CHAPTER. 3

A soft beeping sound roused Dhvara from her state of unconsciousness, her head throbbing painfully to the beat of her pulse. Her eyelids slowly opened, adjusting to the bright lights with each millimeter. A groan slipped past her and the person next to her was alert, clutching her palm in comfort.

Gripping the hand, she started to sit up sluggishly when she felt the bed moving with her. Realizing the person was adjusting the height of the bed to help her sit back comfortably, she tapped the hand in thanks. Dhvara turned to look at the body next to her and the face of a female slowly came into view.

"Satya?" She questioned groggily, the blood behind her eyes aching painfully. "Wha--?" Her voice trailed off when she caught sight of a man leaning against the white walls. "Father," The word left her lips in a bitter tone, almost in a snarl. The pounding in her head only intensified further, and she let out an exhale.

She leaned her head back, letting her eyes droop. "Painkillers, please." Her voice begged Satya and who immediately murmured words of acknowledgement and left the room in search of a doctor. "Dhvara, I-" Ainesh slowly sounded out, the name of his daughter foreign to his lips.

"Please don't, I can't--Not now, just-" Dhvara shook her head, agony swimming in her dull hazel irises. Her legs began to burn, as if someone had started a fire ablaze. Her lower limbs and head began to compete, trying to inflict the most pain they could in Dhvara. She whimpered in misery, her body tingling with torment all over.

"Dhvara please-" Ainesh persisted, walking closer to his daughter. She shook her head frantically, the image of her father walking closer to her lighting a torrent of anxiety within her. Panic began to set within her, the walls around her closing in. "Go, get out--just go, please-" She begged, unable to stop the misery she felt leaking through her words. He stopped in his tracks, eyes wide at her hysteria.

Hysteria that he had caused, the fright and terror he could see in her eyes just by the mere action of him attempting to be near his daughter. Ainesh could merely watch at his daughter's struggle in pain, unable to comfort her in time of need for she would rather writhe in her injuries than accept a gesture of warmth from him, her own father.

The door to the hospital room opened abruptly, Satya walking in with a couple of nurses and a doctor. Catching sight of the woman who was shifting in her bed and trying to alleviate her pain, the doctor turned to the nurses, "50 mg of meperidine, start with the lowest dose and if she still feels pain, switch to hydromorphone." He instructed.

Seating himself on the chair next to her bed, "Can you tell me where it hurts the most?" He asked gently. Dhvara nodded, "My head and legs feel like they've been set on fire. Hurts so bad." She moaned, unable to form full sentences. The doctor nodded, "We'll get you on some painkillers. Can you remember what happened?"

She shook her head at first but tried to remember, only catching blurry bits of her memory. "I was driving and talking with--That doesn't matter but the last thing I know is I'm approaching a truck driving straight towards me but I'm pretty sure I was driving in the right lane."

"Well, you have no memory loss. You were driving in the straight lane but the truck driver wasn't and unfortunately, he suffered much more than you did. He was drunk when he was driving but don't worry, as soon as he heals, he'll be sent to jail." The doctor informed. "You were injured as well, but not as severe. Your right leg suffered a hairline fracture and your left ankle broke and it required surgery. That's why you're in so much pain, the opioids administered to you must have worn off. But there's no reason to worry, you'll have full use of your legs in about five to six weeks. The nurses will inject some meperidine in you and if you still feel pain after you wake up, we'll change the dose or the medicine."

Dhvara nodded at his explanation and a female nurse approached her with a syringe. She took the forearm of Dhvara and injected it with brisk precision. "Get some rest, we'll be here to take care of you." She whispered gently and the younger female gave a faint smile. The doctor and nurses left the room and Dhvara slowly began to feel drowsiness set in her body after a few minutes. Turning her gaze away from her father and his third wife, she closed her eyes and welcomed the sleep that soon overtook her.

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Satya Rana had seen many events unfold around her as she grew up, the most prominent being the death of her parents. She was quite young so she had no memories of them to speak of. She was passed around from relative to relative as she grew up, they weren't necessarily cruel but couldn't afford to feed another mouth.

And so she worked, day and night and neglected her studies. Soon enough, she had turned eighteen and with meager grades had managed to study a basic English Literature degree. Satya had done odd jobs, as a secretary, as a copywriter, as an editor for newspapers that people didn't read. The labor she had done brought no content to her heart but did give money, money that she saved.

Years passed, until one day she had turned thirty years old and was unmarried but she was unmarried with savings in her bank account. Satya had always lived as a nomad, moving from one apartment to another, one city to another ever since she had graduated. So as she turned older, she found no difference in moving states.

As technology advanced, she found out that as long as she had a laptop, she could work from any remote corner in this world. And so, she packed up all her belongings in Chennai, dropped her surname Kashyapa and with the little fortune her parents had left her and enough savings, had moved to Dehradun.

The first thing Satya had realized about Dehradun was that there wasn't snow as she expected. So she traveled a little further up north to a hill station called Mussoorie, where her arrival was greeted with the fall of the first snow of the year. With her lips curving upwards for the first time in years, and with a heart full of hope in her thirty years of life, she moved forward.

She learned the random courses here and there on online platforms, worked small jobs for a small amount of money and rented a nice apartment that housed a balcony where she could see the ethereal landscapes that had the ability to soothe her soul. Sometimes she volunteered at a nearby orphanage, remembering how her life had passed with no parental guidance or even advice from her elders.

And exactly five years later, she met a man named Ainesh Rana. With a guilt from a past he could never change, with heavy regret that had burdened his heart, they formed a tentative friendship. Two years later, he revealed her past to her. The tale of how he cheated on his first and late wife Gia Agnosti and fathered an illegitimate son (she knew he was tempted to call him a bastard son for there was no love lost between them), of how he sent his youngest son and daughter away to their maternal grandparents (where they lived in Italy and were never happy that their beautiful Italian daughter had married such a sinful Indian man) and taught his eldest son the reins of the business.

His second wife had divorced him soon after his eldest turned 18 years and Ainesh had left, roaming the countries until he ended up here, with her. Satya had once asked him how his children were and Ainesh looked up from chopping the vegetables and had answered that both Sahir and Edhas were completing their Bachelor's Degree in Industrial Engineering while Dhvara had moved away from her family and was pursuing a Computer Science Degree.

Satya could hear the shame in his voice as he talked about his daughter Dhvara, she knew that while Ainesh loved his sons, his daughter always reminded him of his late wife. Much to his disappointment, he never had a proper relationship with any of his progeny, much less Dhvara. But Satya didn't care about that, if life had taught her one thing (it had taught her many but for Ainesh, she told him only one), it was that the present mattered for the past could not be re-written and the future could not be decided.

And so three years later, she had married Ainesh and took the surname of Rana and even though the last name held a past that was grievous, the only thought that ran through her mind was that she finally belonged somewhere, that someone would mourn her death after she passed and that there was a person that could keep her alive until she had to be burnt into ashes.

But now, another five years later (the year was 2024, she could hardly believed that she was forty-five years of age) as she sat in the room of Dhvara Rana who had suffered an accident, it surprised her that this was the one event that had shook her to her core. Her eldest step-son hadn't deigned to step foot in the hospital, his fiancée was in the waiting room with a bouquet of flowers and the most surprising thing was, the illicit son of her husband was now standing near the door and looking somberly at his half-sister.

"Jatin Sahni,"

Satya tased the name on her tongue, feeling out of place for the first time in her life. Even when Ainesh had announced his third marriage to his children, she had stood strong with the belief that even though her step-children may not accept her, their father would always will. But now, standing in front of the face of infidelity of her husband with his first wife, she could not help but feel a sense of righteous anger towards Ainesh and Jatin though the latter was with no fault of his.

Ainesh snapped his head up at the mention of the name and Satya was startled, she had forgotten for a moment that he was seated right beside her. Gripping his daughter's limp hand, he stood and his wife was reminded that he wasn't always the man who bowed before his shortcomings. He was tall and muscular, even at the age of fifty years and the suits he wore (a trait that was shared with his eldest son) regardless of the circumstances only reinforced his powerful stature.

"You." He snarled, stepping closer to his blood he would never accept. Rage and guilt swirled in Ainesh's eyes, fighting for dominance and in the end, the ire he felt conquered his gaze. His fingers curled into a fist, the crescent imprint of his nails digging into his coarse palm. The anger he felt at himself and his illegitimate son coursed through him, clouding his clarity and twisting his remorse into poison.

"Me." Jatin agreed without a tone of malice in his voice, walking around to stand opposite of his father while Dhvara lay in between both of them. His eyes softened as he took in the unconscious figure of his half sister, for it was the first time he was seeing her. Her dark chocolate hair was braided and her light wheatish complexion was marred by dark purple bruises.

"You've got some nerve to stand beside my daughter and pretend as if you care for her." Ainesh hissed and Satya grabbed the sleeve of his arm, shaking her head and begging him silently to let things pass peacefully for now. He didn't bother giving her a glance, glaring at his son instead.

"As if you've given me a chance to meet her." Jatin looked up at the man who's sperm had created him. "Edhas Rana acts as if there are no similarities between you and him but Sahir Rana," He grinned mockingly, though his words held venom.

"Sahir Rana doesn't dismiss what traits he shares with you. Oh you father and son are the same, thwarting my attempts to at least meet my sister." Just at the last syllable left his mouth, Ainesh pushed Dhvara's bed away from his path and fisted the collar of his bastard son. Mania took over his features and lunacy danced in his eyes, "I dare you, you fucking bastard-" He breathed heavily, his fingers twisting around the neck of Jatin and crushing his windpipe. "Call her your sister again and I'll make sure you end up where your fucking whore of a mother will, in hell."

"AINESH!" Satya screamed, shock morphing her expression as she looked helplessly between the Dhvara's who's stitches were strained from the sudden movement and tore, blood oozing through the white bandages while Ainesh slowly killed Jatin. She moved towards her step-daughter, shouting for a nurse while her hands attempted to remove the IV needle that had pierced through the skin of Dhvara and trembled in the effort.

"My sist-" Jatin sneered and a punch to his jaw cut off the remaining letters. Holding him up against the wall, Ainesh let his fist destroy whatever part of Jatin it could find while he fought back. The two men engaged in a brawl, landing blow after blow on each other and tried to establish dominance.

"You fucking asshole!" Jatin caught hold of Ainesh and kicked him to the floor, his fists slamming repeatedly into the older man's face. Blood dripped from the cuts and bruises they had but it did not stop either of them. "I've had enough of this nonsense." He dug his fingers into his father's face and made him look into his eyes. "If you ever warn me or try to destroy my attempts to meet Dhvara and establish a relationship with her ever again, I will kill you. I will obliterate every single property you hold in vain and make you watch your empire burn to the ground before murdering you, I fucking swear."

"You've learned threatening from your mother but what about when Dhvara finds out why you wanted to be close to her?" Ainesh taunted belittlingly. "How do you think she would feel if she finds out the only reason you wanted to become her brother was because you-" A thrust to his jaw stopped the rest of his sentence and Jatin shook his body violently. Ainesh laughed maniacally, "It wouldn't matter to you if Dhvara burned in hell or froze in ice, would it? It's about me, you just need an excuse to-."

Before Jatin could utter another word or Ainesh could finish his sentence, the nurses and doctors who had heard the commotion rushed into the room only to find Dhvara's bed shoved into a corner while two men were wrangling with their fists and words.

The doctor, who was a well built young man, took hold of the scruff of their necks and pulled them apart while the nurses pushed Dhvara's bed back to its original place. "You two, out!" The physician snapped, irritation bubbling inside of him as he started to check over Dhvara to make sure her stitches hadn't re-opened.

Baring their bloodied teeth at each other, Jatin stormed out of the room and Ainesh remained, wiping the dark red stains from his face with tissues the nurses handed him. "He is your son Ainesh," Satya stated quietly, sitting next to Dhvara and held her hand while the medics gave one nasty glare and exited the suite.

"And she is my daughter," He replied, running a hand through his messy hair. "That pathetic excuse for a human doesn't even like Dhvara, he just-" Ainesh cut himself off, frustration making his skin crawl. "Just stay with her, I'll be back soon."

Satya looked at the silhouette of her husband walking away, breathing in shakily and hung her head. "Mrs. Rana?" Her head snapped up and she caught sight of Laghavi standing in the doorway. Twisting her features into a semblance of a pleasant expression, she was about to speak when she saw a dark figure standing behind the young woman.

"Sahir," She gasped, curling her fingers tighter around her stepdaughter's palm.

"Jatin was here." His voice was deep and quiet but threatening and powerful.

She nodded.

"Father was here."

Satya nodded again.

"Plans have changed, the media has caught this. Bring her to the Rana residence," He paused and his lips curved upwards, ferally. Before Satya could catch her breath, her stomach twisting at the tone of Sahir's words, he spoke again.

"And bring Father with his bastard son."

Note : Not very happy with this chapter, will edit soon.