"Difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage. The human spirit is to grow strong by conflict. "
-William Ellery Channing

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Indrayan's pov:

The room seemed lifeless and still. It was almost hard to believe someone could be in the room but then I heard someone's flaccid breathing.
I stepped into the room gradually taking one step at a time. The windowpane was broken. Broken shards of glass adorning the floor.
And then I saw her!
She was sitting on the floor drawing her knees closer to her chest. She was not crying but her eyes seemed to be emotionless. They were fixed on something straight ahead. Her hands clutched a sharp piece of glass
I started moving towards her and it was like she was broken out of a trance by the sound of my footsteps.
She did not look at me.

She started speaking, "Don't you dare come near me or the consequences won't be good! Don't you dare try to do anything with me or I will either kill you or kill myself...."
Her quivering voice spoke out the threatening words with confidence.

She raised her voice, "You cannot harm me! You cannot take advantage of me! I am strong enough to protect myself... " she continued at a high volume muttering threats and then all of a sudden her volume came down and she shifted to Bengali, "Ami nijeke mere felbo (I will kill myself)! Ami amake touch korar odhikar kauke debo na(I will not give anyone the right to touch me)! "
She spoke in a voice that quivered but the intensity of her words would tell anyone to back off... Especially since she had the shard of glass in her hand.
I removed my wig and gradually went towards her. She backed off as she did not recognize me in that state.

I said as gently as I could, "Sampurnaa! It's me Indrayan. I came here to help you. I am not going to hurt you! "

But my words fell on deaf ears!
She backed away even more and held the shard of glass in front of her... Asking me to stop moving.
I stopped moving towards her immediately.
She looked at me with fiery eyes. Her dark chocolate orbs shimmered with unshed tears but her stare still held that confidence and strength one normally associated with her.

Before I could say anything further, someone knocked at the door.

Sampurnaa snapped out of her reverie and stared at me as if she disbelieved my presence. I indicated her to keep quiet.
There was a woman at the door who got up told me that she was a sex worker. She had got the water and pills as I had instructed. She was trying to peek into the room but I stood in the doorway blocking her view.
She went away.
I shut the door and locked it.

Sampurnaa seemed to be in her senses now.
She came near me and touched my arm as if she wanted to check if I was an illusion.
When she felt my hand under her fingers, she looked into my eyes this time... The unshed tears gradually making their way down her cheeks.

I touched her shoulder lightly and she broke down totally. Her sobs resounded in the locked room. I had never imagined in my worst nightmare that the same strong woman I had grown to admire would break down totally like this.

I put an arm around her shoulder awkwardly. I had never been close to any women other than my mother and Adrija. Moreover, I had never been moved by anything during my tenure as a lawyer.

I started comforting her while she embraced me and continued crying.
Sometime later, she wiped her tears and her breath returned to normal. I gave her some water to drink and she gladly sipped it.
I had never thought she would be in such a broken state!
Her eyes had always gleamed in a way that reflected her confident and strong self but today they had gleamed differently when she saw me... As if she found hope.

She looked at me remains of her emotional breakdown staring back at me in the form of her tear-stained cheeks. She was silent but there was something in her eyes which spoke heights to me,
"I almost suffered the same feat as the other women here! I am going to go to the end of this... So the next time a woman not unlike me enters this place, the criminals shiver and not the woman! "
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Sampurnaa's pov:

Mr. Chakraborty was standing in the same room as I was. He had come here to help me. He had comforted me.
I had cried more today than I had in years.
I had broken down to the weakest state I had ever found myself in.
I was not going to give up! Not now! Not ever!

Mr. Chakraborty was looking at me intently and then he finally spoke, "Did anyone hurt you? "
I nodded a no.

"Do you wish to speak to your parents and senior?"

Did I want to? All these hours I had to spend in this hell with no idea what was in store for me, all I could think of were my parents, Dada and Boudi... My unborn nieces or nephews would never meet me. My parents who had to deal with the loss of their daughter... Of course, I wished to speak to them!

I nodded vigorously in affirmation to his question.
He handed me his phone... My phone's battery was dead by then.

I grabbed it gratefully and dialed Baba's number. The call refused to be put through.

"How could I forget the bloody network issues which had pushed me into such a situation?!??!!!" I heard myself muttering like an angry kid.

Mr. Chakraborty tried hard to hide a grin that appeared on his face out of nowhere but failed. I playfully glared at him and he eventually returned his expression to a neutral one.

Since I felt better, I decided to speak, "Thank you! I can never thank you enough for coming here to help me! When you leave in the morning, please ask my seniors to send someone they trust tomorrow to be with me and let my parents know that I am safe and that I said I would be back soon! "
He looked at me with a confused face.

"What do you mean by 'when you leave in the morning '?", he asked.

I looked straight into his eyes as I replied, "I am not going back now. I need to be here! There's more than just prostitution going on here. Human trafficking and even children are being sold. Young girls are injected with steroids so they can be pushed to work as prostitutes! Husbands sell their wives, cheat them! Moreover, I followed the CEO of... "
I proceeded to tell him everything. He had a grave look on his face by the time I had finished speaking.

"Sampurnaa, I mean Ms. Roy, I get your point and agree that an investigation needs to be done but you cannot be here! You know what was going to happen had I not come here instead! You have a family. You have to keep yourself safe at least for them if not yourself. Think of your Baba and Ma! I did not meet them yet but I know for a fact that they were crying a lot when they came to know about you! Prochur kedechhe ora( they cried a lot)! Aar kadio na(don't make them cry anymore)! "

"Mr. Chakraborty, I believe I will be safe if appropriate security measures are taken. I mean I am sure if someone is assigned to be here with me under the pretense of paying to be with me like you are here tonight, then I would be safe! And yes, you can call me Sampurnaa.", I argued.

He shook his head,
"I beg to differ Sampurnaa! We cannot be with you during the day then if you choose to live like the other women here. There are several ways in which things can go wrong! And you can call me Indrayan instead of Mr. Chakraborty. "

"Indrayan, think about it! A supposed murder has not been reported! The entire brothel has been asked to act as nothing happened. The CEO of a popular MNC visits this place in disguise to be in a meeting with that witch of a woman, Frieda!
There's more to all that we are seeing! If we file a rape case now, they are bound to defeat us as they have immense power! All this needs to be analyzed! " I pressed on the matter.

He was losing patience now. His eyebrows were furrowed and there were creases on his forehead.
He spoke while running a hand through his hair in an almost defeated tone, "Sampurnaa, are you for real? Anyone else in your place would give everything they have to escape this hell but you want to stay here! Really? "

I nod with finality in my gesture.

He sighed now defeated, "We have an entire night to analyze, plan and strategize, so shall we give your plan a final thought after discussing some more? "

I nodded slightly.

He had to be there the entire night so we had ample time to think about our next move.
I sat down on the floor across from him. I did not want to sit on the bed where women had been raped. It seemed did not wish to either because he simply leaned against the bed and sat.
Our eyes met and we knew we had enough time in hand... To plan and to think... To do something together... To initiate a change in this nightmare place!
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To be continued...