Epilogue

Khushi

Three Months Later

"It seemed too easy, Nisha. I can't help but feel something is off."

After the hearing got over, Nisha and I came to this restaurant tonight to celebrate our victory against Arnav Rathore and his family, but I am unable to feel the joy of the win.

During the investigation of Anjana and Ridvansh's crimes, it was found that Ridvansh also murdered Niranjan Shah on Anjana's orders.

The count of murders they committed were found to be thirty, including Anjali and Niranjan.

Ridvansh even confessed to sexually assaulting all those girls before he and Anjana tortured them more and finally killed them.

Due to such heinous crimes that they committed, Anjana and Ridvansh have gotten lifetime imprisonment for torturing and murdering all those girls.

Arnav Rathore has gotten fifteen years sentence for Vivansh's murder, and his family has gotten five years sentence on charge of domestic violence.

I wanted Arnav to have lifetime imprisonment for what he did to me, and I even asked my lawyer if we can press the charges of rape on him, but she told me that since the assault was done after the marriage, we cannot make that charge stick because there is no law against marital rape in our country.

I was shocked and disappointed after learning that.

How come a woman's consent does not matter? Even if it is with a man she married?

Isn't she supposed to feel safe at her own home?

When I posed such questions to my lawyer, she said she knows it is wrong, but there is nothing we can do about it as there really is no law about it.

So, I gulped the disappointment and drew some satisfaction about Arnav being sentenced for the fifteen years.

That is nowhere enough punishment for what he did to me, but I had decided to go by law in punishing him, so I made myself be satisfied with what I got.

But that was until he walked closer to me while I was leaving the courtroom.

Although he was cuffed and was being held by two police constables, the hard, angry look on his face made me slightly tremble.

I could see the rage in his face as he sneered at me. "This is not over, Khushi. This is not over."

Saying that, he turned to his side to subtly nod to his lawyer who nodded back at him.

That was the moment when uneasiness settled in the pit of my stomach, and since then I have not been able to shake off my restlessness.

"You are overthinking, Khushi." Nisha's voice snaps me out of my thoughts.

"Arnav and his family have gotten what they deserve. Celebrate your victory against them and don't think too much about it," she tells me, and I want to do just that, but still there is a niggling restlessness that I can feel deep within me.

"But that nod-" I begin to say when Nisha interrupts me.

"Are you even sure that was what you say?" She asks me, and continues without waiting for my reply. "Even if that really was what you saw, Arnav has been sentenced for fifteen years, Khushi. What can he possibly do when he is inside prison?"

I process what Nisha said, and give her a slight reluctant nod.

"So, when do you have the doctor's appointment?" Nisha suddenly asks, and I narrow my eyes at her.

"Doctor's appointment?"

"Yes, Khushi. You are going to have that tracker taken out, aren't you?" She reminds me.

"Of course, I am. My lawyer asked me to wait to take it out until the judge gives his verdict. She said it will help in putting an impact against the domestic violence case I made on Rathores.

"But now the case is over, I will get the appointment to have the tracker removed," I tell her.

"Yes, do that. I know that the aluminium pieces in the Taweez (Holy amulet believed to be protective against evil) you are wearing in your arm interferes with the tracker's signal, still it's kind of creepy to know that you have tracker implanted inside you."

I take a deep breath as I see the cringe on her face. "This tracker on my body is nothing compared to other cruelties that were inflicted on it by Arnav Rathore."

Her face turns sympathetic as she puts her hand on my shoulder. "I know, Khushi. After all, you gave all the details in the court about what you faced in that mansion.

"Being your friend, I am proud of you and your courage to fight against such people and also come victorious out of it."

I squeeze Nisha's hand over my shoulder and give her a slight smile.

"By the way, will you be going to meet Priya in prison?" She asks me.

I frown at her, taking a sip of my drink. "Why would I do that?"

"Well, it was her statement that became main evidence in putting Rathore family behind prison. If she had not admitted to their cruelties and abuse toward you, our case was slightly weak to put that family behind bars for five years."

I sigh, remembering what Priya said to me before she was taken away by the police from the courtroom.

"Priya said she did it for her parents. She said she had gotten blind amidst living in Rathore's richness, but after losing Maa and Papa, she slowly started realizing how meaningless those materialistic things were. She looked apologetic too."

"So, did you forgive her then?" Nisha inquires.

"Of course not. Her being apologetic does not whitewash her crime of sending my parents to the prison. It does not erase her insensitivity toward me when she came to that room where I was kept to slap and taunt me, not caring I had just been raped few days before.

"I thought of her as my sister, and yet she let me get abused in that mansion, even relished in it.

"And now, she suddenly wants forgiveness because she feels guilty about what she did. Well, it does not work that way. At least not with me.

"That is why I will never forgive her. Never," I say to Nisha, and she gives me a understanding nod.

***********

"Papa, what is this word?" I ask my father, looking at a strange word in the magazine that a nine-year-old me can't even pronounce.

"Which word, child?" Papa asks me, and I point to the word with my finger.

"This one?" He asks, keeping his finger on the word, and I nod at him.

"It's called Kintsugi, Khushi," he says to me.

I frown at the strange pronunciation of the word. "Kin..kint..sugi?"

"Yes. It is a Japanese art," Papa informs me.

"What kind of art is it, Papa?" I ask him, now curious about it.

"Well, it is an art where the broken pottery pieces are put back together with gold, silver, or platinum," he replies to me, but that confuses me more.

"So, they break a pottery piece and then put it back together with those things? Why, Papa?" I ask, intrigued. "To make it more expensive?"

He smiles hearing my question, shaking his heard at me. "No, Khushi. It is a practice that teaches self-love."

He looks at my confused face and affectionately strokes my head. "You may not understand it now, child."

"But I want to know," I insist.

"Hmm, then, let me explain it to you in a way you will understand," he tells me, taking his phone from the table and typing something in it.

"Do you see this pot on the screen, Khushi?" He asks me, and I nod at him.

"Tell me. What do you see?"

"Well, I see there are some cracks filled with golden color on the pot." I reply. "It means it was broken but joined together with this gold thing."

"That's right, Khushi," Papa tells me. "The pot was broken, but instead of throwing it away, they pieced it back together with gold powder. Don't you think this pattern has made the pot beautiful in it's own way?"

"Yes, it is unique now because it has it's own filled golden cracks unlike the other pots," I answer and Papa nods at me.

"Similar to this crack on the pot, sometimes in life we also face some struggles that might cause a crack within us.

"Having a crack in ourselves does not mean we become worthless or we throw our life away. All we need to do is find something that makes us unique and fill our crack with it.

"Once that happens, we become beautiful in our own way. Do you understand, child?" He asks me, and I thoughtfully nod at him.

"I somewhat understand, Papa," I tell him and he smiles at me.

"You will understand it fully when you grow up. Now you are Papa's little princess so you only understand little," he says, and I giggle.

I open my eyes, slightly disoriented as my eyes and head feel heavy.

Slowly blinking my eyes, I take in the surrounding and remember that I am inside the hospital.

I had taken the appointment to have my tracker removed, and the doctor had said it was a minor procedure.

I look at the clock on the wall in front of me and see it was 3 pm. I was taken to the operation theater at around 12 pm.

"Good to see you are awake now, Ms. Agarwal. How are you feeling?" Th doctor asks me as he enters inside the room.

"A little groggy, doctor," I reply, blinking my eyes to clear my vision as I sit up on the bed.

"That is the effect of anesthesia. Give it another hour to wear off completely," he tells me. "We have remove the tracker, and all your vitals look normal too. I want you to stay here for two more hours. I will check your vitals again, and if it is normal with you not feeling groggy anymore, I will discharge you. Sounds good, Ms. Agarwal?"

"Yes, doctor. Thank you." I politely smile at him.

***********

After completing all the formalities, I walk out of the hospital.

Once out in the open, I see it is lightly raining.

Closing my eyes, I look up at the sky, feeling the raindrops hit my face.

'What now?' I wonder for a few minutes, suddenly realizing I am finally free of everything.

With Arnav Rathore and his family finally inside prison, serving time for the crimes they committed, I am now free to do live my life the way I want.

I shudder momentarily, a scoff escaping my mouth as I realize I won't ever be able to get the life I had dreamt of before being abused at hands of Arnav Rathore.

He has broken me in such a way that I can never be whole again.

'But it's ok if you are not whole, Khushi. Be your unique kind of broken self,' My mind quips, and I remember the dream I had about the old conversation with my father.

"Kintsugi," I whisper, my eyes filling with tears as I remember the way Papa had explained about it to me.

Being a child at that time, I had not completely understood it's significance, but now, I do understand it fully.

Like that broken pot, I was also broken by Arnav Rathore.

But I filled my cracks with my strength and fought against the cruelty of Arnav, Anjana, and Rathore family.

I may have cracks, but they are now filled with the specks of my strength, and that makes me unique.

"Broken, yes, but beautiful in my own way." I spread my arms, letting a slight smile curve my lips as I embrace the new journey of my life.

***********

The End