Chapter 25:
"I don't need your forgiveness, but I just want you to
accept me back into your life, even if it is just for the sake of my unborn
daughter. Please Rachna di."
"Looks like my baby sister has really grown up quite a bit
hunh? Come here."
Rachna opened her arms and Gunjan happily hugged her sister
back. Sneha peeked into the living room and smiled when she saw her two
daughters hugging each other.
"So I take it that you two are okay?"
Wiping her tears, Rachna nods looking at Sneha and Gunjan just
smiles at her mother. Rachna glances towards Gunjan and notices a dark mark
peeking out from under her sleeve. Trying to move back the sleeve of Gunjan's
t-shirt, Rachna sees more bruises all over her sister's pale arm.
"Gunjan, why do you have bruises all over your arm? What
happened?"
Gunjan immediately pulls her arm back and tries to brush off
Rachna's concerns. "Nothing di. I actually just bumped into a doorknob a few
days ago and bruised my arm. It's fine though. Anyways, where's my jiju? Aren't
you going to introduce us?"
Kabir entered the living room at the mention of his name and
walked towards Gunjan, who stood up when she saw him.
"Hi jiju! Nice to finally meet you. Mom and papa have just
been talking about you non-stop since I came yesterday."
Kabir responded to Gunjan by giving her a friendly hug.
"Hi Gunjan. It's a pleasure to meet you too. And congrats by
the way...for the baby I mean. You must be so excited to meet her."
Gunjan smiled. "Thanks."
Turning towards Sneha, Gunjan laughed. "Mom, can we eat now?
I'm so hungry!"
"Yeah, let's go."
As Sneha was walking out of the living room, Rachna called
out to her. "Mausi ji, wait. Can you just come here and look at this?"
Grabbing Gunjan's arm lightly and pulling back the sleeve,
Rachna showed Sneha the bruises that covered Gunjan's forearm. "Bruises from
hitting a doorknob? I may not be a doctor, but I think even I would know the
difference between bruises from hitting something or getting hit by someone."
Sneha gasped seeing the dark marks all over Gunjan's
forearm. Pulling back the sleeve of her daughter's t-shirt even more, Sneha was
stunned to see even more garish bruises painted all over the entire length of both
of Gunjan's arms.
"Gunjan beta? What is all this? Has...has Mayank done all
this to you?"
Gunjan looked away, unable to meet her mother's or her
sister's eyes. "Rachna di, you were right. Mayank isn't what I thought he was.
He...he does have a dark side to him."
Rachna closed her eyes in agony, feeling the pain of
Gunjan's shattered heart. Sneha enveloped her daughter into a tight hug. "Why
Gunjan beta? Why didn't you just come home the first time he did this to you?
Why did you stay with that monster for so many months?"
"I had to pay for the mistake I made. I had to live through
it because I was responsible for my own state."
"No Gunjan. You didn't have to live through it. In fact, you
wouldn't be in this state if I had just told you the entire truth when you were
leaving that day. Maya...Mayank Tiwari...he...he's...he's the one
who...who...tried to...mole...molest me. He's the one who...who I've been
having nightmares about."
The revelation of this truth left everyone in the room
stunned. Kabir, relieved that Rachna had finally mustered up the courage to
tell the truth, stood next to his wife and placed his arm reassuringly around
her shoulders. She leaned into him for support and rested her head against his
chest. Sneha's mouth was left agape.
"Rachna beta? How...how is this...possible? Mayank?"
"Rachna di, he...he...but why...why didn't...when...I...just
don't..." Gunjan trailed off, unable to complete her muddled thoughts.
The room was silent for some moments as everyone processed
the unbelievable truth. It was Kabir who spoke up after some time.
"I know he's your husband Gunjan. But in my eyes, he's a
criminal; a sick, disgusting man who has no respect for women. He doesn't
deserve to roam free; his place is behind bars and I intend to make that a
reality. Rachna told me all this last night and after a sleepless night, I
arrived at the conclusion to report this matter to the police. In fact, that's
the first thing I did after I woke up this morning."
As though everyone agreed unanimously to Kabir's decision,
no one spoke up to oppose his actions. After a long sigh, Gunjan did make a
comment.
"He's not my husband jiju. Papa got us married at the
temple. He filled my maang with vermillion and put this chain of black beads
around my neck, but we never registered the marriage in court. In the eyes of
the law, we're not married. And the more I think about it now, the more these
past few months seem like they were planned by him...planned by him to just
torture me. In fact, this entire marriage was a farce for him, so why bother
continuing with this lie."
Gunjan yanked at the chain around her neck and broke the
string, sending the tiny black beads scattering across the floor of the living
room. She furiously wiped away red mark adorning her forehead, erasing all
signs of being a married woman.
As if on cue, Kabir's cell phone rang with an update from
the police officer in charge of the molestation case that Kabir had filed this
morning. After moving out of the living room, Kabir picked up the call.
"Mr. Tripathi. This is Inspector Waghmare. I just called to
inform you that Mayank Tiwari, the person whom you filed the case against, was
found to have a pre-made anticipatory bail agreement available on his record
when we probed into his identity. In fact, this agreement was stamped by the
district court in Bandra just a few days after the date you identified as the
day of the molestation attempt. This clearly indicates that he was and still
may be in Mumbai, so we're doing our best to trace his whereabouts."
"Thank you Inspector. I appreciate your full cooperation in
this matter. If I may ask, who filed the anticipatory bail documents? I mean
the lawyer's name. Do you have that available?"
"Uh...yes, let me just check."
The sound of some clicks of the keyboard could be heard
across the phone line. Seconds later, Kabir got a response that confirmed his growing
suspicions about Gayatri Tripathi's involvement with this entire mess. After
all, it was only a handful of people in this entire city, Gayatri being one of
them that had the power and the money to secure such legal documents, that too
so quickly.
"Mr. Tripathi. The lawyer who filed the bail documents is Madhav
Karanjkar. Is there any related information you can provide knowing this?"
"Yeah. Why don't you
go check the residence of Gayatri Tripathi? I think you may find the culprit
there or at least some information about his actual whereabouts."
"How can you be so sure of that Mr. Tripathi? And I also
hope you do realize that we can't arrest Mayank Tiwari now that he has already
filed for anticipatory bail. We have to contest this document in court, but
until the court revokes his bail agreement, we can't issue an arrest warrant
against him."
"I understand that Inspector. But don't worry about the
legal formalities. I'll have that arrest warrant in your hand by tonight, you
just be ready to arrest that bas***d."
Kabir hung up the call with the inspector and dialed his own
lawyer, with whom he arranged to file for an arrest warrant against Mayank
Tiwari and also to the null the anticipatory bail document that had already
been granted. As Kabir returned to the eerily silent living room, he felt four
pairs of eyes follow him. Turning to face his wife and his in-laws, Kabir stated
with a point-blank expression.
"Mayank will be arrested by the end of the day. I can assure
you of this."
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Hope you enjoyed that update! Likes/comments always welcome.
❤️ Nivi
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