"I cannot let you meet her, Kaki," said Anupriya, maintaining a straight face without letting her fury spill over onto her features. "Not after what happened last night."

Sangeeta pinned the concerned friend with a glare. She grabbed Anupriya's right forearm and compelled her to look straight into her eyes. Anupriya winced in agony, but Sangeeta's sharp nails continued to tear through her skin and draw the viscous crimson fluid out of her broken skin.

"Look, girl! I gave birth to that girl and nourished her for almost twenty-two years. I don't know what makes you think you have the authority to stop me from seeing her. And what happened last night? Everyone gets such stupid ideations occasionally. That idiot was just stupid enough to act on them."

Anupriya's eyes turned into saucers as the meaning behind Sangeeta's words dawned on her. Her dear friend, the one who sought validation from her mother for the entirety of her conscious life, that naïve woman's mother, had disregarded her trauma and devastated anguish as a common ideation.

Anupriya wrenched her arm out of Sangeeta's grip, overpowering the disproportionate resistance offered by the older woman despite her age and arthritis. She applied pressure over the gaping wounds with her other hand and trained her furious eyes on Sangeeta once more.

"You gave birth to her, I agree. But life?" Anupriya let out a wry chuckle, with her upper lip twisted in disgust. "She had as much life as does a bird in a cage. The sole reason for existence of which is appeasement and enjoyment of others."

Anupriya's chest heaved with the relentless whirlwinds of sorrowful rage at her breastbone. "Of course, she is stupid! Who else, but an idiot, will listen to the venomous spew from an unperturbed mother, the one who expressed a death wish for her own daughter, and act upon them?"

Anupriya scoffed and shook her head in disdain as the colour escaped Sangeeta's face. The tremulousness of her eyelids did not go unmissed by the scorned woman or the way her lips quivered.

"I didn't want her to die..." she murmured, startled.

"Oh, but you killed her enough. Her dreams. Her desires. Her will. Maybe not of all of her. But her essence? The part which mattered. You tattered and let it wither away," she said, ignoring the surprised looks and the whispers of the bystanders.

"Very well," said Sangeeta, letting a sardonic smile play on her lips as her eyes welled up with unshed tears. "You aren't a mother, are you? Guess we will see when you embrace motherhood."

Anupriya huffed in indignation. "I'll never allow myself to turn into a mother like you!"

"That's what I had thought. That's what we all think, anyway! Somewhere between steering children clear of the horrors faced in our times and preparing them for demons roaming unhinged around us, we lose our way. I sure hope you don't end up the same way," she said, hanging her head like a prisoner waiting for the noose of strangulation.

Anupriya stared at the retreating form of the defeated woman and replayed her words in her tumultuous mind, engulfed in a crushing embrace by an unbridled fear of the woman's words turning into reality.

****

"The attending doctor cleared you for discharge, Madhuri. He said we should change the dressing of the wound on your foot once every day and rush to the hospital if you develop a fever," said Anupriya, packing the medicines into the cloth bag she had received when she purchased essentials for Madhuri earlier.

Madhuri struggled but couldn't stretch her lips to match the affectionate smile on Anupriya's lips. "Where do I live, Anu? Do you know anyone renting their place near your home? Maybe if I sell my marital necklace and bangles, I can afford..."

Anupriya shushed her and held her forearm. "Stop it, silly! You'll live with us. We have a spare room at our home, so there's no problem at all!"

Madhuri had hated the older woman when she followed the path guided by her adamant heart. Whether it was envy for possessing the courage she lacked or whether it was fury because of the threat of immediate marriage that loomed over her, to prevent her from turning into another Anupriya, she knew not.

She had long relished and rejoiced the choicest of praises showered upon her for her pliant nature and unquestioning obedience, especially in the light of Anupriya's rebellion.

"Now take Madhuri as an example. She went to the nearby college and did not sway into a sinful path like that ungrateful wretch Anupriya! Too much education got to her head, and she eloped without a bit of concern for her family and its respect. Disgusting! Better marry off Madhuri as soon as possible before she loses her path as well!"

And there she was.

Pushed to take the plunge of doom and death for the same people for whose praises she had given everything dear to her, and dependent on the same woman, she looked down from her supposed moral high ground.

"I'm afraid you'll have to walk because all the wheelchairs are in use right now. We can wait and see if we get one," said Anupriya, jolting her out of her reverie.

Madhuri bobbed her head sideways and set her foot on the ground. A sharp pain shot through her leg and a whimper escaped her lips. Rakesh, who had been standing in the corner, uncrossed the arms against his chest and took a few strides in her direction before his fear rooted his feet to the ground.

Anupriya wound her arm around Madhuri's waist and Madhuri wrapped hers around her friend's shoulder. But the duo could not take more than a few steps without exhausting each other. Rakesh's eyebrows furrowed and his palm clenched as he stared at the two women.

He gulped, the saliva pooling at the back of his throat, and took a sharp inhale. His fears and thoughts offered significant resistance to the first step, but they eventually gave way to his determination to help the one he had let go years ago.

Anupriya beamed at her brother when Rakesh supported Madhuri from the other side, despite the way his hands quivered when he reached out to her. Maybe all was not lost for her friend, and there was still hope for the life she had yearned for. Maybe...

So, Rakesh is overcoming his fears for Madhuri. And Anupriya is indirectly the reason Madhuri ended up with Sameer. Arjun and Madhuri meet in the next chapter. Please VOTE and COMMENT!