Third Person POV

In the corner of a small and untidy kitchen there was a pale and skinny girl who was sniffing lightly and washing utensils. The only sound which could be heard was of her hands rubbing against the utensils.

"Hey! can't you even do a single thing properly? Why the hell are you making so noise? Damm! Act accurately and serve me the dinner. I am starving." Came a loud and obnoxious voice which was enough to give goosebumps to the pale girl. Silently and carefully she made her way towards the person who ordered her and placed the tray of food over the table.

It was within a fraction of seconds when the person threw the tray of food on the floor and started yelling.

"What the hell is this? Don't you even know how to cook? Do you even call this as a proper and edible diet? You piece of shit." The person shouted and pulled the pale girl from her arm and took her towards a small, dark room.

"Rot here for tonight in this basement without any electricity, water and food." The unknown person shouted at the frightened girl and left her alone in that cage. The girl was crying and yelling her heart out. She was terrified to spend another night in this dark hole and was cursing her fate. With the passing second, she could only hyperventilate and curl herself in the corner.

"Aaaaaaa" Came a loud and shrieking voice which brought everyone in Pari's room.

As soon as Advik, Vihaan and their parents entered inside Pari's room they saw her panting while tears were flowing through her eyes continuously. They were bewildered to see Pari in such a condition.

"Pari? Pari?" Advik kept on calling her name but it was as if Pari was still trapped in her thoughts. She wanted to run away from those flashbacks but they were pulling her towards themselves. She was trying to run away from those haunting nightmares but was unable to do so. There was an invisible force which was pulling her towards it.

Advik cupped her cheeks and kept on mumbling soothing words but this time nothing was working.

"Advik beta(son) give me some space. Let me handle her." Mrs Sharma whispered trying to control her emotions hard. It was paining her to see Pari in such a condition.

Advik unwillingly moved aside and let her mother embrace Pari. He knew that Pari right now needed a mother figure more than anything.

"Shhh-- sweetie look there is no harm. They all are your family. This is Advik your love, this is Vihaan our prankster and see this man is your father figure. We all our your family darling. Don't panic, I am with you, I won't let anyone harm you okay!" Mrs Sharma mumbled ever so softly in her ears, Pari was wrapped in Mrs Sharma's delicate arms which were providing her warmth and safety at the moment.

"It's okay Shhh" Mrs Sharma kept on singing a lullaby so that she could make Pari asleep. Infact Pari was so tired and stressed that the moment Mrs Sharma started singing she closed her eyes and went to sleep.

When the Sharma family realised that Pari has dozed off they thought to give her space and have a talk regarding this incident with her tomorrow.

"Come Son let's go." Mr Sharma said which was directed towards Advik who was continuously staring at Pari.

"No Dad. I can't go to sleep thinking that Pari is uncomfortable. What if she again wakes up panting because of a flashback. No! Dad I'll stay with her. I want to look out for her." Advik whispered gently. His heart was clenching at the thought of Pari's condition.

"Okay Son." Advik's father replied knowing very well that in no way Advik would leave Pari's side therefore the trio made their way out.

On the other hand Advik who was still in Pari's room made his way towards Pari's bed and slowly sat besides her. He pulled the comforter over her body and delicately intervened Pari's hands with his own. There were stain of tears on her face which were proof of her pain.

Whatever Pari had witnessed in her dreams has surely impacted her a lot. Advik thought.

He sighed and let sleep take over him.

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Next Morning

Pari woke up from her deep slumber and slowly opened her eyes to see Advik was sleeping besides her in a sitting posture. There hands were locked with each other and there was a look of prominent frown on Advik's face.

Suddenly all the nightmares from yesterday's night flashed in front of Pari's eyes making her sobb a little. She did not wanted to wake Advik because of her emotional trauma and tried to bit back her sobb a little bit but failed when she felt Advik squirming besides her.

Advik groaned and stretched his limbs upwards but furrowed his eyebrows when he heard a sniffe. He turned towards Pari and saw she was back wiping her tears rapidly.

"Hey! Pari---" Advik whispered and cupped her face gently. He gently wiped her tears and pecked her forehead.

"It's okay! Stop yourself if you are still feeling like your a burden on us. Neither your pain nor your tears are a burden on us Pari. If you continue to think like that you'll only cause pain to us. Do you want that?" Advik whispered to which pari declined and replied with a "I am sorry."

Pari instantly latched herself on Advik and hid her face in crock of Advik's neck.

"Advik--I--- those flashbacks--- she was yelling-- a dark room--I-- was trapped." Pari mumbled some incoherent words and was trying to control her thudding heart.

Instead of exchanging words Advik started patting her back and whispered 'I love you's'. Advik kept on professing his love for Pari and somehow magically it worked. Pari was now much better and was able to control her anxiety.

"Now tell me what happened yesterday?" Advik asked Pari to which she narrated her entire dream and what she saw into it.

As soon as Pari finished narrating that horrid dream she heard few gasps coming from outside. The moment she ended, Vihaan and his parents came inside hurriedly and sat around her.

While Advik whose arms were stil wrapped around Pari's body was now fuming with anger. His jaw was clenched tightly and his aura was screaming fire.

"Advik calm down please." His father said.

"Pari did you saw something else? Any names you heard of those people? Did you recognised that place?" Vihaan interrogated but he instantly shut his mouth when he saw his brother sending him a deadly glare.

"No I couldn't recognise anything, I couldn't even see her face." Pari said looking back at them.

"It's okay sweetie. Enough of this, now I don't want you all to indulge in these things because from now we have so much to do." Mrs Sharma said excitingly.

"Like what?" Vihaan questioned.

"Like Pari and Advik's engagement." She replied bringing out different reactions from everyone.

"But Mom---" Advik was about to open his mouth when Mrs Sharma interrupted him in between.

"No buts, I know you would say it's too early but we are just talking about an engagement party not about marriage. It's not like we'll marry you both after your engagement. I just want to officially make Pari a part of our family and this would also divert her mind from her past."

It was after few minutes when both Advik and Pari nodded at the idea of engagement and soon everyone started clapping and cheering.

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Hey Guys 🌺

¶I am sorry for this messy chapter. Kindly ignore mistakes if any. I was in a hurry when I wrote this chapter.¶

•Your thoughts on Pari's flashbacks? From now on you'll get to witness some more scenes of Pari's past.

•Advik and Pari are getting engaged. Your reactions to it?

•Any guesses what's going to happen next?