Uncertainty is a funny thing. It makes you wonder about endless scenarios, all possibly worse than the last ones. Pari saw aunty the next morning at breakfast. Both didn't exchange any words or greetings but the tension was visible in the air.

Pari was anxious for the future. A few days later, she will have to move! The word "move" almost gives her a panic attack. She has been confined for so long, that she has almost forgotten how the normal world works. She was going crazy thinking of all the scenarios about the new place she will be moving to. Hopefully, Riya finds her a good place.

Mrs. Sharma couldn't get the last conversation she had with Riya out of her mind. Even though, Riya was tempted to tell her everything, she didn't. But she hoped that her painful voice reached her mother's heart.
Riya repeatedly pleaded with her mother to keep Pari at home and not let her leave as she has no one in this town.

In her heart, Mrs. Sharma didn't feel right to betray Sahab (Sir). In the beginning when she agreed to take Pari in, her judgement was clouded by Riya's pleas. Everything happened so suddenly that she had no time to think.
But as the month passed, she understood the severity of the situation. It was only right to confess the crime to Sahab, rather than hide it from him.

"There was a princess. The princess of my heart, whom I adored. She was the love of my life. I loved her more than I loved anyone else, not even my husband. My princess was extremely smart yet shy. She was often bullied for her big nerdy glasses and her geekiness.

I never let her go away from me yet I had to, when she told me her dream to become a doctor. There it was the same story. People bullied her for her looks and intelligence, called her names. They did not like that she always studied and topped the tests. She cried to me on call. But I used to tell her to look at the bigger picture. The doctor tag was much more important than these bullies. I prayed to God to protect her because I couldn't leave her ailing father alone here.

And you know what? My prayers were answered. He did send an angel."
Mrs. Sharma told Pari about the day that Riya had narrated to her seven years ago.

Riya was 23 years old working at one of the top hospitals in the city as an intern. All her fellow classmates did was tease her and bully her. It was a daily routine to be humiliated and cry all day. But it all changed the day when someone came to the hospital.

Riya was sobbing on the 6th floor bathroom. Today, she couldn't control it and was crying like a baby. There was a VIP coming to the hospital and they were all given their respective duties and she thought that at least today they won't mess with her but they did and called her names and also mocked the small town she came from. Holding the wall, she got up from the bathroom floor, rinsed her face and got out from there.

As she walked on the empty corridor, she remembered their hurtful words  again and her eyes became teary. She knew she was a huge cry baby. Riya sat on the nearby table and cried her eyes out again, hiding her face in her hands. She was so busy crying that she failed to hear the footsteps coming her way. It was only when she felt a hand on her head, she raised her head up and for a moment, she thought she had lost her mind.

It was the Salem Ahmed!

She felt the need to check her vision. She rubbed her eyes, closed them and opened it again, only to again see the superstar himself.

She connected the two dots! This was the VIP coming to the hospital today.

As much as Riya was happy to see her crush, she was intimated by the bodyguards surrounding him. They were tall, buffy men who looked ready to kill.

"I am...I am...sorry. I will just leave." Riya stuttered while looking at the bodyguards.

"Hey, doc? Why are you crying?" Riya couldn't believe that her crush Salem was asking her this! She almost fainted.
She also felt proud of herself and her white coat when he addressed her as 'doc'.

"I....I..." She couldn't complete her sentence when she had a full-blown crying session again.

Salem patiently stood beside her waiting for her to complete the sentence but she hiccuped a lot. He patted her head and asked his bodyguard to give her water.

"Now, calm down and tell me why are you crying?" His husky voice was like a new life to her.

His voice had a calming effect on her and like an innocent child, she told him everything.

"I miss my mummy. I want to go back home." She ended her rant, crying like a baby.

"And just give up on completing your dream because of others?" He raised his eyebrow at her and said, "It's easy to be a quitter but difficult to be a fighter. The world likes a fighter. Nobody remembers a quitter." He softened his tone and said, "Choose carefully." 

She rubbed her eyes again and wiped her tears. It was the Salem Ahmed giving her a pep talk! She has to buckle up. How many times do you encounter a superstar encouraging you personally?

She nodded her head, looked him in the eyes and said, "I will not be afraid anymore. I promise." He smiled a little and said, "Good. Now tell me their names."

"Sorry?" She was confused and scared when he asked their names.

"Sahab is asking for the names of students who troubles you." It was a tall buff man who repeated Sahab's words. She later came to know him as Tiger, Sahab's most trusted man.

That day, Salem called the students and the head doctor in the room. He warned them to not do it again in a very calm tone. But everyone knew, if Salem says something, it's an order that shouldn't be crossed.

"From that day, no one troubled Riya. Noone. All because of Sahab, whom we are betraying. There may be problems, every husband and wife has those. But I don't think I have done right. He gave Riya a job in his hospital. He saw to it that nobody troubled her. I...I can't help you, I am sorry." Mrs. Sharma was apologetic towards her but the daunting feeling of betraying Sahab didn't sit well with her. At first, because of Riya, she agreed but the more she thought, she knew it was not right to keep Pari here.

Pari only knew that Salem gave Riya a job in his hospital. She didn't know about her hard life in the city as well as the other kids bullying her.

Salem was unpredictably kind and generous. Even though Pari hated to admit it, she knew he was one of the most generous man she came across. That was one of his few good qualities.
There was a simple rule : If you want a lovely and settled life, make sure you are on the good side of Salem Ahmed or else he will show you hell.

"I don't know what provoked Riya to backstab Sahab." Aunty mumbled when Pari was going to her room. Her Riya was always fond of Sahab, as an actor as well as a person.

Pari knew what happened.

That day, when Pari had a breakdown. Maybe Riya saw her past self in Pari. If Salem helped Riya from the torture of those kids, Riya wanted to save her from Salem's torment.

Just like Sahab had given her hope and chance to live her life, Riya wanted to do the same for Pari.

She couldn't see someone crumbling. Pari was always the confident and rude woman who was just her boss's wife but that day for the first time, Riya saw a humane side to Pari when she witnessed her breakdown and decided to help her, the deadly consequences of which were known to both.

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17/6/23

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