The sun has risen and fallen a handful of times. Only a week has passed, yet the seasons have changed. The cold chill of winter washed away the gentle breeze of autumn. The leaves have decayed in the harsh cold, fallen, branches left barren. As they fall deeper into their charade, a maze of lies shrouded in truths.

A maze of their own making. One in which they forgot to build a road leading out. A car, singular, one, together, rolls into the driveway with a hand already opening the door. "Welcome home, Madamji."

Pragya doesn't respond, simply because she did not hear the driver. Her attention diverted towards the mansion in front, eyes misted over, a smile playing on her lips- home.

But why does it feel like I haven't seen this place in a long while?

She was a woman taking a stroll in the park, a garden full of facades, masks and pain given the look of rosy flowers. She was comfortable wearing these white lies like a ball gown. Lies that would chip at it from the inside out in due time. When the truth of a certain death unfolded, it would rain cats and dogs. On that day, no garden or home could shelter her from that hurricane it would stir up. She would be in the epicentre, looking for a route to escape but there wasn't one; for they didn't carve it out.

"Come on." An open palm beckoned her. Pragya's smile filled with light as she held his hand, trusting Abhishek to lead the way.

An ostrich trusting another ostrich to lead them to the path of light was stupidity wrapped in harmful blind faith. She was only walking down a path of exile from her own reality.

But not before turning around, raising a teasing brow and a warm smile. "Do you three need a special invitation as well, come on."

There was awkward shuffling in the back of the vehicle, a second later the door burst open. Cramped together, they scamper away- out. Hands raised to strangle each other became hands to hold each other as they took one look at their confused mother's face.

The oldest of the three blocks her view, smiling oh so sweetly. "We're coming M- Mumma," She forced out. "You go ahead."

Protecting the twins from me I see, you are still the same Kiara. Pragya chuckled, eyes set on Shahana. Tilting her head to the right to see behind her at her twins who stood hugging each other. She still cannot believe it.

"She- she is?... They- them two-. It's- it's been-." Pragya cannot formulate a coherent sentence, as incomplete and confused as her thoughts are, unable to fill in the gaps.

Her hesitant finger, gliding to and fro the three girls who stood horizontally at her bedside, like children in a school assembly line.

"...Kiara. The twins. Twenty years." Two truths, one lie. Abhishek filled in the gaps for her, reiterated what he had told her. Hoping two truths for a lie would weigh each other out.

Pragya turned to him- leaned into him seeking solace, he beside her, hands grasped her shoulders propping her upright on the hospital bed- providing a faux sense of comfort. Her eyes swam in confusion, but trustful, hate vanished- forgotten- blind love leading her astray once more.

"My doll?" Her wary finger turned to a palm, extended, hesitant still, but yearning to hold. Who she had called out, stared at her blankly with tears in her eyes, no sign of acknowledgement. Pragya's confusion grew.

"Kiara?" Abhishek prompted and a look of silent understanding dawned upon Shahana features. The role she had to now play- her hand rested atop Pragya's as she settled down before her.

Shahana remained silent, eyes misted, as Pragya's unsteady fingers traced her features, and held her hand. The hand that was her guide in this dark world, held her as though it were someone else- Kiara Abhishek Prem Mehra, not Shahana Aparna Mirza. I am not her. But I will be whatever you need me to be.

"You look- different." Said Pragya, her heart knew from that very moment- they had been fools to think they could fool a mother's heart.

"Of course I do... I can't be your little doll forever, I am all grown up now... -Mum-ma." Time to play her part, but her voice broke on that word she hadn't uttered till today. Her sorrow was mistaken for another, her tears wiped away, pulled into a comforting embrace.

"I'm here- forgive me for- forgetting you." Guilt-ridden, the doubt of her heart dwindling, her mind a maze, too hazy to navigate through faces, let alone untangle her feelings.

"You don't need to apologize- it's not your fault-."

Whose fault it was, Prachi stared down at the culprit. But Riya found the tiled floor much too interesting, head hung low.

Abhishek cleared his throat, an indirect interruption- not here, not now. "This is Prachi-."

Pragya smiled, softly. "Prachi?" The name I wanted.

Prachi hated the uncertainty in which her mother said her name, but kept a slight smile on her face. A smile that turned to a frown as soon as Pragya turned to Abhishek. Whispering, not wanting to be heard if her guess was wrong. "Sweet Pea?"

Though Prachi heard and gasped, part a chuckle, part a sob, both. Leaping into Pragya's arms. "That- that is me- Mumma." She wound her arms around Pragya, tightly. You remember me- some version of me at least. The name that belonged to her before her name- perhaps this part won't be difficult to play.

It held familiarity, as Prachi held Shahana and Pragya close, the three of them together as always. Perhaps nothing has to change, another pair of arms wrapped around them. Everything has changed.

Prachi parted from them quickly, this part she could not, would not play, staring into the eyes of her father, into the eyes of a murderer, why does he only reap benefit from all the damage done? Where is his punishment?

"Where are you headed- come here." Pragya's voice has started to lose its hesitancy due to her first guess being correct. Authority, feigning familiarity, exercising a right she herself revoked twenty years ago, though has no knowledge of.

Is she talking to me? A step away from slipping quietly out of the room, a master at leaving undetected, for once caught, a wide-eyed Riya turned around, cemented in her spot.

A hand extended once more, awaiting, softly. "Little one?"

Confused, brows pinched together, a quick glance behind her. Then hesitantly pointing to herself. Me? A name that used to belong to her, but she never knew. Because it, along with the person who gave her that title, were already gone by the time she gained any real sense of her existence.

"Riya." Pressed Abhishek, his tone short, as though expecting her to mess up somehow.

"Riya?" Chuckled Pragya, turning to Abhishek again. The name you wanted. Pragya's eyes dance in amusement, a whispered question. "Did it work?"

What is she referring to? Everyone is left confused, Riya most of all. Approaching the bed with a certain amount of caution. Quietly, "What worked?"

Pragya turned to her, smiled softly, shook her head, and beckoned her closer. Riya's hand must have had a mind of its own because it rested atop Pragya's, without pause.

"You're hurt." But that- that put a pause to even her breath. "How did this happen?" Even though the hand Pragya held wasn't Riya's bandaged one, that was the first thing she espied.

Mothers, you know? As some would say but Riya doesn't know and she doesn't know how both of her hands are enclosed in Pragya's either.

"Suniye, bring a doctor in, this needs to be redressed- it's bleeding."

It is? Riya glanced down. It is. The skin had probably broken because of how she was constantly picking at the bandage- a need to occupy her hands with something now that she had slipped the fidget cube back into shahana's bag.

Blood was pooling on the surface of it. In a blink, bleeding hands fall limp out of burning cars. They were hurt. Help, a single word echoing silently in her head.

"I hurt- you." Staring at Pragya- focus point, stay here. But her eyes somehow lock with Prachi's. You're right, not her fault. Mine.

"Fuggy, are you alright?" Abhishek's voice snapped Pragya out of her recollection. She could only nod, still staring at her children. "You should lie down, you need to rest, come."

"We'll follow right behind." Added Shahana when Pragya stood at her spot. Only then, with a placated smile on her face, did she proceed arm in arm with Abhishek toward the house, assured that they would take care of each other, as always. But the truth of how she was unknown to.

As Shahana sighed in relief that turned to anger as soon as she turned around, watching Riya and Prachi shove each other away.

"What did she do now?" Asked Shahana as she breathed deeply through her nose.

"Oi, I did nothing okay! She was the one stepping on my foot the entire time." Riya stated in her defence.

"Who told you to put your foot next to mine?" Prachi sarcastically questioned.

"Where else was I supposed to put it?! I'm not a midget like you who can fit into nonexistent spaces!"

"You are so self-obsessed." Prachi hissed.

"I could be a little more compassionate if you become a little smarter. But I don't see that happening anytime soon."

"Well, at least I don't get myself arrested for the fun of it! You attention-seeking ass-!

"Oh, that reminds me-" Riya turns on heels towards the driver, her tone giddy, her eyes anything but, misting over with stubborn tears that she won't let fall. "Chandu, looking dapper, how's the first day on the job?"

The driver who became a friend looks at her softly but follows along with her charade. "Everything is perfect! Thank you for giving me another chance, Didi." At the word both Riya and Chandu, take a glance at Prachi, then back at each other. No.

Riya doesn't do well with emotions, particularly guilt and anger. The latter leaves her going on a rampage that no one other than Meera bothered to stop. She let it consume her and stroll her along while it behaved like the Nian beast of Chinese new year, filling up its tummy with the cries of innocent people.

Somehow, there is magic in this madness and yet, I held out for love.

Her guilt was a whole other story. That led her to do things that weren't considered smart. This is why she was here, in a jail cell, killing flies that wanted to suck out her blood. She didn't really mind it but they were annoyingly tickling her skin.

Successfully clapping one more in her hand, she turned to her cellmate sitting opposite of her "What are you here for?" Riya asked to occupy herself only to be met with silence. "... Okay then I'll start first- I almost killed... my mother." She winced a little.

Her cellmate still doesn't respond immediately. After a beat came a quiet, calm. "That's fucked up. what did she ever do to you?"

Riya sighed, sitting down in the corner next to the bars. "Nothing. she didn't ever do anything to me or for me. I didn't know she was my mother when I hit her," she paused, "Does that make it better?" Please say yes.

"That somehow makes it worse." He deadpanned.

A chuckle, her head hit the wall behind with a slight thump, slumping in defeat. "I thought so." She silently mulled over her thoughts, listening to the rhythmic clatter of pens outside.

"Do you have a mother?"

"No, mine died at childbirth."

Riya sucked in a sharp breath. "Oh God that-... I am sorry."

"It's okay." The cellmate smiles at her, she's the first person ever to apologize to him. Usually, it's the other way around. It's a welcome change.

Her stomach is a pit, guilty, gnawing at her lip enough to draw blood, the metallic taste making her nauseous. She doesn't like this state of self-pity. I am better than this. She channels the energy and zeal that was resting amidst the boulders surrounding it.

"But hey, hey you know what?!" Riya suddenly yelled so she's louder than her fears. "Mothers are overrated anyway, you know Mother's Day is the third most celebrated holiday in the world right up there with Christmas and Easter. A balding fat old man and high off sugar bunny, where the hell is the comparison?!"

Her cellmate gawked for a second wondering what exactly she just blurted but then uncontrolled laughter echoed in the hollow box- real, genuine and happy laughter.

"I am in for pickpocketing," he confessed after the laughter died down. "Not exactly as extreme but close enough?"

"Yes, super close. You pickpocket materialistic items and I steal lives," she dared to move closer to him and offered her hand up for a handshake. "To the crime of theft."

"To the crime of theft," he nodded, shaking her hands. They sat side by side, finding company in the silence that blanketed them. It was comforting to know that he wasn't alone even if that person happened to have a murderous streak. Riya's voice broke his reverie.

"Can you imagine that the reason all of this is happening is because of an animal that can not speak the language we do? Damn that stupid puppy."

"Sheesh, lady Gordon Ramsay. That's cruel. It's just a little puppy."

"Yes a puppy because of which I almost committed murder," she crossed her arms in front of her chest and leaned by against the wall. "I am allowed to be mad at it and the world."

"Yes, well it probably wouldn't have made a difference. Your mother did put you in here so the score is settled."

"Oh, she didn't file a complaint against me," Riya told him, looking dead serious. "I got myself arrested."

The boy would have done a spit take if he had water with him right now. "I beg you deepest pardon."

"Yes, I just came here and told the officers what happened. They didn't want to let me in the cells at first. I had to wrestle my way in and then threaten them to let me stay. Can you believe how inconsiderate they are? I burnt petrol getting all the way here and they wanted me to go back." Riya ranted, face straight as ever.

"Oh, that's why the constable was asking where the doctor was," He gasped in realisation as she sent him a glare.

"I do not need a shrink, blueberry cotton candy," She snarled. "I need to repent for my sins in this horrible dark room with nothing but a child for company."

"I seriously doubt that your head is in the right place. Maybe the crash knocked a few of your screws loose," he shook his head with a smirk. "But don't worry, mine isn't either."

Riya raised an impressed eyebrow. "Two psychos in a jail cell. What could possibly go wrong, am I right?" she remarked.

"Other than attempted homicide." He supplied with a giggle.

Riya shrugged with contemplative thought. "Property damage."

"Noise pollution."

"And arson," Riya said, pulling out a lighter from her back pocket. She couldn't remember why she decided to bring it with her on the way to the party she was going to attend two days ago. Before everything went to shit that was. "Do you think a barbequed human would look good?"

"Why? Do you plan on becoming part of the cannibalism culture?"

"If this was a zombie apocalypse with no other choice. Then yes, probably. A girls' gotta do what she gotta do man,"

"Zombies eat brains darling. You will be fine."

"You know, I really wonder what a barbequed human would like.'' She lit the device and brought it closer to him. She wasn't actually going to light him on fire. But she was bored, desperately trying to forget why she was in here in the first place. Perhaps she could go in for another reason.

Chandu stood up and walked to the front of the bars as Riya carefully placed the lighter back in her pocket. "you're leaving so soon already?! We just started bonding! Hey, blueberry Smurfette!"

"Hi police lady," Chandu called the middle-aged woman patrolling outside their cell. "Is it too late to change my cell?"

The woman turned to stare him down in what he identified as disgust. "This isn't a hotel young man and I am not a receptionist that you are requesting a change of room."

Rude. "Yes, you can't pull the receptionist's look either way. Those late-night snacks are really showing. What was on the menu? Cheetos I suppose," he flashed her a mocking smile before walking back to his position while the woman fumed. "Word of advice, if you ran as much as your mouth, you'd be going on roller coasters."

Riya chuckled silently beside him while the constable cursed under her breath. "Smooth."

"Keep it down in there, both of you." she hit her stick on the bars as a warning but it only riled them even more. It wasn't their fault the woman was grumpy and needed a break.

"Why? Are your ageing ears becoming too sensitive?" Riya asked, feigning a pitying look.

"I said keep it down," she shouted, frowning deeply.

"We heard you the first time but I am sorry," she said. "What makes you think we care about your prattling?"

The woman groused, "Rotten teenagers." puffing up her cheeks and walking away muttering profanities to herself.

"About as rotten as your attitude," Chandu shouted after her, causing another wave of chortling to erupt and echo in the room with bars.

"We've been talking for so long, yet I don't know your name." She noted. "I'm Riya and you are?"

"Chandu. It's been good talking to you, Didi."

"Didi, why so much respect all of the sudden?" She asked curiously. "How old are you?"

"Because I aspire to be as bonkers as you when I grow up. I'm only nineteen, you know?" He was partly kidding.

"A twenty-year-old grown-ass woman and I'll still probably never fully become what I wanted to be when I grew up, but that's probably because I wanted to be a flying sheep with a cap and a talking begrudging looking dog as an assistant," Riya chuckled. At least I am an inspiration for someone. "I guess Didi works as well... should I call my sister Di? I mean she's only a minute older than me, and there's also the fact that she hates me."

"Why?"

"Because I hurt her mother," Riya grimaced. "Keep up, Chandu."

The boy rolled his eyes in exasperation. "I can't, okay, all of this is so complicated."

"Tell me about it, I'm living it."

"Sucks to be you."

"I know right."

Shahana and Prachi sighed, rolling their eyes. "Come on." Together- forced together. Or else Pragya will ask questions that they don't have answers to.

They were the caretakers of the park, looking after every little detail vigilantly. They couldn't afford mistakes, not now after all the effort that had gone into making this carefully woven charade believable. The bustle of leaves and quiet place were a million weaved moments that were both transient and fake. They walked around as if the footpath had come to an understanding with them, willing to rise in an attempt to provide their souls with some relief.

With each step, Pragya's mind became clearer, though more solute. The sun kissed her delicate skin, promising a new beginning with entombed memories of the past. This was a future in her hands or so she thought. This was a future her family would direct and produce, she was just the actor.

Standing shoulder to shoulder at the threshold, holding on yet falling apart. The door opens. "Welcome home, Pragya ji."

Pragya scowls. What is she doing here?

Abhishek held his phone through the bar cells, his face stricken with anger and disappointment. This was the last place he expected to find Riya when she had snuck out of the hospital undetected, once again becoming the master of it. Who could blame them anyway? The newly forged family was too busy building the park of lies, too busy playing the roles destiny assigned them to, too busy looking for a way to make it all less emotionally demanding.

It seemed like Riya found a way to deal with her predicament...by landing herself into another problem- one that required a legal procedure. The Riya he was acquainted with would have been at the bar drinking away her problems, not getting herself arrested because she felt like it.

He stood outside holding the phone so that Riya could speak with her mother who had found out what her estranged daughter did shortly after he received a call from the attending officer. She jumped out of her bed as soon as he delivered the news through clenched teeth, ready to march down to the station and knock some sense into her daughter.

Abhishek, Prachi, Shahana, and the doctors didn't allow it. When it became obvious that she wasn't going to stop trying, he vowed to get Riya out of jail- another promise that he failed to keep because Riya didn't bother entertaining his scolding. Instead, she turned away, the walls being the face that she observed.

Pragya had warned him not to return until he got their daughter back home- the same fierce eyes that roared the day Kiara was kidnapped locked with his. He figured the precarious state of Pragya would convince Riya to give up her impulsive strike.

It worked a little. Riya was now looking at the screen. "I am not coming home," She stated stubbornly.

"It was an accident Riya. You didn't do this on purpose. So please just come home." Pragya tried to reason.

"No. I don't care if it was an accident. I was driving and," she swallowed thickly. "And I hurt you. So I should be here. Repenting."

"You hurt me? But I am not hurt,"

If only she knew how deep that wound ran. Pragya was hurt- broken beyond repair.

"I am perfectly fine. A little banged up sure but I am fine."

"You have no idea what you're talking about."

"I do, little one. I love you,"

Riya blinked back her tears. This woman didn't get to see her vulnerability. She didn't get to say those three words. She loved the idea of loving her daughter - the one she gave birth to. Not Riya who was the grown-up version of her.

"This isn't your fault. Accidents happen. That was all that it was. Prachi told me that you were trying to dave a puppy. That act of kindness doesn't deserve punishment. It deserves gratitude." Pragya said, the soft and patient tone ever-present in every syllable she uttered.

Riya found herself caught off guard. Prachi had told Pragya the truth? Why? Whatever it was, Pragya was wrong and she didn't have the right to say that everything was fine. Because really everything is nothing but a bloody mess of undead truths and lies.

"I appreciate what you are trying to do...Mom," The word sounded foreign to her ears and acid in her throat. "But I am not coming home and nothing you say can convince me otherwise."

"Meera Aunty!" Riya squealed in excitement. She charges towards her extended arms, but someone grabs her hand.

"Riya! I missed you!" Meera mirrored her excitement, arms suspended midair.

"Riya, what is this madness?" Meera questions, staring at Riya through the bars separating her from proving the comfort she knew Riya desperately needed. Abhishek was never good at it. His idea of comfort was handing out candies, then jewellery, new watches and gadgets when all she really needed were words of affirmation and a little smile to know that everything was fine.

Riya hides her face with her hair to hide from Meera's piercing gaze or her own shortcomings- she wasn't sure. "Aunty, hey whatcha doing here?" she beamed, trying to lighten the mood.

"I came here for a stroll. What better place to relax than the police station. There are lots of sights to see here, aren't there? Bars and a dead fashion scene." Meera responded but her voice was anything but happy.

"Yea, I was here for that too. The fashion sense is atrocious. Dark walls, a single light bulb, bars that separate the outside world from ours. Although I did make a new friend," Riya squealed in excitement.

Chandu did a little wave from where he was sitting in the cell. "Hi, aunty."

"Hi, son," she returned the greeting before turning her attention back to Riya. "Riya Mehra,"

Full names. Damn, she's pissed. "Yes."

"First you were missing for an entire day. Then your dad called to tell me you were at a hospital where you went missing again. Now, Abhi called me because you got yourself arrested?!" she exclaimed.

Meera had been hired as a caretaker over ten years ago when Abhishek's sister had passed away in a tragic accident. As she came to know, Alia was her caregiver up till that point with Abhishek in the background.

She knew this girl before her like the back of her palm. She was good and deserved so much more. There were times she behaved irrationally, overcome by emotions she didn't know how to regulate. That wasn't something to be learned in early childhood. Not in early adolescence when that habit had been cemented.

She let them dance freely in the rain, let them drown her in their sufferings. "In my defence, I had a good reason."

"And that would be."

"She almost killed her mother," Chandu shouted, saving Riya the trouble to have it said out loud herself. He knew it was disturbing to do so. It was hard for him too to talk about his deceased mother. "This is her repentance."

Meera whipped her head to stare at Riya, bewildered. The whole speech she had planned to convince her lost in the typhoon of revelation. Mother? The one who she hasn't known in the past two decades?

Riya moved her fringes out of her face to hold Meera's eye. "The woman I hit my car with...is my biological mother."

"Riya, careful. You might fall." Pragya gives them a tight-lipped smile, a firm grip on Riya's hand.

"I am wearing sneakers and the floor is dry." she reminds the older woman, pointing to the ground in front of them.

"Yes well, a mother knows her child best. So as your mother I'm telling you that you may fall because I know you the best.'' Pragya declares sending a glare in Meera's direction which she chooses to ignore.

If only you did. The younger twin restrained herself from rolling her eyes. "Yes, mother dearest. As you wish, I shall not run across the dry floor with my sneakers that clearly create friction as I travel. If I do so, I might fall over and be in a cast for god knows how long. Then, my social life will be in ruins."

"Since when do you have a social life to begin with?" Prachi asked from behind.

"Since you decided to crucify yours in favour of becoming a lecturer." Inside jokes. We have inside jokes now. Great. fantastic.

"Riya," Meera interrupts with a reprimanding look that Pragya was sure the other woman had used a dozen times given the way Riya obediently sealed her lips. "Play nice."

Riya gave her a playful salute and chuckle, irritation despairing in a second's notice. "Yes ma'am,"

Pragya flared her nostrils. "Can we come in now?" she asked, annoyed by the smiles they were passing each other.

"Sure. I mean it is your home after all," Meera said, moving to the side to allow the family to enter.

The house was similar but somehow different from what she remembers. Walls painted a new colour, new interior and the milieu awkward in a way it never was. They settled themselves on the couch. Pragya soaked in her surroundings, smiling from ear to ear- different but still home.

"Would you like something?" Meera asked politely. Though someone didn't belong as far as she was concerned.

"Your absence would be much appreciated." Pragya smiled sarcastically.

Riya bit her lip to stifle the comment about to leave her mouth. But narrowed her eyes at Abhishek who was smiling. This is amusing to you? Of course, it is. "Let's be civilised," she grumbled out. The reason for the animosity between them, she had completely misconceived it.

Meera who hung behind the couch, a position in which Pragya couldn't send her the stink eye, wasn't naive to think that Pragya was discomforted by an unknown person in her house, or by said person's closeness to Abhishek. Her jealousy stemmed from how Riya, her daughter, interacted with Meera in comparison to herself. She did wonder how the woman felt so strongly about Riya despite not being there her entire life.

It didn't matter to her either way. Meera had raised that girl since she was ten. She cleaned up the cuts and bruises she got from scuffles at the playground, tucked her in for bed every night, calmed her down after nightmares, celebrated all her achievements from good grades to her driver's license, took care of her first drunken night and hangover the following morning.

She would put up with this charade but it wasn't going to change anything between Riya and herself.

"Wha...?"

"Yesterday I was on my way to the club when there was a damned puppy and I had to take a turn. Unsurprisingly, it swerved and hit a lady and that lady turned out to be my biological mother." she sighed, this was probably the fifth time she had to explain it and was getting irritating.

"That's...wow."

Riya shrugged her shoulders carelessly. If she didn't let it bother her, it might just be something normal that happens to everyone.

You know, meeting the person who gave birth to you and then left for twenty years only to come back because a puppy decided to J-walk. Totally normal.

"Riya, this isn't your fault.

"I don't want to have that conversation. You can't convince me otherwise."

"Fine, we will chuck it aside for later,'' Meera agreed, knowing she wasn't going to say anything if she didn't want to. "But will you come home with me?"

"No."

"I am not going until you come with me. So the choice is yours. Come home and sort this out or we both spend the rest of our lives in this quarter lacking any inspiration."

Riya glanced back at Chandu for a second. "I have a condition. He comes with us."

"Fine by me," Meera said instantly. As long as Riya came home with her, she didn't care what the cost was. Besides, he looked like a good boy. "Let's go home then. You two," she pointed a finger at them. "Behave."

Meera left to meet with officers to settle this matter. She gave Abhishek and the two girls who were with him an affirmative nod. "She is coming home."

The two girls rolled their eyes.

Abhishek and Pragya had both failed to convince Riya to come home. Prachi and Shahana weren't bothered in the slightest. Their mother and mother figure respectively, forget about them because of that girl. She deserved to be in there with all the other criminals.

In a last-ditch attempt, Abhishek called Meera to fix this mess before Pragya's health deteriorated further. As usual, she did.

"Good."

It didn't come without a bunch of other questions, however. Riya's mother, Abhishek's former wife, had returned. How did that happen? "Do you want to explain what this is about your former wife being the person she hit?"

"I will. Later," he said, tired from everything around.

Meera nodded, then turned her attention to the two unfamiliar girls. They didn't look pleased to be here. "I am sorry girls but may I know who you are?"

"Long story," Abhishek responded before they could. "Let's just get this done with."

They finished off the formalities and Abhishek went out to get the car while the two girls hung behind. While he was gone, Meera remembered about Riya's condition and spoke to the officer about getting the boy released. He was serving his sentence for the past three months and would be released in a couple of days. He couldn't speed up the legal process.

Meera slumped in her seat. Riya was not going to like that.

The constable who was guarding the cell previously brought a screaming Riya to the exit and handed her off to her who she assumed was her mother. "Handle this animal of yours."

"Hey, grumpy cat lady. I heard the shop nearby sold an anti-grumpy pill. Maybe you should check it out." Riya advanced towards the woman but was held back by Prachi.

"Your making scene, birdbrain." She chided.

Riya freed her hand from Prachi but didn't move towards the lady who had insulted her and Chandu. "The audience should thank me for free entertainment."

"You should be happy they aren't throwing tomatoes at you." Shahana taunted bringing Prachi away from her and towards the door, waiting for Abhishek.

"Riya," Meera warned her. "I have spoken to the officer. Chandu will be released in a few days and sent straight to the Mehra mansion. I can't speed up the process."

"How long are a few days?"

"Three to four maybe."

Riya glanced back at the cell where Chandu was and he smiled at her. She couldn't help but feel bad for the boy. Almost as if he read her mind, he gave her a thumbs up - assuring her that he understood. She gave him a determined nod. "Four days tops. Or else I'm getting a lawyer."

"Okay, honey. Whatever you need." Meera finally got the chance to hug the girl who was like a daughter to her. She stroked her hair and let the worry eating her up for the last two days dissipate through the motion.

They heard Abhishek calling them from the door and thanked the officer before making their way towards him and her two sisters. He had an angry frown on his face but Riya didn't care.

"Say bye to Chandu for me," she called back to the officer at the desk who sent her a confused look.

"Who is that?" Her father asked.

"Oh, my new Best friend forever. I just met him in the lock-up. Pretty swell guy if you ask me. Pity he had to go in for pickpocketing but he will be released tomorrow. Did I mention that he is our new driver?" she gushed in one breathe.

"No you didn't and I won't allow it." the stubborn man announced.

"Too bad we already signed an agreement."

"How? you were in a jail cell." Prachi pointed out.

"Mentally of course," she stated as if Prachi had asked her what colour the sky was. "Besides, great friendships are built on the solid foundations of chaos, sarcasm, drunken confessions, inappropriateness and understanding. We check four out of five boxes."

Shahana snickered at her. "You didn't check the understanding box didn't you."

"I'd agree with you but then we'd both look stupid," Riya retorted. "We didn't check drunken confessions. I mean where was I supposed to get alcohol from in jail. Unless I asked the officer. He definitely looked stoned when I first got here."

"Please, you're only saying that because he didn't let you stay." Prachi jibbed, crossing her arms.

"Exactly, a sober officer on duty wouldn't have let a person who just confessed to culpable homicide walk free. I was practically doing their job for them. Dude could have given me more credit for that one."

Shahana once again decided to speak. "Sounds to me like you are begging to be arrested."

"You're good at identifying the obvious, I'll give you that."

Abhishek clenched his fist. This was public humiliation. "Stop it Riya, you are behaving like an embarrassment."

She snapped her eyes to him. The man who did nothing but lie to her his entire life. "Feel free to look away," she seethed. "That's probably how you survive the day without feeling guilty. Looking away from the mirror so you don't have to see yourself."

Abhishek took a small step in her direction. It didn't scare Riya, only dared her to test the waters even more. "Get in the car," he demanded.

"Or what," the recently released prisoner closed the gap between them, pointing her heated stare at him. They stared neither ready to give up control nor make a mockery of who was the one with authority. This was the game of cat and mouse they played their whole lives. "You are going to kill me as you did to Kiara?" the hostility was new and so was the conjecture.

Meera rapidly shifted her gaze between the two parties. Before anyone could do something they would regret, she stepped in the middle pushing them away from one another- not that she needed to, they were already as emotionally distant as possible.

"In the car. Both of you," she commanded and they followed much to the other two girls' surprise. Meera was the one authority- the kind that she rightfully practised in the last decade.

They stepped away and headed towards their own destinations. Riya was in Meera's car heading home and Abhishek in his own towards the hospital. Their destinations are different but their goals are the same - preventing themselves from falling apart, coming undone in the darkness that precedes them.

Now, Pragya scanned the unfamiliar looking house. Quiet, too quiet. Empty. "Where- is everyone?... Disha- Purab, Sunny?"

Abhishek went rigid at that question while Riya's lips curved into a sly smirk. Purab, his brother figure, Disha, Pragya's sister figure and their son didn't stay with them. Not anymore.

"How could you do this Purab?!"

"Do you really believe this?"

"I trusted you!"

"I did too but perhaps I shouldn't ever have."

"Get lost!"

"This is goodbye, brother."

"Yes dad, tell her," Riya challenged despite the glare from her father who had whipped his head towards her and the tug on her arm by Meera. "Where are Purab Chachu, Disha Massi and their son Sunny," She added to clarify the relationship they shared for Shahana and Prachi.

They gave her a small nod, indicating their understanding. The mocking tone used wasn't lost on them, however. Perhaps it was just another messed up secret their family -this family- as Shahana corrected herself, had.

Abhishek needed to have a word with his youngest daughter. He forced himself to look away and at Pragya instead. There she sat, patient and hopeful about the whereabouts of her extended family. "They are on vacation."

One.

"Really? Where."

"Maldives."

Two.

"Disha did mention wanting to visit the Maldives. When will they be back?" She asked, excitement evident in the way she bounced in her seat.

"Soon."

Three.

Three lies- three new seeds planted in the garden. They needed to be watered and nature to grow into a strong tree. Abhishek didn't want them to grow. Too many lies had already been spoken, he couldn't add this to the list.

This lie, he could not manifest into reality. The reality was his cultivating, he could not undo it. He could not bring their siblings before Pragya, a coward too weak to admit his mistakes.

After all, the worst kind of lies are the ones shrouded in good intentions. The kind cowards use to justify their weaknesses. They have all used it. All there left to see is whose mask slips first, whose facade broke through the dark clouds and shined bright in front of the drawing sun. 

A/N: Don't forget to R&R!