Sanjana's P.O.V

I hear a groan when the door opens and am greeted with the sight of Rohan. He looks exhausted when he walks in and loosens his tie before he sets his bag down on the table and plops down on the bed.

"God I'm so tired," he murmurs to himself.

"Evening Ro," I murmur as I slide closer to him and wrap my arms around him.

"Evening," he whispers.

"Busy day?"

"God don't ask, what the fuck is wrong with the men of our generation? Every other lady that walks in our office is either assaulted by their husband, friend, brother what not, who the fuck do they trust!"

I smile as I stare at him and he catches my smile and furrows his eyebrows.

"What you smiling at?"

"Nothing, my heart just feels happy that you exist, that people, men like you exist,"

"Of course, men like me exist, not everyone is an asshole,"

"And yet when I hear cases, when I've had bad experiences, how do I know men like you exist Ro?"

"Sweetheart,"

"Why don't you change and freshen up?"

"Yeah I'll do that,"

°

"You know, other than my mom and dad, nobody wanted me, nobody wanted Sonu and me," I say and Rohan looks at me.

We were sitting on the rooftop of our house because I wanted to watch the sunset.

"Sanjana—"

"Let me,"

"Don't feel pressurized baby, I will be okay if you don't tell me anything as well,"

"I want to,"

He says nothing but pulls me closer to him and tucks us under the blanket.

"You know, I always hated my grandmother. She is a woman and yet when my mother gave birth to me, she hated my mother, my parents loved me. My grandmother just couldn't digest the fact that her first grandchild was a girl and so all of my family forced my parents to conceive another child and so 11 months later another child, oh the disappointment, Sonu was born. I don't remember the moment but as I grew up, my earliest memory is Sonu clutching my arm while mom cried in dad's arms, later my mother would tell me that my grandmother had really crossed the line that day and brought another woman into the house announcing that dad must marry a lady 'who'll birth them male children'"

"Sanju—"

"My dad will always be my superhero, you know, that day after his mother pulled that incident, he cut contact with everyone, my dad has always been there for mom and they're like this perfect couple who will fight but still mom will wait for him for dinner, they have this rare love, this beautiful relationship and I was scared I'd never find anything like that, but I have you and I couldn't be more thankful,"

"I guess it is the fact that my relatives always berated my mom that we never really saw them, so imagine my surprise when all of them show up at my 17th birthday party,"

I feel Rohan go tense and I smile up at him.

"But you know what was shocking? My only brother, cousin I mean, his friends had come too, but I wasn't concerned, I was too happy that my relatives bothered to show up, but I guess that's just how life you know, so one moment I'm very overjoyed and the next, I'm naked and bleeding while three grown naked men stand over me, I didn't know what was happening, my parents never told me what could happen to a girl like me, they thought they had protected me, that they will always protect me and so I didn't know they were raping me, all I knew was that they were doing something wrong with me,"

Rohan is shaking as he tightens his hold around me. Or maybe its me. Maybe both of us are shaking.

"I didn't cry you know; I might have shed a tear but I didn't really cry, not the way most people would, I was numb, I just remember staring in Sumit's terrified eyes before I blacked out. Sumit didn't do anything but that's the fucking problem! He didn't do anything! You want to know what drove me to tears? The fact that my relatives blamed me, they...they said I asked for it, th-they all blamed me. I overheard this conversation and I remember crying the whole night, funny how my relatives didn't comfort me, but they comforted those monsters, they were hugging those three assholes! That was what broke me and I couldn't have been more thankful for my family to stand by my side while my own aunt went on about how I was the one asking to be raped,"

I break down crying and Rohan holds me against him as he rubs my back. Rohan's own body shakes as he cries on my shoulder.

"I thought men were tough," I comment, trying to lighten the mood but I cringe at how sexist that comment came out like.

"Sanjana,"

"We hired a lawyer, the best one there was, but he was bribed and so instead of saving me, he purposefully lost the case,"

"Don't tell me—"

"Why do you think I hate Mr. Puri so much?"

"I'll murder that asshole the next time I meet him,"

"We left Bhatinda the very next day and just when I thought things couldn't get worse, I was almost raped in University, I remember Sonnia rushing towards me, begging for me to say something, to move but I was too numb, there was this ringing in my ears and I could hear nothing, I stopped talking, I just unconsciously turned mute and so even when I wanted to scream I couldn't, that's why I know sign language, I just stopped talking and I hated anyone touching me, even my own parents because it was difficult for me,"

A memory pops in my mind and I let out a bitter chuckle.

"There was a time when Sonia was so angry and hurt, I remember her begging me to say something, anything even and no matter how much I tried I just couldn't speak, she didn't talk to me for 2 weeks after that, silly girl,"

Rohan continues sobbing on my shoulder as he holds me tightly.

"Awe Ro, kya hua? Stop crying so much, you know I feel like crying when other people cry, kitna you want to cry?"

He just continues sobbing.

"Ro if you rub your snotty nose of my shoulder I'll murder you,"

I am rewarded with a soft chuckle and I relax against him as he stops crying. I pull away and stare at his red fact. I wipe his tears and kiss his forehead.

"Sanjana,"

"Hmm?"

"What... How did you start..."

I smiled as I realised his train of thoughts.

"I witnessed something, and it was either me not speaking and letting the 5-year-old child die in vain or me speaking up, so..."

"You're the strongest, you know that right?"

"Of course, I know that,"

"Good, you need to know you are the strongest and even though I know I shouldn't say this, you didn't deserve it, no girl deserves what the men out there do to them, no one deserves so much pain and injustice and because you are brave enough, I am so thankful to god that you exist, thank you for being brave,"

"If you don't stop being so sweet, I might just start crying," I say as I blink furiously to stop the tears from falling.

"You know, I hated my parents for a long time, I hated them for never ever informing me all these things, but even then they would always be there by my bed every single night because I would get nightmares, they were there to hold me every mental breakdown I had and that was when I realised that I am so thankful to have them as my parents, so many girls are abandoned by their parents and yet here my parents were, never ever once questioning my character, always so ready to support me, just there for me and I remember one night I was out and I just missed my father, my hero, so much that I called him, crying that I really missed him and you know what he did? He left his business associates with whom he was dining and rushed to where I was and what a sight it must have been, us hugging each other as we cried out. That was the first time after a long time that I really spoke to them, that I accepted my dad's hug and when I saw my dad cry that evening as he was telling my mother that I had accepted his hug, I felt so blessed, I never felt more loved before,"

"They really love you a lot,"

"I really love them a lot too, they are my whole world and..."

"And?"

"Before our marriage I felt like nobody would ever own my heart as much as them but yet here I am, giving you the chance to break my heart because you fill take up just as much space in my heart as they do,"

"I would never break your heart and thank you for trusting me with your heart,"

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Hey guys, another update, gonna work on 2 more chapters this week.

So what are your thoughts?