They all looked at me with a shocked expression on their face. I gave them a painful smile and looked down at Ezhil who was still grasping my hand tightly. "R-really?" he stuttered with happiness not believing what I just said.

I removed my hand from his hold and stood up making him stand up as well. "Of course but only on one condition"

Ezhil eagerly nodded his head and hugged me tightly, nuzzling his nose into my neck making me snap my eyes shut as I clenched my fists. "Thank you Eyshana...Thank you so so much, I'm ready to do anything for you anything...just tell me, one word and I will give it to you" he kissed my neck making me shiver but not with pleasure but with disgust. I re-opened my eyes and looked at everyone. They all had tears in their eyes except Farhan and Preeti.

Preeti looked at me with narrowed eyes while Farhan was just staring at my face with an unknown expression. "Riya" I voiced out. His body froze like a statue while the others looked at me with wide eyes. I broke the hug and stared right into his eyes without blinking.

"Will you bring her back? Can you bring her back?" I asked with a deadpan tone. Ezhil lowered his eyes, his face blank like he was lost in some other world. "Do you really, in your mind think I'm going to give my rapist a chance?" I sneered with disgust. He raised his watery eyes, a shaky breath leaving his lips as his eyes filled with desperation.

Taking a few steps towards him, I stabbed my finger into his chest glaring into his eyes. "People like you don't even deserve chances. What did you think huh? that I will happily go back to you, forgetting about everything you did to me. Since you have forgotten, let me remind you Mr Ezhil Mital that I am a lawyer and my job is to make sure people like you and your so-called friends are behind the bars" I snapped at him, coldness leaving my lips.

"Eyshana please....please don't do this to us, I beg you. I don't want to go pris-" Well you should have thought about that before ruining my life" I spoke, rudely cutting off Aliya who burst out in tears. Hearing the word prison leave my lips, everyone's skin paled as they gulped. "Prison?" Ezhil suddenly chuckled. He raised his head and gave me a small smirk while a few drops of tears fell onto his cheeks. "I can go to hell for you if you want, so going to prison is a little thing for me but my dear Eyshu-" he ran his finger down my cheek while I gave him a blank look. His face then turned into a painful expression as he suddenly grabbed my face pulling it towards me allowing our noses to touch making my breath hitch.

"EZHIL"

"EZHIL"

I heard them shouting his name out behind him seeing him grab my face. I could feel his breath fanning my lips as my heart raced with shock and disgust by his presence. "I'm too afraid to leave you" he whispered causing me to clench my jaw as I slapped his hands away and pushed him back.

Laughing bitterly, I wiped my fake tears and smiled. "You will never change Ezhil, these tears of yours, your begging and pleading...all this doesn't affect me and you know why? because I hate you" I spat, disgust coming out of my tone. He chuckled and shook his head. "No, I don't believe that, you think you hate me but I know you love me, I can see it in your eyes" he gritted his teeth. I scoffed "You are just like your father, he ruined my parents and you ruined two sisters" I stated. Hurt flashed on his face as he stood there staring at me with no emotion except pain.

"Listen Eyshu...you are going to far now" Vicky butted in. "When you are in the court, fighting for your freedom, then I will show you how far I could go" I answered back, disbelief now lingering all over his face. "I guess we are done here now, have a great night everyone" sarcasm spilled out of my tone as I waved at them before turning to leave.

"C-can we meet up tomorrow....p-please?" Ezhil suddenly spoke with desperation making me stop. I licked my dry lips and stared at him for a few seconds. Wanting to have closure, I nodded and walked away but not before hearing his last words.

"I love you

***

"What the hell Eyshana...seriously what the actual hell. Have you lost your mind? why in the world did you agree to meet him?" Sagar scolded me. I sighed and gave him a pout. "Don't pout at me missy, I'm serious here. I want you back here in India right now. I don't care what happens, or what you say, you are coming back right now this instant. I'm going to book your flight an-"

"Woah... Woah... Woah, hold up dear brother. Calm down Sagar...first tell me why the heck didn't you tell me the truth. Why didn't you tell me that my parents knew his parents?" I asked with hurt. Sagar sighed and closed his eyes before re-opening them again. "I didn't want to hurt you Eyshu. You already went through so much, I didn't want you to go through it again, I'm sorry" he mumbled. Tears filled my eyes as I bit my lip not wanting to burst out crying. "Oye, Eyshu...what's wrong?...I'm sorry please don't cry" he spoke with concern.

"I'm not crying because of that Sagar" I replied. "Are you crying because of that bastard?...I'm going to fucking kill him" he spat out making me chuckle. "I'm not crying because of him as well" I muttered. "Then why are you crying Eyshu?...tell me, I will beat that person to plump whoever made you cry" he spoke with aggression but there was also softness in his tone.

I laughed making him frown. "I'm crying because I feel so happy knowing I have you with me. I have said this to you a lot but I want to say it again....thank you...thank you so much for not giving up on me, for trusting me, for believing me, thank you so much for wiping my tears, for giving me your shoulder to cry on. You don't know how special you are to me, Sagar. I'm so thankful to God that he gifted a brother to me" my bottom lip trembled as I expressed my feelings.

He gave me a soft expression, a tear rolling down his cheek. He smiled and wiped his tear. "Now don't make me emotional or else your friend aka sister in law will tease me" he playfully glared at me making me laugh. "You are also special to me too Eyshu, I've never had a sister, and god gave me you. You don't need to thank me, as a brother it's my job to protect my sister and I will continue doing it until my last breath. You, Aditi, and Chandni are my princesses and I and your little nephew will protect you all from all evil" he spoke with so much emotion.

I bit my lip and smiled at him. "Now cheer up sis and also you are coming back, don't think I have forgotten" he glared at me making me chuckle. "Trust me, Sagar, I know what I am doing. I promise after all this I will come back straight away, just let me do this once and for all, only then I will get true peace" I spoke with pain.

He sighed but nodded, "Remember if anything happens-"

"call you straight away...yes, I remember" I stuck my tongue out of him making him shake his head. "Now sleep, you have a long day ahead. Good night Eyshu" he waved at the screen. "Good Night, say Hi to Aditi and the kids from me" I spoke. "Will do, bye take care," he said before cutting the call off.

My smile died down as I looked at my reflection in the mirror. I sighed and took my coat from the wardrobe and wore it before leaving the hotel. Instead of taking my car, I decided to go for a walk. It was now 10pm, the night was quite chilly as it was winter. I walked past the busy roads, the cars beeping, drunk couples quarreling, traffic lights flashing until I reached a quiet place, the park.

I sat down on a bench and just stared at the woods in front of me, smoke exhaling out of my mouth as the air was cold. I then took out my cigarette box and lit up a cigarette before inhaling the smoke. I remember when I first started smoking. I was in my last year of university at that time. I was walking to my next class when I saw a goth girl smoking at the end of the corridor. I went up to her and told her that smoking could kill her and that she should stop smoking but she told me that by smoking it helped her to calm down, it was a stress reliever to her and it took away her problems temporarily.

She then offered me one but I refused at that time until I got another panic attack. I badly wanted to get rid of the pain, I wanted to end everything so I went back to her and that was the first time I tried smoking but little did I know I would end up being addicted to it. The same went for my drugs. I mentally laughed at myself. My parents would be so shocked and disappointed to see their daughter do drugs but what could I have done?

I wanted to die, I wanted to hide away from this pain, I wanted someone to take me away. I prayed and prayed to God to take my soul away, just release me from this pain, take me from this evil world but look's like he enjoyed watching me in pain as he didn't accept my prayers. A bitter laugh left my lips as I exhaled the smoke, a white cloud forming in front of my eyes.

I could say I was quite lucky to bump into a guy who was selling drugs. He even gave them to me for free. I thought they were like poison, one taste and I would die but I got addicted that I couldn't live without them.

I sighed and leaned my head on the bench just looking up at the cloudy sky, allowing the smoke to take away my pain for some time. "You know that's not good for you right?" a voice suddenly spoke making my heart pound like mad but I didn't flinch. I turned my head to see Officer Malin there, standing next to me but his eyes were looking ahead. His hands were tucked into his coat pockets, his hair tied into a man bun while a few strands fell in front of his face making him look ever so handsome.

I quickly averted my eyes away from him, my cheeks now heating up.

"Yes, I know that thank you very much" I snapped at him. "Then why do it?" he asked. I could see from the corner of my eyes, his head turning towards me, his eyes burning holes into the side of my face.

I shrugged my shoulders and took another puff. "Because it helps me to block my stress" I answered back in a bored tone. I then felt him sit beside me on the bench, the two of us now silent as we heard the wind howl.

"I was once addicted to smoking" he suddenly spoke. I turned my head towards him feeling curious as he continued speaking. He leaned back with his hands in his coat pockets, looking at the woods in front of us.

"I lost my family in a fire" he muttered making me look at him with shock and sympathy. "My brother and my parents-" he chuckled to himself, "they were everything to me but my whole world turned into ashes. I became so lonely, so isolated that I turned to smoking, and yes it did help me get away from my stress and depression but it was only temporarily" he then turned his head and looked at me, our eyes now locking.

"I later started to realize how valuable our lives are, something we are not thankful for. I kept asking myself, how long will we run away from our problems? one day we will have to face them right?"

"I....I'm sorry for your loss" I muttered. He smiled and shook his head. "Are you suicidal?" he suddenly asked making me nearly choke on my spit. I looked at him with wide eyes. "N-no" my voice quivered.

Well, I was before

He chuckled and looked back at the forest. "You know that smoking is bad for you, yet you do it thinking it will help you run away from your problems but that's where you are wrong. No matter how many excuses a person gives when smoking, deep down they know that they are slowly killing themselves" he looked back at me and glanced at the tiny white stick in my hands.

"Every time you light up that thing, you basically saying to yourself that your life isn't worth it, where there are so many people in this world fighting death every day, praying and hoping that they will be able to open their eyes to see a new morning"

"Be thankful that you are alive. This-" he pointed to my cigarette, "is toxic, this doesn't help you with your problems, this makes your problems worse. When I gave up smoking I felt so much better, like I was someone new, fresh, and alive. This little white thing is only made to damage us humans and eventually will take us to our graves...so" he bent over, took the cigarette from my fingers and threw it onto the ground. "stop trying to kill yourself and live your life the way you have never lived it. It's okay to live a life that others don't understand, what matters is that you are happy" he said with a soft tone.

I just sat there in silence, watching and listening to his words that touched my heart. My eyes were starting to well up but I didn't let my tears fall.

"I'm not strong enough to give it up. I don't really have a purpose in life either" I rubbed my nose with my finger. "Then make a purpose and about being strong Miss Roy, you are probably one of the strongest women I have seen in my life" he winked at me making me chuckle as I looked down at my lap.

"and may I add, also one of the sexiest lawyers I have ever seen as well" he flirted making me roll my eyes. "Pervert" I mumbled, a chuckle leaving his lips.

I then looked back at him only to see him gazing intensely at my face. He slowly leaned over making my lips meltdown into a straight line as he tucked my hair strands that were in front of my face behind my ear causing my heartbeat to increase dramatically, my breath becoming heavy. His hand didn't move from my hair as he moved in closer making my breath hitch.

"I must say, Miss Roy, you have very beautiful eyes"

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