“I think his fate is pretty much sealed,” said Ajay as soon as he and Sia arrived home.

Sia shook her head. “Until he is behind the bars and remains that way for a while, I don’t trust the system,” she said.

“This time, I’ll do everything in my power to make sure he is not released under any circumstances.”

“What if they realize there are chemicals in his bloodstream making him speak the truth?”

“They won’t. It’s not like he slurred or anything. There is no reason for them to do it.”

Listening to his statement, she let loose her biggest fear. “I sometimes still wish you had stayed away from all this, Ajay. You got involved with me again, and now... you lost your innocence by killing a man for my sake.”

She took a deep breath. “I was mentally prepared to take a life. Even then, I hesitated at the last minute. Now... his murder is going to haunt you, Ajay. I didn’t want that.”

“I lost my innocence a long time ago at the age of seven, Sia”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“When I killed my father,” he said.

“What?” she asked stunned. When her uncle was accusing Ajay for his father’s murder, she had thought it was a mad raving from man who has been pushed to the limits due to the chemicals pumped into his body.

Ajay’s face turned into a stone, revealing no emotions. “I killed my father,” he repeated. “I deliberately pushed him into the water and let him drown. Even though he begged for help until he was dragged down into his watery grave.”

Sia was quiet, trying to digest the revelation.

“And you know what the most disturbing part is?” Ajay asked. “That I still have no remorse. Not even for a moment have I felt bad about killing my father. Given another chance, I would have done it again.”

“But, why?” she asked him softly.

Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes. When he opened them again, she could see the darkness of his past that still haunted him.

“Because... when my father was drunk, he turned into an animal that attacked my mother and beat the shit out of me.”

She didn’t say anything. She simply waited until he finished before she could offer him any kind of comfort.

“My father was in the Army. My mother had told me that it was the war that had messed up with his mind. That made him drink and be violent with his wife and son. Apparently, he wasn’t like that before. She told me that he loved us both. But after a while, I didn’t care about the reasons. I just wanted him to stop. I wanted to protect my mother from his abuse.”

He watched her with a vulnerable look on his face. “When I was seven, my father visited us during my holidays. And by then, I already began to dread his visits.”

“On that particular day, my mother worked hard. She cleaned the house thoroughly, prepared all his favorite dishes... But when he came home, he hit her because there wasn’t enough salt in some dish.”

He scoffed bitterly.

“I still remember that there was nothing wrong with the dish my mother had prepared. My father just needed an excuse. When I intervened, he turned on me. My mother tried to protect me, and in the process, she was hit so hard that she lost conscious. There was so much blood from the cut on her head that I thought she was dead.”

He turned to look at her with a devastated look of a small boy who was recalling the incident clearly. Her heart broke that Ajay had to witness such violence at a young age.

“And guess what he did next? After knocking his wife unconscious?”

“What?” she asked.

“He went out for a smoke,” he spit out. “I was so angry and mad thinking that he killed my mother that I marched towards him and I pushed him into the well in our backyard. The well was the kind that had a very short wall around it and offered little safety. He was sitting on it and smoking.”

“He was so drunk that he couldn’t even shout much. I didn’t even bother to get help. I wanted him dead.”

“What did your mother do when she gained conscious?” she asked softly.

“She knew I was responsible. I confessed to her as well but she decided to take the blame.”

“Then why wasn’t she arrested?” Sia asked. She also didn’t think the school in the village would have hired a murder suspect.

“Your uncle’s wife helped us,” he said quietly, shocking her. “Our neighbor, an old woman knew what happened and she told your uncle’s wife. Mrs. Geetha Naidu made sure the police thought it was an accident. She even got my mother a job as a teacher in the local school.”

 

* * *

 

Sia’s heart ached for Ajay as he described the death of his father. The love she felt for him was overwhelming.

“Does my confession make you afraid of me?” he asked her with a vulnerable look in his eyes. “I’ve killed. Once for my mother and the second time for you. I’ll probably kill again if it’s to protect the ones I love.”

Sia smiled at him softly. “I’m not afraid. Nor do I think less of you in any way. In fact your confession has made me love you even more,” she whispered, holding his face within her palms. “I’m proud that you are so strong and resilient. You fight for everything you believe in. Including us. Especially us. It didn’t matter to you how many times I pushed you away, thinking you and Anika were better off without me.” She smiled and it felt wobbly with emotion. “You just wouldn’t have it. You dragged me back into your life, kicking and screaming” she laughed through tears. “Not just that, you yourself have gone through so much in your childhood, but you never let it define you in a negative way. You used those experiences to become stronger. That’s one of the things I love the most about you.”

Ajay smiled at her softly. He wiped away the tear that ran down her cheek. She wasn’t even aware that she was crying. “My love and commitment for you aren’t just words either, Sia. I mean it when I say I’ll be with you and our daughter until the end.”

He turned towards her with a torn look. “I have another confession to make. Growing up, I was always grateful to your uncle’s wife. Because she saved me and my mother. That’s the reason why I attended her funeral as well.”

“I understand,” she said softly.

“Then also understand that my utmost priority in my life are— you and Anika,” he reiterated.

“Mine too,” she said, meaning it. Over the past few hours, she realized that she cannot save the world. She made peace with that fact and wanted to start a new chapter with Ajay and their daughter. She was more than grateful to be offered a second chance.

She had to let Varun know that she won’t be able to go through rest of their plan. She would let Varun or the law take care of her uncle. It was a proper closure for her. Her uncle losing everything and living with that knowledge or dying at the hands of one of his tormentors.

“Let’s go get Anika,” said Ajay.

“I need to call Varun and keep him posted. He must be waiting for my call anxiously.”

“Alright, I’ll go and get her home. Will you be okay?”

“Yes.”

Kissing her forehead, he went to the key holder to grab the car keys. He also pulled out the infant car seat from a shelf that he needed for Anika while driving back home.

Watching him go, she thought of something. Something very simple that she should have done a long time back. She wanted to start over. She wanted to make a true attempt at giving Anika a normal family as much as possible.

“Ajay...” she began.

He looked at her questioningly.

“Can you invite Harsha and Jyotika over?”

He frowned. “Why?” he asked.

She smiled tentatively. “No specific reason. I just wanted to meet them and thank them properly. And... and if they don’t mind, I’d like to spend time getting to know them better,” she said.

His face softened. “Baby, they’d like to get to know you as well. And I promise you they’ll love you like family too.”

“I hope so. It’s just that I never had any friends or relatives before. So I might screw up in the beginning...”

He laughed and strode closer to her. “You are worrying too much. You’ll be fine,” he said, kissing her forehead. “Ok. Be right back. Finish your call and get some rest.”

She nodded and waved him goodbye. When the door closed behind him, she dialed Varun’s phone number. It kept ringing for a long time and went to the automatic answering machine.

“Varun, call me when you get a chance. I want to talk to you about something important—”

She was interrupted when she heard the front door bell ring. Her eyes fell on the forgotten car seat on the table next to the front door.

Grabbing it, and still on the phone call with Varun, she opened the front door to hand it Ajay. Before she could register anything, she was knocked back hard, and a sweet smelling cloth was placed on top of her entire face, blinding her and covering her nose and mouth. She struggled hard, using her elbow to hit back at whoever was holding her in a tight grip.

The person cursed viciously, and the grip on her loosened. Slowly, her movements became lethargic, until she began to lose conscious. The last sight she saw as the cloth was slowly lowered and before the darkness took over was her uncle watching her with madness filled eyes of a manic.