Arundhati sat on the bed, lost in thoughts, when her room door was banged. Her heart skipped a beat hearing it.
She opened the door to find Vasisht. He quickly came in, checking that no one was around and locked the door from inside. Arundhati found him very strange at the moment.

He faced her and took a long breath.
"Arundhati, will you marry me? Think carefully and answer. Do you feel I'm worthy of your trust and love? Do you feel you can count upon me at all times? If you don't feel anything as such, tell it honestly, with no hesitations, because I respect any decision you take. "

Her eyes were wide open." Why this question all of a sudden Vasisht? I.. I don't understand... " she replied, turning her back to him.
She felt her heart racing, a fear gripping her.

He walked to face her again." If you are ready to be with me, we can fight all this, together, without having to bother about anything. I want you to be alright again, away from all these disturbances. I want to see you smiling all the time, unlike this fright. Answer me. We have less time. "

She sighed, wiping off a bead of sweat from her forehead.
" You really feel I am the right one for you? I'm a mental patient for god's sake! Why so much concern on me? Don't you think you are mistaking sympathy for love? "

" I've thought about it a hundred times. If it were just mere sympathy then I would have walked out of your life and problems even before I wanted to. But I dont feel like leaving you alone. I want you to win. If this is not love then I don't know what else is."

She looked into his eyes which had already teared up. A very surprising sight. She realised that her hand had gripped his. And without wasting a moment, she slid into his arms.

*****************
As Vasisht walked out of the hotel, he revived a call from the police.

"Sir, we have introspected both the houses. And strangely, we have two conclusions.
Mrs. Sanvi's death isn't a murder. It is a suicide. Her husband has surrendered himself to us saying that he was the reason for her to suicide.
When we checked the fingerprints on the knife, we could detect only Sanvi's. So it is clear."

Vasisht couldn't believe his ears. When he was sure that he had connected all the dots right, everything seemed to be an illusion now.

" And about the murder of the maid, we have investigated the entire house. But we couldn't find an evidence pointing to Mr. Surya, as you claimed. But surprisingly, we found a small, cut piece of a garland of jasmine flowers lying below the body. We have found that the hair stuck to it does not belong to the maid, but someone else. If you doubt any other woman, please report to us, as we can find out who is the murderer."

Vasisht kept the call, thanking them. He was very sure, a moment ago, that it was Surya. But the plot had taken a great twist. Surya had himself surrendered to the police. Was there any intention behind it? Or was it his mere act out of fear? And the maid was murdered, not by Surya. Was Surya actually innocent?

He rushed to Arundhati, to let her know about the developments.
Arundhati wasn't less shocked. Though she was kept dark about Surya and Sanvi, she was made sure that she knew everything related to her.

"Aru, do you suspect anyone? Who would have murdered your maid? Who else came to your house often?"

"Manju did. But she is my psychiatrist. She has no relation with this murder, and I'm sure she won't even know about it. I haven't spoken to her since days...."

"Even I don't suspect her. If at all she wanted to kill you, then she could have easily done that before... I'm sure there is someone else..."

*************

Surya sat in a corner of the cell, when he saw a woman like figure approach him.
He rushed to her.
Before he could say anything, a hard slap landed on his face.
The woman spoke a few words in a heated tone, and left.
**************

The door opened with a huge noise, as Dr. Manjula nearly shrieked.
Vasisht stood before her, smiling.

"Ohh! It's you! Why did you have to barge in? I nearly got a heart attack!" She laughed, as Vasisht made himself comfortable on the seat.

"Doctor, I though a lot about what you said, and I have a feeling that you are right. Maybe, I should get out of Aru... Arundhati's life. She will be happy without me..."

"Thank you so much Vasisht, for understanding me. It'll be much easier to help Aru recover." she smiled.

"Yes... But may I know about her.. Like I'm very curious... How come she let you in her life? Wasn't she such an introvert?"

Manjula leaned on the chair. "We met in a conference. From there, we began talking to each other quite often. With her way of seeing life, I came to know that she had become so pessimistic... She was under depression. I slowly started moulding her and made sure she said everything about her life to me. I didn't want such a pure heart to rot in the hell of depression. She slowly trusted me and I spoke about the treatment I wanted to give her. She agreed after perusing for months, and after seeing its effect, she was quite open to whatever I wanted her to take in... "

"... And taking advantage of that trust, you slowly changed her tablets and asked her to take them more than the required amount... " Vasisht broke in."... Because you came to know that the baby she had delivered had died, you wanted her to hallucinate, make her look like a mad woman from outside. And you thought that could make me go away from her... And you could clear your path for your dear cousin Surya. Am I right doctor? "

Manjula spoke no word. She felt every inch of her body burn. She failed to look at his eyes and gripped the chair she was holding. Before she knew what happened, her chair was pushed and she was tightly stuck in between the chair and the table.

" Now please speak the truth. Why did you prove to be an enemy in disguise." roared Vasisht.

Having no choice, Manjula told, "Yes. I did everything for Surya. And I never waned Aru to suffer. I just wanted her to come to Surya, who had almost become mad for her love. And if everything would fit in the right place, both of them would have stayed happily. But you came in between... " she paused for a moment.
" Surya is my aunt's son. We loved each other very dearly. We grew up, I flew to the US to work on my PHD and got a news from here saying that Surya had agreed for a girl for marriage. Even when we spoke so much about her, he did not tell me her name, or showed me her photo, saying it was a surprise.
By the time I came back, everything had messed up. I only came to know that he had got into business now. I searched for him everywhere, all in vain. He had left everyone near to him. But one day, I saw him here, going inside a bar. I waited till he was back and followed him to his house.
He was married and had a wife who was waiting to pounce on him as soon as he entered.
After knowing where he worked, I visited him. Looking at him, I came to know that he was not in a good state. It took a lot of time for him to open up. And suddenly, he took Aru's name. The same girl whom I was treating.
I couldn't see him in that state. So i decided. I would bring her back to his life.
When I visited his house to speak about that matter, his wife became super aggressive. She behaved like a monster and threw around each and everything she got in her hand. She held a knife and was about to attack Surya, I had no choice but to protect him. I pulled her from the back and accidentally, she stabbed herself. Surya was in a shock. I had to console him. I managed to convince him that she had suicided and he was at no fault... "

" And why did you say that he killed his wife the other day?"

" I never thought you would go so deep into the matter. And Surya, like a fool surrendered himself out of fear... Everything would have been alright by now..." she clenched her fist.

" Still not done doctor. Why did you want to kill Arundhati? "

"I didn't want to kill her...
That night, I brought Surya to her place on his insistence. I promise I don't know what happened inside. But the maid had already seen me.
When you dropped her back, I came back to change the tablets she was taking. The maid was suspicious.
The next morning, when I came to visit her, the maid complained about Aru fearing about the baby's death and claimed to report me to the police as she knew I had changed the tablets. Then... "

" You killed her... " Vasisht completed.

Manjula was cornered. She was a good human being. But a 'human' she was. She did change according to the situations, and caused everything.

" When the police informed me about the murder reports of the maid, I went to Arundhati. When she was explaining that no one else except you knew about her, I noticed the tablets on her table.
I casually asked her about them and she said about the instructions you had given.

And a few hours back, when I went to the police station to visit Surya, I saw you. For my luck, you spoke loud enough to let me know that you were behind everything.

You are under arrest, doctor. According to the DNA reports, the hair that was entangled in the garland, which was found with the body of the maid belongs to you."
Spoke Vasisht sternly.

*********
Arundhati sat on the corner of the bed, weeping. Everything had gone wrong. She trusted the wrong person again, rather, the person she trusted the most had gone wrong. She only wished to die at the moment.

A hand caressed her head. She saw Vasisht sitting with her, with a calm, and glowing face.

" I'll tell you a secret, come with me..." he took her.

Vasisht parked his car at a small house out of the city. Catching her palm, he walked inside.
Shock would be an understatement for her state.
She saw the mother she had assisted in delivery playing with her week old child.

She looked at Vasisht, amazed.

"The baby survived. He is healthy now." he smiled.

Tears of joy masked her cheeks as she went and cuddled the little one with all ecstacy.

"Shall we leave now?" Asked Vasisht.

He seated her in the car and excused himself for a moment.
Going back to the house, he sat on his knees before the mother.
"I know is difficult for you to digest that you lost your first child. You might have so many curses and complaints with the god. But you have helped me heal her. I'll be forever indebted to you..." He said.

The mother smiled and handed the child back to its own mother, her neighbour." God bless you both... " she said.

Vasisht walked to his car to see something very special.
She smiled. That smile which had captivated his world.
Her Ethereal Smile.

With this, the story meets a conclusion.

Life is like the ocean, it can be calm or still, and rough or rigid, but in the end, it is always beautiful.

I thank everyone who were by my side through this journey. I thank those who silently enjoyed, those who expressed their views, and also those who chose to read and left in the middle.
A special thanks to Penfolk and Drabblelove for their amazing covers for this book.
I don't know whether the end was how you wished to be, but this is how the story was planned. The only reason I kept the character of Dr. Manjula quite dark, was for this reason.
Please do vote, and atleast, for this last chapter, give your valuable opinions.
With this,
Signing off, Radhika