After he dropped me near the institute, I stepped out slowly, still trying to gather myself.
The entire ride... that silence... that moment... it was still sitting heavily in my chest.
I turned slightly.
"Thank you," I said softly, finally finding my voice.
Before I could walk away completely, Kabir spoke.
"Aaira..."
I paused.
He looked at me for a second, calm but serious.
"You saving Kiro... that wasn't just a small thing for me."
A small silence followed.
"I can't repay that," he added honestly. "Not really."
My fingers tightened slightly around my bag.
"But I still want to thank you... in my way."
I frowned a little.
"In your way?"
He nodded.
"We were supposed to meet on Sunday for the jacket, right?"
I blinked.
"Yes..."
"Then come to the café with me," he said simply. "We can talk properly."
A pause.
Not rushed.
Not forceful.
Just... a request.
Then he added gently,
"I know it might feel a little strange. In today's world, it's hard to trust people. But... if you can, try."
A soft exhale.
"And if not, it's okay too."
For a second, I just stood there
.
My mind completely blank.
Wait... what?
Is he reading my thoughts?
How does he know I overthink like this?
And then another thought hit me harder.
Wait... is this... a date?
No.
No no no.
It's just to return the jacket. And thank me.
Right?
Right.
I quickly shook the thought away before it could grow into something dangerous.
"O-okay," I said finally. "Sunday is fine."
Then I added quickly, almost too fast,
"And I'll return your jacket too."
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"Good."
He nodded once.
"See you then."
I turned quickly before my face could betray me anymore.
But even as I walked inside the institute, my mind wasn't inside the classroom anymore.
It was stuck outside.
In that moment.
In his voice.
In that pause.
I returned to my room! "I froze at the sight that greeted me in the room."
It was Jhalak holding the kabir letter!
"My chest tightened with fear. This was bad... really bad. They were already questioning my character, and now they'd have proof-at least in their eyes. My exams were just a month away... what if they didn't let me go?"
"Forcing a faint smile, I asked, 'What are you doing here? Do you need anything?'"
She took the physics notes! I was here for this ! She answered normally! Like if she didn't see the letter ! Most probably she would have just thought it a random paper !
Thankyou God ! "A sigh of relief escaped my lips."
"As she walked past me, brushing my shoulder, she slipped a letter into my hand.
'Keep your little love letter safe,' she said, her tone dripping with mockery. 'If someone sees it, you won't even have these four walls left to stay in.'
A shadowy smirk played on her lips as she walked away !
*Is it Actually Jhalak !!??? That Jhalak who finds every reason possible to assassinate my character??? Why didn't she blackmail me ???
"Wasn't she the one who never missed a chance to tear my character apart? Today, the perfect opportunity was right in front of her... yet she said nothing.
Yes, I knew there was nothing in that letter-but it still held enough for them to twist the story and label me something I wasn't.
So why did she stay quiet?
Was this a change of heart... or something else?
Lost in these thoughts, I drifted into a deep silence."
But then I realised "May be she's scared of getting her secret out too ???"
I just escaped the overthinking loop and went to make dinner !
While doing utensils, I listen whispering voice of someone from the drawing room !
"Moving on my toes, I slowly crept closer and peeked inside. Aunt, Uncle, and Jhalak were huddled together, whispering something among themselves.
What could it be?
Were they talking about me?
I strained my ears, trying to catch every word, but nothing was clear... just faint murmurs.
And then-
One word.
'Rathore brothel.'
My heart dropped.
Rathore... brothel? What was that supposed to mean? Why did it sound so wrong?
Fear gripped me instantly. What if... what if this was about me?
But then I shook the thought away. They were cruel, yes-but not that cruel... right?
Maybe it was just some news... something unrelated. Maybe they were talking normally, and from a distance, it only sounded like whispers.
Still, a strange uneasiness settled deep within me."
I went inside my room ! I searched on the Google-"RATHORE BROTHEL"
News headlines flooded on my phone!!!
"RATHORE BROTHEL" - "HEAVEN OR HELL" ???
"As I dug deeper, the history of the Rathore brothel began to unravel-and with it, something inside me did too
.
It was established in 1923, during a time when women were rarely seen as anything more than objects. Founded by Viransh Rathore and Bharata Bhardwaj, it was once believed to be... different. They claimed the women there had a choice. That dignity still existed within those walls.
But that illusion didn't survive.
After 1980, when Aniruddh Rathore took control, everything changed. The stories that followed were no longer whispers of choice-but echoes of helplessness.
Girls didn't just arrive there anymore... they were brought.
And some of them... were far too young to even understand what was being taken from them.
I came across one account-just a few broken lines, as if even the paper refused to hold the full truth. It spoke of a girl... barely fifteen.
The rest wasn't written clearly.
Maybe it couldn't be.
But it didn't need to be.
My hands started trembling as I read between the lines. My stomach twisted violently, and a cold wave of horror ran through me.
How could people do this?
How could anyone be that cruel?
A burning anger rose within me, sharp and uncontrollable. People capable of such things didn't deserve mercy...
And yet, beneath that anger, something else crept in-
Fear.
"As I read further, the story of the Rathore brothel only grew more complicated.
After Aniruddh Rathore's death in 2000, the control passed on to his son, Yuvraj Rathore, along with Mahaveer Bhardwaj-the grandson of Bharata Bhardwaj. Carrying forward their forefathers' partnership, they revived the establishment together.
The business structure remained unequal-eighty percent under the Rathore name-perhaps that's why it still carried the same identity.
But what truly unsettled me was what followed.
After 2000, the reach of the brothel expanded even further. Reports claimed that, over time, more women began entering the profession by choice. Some even argued that in today's world, it had become a thriving industry-one that continued to grow alongside changing societal dynamics.
There were claims, debates... justifications.
Some said it wasn't wrong if it was a choice.
Others still saw it as a stain that could never be erased.
The courts, according to certain reports, had taken a neutral stance-if consent was involved, it wasn't considered illegal.
And yet...
Those streets were still whispered about with disgust.
Stepping there meant risking a mark on one's name that would never truly fade
.
The environment around that place was said to be... unsettling. Loud, chaotic, morally blurred. A world people judged from afar, yet never fully understood.
Strangely, alongside all of this, another thing stood out-
The bond between Yuvraj Rathore and Mahaveer Bhardwaj.
Their friendship was almost legendary. And now, rumors suggested they were about to turn that bond into a family tie-fixing a marriage between Yuvraj Rathore's son and Mahaveer Bhardwaj's daughter.
A perfect alliance... at least on the surface.
What confused me the most, however, was Yuvraj Rathore's own statement.
He claimed he wanted to shut it all down.
But the women there... didn't.
And somewhere between power, choice, survival, and truth-
The Rathore brothel continued to exist... suspended in a constant state of conflict."
Recently the Rathore brothel was on headlines because of the strike ! The women were striking for sending their children to school !
And one more paragraph - Depicting about the matrimonial alliance between the Rathore and Bhardwaj! Even though their children name were hidden! They don't want to disclose or include their children into this sin !
"Fair enough! But what's the point???
By the time I finished reading, a heavy weight had settled deep inside my chest.
Heaven?
Was this what they called heaven?
Selling one's body... whether by choice or by force-how could that ever be right? There was nothing pure about it. Nothing beautiful. Just layers of compromise, desperation... and silence.
And the people who went there-what about them? Some of them must have families... wives... lives waiting for them outside those walls. Yet they still chose this.
Wasn't that betrayal?
I couldn't understand it. How could anyone look at a place like that and call it heaven?
And then they say they'll keep their children away from it...like seriously?
But how?
When the same mindset runs through their veins-
when somewhere, deep down, they've already learned to see a woman as something to be used, not respected...
It disgusted me.
The more I thought about it, the more it all felt the same. Different faces, different names-but beneath it all...
The same sin.
Maybe some were worse than others-
but none of them were innocent.
Not the Rathores.
Not the Bhardwajs.
Not any of them."
I was numbed by this article! A notification popped in !
KABIR SENT YOU REQUEST!!!
WAIT WHAT???