PRESENT. 

Agni woke up from her sleep with a jerk when she felt she was strangled by the same person with whom she had held captive for four years, it had been an arduous journey since then. She thought once she come out of that place, she will get freedom but she felt she was wrong when she felt the societies curious eyes on her when she finally came back to her parents with a baby. Her parents and her siblings rejoiced to see her as everyone thought she was not alive but she couldn't meet the world with the same courage. But something remained constant, her love for her child, her daughter, Roshini. She named her the moment she held her in her hands as soon as she was born, her light, her hope, her life, and most important the reason for her existence. 

As the name suggests, she was pure from the inside and full of light in everyone's life, especially in her mom, who had spent ten years with the hope of her daughter being alive, she knew she was expecting a lot from the god by asking her firstborn alive, but as miracle happens, she's alive and reunited with her family again. But for her father, it was very hard to convince him that her entire life encircles her daughter whom he thinks is a mistake. But soon, time settled everything. And now there was another challenge.  Roshini's questions. 

"Mumma..." She heard her daughters weeping over the phone which made her very patient, especially when she was in another city for her work. As nobody was available in their home, her mom and dad suggested taking Rikki, a pet name given by her mother to Roshini, to Singapur cause of her dad's business. Since Roshini was eager to leave, she permitted but now, when she made the call over midnight, she became impatient. 

"What happened, Rosh? Everything fine baby! Is your stomach aching, again?" Agni asked her daughter with concern, but her nightmare became reality with her answer. 

"I saw daddy today," Roshini said weeping hard over the phone. She couldn't come out of her world when she said those words, but how it's possible, she killed him with her own hands and never told her daughter anything about him ever. 

"Roshini, tell me what happened. How you... What happened, baby? Don't hide anything from mumma!" Agni tried asking her daughter but she didn't stop crying. 

"ROSHINI! STOP CRYING." Anika couldn't control her emotions. She stopped crying but stayed silent because of her mom's words. 

"Now tell me what happened? And Roshini! You know about Mumma, I don't like you being silent without answering my questions." She informed her daughter in a cold tone. 

"Mumma... Sorry!" She said in her low-scared tone. She knew her daughter was scared to see her cold, but she was under a compulsion to be cold especially when the world takes advantage of her silence and innocence and approaches her. And that was the main reason, she didn't join her in school, she had to explain everything about her father first, tell her, he was the worst creature in the world, and that was the reason he didn't exist. 

"I am sorry too, baby! Tell me what happened. whom you saw? how can you tell me he's your father?"  Agni's tone became normal. And slowly, she asked her daughter to come on a video call. 

"Maa." She cried again, this time, her eyes became red. 

"First wipe off your tears, more than anything, I hate the tears in your eyes. Okay, now tell me what happened?" 

"Neeli... told me... I will find... my father shoon... she even told... he will look like me... same to same. And papa... he also... looks like me."  

"Neeli..." Agni remembers the name of her mother who gave her hope saying her daughter was alive in those 10 years. But how neeli and roshini knew each other.

"How do you know neeli, baby?" Agni asked her. 

"I went to the temple with... grandma. I saw her... we are friends... she told me I will meet papa here..." Roshini said weeping hard. 

"Okay. Do you have water next to you?" Agni asked her. 

"Yes..." She replied. 

"For a sake of mumma, can you drink a little baby?" Agni asked her tear-eyed, she couldn't help but fall weak with her words and the yearnings for her father. She nodded and kept the phone on the table next, and drank the water, while then she saw her mom's kurthi next to her and she helped her daughter drink water. 

"Now listen to me..."  Agni started. 

"Whom you met, is not your father," Agni stated. Roshini's eyes teared up again in disappointment. 

"But neeli..."  Roshini again said. 

"Neeli became old, Roshini. Remember I told you, when people became old they become..." She expected her daughter to answer. 

"Baby"  She answered. 

"Exactly... And about your father, once you come here, I will tell you about him, and take you where he's. Till then, have patience..." Agni told her. 

"Promise!" Roshini asked. 

"Promise" Agni promised. 

From then, everything was not in its place, Roshini was warned by her grandpa who was a bit more protective of her than his grandchild, but her mom stayed as support, Agni was on the call with her throughout as Roshini was not ready to believe anyone and completely trusts neeli. For a while, Agni became restless and the things she desperately needs to forget gave a visit to her present. 

"Relax, Agni. By tomorrow evening, your daughter will be there with you and you can convince her. After all, she loves her mumma to the core." 

****

Shivaay didn't get time to process when rudy opened up about his wife's existence to him, he always believed her to be alive, but when he comes to know he didn't know how to react. Shivaay didn't ask many questions but asked rudy how he knew, there was a terrifying silence from him, but soon om accompanied him and said they had to go to Shimla, first. He didn't want any proof but see his wife, capture her in his embrace, and never let her go ever. Chopper was ready but tears in om and ru were not ready to stop, they were not the tears of happiness, but something else. 

"Om..." He called him. He turned his head to his side. 

"What happened?" Shivaay asked, he turned towards Rudy who nodded no to him while holding his palm tight, Shivaay became impatient. 

"Hey... I want to know... What happened?" He asked when he felt a shortage of breath. 

"She... She was in Veer's captivity..." He replied and made his moment of happiness dark. 

"Forest officers had found a body which had been in a decomposed stage and there were cameras. CCTV... From there, they found out its veer's body..." Om opened out with much struggle. Shivaay heard his heartbeat, he couldn't come out of those words. 

"And... Anika..." Shivaay asked. 

"Police saying, she was the one who killed him and escaped from the place... before 4 years..." Om said, tears welling up but shivaay couldn't believe what they said. 

"How could they say..."  He asked as his breath became short. 

"Cameras... Recording... They retrieved the files..." Rudru replied. 

That was the last word, he had spoken with her brothers and shed himself under the pool of guilt. He didn't speak anything, but he become impatient every minute that passed by. Those 10 hours have been his longest hours. Rudru and Om exchanged glances when they reached the police station where the officers were waiting for them. 

"Where is my wife?" He asked them, directly even though they were hell-tired. He couldn't speak, but his heartbeat was up too fast. Om and Ru held both his shoulders as if there was something else waiting for him. 

"We were trying to track it, Mr. Oberoi, as it happened before 5 years, to be particular, 4 years, 7 months. Now, we found that Mrs. Oberoi delivered a girl baby in the mount hill hospital the next day she escaped that is on 3rd January. Trust us, we are tracking her down." He said, the squeeze in his shoulder went hard, as he heard that news. Shivaay couldn't focus on anything when his eyes went blurred and he fell on his brother's arm and his mind recalled his own words. 

"Mumma bear, the doctor said by next year, in the first week of Jan, we will have our little bunch of happiness with us," Shivaay whispered on her shoulders when she became tired of her morning sickness and fell on her bed out of tiredness. 

"I can't wait till January... I am tired..." She cried on his shoulder holding his palm close to her belly and intertwined her palm with his fingers. 

"I love you, Mumma bear!" He said while kissing her continuously on her shoulders to the neck. 

"I love you too..." She cried again when she felt hungry again just going through everything out after a while eating it. 

****