65. Ghosts Of Seven Years #3
When I didn't answer, Yugant stepped back. The disappointment on his face hurt more than his anger. Without saying another word, he turned around and walked inside the room.
A few seconds later, the bedroom lights went off.
And I remained standing alone on the balcony.
The night breeze felt colder than before.
It's not how things are supposed to work between us.
I was making everything unnecessarily difficult.
And if I continued doing that, one day I would hurt the very person who was trying the hardest to stand beside me.
Blinking away the tears gathering in my eyes, I walked back into the room and closed the balcony door behind me.
The room was dark except for the faint moonlight slipping through the curtains.
Yugant was lying on his side of the bed.
His eyes were fixed on the ceiling, his jaw still slightly tight.
The soft hum of the air conditioner was the only sound filling the room.
My gaze shifted towards the clock.
11:57 PM.
Late. Very late.
But I knew neither of us would sleep without fixing this.
Slowly, I slipped under the blanket and moved closer and rested my head on his shoulder.
For a few seconds, he didn't react.
My heart sank. Then his arm came around me.
Strong. Protective. Pulling me as close as physically possible.
A smile instantly found its way onto my lips.
This. This was exactly why I loved him.
No matter how upset he was, his first instinct was still to hold me close.
"I'm sorry," I whispered, looking up at him. "I swear I didn't mean it like that."
His eyes remained on the ceiling. "It's fine. Just sleep."
I shook my head. "No."
His gaze finally dropped to mine.
"I wanted to share something. Will you listen?"
The irritation in his expression softened a little.
He leaned down and pressed a kiss to my forehead before nodding. "Okay."
I adjusted myself comfortably against his chest.
"My life has always been good." I stared at the ceiling as the memories slowly surfaced. "I was the only child of my parents. The most pampered one. The one who got almost everything she asked for before even asking twice."
A small smile appeared on my lips. "I was cherished, Yugant."
His arm tightened around me, but he stayed silent.
"My mother was the biggest support of my life." My voice softened. "I was one of those students who were painfully average in academics. Every result day was a nightmare for me. My teachers would complain, compare me with other students, and tell my parents I wasn't serious enough."
A tear slipped from the corner of my eye. "And every single time, Mumma would sit there smiling."
Yugant looked down at me. "She never scolded you?"
I shook my head. "Never."
A sad laugh escaped me. "On the way home, she would buy me ice cream and tell me that a sheet of paper couldn't decide my future. She used to say that not everyone is born to top exams. Maybe I was already doing better than someone else. Maybe my future wasn't hidden inside report cards."
For a moment, I could almost hear her voice. Feel her hand in my hair. See her smiling at me.
"She always supported my paintings. Every competition, every exhibition, every random sketch I made on walls and notebooks, she treated it like a masterpiece."
My throat tightened. "She was more of a friend than a mother."
The room fell silent. I quickly wiped my eyes before more tears could escape.
"What about your father?" Yugant asked softly.
"He..." A smile appeared despite the ache in my chest. "He was supportive too." I paused. "But differently."
"How?"
"Mumma wanted to understand me." My fingers twisted around the bedsheet. "Dad didn't always understand me. He never cared whether I came first or last. Never asked about grades. Never sat beside me while I painted. Half the time I don't think he even understood what I was drawing."
A weak laugh escaped me. "But he loved me."
The words came out heavier than I expected.
"Unconditionally."
I stared at the darkness outside the balcony door.
"If Mumma was my safe place, Dad was my shield."
My voice broke slightly. "No matter what mistake I made, somehow he always stood between me and the world."
"If everything was fine, then what happened that changed everything?"
I bit my lower lip as those memories flashed before my eyes.
"My father changed my school after tenth standard. I wasn't happy with that decision because I was comfortable in my old school. I never had many friends there, but at least I felt safe. Even Mumma told him not to do it. They argued over it for days, but eventually I got admitted there."
I paused.
"At first I hated it. Then slowly I started making friends. Real friends, or at least that's what I thought. For the first time in my life after my family I felt included. Wanted. Like I belonged there."
A bitter smile touched my lips. "Suddenly Dad's decision seemed right but I didn't know how wrong I was."
My fingers tightened around the bedsheet.
"Two of my closest friends came from a wealthy family. Wealthier than mine. Back then I never thought much about it. They always paid for everything, always had expensive phones, expensive cars waiting outside school, expensive gifts."
I looked away.
"They were smart. They never asked for anything suspicious in the beginning. First it was small favors."
"Like?" Yugant asked.
"Carrying things."
His brows furrowed.
"They would give me a packet and ask me to drop it somewhere because my driver was already taking me through that route. Sometimes they would ask me to keep a gift box in my bag until lunch.
Sometimes they would ask me to hand over an envelope to someone outside the school because they couldn't in front of their driver."
My throat tightened.
"I never questioned it."
The shame still burned after all these years. "Why would I? They were my friends."
The room fell silent. "Then one day things went wrong." My voice dropped. "Very wrong.
Yugant's arm tightened around me.
"It was my friend's birthday. She had thrown a huge party. Mumma wasn't home that evening, so I went to Dad and asked for permission. He said yes."
A sad smile appeared on my lips. "I knew if Mumma found out, she would never let me go. But Dad always had a hard time saying no to me."
I paused. "So I went. Along with the driver."
The memories felt too vivid.
"All my friends were there. Along with a lot of other teenagers. We danced. We ate. We enjoyed. Most of them were drunk or intoxicated by something. I remember feeling uncomfortable because I wasn't used to that environment."
Yugant remained silent, letting me speak.
"At one point, I went to the washroom and saw one of my close friends inhaling something."
His brows furrowed.
"I asked her what it was. She laughed and told me it was medicine. Then she said I would feel amazing too if I tried it."
I shook my head. "I refused." I said looking at him. My breadth suddenly felt stuck somewhere. As if I wanted him to say he trusts me. "I was many things, but I wasn't stupid enough to put random things inside my body."
"Of course you did. I trust you." The words finally reached me, and with that a reason he is there to listen and not judge.
"She didn't force me. Instead she laughed and said she needed to go back to the dance floor. Then she handed me her purse and asked me to keep it safe for a few minutes."
A bitter smile touched my lips. "And because she was my friend, I agreed."
The room fell silent.
"I was sitting on a couch, drinking a cold drink and scrolling through my phone when suddenly the music stopped."
My fingers tightened around Yugant's shirt.
"At first nobody understood what happened, then someone shouted that the cops entered the party."
I swallowed. I could still remember the panic. The confusion. The fear.
"Someone had tipped them off about drugs being supplied to minors. They started searching everyone."
My voice became quieter.
"Phones. Bags. Purses. Jackets. Everything."
I laughed bitterly.
"And guess whose hands were holding a purse full of drugs? Me."
Tears burned behind my eyes.
"They found packets inside it. Small packets. Enough to turn the entire situation into a criminal case."
I closed my eyes.
"The moment the police found them I didn't understand anything but my friend started crying."
My voice cracked.
"Then She pointed at me and said the purse belonged to me." The words still hurt. "Not one friend defended me, Yugant. A tear slipped down my cheek as I met his eyes. "Not one."
The room felt suffocating.
"They all stood there watching while police questioned me. Some of them even claimed they had seen me carrying suspicious packages before."
Which wasn't technically a lie because I had carried packages.
I just never knew what was inside them.
"They dragged every student in that club away like criminals, and I was included too. The media was already outside, recording everything, taking pictures as if we were some dangerous criminals.
I didn't even understand what was happening. I kept telling them there was some misunderstanding. I begged them to call my parents. When I protested and requested to make just one phone call, a lady constable slapped me so hard that my ears rang for several minutes.
For a moment, I couldn't hear anything properly. Everything around me became blurry. I saw darkness in front of my eyes." My body shivered as that scene replayed in my mind.
"They shoved everyone into the police vans one by one. I remember sitting there, crying, holding the burning side of my face, while reporters kept recording from outside. And the worst part? At that time, I still believed my friends would tell the truth.
I still believed someone would say those drugs weren't mine. But none of them did."
"After reaching the police station, they separated all of us and started questioning us individually.
They checked our bags, phones, everything.