đ The Contract Groom
The underground room suddenly felt smaller.
Tighter.
As if the walls themselves had begun listening.
Dr. Prem kept his hand near the hidden seam in the wall, his eyes fixed on Sasmita.
She had changed.
Not slightly.
Completely.
Until now, she had been careful.
Cold.
Controlled.
But thisâ
this reaction was different.
Fear.
Real fear.
"Move away from it," she said again.
Her voice lower this time.
Sharper.
Dr. Prem didn't move.
Instead, his fingers traced the edge of the hidden line carefully.
Almost invisible.
Perfectly concealed.
Which meant one thing.
Someone had spent enormous effort hiding whatever was behind it.
And people only hid things this deeply for two reasons.
Power.
Or truth.
"You knew this existed," he said quietly.
Sasmita's jaw tightened.
"That's not your concern."
"Everything in this house is becoming my concern."
The words settled heavily between them.
Because both of them understood nowâ
the situation had crossed a line.
This was no longer just treatment.
No longer just survival.
The deeper they movedâ
the more dangerous the truth became.
Dr. Prem looked at the wall once more.
Then suddenlyâ
he pressed against a tiny uneven section near the lower edge.
Click.
A soft mechanical sound echoed through the underground room.
Sasmita's eyes widened instantly.
"Stop!"
Too late.
The hidden compartment unlocked slowly with a low metallic vibration.
Dust shifted lightly into the air as the narrow section of wall moved inward.
Cold air escaped from inside.
Old air.
Forgotten air.
The opening revealed a small hidden chamber.
Dark.
Silent.
Untouched for years.
For several secondsâ
neither of them moved.
Then Dr. Prem stepped closer carefully.
Inside the compartment sat a metal box.
Old.
Locked.
And beside itâ
a faded photograph.
Sasmita's breathing stopped for a moment.
"NoâŠ" she whispered softly.
Dr. Prem picked up the photograph slowly.
Dust covered most of the surface.
But not enough to hide the faces.
A woman.
Young.
Smiling faintly.
Sumitra Devi.
Beside her stood a man in formal clothes, one arm protectively around her shoulder.
Tall.
Sharp-eyed.
Powerful presence.
And between themâ
a small child.
Maybe five years old.
The photo slipped slightly in Dr. Prem's fingers.
Because the childâ
looked exactly like him.
Silence exploded inside the room.
Sasmita stared at the photograph in shock.
Then slowlyâ
her gaze lifted toward Dr. Prem.
He hadn't moved.
Hadn't spoken.
But behind the maskâ
his breathing had changed.
Fragments flashed violently through his mind.
A woman laughing softly.
Warm hands brushing through his hair.
A voice callingâ
"AryanâŠ"
Pain hit instantly.
Sharp enough to blur his vision for half a second.
He gripped the edge of the hidden chamber tightly.
"âŠImpossible," he whispered.
Sasmita stepped backward slowly.
Her mind racing.
No.
No, this couldn'tâ
Then suddenlyâ
everything connected at once.
The name.
His reaction.
The memories.
His face.
Her heartbeat became uneven.
"âŠYouâŠ" she whispered.
Dr. Prem slowly looked toward her.
For the first timeâ
his calm was breaking.
"Who am I?" he asked quietly.
Not cold.
Not controlled.
Lost.
That single question shook the room more than anything else tonight.
Sasmita didn't know what to say.
Because she herself no longer understood what she was seeing.
Before either of them could speak againâ
the underground monitor suddenly beeped violently.
Both turned instantly.
Sumitra Devi's neural activity spiked dangerously high.
Her breathing became uneven.
And thenâ
slowlyâ
her eyes opened.
Only halfway.
Blurred.
Weak.
But open.
Sasmita froze completely.
"âŠPiusiâŠ"
Sumitra Devi's lips moved faintly.
Her gaze struggled to focus through years of unconscious darkness.
Thenâ
her eyes stopped on Dr. Prem.
Everything changed in her expression.
Shock.
Pain.
Disbelief.
Tears gathered instantly at the corners of her eyes.
Her lips trembled weakly.
"âŠAryanâŠ"
This timeâ
clear.
The name echoed through the underground room like a truth finally escaping after years of silence.
Dr. Prem's body went still.
Completely still.
Because deep inside himâ
something shattered.
A memory returned violently.
Fire.
Screaming.
Someone carrying him through smoke.
A man's voice shoutingâ
"Take the child!"
Then darkness.
He staggered slightly backward.
One hand pressing against his head.
Sasmita rushed toward Sumitra Devi instantly.
"Piusi! Piusi, look at me!"
But Sumitra Devi's weak gaze never left Dr. Prem.
Fear mixed with desperation inside her eyes.
As if she had just seen someone return from the dead.
Then suddenlyâ
she grabbed Sasmita's wrist weakly.
"RunâŠ"
Her voice cracked painfully.
"Before⊠they find himâŠ"
The machines screamed sharply.
Warning alarms flashing red across the underground room.
And above themâ
unseen by anyoneâ
a hidden camera blinked once inside the darkness.
Someone else had seen everything.