Chapter 1
Nisha
Around a year later
“You have no idea how beautiful you are,” he says, his gaze locked on mine across the empty classroom.
My throat tightens. I try to speak, probably to thank him, but the words crumble before they can form on my lips. Then, in the next moment, my breathing quickens as I see him rise from his seat. He takes one step towards me, then another.
“I still remember,” he murmurs, his voice thick, “the first time I saw you. You didn’t even look at me. But I couldn’t take my eyes off you the entire lecture.”
He stops in front of my desk, bending slightly so we’re eye to eye.
“You were wearing that pale blue kurta,” he says, his smile widening. “Your hair was in a loose braid, and you laughed at something your friend said. You had no idea how smitten I was with you in that moment.” He reaches out, and his fingers brush over my cheek. “I am truly your admirer.”
The shrill beeping of the monitor jolts me awake, and I gasp, choking on air that suddenly feels too thick.
I am safe. I am safe. He can’t hurt me. He can’t.
I whisper it over and over like a mantra, but the words barely graze the panic clawing its way up my spine.
My chest tightens, and I feel my lungs begin to burn. God, I can’t breathe.
No. I can’t let him haunt me. I need to think about something else.
Clinging to that thought, I force my eyes open and look around the hospital room: white walls, a small window with pale blue curtains, and the faint hum of the ceiling fan above.
Slowly, my gaze shifts to the corner of the room, and for a moment, I think I see him.
My heart lurches, but when I blink, he’s gone.
He’s not here. He’s not here, I tell myself again, but my mind seems determined to play tricks on me.
All I can think of are his cold fingers wrapped around my wrist, and his voice brushing against my skin as he whispers…
No. Stop.
I squeeze my eyes shut and dig my nails into my palm, hoping for the darkness to take over.
But instead, everything comes rushing back, the moments that brought me here, lying in this hospital bed.
One mistake. One moment of trust given to the wrong person.
One name. The reason for all of this—Prakash.
It’s been eight hours since they brought me to the hospital. Eight hours since I regained consciousness. But in that short span of time, my world has turned completely upside down. Twisted, broken, unrecognizable.
Earlier, when Inspector Viraj Shetty came to take my official statement and check on me, I asked him to tell me the truth. He hesitated at first, weighing his words, but when I insisted, he tore off the emotional bandage I didn’t even know I was wearing.
That’s when I learned I’d been in a coma for an entire year.
And in that one year, I’d lost everything.
My parents were killed in the very crash I somehow survived.
But that wasn’t the worst part. The crash hadn’t been an accident.
It was deliberate, orchestrated. And as if that truth wasn’t enough to shatter me, Inspector Viraj delivered another devastating blow.
Suman, my best friend… she had been murdered.
And it was all because of him. Because I let Prakash into my life. Because I was too blind to see the monster hiding behind that perfect smile.
A soft knock pulls me back to reality. I open my eyes to see the older woman I’ve come to know as Sunita Aunty, the one who’s been caring for me all this time, step into the room with a bouquet of flowers. Her green sari is neatly pleated, and her silver-streaked hair is tied back.
“How are you feeling, beta?” she asks gently, placing the flowers on the bedside table.
I try to smile, but it falters before it can reach my lips. My voice comes out as a broken whisper. “I… I don’t know.”
She pulls the chair closer and sits beside me, brushing a strand of hair from my face with the kind of tenderness only a mother would show.
“I know it feels like everything’s changed,” she says softly. “And in many ways, it has. But you’re still here, Nisha. That means something. You fought your way back.”
Tears sting my eyes, blurring the kind lines of her face. I want to believe her. I really do. I want to believe that it’s all over, that I am safe now, that I can just pick up the broken pieces and move forward.
But I can’t. Because all I can feel is the crushing weight of guilt pressing down on my chest like a boulder. I can’t just turn a blind eye to the truth that I am the reason it all fell apart.
My parents.
My best friend.
I lost them… and it’s all my fault.
Sunita Aunty checks the IV line connected to my hand, then gently lifts the blanket and tucks it carefully around my chest before smoothing it back over my stomach.
There’s something in the tenderness of her movements that makes my throat tighten.
How many days had she done this, patiently, while I just… lay there, lost to the world?
“Aunty, what about Kavya? Is she okay?” I ask, my voice still a little hoarse from disuse.
It was the first thing I asked the doctors when I regained consciousness, and even though they and Inspector Viraj assured me she’s fine, I need to hear it again.
It’s become a compulsion now, like I have to ask everyone who walks through that door, just to breathe a little easier.
She gives me a warm smile. “She’s fine, beta. Just a little too worried about you.”
I exhale slowly, some of the tightness in my chest easing.
“She wanted to be here,” Sunita Aunty informs me, her fingers threading gently through my hair. “But Reyansh wouldn’t let her leave the hospital bed. Not until the doctor gives her a proper green signal.”
I can’t help the small smile that tugs at my lips. It’s the first bit of good news I’ve heard since waking from the coma… that my sister found her forever in Reyansh, and not that lying, cheating Deepak I always hated.
And even though my heart swells, overflowing with happiness for her, there’s still an ache buried beneath the joy.
A pang of missing out. I wasn’t there when it all happened.
I wasn’t by her side. But then, I push that ache aside.
Life has handed me a second chance, and I am going to make it count. I’ll be there for her now.
“He loves her that much?” I ask, even though I already know the answer.
I saw it in his eyes when he came to check on me.
The way he spoke about my sister, the warmth and care shining through his eyes, told me all that I needed to know.
It was clear how much she means to him, and what a gem of a person he truly is.
Sunita Aunty chuckles, a sparkle lighting up her eyes. “More than anything, beta. You should’ve seen him, arguing with the nurse about checking on Kavya every twenty minutes, like he thought he could do a better job himself. Pregnancy has made him more protective than ever.”
“She’s… she’s really going to be a mom?” I ask, barely able to get the words out as emotion swells in my throat.
Aunty nods. “Yes. And you can’t imagine how happy and thrilled she is.”
I let that sink in. A baby. My big sister, who always worried too much, cried too easily, and held my hand like I might vanish if she let go… she’s bringing a new life into this world. And somewhere, deep within the storm of everything I’ve lost, something warm begins to stir.
I smile again. “She always wanted a house full of kids.”
Sunita Aunty squeezes my hand. “She still wants the same.”
We sit in silence for a few moments before she speaks again, her voice softer than before.
“Nisha, I know everything feels overwhelming right now, but all you need to focus on is that you still have people who love you. Once you’re out of this hospital, you’ll see it for yourself that you’re not alone. Not even close.”
I blink back the sting in my eyes and cling to the edges of my control, afraid that if I even let one tear fall, I won’t be able to stop.
“When will I be discharged, Aunty?” I ask quietly.
“In two days,” Sunita Aunty replies, still holding my hand, her thumb tracing slow, soothing circles over my knuckles, as if trying to comfort me. “The doctors just want to run a few more routine tests. Then you’ll be home.”
I look into her eyes when she says the word home. Too many emotions rise at once—grief, longing, guilt, all crashing over me like a tide I can’t outrun.
Where is home… when the people who made it are gone?
My voice trembles as I speak, barely louder than a breath. “Aunty… can you tell me what happened?”
She looks at me, startled. “What do you mean?”
My voice shakes, but I push forward. “I mean… everything. What happened while I was in the coma? I know I missed a whole year. But it doesn’t feel like a year to me. It feels like I closed my eyes and opened them the next moment.”
She looks at me for a long moment, as if weighing the cost of the truth.
“Nisha, maybe it’s too soon. Your body is still healing. You just woke up. Maybe we should wait till—”
“I am not made of glass, Aunty,” I cut her off gently but firmly. “If there’s one thing this coma has taught me, it’s that life doesn’t wait for anyone. I’ve already lost enough. I deserve to know the truth.”
She opens her mouth to protest again, but I press on, “I already know about Mom and Dad.” Her breath catches. “And Suman. I know she was murdered.”
Sunita Aunty stiffens just slightly, but I feel the way her hand tightens around mine.
“How did you…?” she begins to speak, but stops, as if the question itself might break me.
A bitter smile curls at my lips. “The inspector who came in earlier, he filled me in.”
Aunty’s eyes well up instantly. “Oh, beta…”
“He told me in short,” I whisper, my voice cracking under the weight of it all. “But I need to hear it from you. How did Kavya handle it? How… how did she find out the truth?” My fingers tighten slightly around hers, my eyes pleading. “All of it, Aunty. Please.”
She nods slowly and takes a long breath before speaking.
“After the accident, when you were brought home unconscious, in a coma, the doctors said they didn’t know when or even if you’d wake up,” she begins, her voice low and trembling.
“But Kavya… she never gave up. Not for a second. She believed… No, she knew you’d definitely wake up one day.
” A soft smile graces her face. “That’s when she hired me to take care of you while she went to work.
She wanted someone she trusted by your side, every single day. ”
The tears I’ve been holding back for far too long finally slip down my cheeks, but I stay silent and let her continue.
“Everything was going fine, until a few months later, Inspector Viraj Shetty informed Kavya that your car crash wasn’t an accident.
It was a planned murder.” My breath catches.
But she doesn’t stop. “And then the threats started coming. Anonymous messages. Strange phone calls.” She swallows hard, her hand still wrapped tightly around mine.
“But that didn’t stop her. Kavya was determined to find out the truth.
She started digging. Even reached out to Suman for help. ”
There’s a painful pause, filled with everything she’s struggling to say. “But before she could get anything from Suman,” her voice breaks, “she was…”
“Murdered,” I finish for her, my voice hollow as my heart clenches. But the ache runs deeper now, buried more in my soul than in my body.
Sunita Aunty nods, her eyes brimming with emotion.
“Kavya was devastated. As it is, she was barely holding on, trying to piece together who was involved while staying by your side every single day. The weight of it all… it was too much.” She pauses.
“If it weren’t for Reyansh, I don’t know what might’ve happened to her.
He was her rock. And with the help of his detective friend, Sidharth, they found out the truth.
In fact, it was Sidharth who got you to the hospital.
He hasn’t gone home ever since you were admitted. ”
I swallow hard. Sidharth? Why is he still here? Does he have questions for me too, like the inspector who came earlier? Is he waiting for answers I’m not ready to give? The truth I want to stay buried?
Aunty’s voice continues, pulling me back into the moment.
“I’m grateful to that man. If he hadn’t found you just in time, if he’d been even a few minutes late then…” She breaks off, shaking her head, her silence saying the rest.
“Prakash would have killed me,” I blurt out before I can stop myself.
Just saying his name aloud sends a chill through my veins.
Her jaw tightens, and for a moment, her usual gentleness gives way to a flash of fury. “He’s in jail now. And he’ll rot there. For what he did to you… to all of us.”
I close my eyes, bile rising in my throat.
“I’m so sorry you had to find out like this,” she says, wiping a tear from my cheek.
“I needed to know,” I whisper, looking at her.
“I understand.” Sunita Aunty nods. “But right now, you need to rest. No arguments,” she says firmly, tucking the blanket around me again.”
“Okay,” I breathe. “But will you… sit with me for a while?”
“I’m not going anywhere,” she promises, her hand gently stroking my hair.
And for the first time since I woke up, I let my eyes close, not out of fear or exhaustion, but because for the first time, I don’t feel completely alone anymore.