changed a lot. He was possibly one of the most gentlemen in the vicinity; helping Mr. Ghosh with marketing, sometimes looking after his grandchildren as they started visiting more often since Mr. Ghosh's health was deteriorating.

Mr. Ghosh treated him as his own son, they shared meals together - breakfast and dinner, he always reminded him to take his medicines on time and looked after him.

Next day, Mr. Banerjee was feeling a lot better and the day proceeded as usual.

Later in the evening after Bhawani's coaching class ended, she found Shekhar waiting for her outside. She wondered, if he was still fuming with rage as he hadn't spoken to her since the previous night.

"Can we talk?" she asked formally trying to gauge his mood.

Nodding silently, he twisted the key in his bike. Finding an empty bench in a park, they sat down next to each other. Some teenagers were playing badminton in the brightly illuminated park at a distance.

Breaking the silence, Bhawani was the first to speak," I am sorry. I should have waited for you yesterday."

"It's alright! I am glad you reached home safely," he said ending the discussion, with his gaze fixed on the grass. "You wanted to break up with me and you did. Yesterday, you wanted to take a bus and you did. It's your life. Who can stop you from making your own decisions?"

With tears rolling down her cheeks, she stared at him. Hearing, the soft sobs, he looked at her and his heart melted instantly. Wiping her tears delicately, with his fingers, he mumbled," It's okay! I am sorry. Please don't cry. Running into the woods with seven to eight people chasing...you realize what could have happened?"

"I felt like I would never be able to see you again, maybe my dead body would be discovered a few days later," she sobbed.

"Shh!" He said covering her mouth with his hand. "Why didn't you just wait for me? Did I commit some horrendous crime by being fifteen minutes late?" He asked pulling her close in his arms.

"No! I committed horrific crimes... not you. You will be scared of me and even hate me once you know what I have done.
The reason I broke up with you is...is because I am a psycho, who...who tried to smother someone and push her own mother down the stairs intentionally," she whimpered.

"I don't believe in this bullshit! This can't be true," he said as if in disbelief, pretending to not know or understand anything of what she said.

"I wanted to celebrate Ishaan's birthday. I asked him to spend just half an hour with me but he refused to celebrate and left me alone with his mother. I was devastated. Did I really mean nothing to him? Was I demanding too much? I realized it was all his mother's fault, he...he had to work so hard all day like a donkey to be able to get her expensive medicines and pay for the caretaker. I decided to take her life and had he not held my arms, I would have... He had returned to celebrate his birthday with me...unable to bear that gloomy look on my face but I had ruined everything," she said sniffing.

Though compelling, this was a completely different version of the story, coming directly from Bhawani. According to Bhargavi's statements, Bhawani had tried to smother Ishaan's mother, as she believed that her condition would never improve rather degrade with passing time, and all she wanted to do was end her miseries. However, Shekhar chose not to question and rather, let her speak. 

"Maa told me that I am turning out to be exactly the same as my father. He was an abuser and an alcoholic while I was treading on his paths - a chain smoker and a mudslinger, as I accused Maa for being brutal towards Di. She also asked me to just jump off the terrace of a multistoried building and die peacefully rather than slow poison myself smoking everyday. I could take it no more. I pushed her down the stairs," she said seething with rage.

"You know what's worst about all this?" She asked looking at him sharply.
"I don't have a slightest feeling of regret for what I have done. Yes! I feel bad and guilty that I lied to Baba...I mean Uncle...Mr. Banerjee," she said clarifying," that I intentionally did nothing and was only misunderstood. If even he starts to hate me, I'll have no reason to live.

He is the only person who trusts me...when I say I was misunderstood, that I didn't try to kill anyone, though it isn't true. He sat beside me, an entire night weeping, holding my hand, whispering "You're safe my child. I have got you," only because I said that I feel like an orphan with no one to care or protect, my own biological father forgot all about my existence."

The rage and the hatred that was clearly visible on her face had faded away, as she spoke about Mr. Banerjee. It was replaced by a beautiful warm smile that made his heart flutter.

Afraid to ask the question, unable to muster up enough courage, he fumbled," D...Do you still l...love Ishaan?"

"All that's left in me is hatred and loathing for him. I have begged for forgiveness a million times over and over again. Di was always right, he never deserved me. I was wasting my time.

Yes! I admit that he has the right to be furious, I mean who wouldn't be...when someone tries to kill their only family left, but how do I forgive him for the way he treated me?

He used me to...look after his mother and I did it willfully, with dedication and devotion but he only treated me like trash. I used to carry my books only for show... to leave them to sit on a table in  a corner, as I cleaned his house, swept and mopped the floor, did the household chores for him and in return fell back in class,flunked tests,failed in exams, gave in to smoking but he never bothered. While if you see his scores, it only went soaring high. You know why? Because the time and efforts I put in looking after his sick mother, he would sit in a public library studying in the air conditioning for hours, lying to me that he was working like crazy. He had stopped paying the caretaker as I was there to help and effectively made excuses on her behalf stating why she couldn't be there to look after his mother. He's an extremely selfish and self-obsessed person who is concerned all about himself. I hate myself for not trusting Di's advice," she paused taking a deep breath.

Engulfing her in his arms, Shekhar smiled," Come let's go. You want an ice cream?" Utterly relieved that Bhawani no more loved Ishaan rather loathed him, he was in a mood to celebrate.

"Now tell me why didn't you wait for me yesterday?" He asked her when he saw her engrossed in having the contentious mint chocolate chip in the ice cream parlor.

"I thought if I could take a bus home and travel alone, there would be no need to trouble you all the time," she said reflecting on her thoughts.

"If you consider that as trouble, I want you to trouble me not today, tomorrow, or day after tomorrow but throughout my life.
Even if I am ten to fifteen minutes late sometimes, please wait for me," he said grinning.

"Okay! Whenever you are late, you will have to give me an ice cream treat," she said laughing.

"I am always at your service Ma'am," he smirked, before asking her another question. " Why did you tell me all this...that I think you haven't told anyone?"

"See, before I could tell Di anything, Maa had already said her how deliberately, I had pushed her down the stairs, about the hatred and wrath clearly visible in my eyes. I am almost certain that she skipped mentioning a lot of things that she told me to infuriate me...before I lost it.

The way you wanted to listen to the other part of the story, no one wanted to. They believed in everything I said, and also some of the things I didn't say, with no objections whatsoever.

When Maa had given Di her narrative about the incident, she never cared to ask me if what Maa said was true or if I had something to add on my part. They believe I am a psychopath, capable of committing a cold blooded murder and eventually I was dragged to Dr. Menon.

I love Di more than I love anything else in this world. When Di doesn't support me with something, I feel like I am betrayed. She had warned me and asked me to stay away from Ishaan, and all I did was slap her back, frustrated that she wouldn't understand that I loved that guy.

And this time, it hurt me a lot more, when she trusted in everything Maa had to tell her but even for once she didn't ask me if...
It's true she asked me a hundred times about my relationship with Ishaan and the reasons for breakup, but I stayed as if my lips were sewed, stitched and I couldn't speak...maybe that's the reason she didn't ask me anything this time knowing that I would lie.

But how would I face Di and tell her that I am a dumbass. She knows and understands people much better than I do. I  am a fool, always have been one and partly, I was scared that Di would rip apart Ishaan's throat and it wouldn't be a failed attempt to kill someone like mine."

Author's Note:

I am sorry for errors if any and I would like to thank my lovely readers love_kills_and_heals and gowrisiree for their immense support.

I wouldn't have come this far without your support and encouragement.

Thank you all!
Happy Reading! Hope you enjoy this update 🙏😊 and have a nice day.